Workplace formative assessment: faculty members' beliefs

Background: Workplace-based formative assessment (WFA) is an increasingly used tool in graduate medical education as it serves to evaluate and teach; however, the use of WFA is reportedly low. The objectives of this study were to assess the proportion of dermatology residency training programmes using WFA, and to describe faculty members' beliefs about the factors that support or impede its use. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to all US dermatology programmes. Results: Responses were collected from 43 per cent (56/131) of the US dermatology programmes. Half (28/56) of the respondent programmes use WFA. The most frequently endorsed advantage was 'provides feedback to residents about their performance'. The most frequent barriers were 'time for faculty to observe' and 'faculty interest'. Discussion: WFA has been shown to stimulate learning through the exchange of feedback with a learner about gaps in his or her practice. This study showed that WFA is not yet used in the majority of dermatology training programmes. Time for faculty members to perform WFA was the most cited barrier to the use of WFA, but few studies have investigated the actual time requirement. Secondly, faculty members' interest may be encouraged through training and an increased awareness of the impact of WFA. For example, the evidence supporting the effects of feedback include a meta-analysis of over 1800 studies showed that the effect of feedback, especially regarding performance on a specific task, was greater than the effect of schooling.