QUANTIFYING FACULTY TEACHING TIME IN A DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

Objective: The goal of this project was to develop a reproducible syst em that measures quantity and quality of teaching in unduplicated hour s, such that comparisons of teaching activities could be drawn within and across departments. Such a system could be used for allocating tea ching monies and for assessing teaching as part of the promotion and t enure process. Methods: Various teaching activities, including time sp ent in clinic, rounds, and doing procedures, were enumerated. The facu lty were surveyed about their opinions on the proportion of clinical t ime spent in teaching. The literature also was reviewed. Results: Base d on analysis of the faculty survey and the literature, a series of ca lculations were developed to divide clinical time among resident teach ing, medical student teaching, and patient care. The only input needed was total time spent in the various clinical activities, time spent i n didactic activities, and the resident procedure database. Conclusion : This article describes a simple and fair database system to calculat e time spent teaching from activities such as clinic, ward rounds, lab or and delivery, and surgery. The teaching portfolio database calculat es teaching as a proportion of the faculty member's total activities. The end product is a report that provides a reproducible yearly summar y of faculty teaching time per activity and per type of learner. (Obst et Gynecol 1998;92:633-8. (C) 1998 by The American College of Obstetri cians and Gynecologists.).