Evaluation of faculty: are medical students and faculty on the same page?

Student evaluation of individual teachers is important in the quality improvement cycle. The aim of this study was to explore medical student and faculty perceptions of teacher evaluation in the light of dwindling participation in online evaluations. This study was conducted at the United Arab Emirates University College of Medicine and Health Sciences between September 2010 and June 2011. A 21-item questionnaire was used to investigate learner and faculty perceptions of teacher evaluation in terms of purpose, etiquette, confidentiality and outcome on a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was completed by 54% of faculty and 23% of students. Faculty and students generally concurred that teachers should be evaluated by students but believed that the purpose of the evaluation should be explained. Despite acknowledging the confidentiality of online evaluation, faculty members were less sure that they would not recognise individual comments. While students perceived that the culture allowed objective evaluation, faculty members were less convinced. Although teachers claimed to take evaluation seriously, with Medical Sciences faculty members in particular indicating that they changed their teaching as a result of feedback, students were unsure whether teachers responded to feedback. Despite agreement on the value of evaluation, differences between faculty and student perceptions emerged in terms of confidentiality and whether evaluation led to improved practice. Educating both teachers and learners regarding the purpose of evaluation as a transparent process for quality improvement is imperative

Medical students learning communication skills in a second language. Empathy and expectations

Communication skills [CS] training for medical interviewing is increasingly being conducted in English at medical schools worldwide. In this study, we sought to identify whether Arabic-speaking medical students experienced difficulty with the different components of the CS training that were conducted in English. Individual third-year preclinical medical students [N = 45] were videotaped while interviewing simulated patients. Each student assessed his/her performance on a 13-item [5-point scale] assessment form, which was also completed by the tutor and other students in the group. Of the 13 components of their CS training, tutors awarded the lowest marks for students' abilities to express empathy, ask about patients' feelings, use transition statements, ask about functional impact, and elicit patients' expectations [P <0.001]. The expression of empathy and the ability to elicit patients' feelings and expectations are difficult to develop in medical students learning CS in a second language