Exploring Quality and Requirements in Faculty Development Related to Teaching.

Background: Little is known about medical school requirements for faculty development related to teaching (FDT) in medical education. This study examined the national landscape and local faculty perceptions of their own institution's FDT requirement.

Methods: An electronic survey was disseminated to Faculty Affairs Offices in US medical schools to assess FDT requirements. A second survey was distributed to faculty within one medical school to gauge faculty perceptions related to existing FDT requirements.

Results: Responses were received from approximately 33% of US medical schools and 36% of local faculty. Few responding medical schools had formal FDT requirements. There was a wide range variation of hours and activities necessary to satisfy existing requirements and consequences for noncompliance. For respondents from schools that did not have a requirement, many saw value in considering a future requirement. Many local faculty agreed that the FDT requirement improved their teaching skills. When asked to share other thoughts about the FDT requirement, several qualitative themes emerged.

Conclusion: This study helps establish a national benchmark for the status of FDT requirements in medical education and revealed information on how to optimize and/or improve such requirements. The authors offer five recommendations for schools to consider regarding FDT.