Adherence to trained standards after a faculty development workshop on “Teaching With Simulated Patients”

Background: Nowadays, faculty development programs to improve teaching quality are considered to be very important by medical educators from all over the world. However, the assessment of the impact of such programs rarely exceeds tests of participants’ knowledge gain or self-assessments of their teaching behavior. It remains unclear what exactly is expected of the attending faculty and how the transfer to practice may be measured more comprehensively and accurately.

Method: This study evaluates how specific teaching standards were applied after a workshop (10 teaching units) focusing on teaching communication skills with simulated patients. Trained observers used a validated checklist to observe 60 teaching sessions (held by 60 different teachers) of a communication skills course integrating simulated patients. Additionally, we assessed the amount of time that had passed since their participation in the workshop and asked them to rate the importance of communication and social skills in medical education.

Results: The observations showed that more than two thirds of teaching standards were met by at least 75% of teachers. Fulfillment of standards was significantly connected to teachers’ rating of the importance of communication and social skills (tb=-.21, p=.03). In addition, the results suggest a slight decrease in the amount of fulfilled standards over time (r=-.14, p=.15).

Conclusions: Teachers' adherence to basic teaching standards was already satisfying after a one-day workshop. More complex issues need to be re-addressed in further faculty development courses with a special focus on teachers’ attitude towards teaching. In future, continuing evaluations of the transfer of knowledge and skills from faculty development courses into practice, preferably including pre-tests or control groups, are needed.