To be and to have a critical friend in medical teaching

• Published in: Medical education Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 72 - 78
• Main Authors: Dahlgren, Lars Owe, Eriksson, Björn E, Gyllenhammar, Hans, Korkeila, Maarit, Sääf-Rothoff, Annika, Wernerson, Annika, Seeberger, Astrid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-01-2006; Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; clinical competence; Clinical Competence - standards; clinical competence/standatds; education; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Feasibility Studies; Feedback; Group Processes; Health participants; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; medical; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; methods; Miscellaneous; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; self-evaluation programmes; Self-Evaluation Programs; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Staff Development; staff development/methods; standatds; teaching; Teaching - methods; Teaching - standards; undergraduate; undergraduate/methods; Human; medical; Methodology; undergraduate/methods; teaching/standards; clinical competence/ standatds;staff development/methods; feedback; self-evaluation programmes; Self evaluation; Physician; Feedback regulation; Standards; Teaching; Medicine; Friendship; Education; Development; Public health
• ISSN: 0308-0110; 1365-2923; 1365-2923
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02349.x

Background  In order to stimulate reflection and continuous professional development, a model of critical friends evaluating each other was introduced in medical education.
Objective  To investigate whether the critical friend concept can serve as a pragmatic model for evaluation of medical teachers and as a fruitful tool for enhancing self‐knowledge and professional development among medical educators.
Methods  Three pairs of critical friends were formed, consisting of experienced medical teachers (n = 6) at the Karolinska Institutet. Each teacher was assigned to give 1 lecture and 1 seminar in his or her specific research or clinical field. The critical friend evaluated the performance in class, acting as an observer using a pre‐formed protocol. The evaluation was communicated to the teacher during a 45‐minute session within 48 hours after the teaching session. Each of the 6 teachers was criticised and gave criticism within the pair configurance. The outcome of the process was evaluated by an experimenter, not participating in the process, who performed a semistructured interview with each of the 6 teachers.
Results  Each teacher had a different way of reflecting on teaching after the project than before and made changes in his or her way of teaching. We also noted that being a critical friend may be even more effective than having one. The majority of the feedback provided was positive and valuable.
Conclusion  To be and to have a critical friend is worth the extra workload. Therefore, the critical friend concept should be made part of regular teaching practice.