The effect of a teaching skills course on interns' and students' evaluations of their resident-teachers

Purpose. To determine the effect that a six-hour course on resident teaching and leadership skills had on residents' teaching evaluations. Method. The authors analyzed six years of teaching evaluations of second- and third-year internal medicine residents at the University of Washington: three years before and three years after a resident teaching skills course was introduced in 1992. Interns and students rated their resident-teachers using a nine-question standardized clinical teaching assessment form (CTAF). Evaluations at baseline (the three years before the course) were compared with evaluations for the three years after the intervention. Results. The authors analyzed 3,946 evaluations of 235 second-year and 211 third year residents. Despite already high baseline evaluations, mean ratings of the CTAF showed continuous and statistically significant improvement in each year after the introduction of the course (P < .001). There was no significant difference between evaluations from students and these from interns. Conclusion. A six hour teaching skills course significantly improved residents' teacher ratings. Residents are important teachers of interns and medical students and serve as their primary ward supervisors; therefore, sessions on teaching skills should be part of required curricula for all residency programs.