Results of a preceptor improvement project

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The majority of medical students receive some of their training with a community preceptor. Nearly all of these preceptors are motivated by a desire to give back to their profession through teaching and they want to learn how to teach more effectively. Designing ef-fective educational programs to improve preceptor teaching is important to upholding the quality of medical education. METHODS: We designed an educational program consisting of readings, short videos, handouts and posters, as well as one-on-one sessions with a trained standardized medical student. The standardized student visited the community physician’s office both before and after the preceptor engaged with the educational materials related to a subject area of the preceptor’s choosing. We assessed the preceptor’s teaching using three tools: self-evalu-ation, student reporting of observed behaviors, and an overall rating of teaching effectiveness. RESULTS: Thirteen preceptors took part in this the educational intervention. Per the self-assessment, preceptors showed improved teaching competen-cy for all items on the questionnaire, with 12 of the 21 items (57%) show-ing statistically significant results (P