The teacher simulation exercise: changes in physician teaching emphasis and strategy. The SGIM Task Force on the Medical Interview

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the effect of a faculty development course in teaching medical interviewing on participants' ability to provide effective feedback to interviewers.

Design: The study used a non-concurrent control group design which randomized subjects into two groups before the intervention. The two groups completed different pre-tests; each group then completed the other group's pre-test as its post-test. The post-course scores of one group were compared with the pre-course scores of the other group to establish differences.

Setting: The research was conducted at the 1985 faculty development course sponsored by the SGIM Task Force on the Medical Interview.

Participants: 49 of 52 teachers of medical interviewing attending the course completed the study.

Intervention: The week-long intervention consisted of a variety of educational activities which assisted the participants in defining and actively pursuing their learning objectives in interviewing, teaching, and self-awareness.

Measurements and main results: In their assessment of two videotaped segments of initial medical visits, participants were more likely after the course to comment on the interviewer's lack of attention to patient affect (69.0% versus 27.2%, p = 0.005 in one segment) and somewhat more likely to identify teaching strategies that actively involved the interviewer (47.2% vs. 35.0%, p = 0.09 in one segment). Both shifts were congruent with assessments made by course faculty.

Conclusions: Faculty development can influence teachers to recognize the need to provide feedback on skills that expert teachers would emphasize. The non-concurrent control group design provides an innovative approach to common constraints in evaluating faculty development courses.