Evaluation of primary care futures: a faculty development program for community health center preceptors

To assess the impact of a national series of faculty development workshops for community health center preceptors.

Two hundred and twenty-three community health center preceptors from a variety of disciplines attended one of five workshops conducted in different regions of the country. The workshops emphasized active learning using role-play to provide skills in educational planning, teaching styles, evaluation, and feedback. The preceptors were evaluated before and immediately after the workshop, and again three months later. They were also asked to assess the quality of the workshop.

The preceptors demonstrated significant increases in the use of five of seven teaching concepts while analyzing a role-play interaction. In addition, there were significant positive, immediate changes in familiarity with nine of 11 concepts, which were retained for at least three months. The preceptors also reported that they continued to use six of the effective teaching behaviors they had learned three months after the workshop. They were extremely positive in their assessments of the workshops.

This preliminary study suggests that preceptors from a variety of backgrounds can improve their teaching knowledge and skills by participating in a brief faculty development program that emphasizes active learning.