Evaluation and feedback for effective clinical teaching in postgraduate medical education: validation of an assessment instrument incorporating the CanMEDS roles

Abstract

Background: Providing clinical teachers in postgraduate medical education with feedback about their teaching skills is a powerful tool to improve clinical teaching. A systematic review showed that available instruments do not comprehensively cover all domains of clinical teaching. We developed and empirically test a comprehensive instrument for assessing clinical teachers in the setting of workplace learning and linked to the CanMEDS roles.

Methods: In a Delphi study, the content validity of a preliminary instrument with 88 items was studied, leading to the construction of the EFFECT (evaluation and feedback for effective clinical teaching) instrument. The response process was explored in a pilot test and focus group research with 18 residents of 6 different disciplines. A confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and reliability analyses were performed on 407 evaluations of 117 supervisors, collected in 3 medical disciplines (paediatrics, pulmonary diseases and surgery) of 6 departments in 4 different hospitals.

Results: CFA yielded an 11 factor model with a good to excellent fit and internal consistencies ranged from 0.740 to 0.940 per domain; 7 items could be deleted.

Conclusion: The model of workplace learning showed to be a useful framework for developing EFFECT, which incorporates the CanMEDS competencies and proved to be valid and reliable.