Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

Department

Medicine

First Advisor

Janet Hafler

Abstract

Feedback is an essential and widely studied component of medical education, but many educational leaders continue to find challenges in the natural and effective delivery of feedback, especially among peers. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of a novel standardized observation tool on the educational leaders who use it and on the faculty who receive feedback on teaching. Participants in the Teaching Observation Training for Academic Leaders (TOTAL) Training (n=6) were taught to use a standardized observation tool to collect data on teaching. After using the tool, they were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. Interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis was used to code and categorize the data into themes. Teaching faculty who received feedback based on the observational tool (n=8) completed a standardized survey. Thematic analysis revealed five themes: setting expectations, program characteristics, role of educational leaders, role of feedback, and faculty response to feedback. Survey responses demonstrated that faculty expressed that they received relevant, respectful, professional, and supportive feedback that would help improve future performance as a teacher. Median time spent in a feedback session was 15 minutes. The major findingsdemonstrated by the data are 1) The tool improves organization and efficiency of observation and feedback dialogues as reported by educational leaders and the faculty under observation, 2) Differing understandings of the roles of educational leaders may affect the effective provision of feedback, and 3) Increasing awareness of the TOTAL training sessions and support in completing them may assist in overcoming locally observed barriers to feedback and influencing feedback culture.

Comments

This thesis is restricted to Yale network users only. It will be made publicly available on 06/01/2028

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