Evaluation of faculty teaching and student knowledge in obstetrics and gynecology

The primary purpose of a faculty evaluation program is to improve the overall quality of teaching by identifying the strengths and weakness of the individual teacher and the levels of student knowledge, especially in medical schools with multiple hospital affiliations. Oral examinations given only at the end of the clinical clerkship have been shown to be a poor measure of knowledge acquired, and tend to reflect the motivation of each affiliated department. Therefore, it was decided to evaluate teaching by a more objective system of examinations based on a uniform multiple choice question examination covering the program of the clinical year of the medical school. The mean mark was 65% (range 25-96%) and was lower than in the previous years and when compared to the oral examination, still being used as the sole parameter for evaluation in another discipline. No significant differences were found between seven affiliated teaching departments, reflecting careful agreement on teaching material at previous meetings of the departmental tutors. A computer item analysis system revealed that the teaching overstressed obstetrics in its various components, while oncology, sterility and basic sciences were not covered sufficiently. Most of the questions were found to be well balanced and could be stored in a data bank for future use. The reliability test had a high rating of 0.87. It is concluded that a well conducted and carefully chosen multiple choice written examination is of importance in gaining objective information as to the level of student knowledge and the efficiency of the teaching staff in various affiliated departments.