National survey of evaluation practices and performance-guided resource allocation at German medical schools

Position statement of the GMA committee "teaching evaluation"

The evaluation of teaching can be an essential driver for curriculum development. Instruments for teaching evaluation are not only used for the purpose of quality assurance but also in the context of medical education research. Therefore, they must meet the common requirements for reliability and validity. This position paper from the GMA Teaching Evaluation Committee discusses strategic and methodological aspects of evaluation in the context of undergraduate medical education and related courses; and formulates recommendations for the further development of evaluation. First, a four-step approach to the design and implementation of evaluations is presented, then methodological and practical aspects are discussed in more detail. The focus here is on target and confounding variables, survey instruments as well as aspects of implementation and data protection. Finally, possible consequences from evaluation data for the four dimensions of teaching quality (structural and procedural aspects, teachers and outcomes) are discussed.

Residents as teachers in Neurology: a Germany-wide survey on the involvement of neurological residents in clinical teaching

Background

Residents play an important role in the clinical training of medical students, spending up to 25% of their daily work teaching. In the US medical curriculum didactic courses for residents already exist and their role as a teacher is firmly anchored. In Germany, there are no fixed regulations or residents-as-teachers-programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activities of neurological residents in clinical teaching.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cross-sectional online survey among neurological residents in Germany. The evaluation was carried out descriptively and by means of text analysis.

Results

138 residents from 39 German neurological university hospitals answered the survey. Nearly half of them needed the teaching activity as part of their career planning. The residents are mostly involved in practical courses. More than 80% stated, that they enjoy teaching. 64% stated that there were no preparatory courses for teaching at their hospital/university. 78.4% of the respondents received no or merely insufficient feedback for their own teaching and 62.5% had only little or even no knowledge about the university curriculum.

Conclusions

By teaching medical students, residents play an outstanding role in recruiting students for neurology and, simultaneously, teaching leads an improvement in the residents’ own learning. To encourage young neurologists as teachers and—at the same time as learners—Clinic directors and universities should promote residents-as-teachers programs in neurology and reward the residents’ teaching activities.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42466-022-00170-3.