Faculty development to enhance humanistic teaching and role modeling: A collaborative study at eight institutions

Background: There is increased emphasis on practicing humanism in medicine but explicit methods for faculty development in humanism are rare. Objective: We sought to demonstrate improved faculty teaching and role modeling of humanistic and professional values by participants in a multi-institutional faculty development program as rated by their learners in clinical settings compared to contemporaneous controls. Design: Blinded learners in clinical settings rated their clinical teachers, either participants or controls, on the previously validated 10-item Humanistic Teaching Practices Effectiveness (HTPE) questionnaire. Participants: Groups of 7-9 participants at 8 academic medical centers completed an 18-month faculty development program. Participating faculty were chosen by program facilitators at each institution on the basis of being promising teachers, willing to participate in the longitudinal faculty development program. Intervention: Our 18-month curriculum combined experiential learning of teaching skills with critical reflection using appreciative inquiry narratives about their experiences as teachers and other reflective discussions. Main Measures: The main outcome was the aggregate score of the ten items on the questionnaire at all institutions. Key Results: The aggregate score favored participants over controls (P=0.019) independently of gender, experience on faculty, specialty area, and/or overall teaching skills. Conclusions: Longitudinal, intensive faculty development that employs experiential learning and critical reflection likely enhances humanistic teaching and role modeling. Almost all participants completed the program. Results are generalizable to other schools.