The influence of residents training level on their evaluation of clinical teaching faculty

Background: Evaluations by learners are the most common sources of information on teaching. There is some debate about the role of these assessments, but the overall evaluation of faculty by learners was found to be valid and reliable. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the level of training of family medicine residents and their evaluation of emergency medicine clinical teachers over time. Methods: A prospective cohort analysis of 6 years of faculty evaluation of 115 teachers was conducted. Results: The 562 residents returned 3,046 valid individual evaluations. There was no significant association between the level of residents' training and the ratings for clinical instruction (p >.05). Resident evaluations did not vary by time of year (p >.05); however, they did significantly differ by year of evaluation, showing that ratings increased over the 6 years of the study (p <.0001). Conclusions: Neither the residents' level of training nor the timing during the academic year were significant independent predictors of perceived superior teaching performance,. although ratings increased over the 6 years of the study. Copyright (C) 2005 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.