Development of the Faculty 360

• DOI: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10174
• Publication Date: 2015-08-24T13:47:19Z
• Authors: Erin Dehon; Kimberly Simpson; David Fowler; Alan Jones
• Keywords: Medicine (General); 4. Education; Assessment; Faculty; L; Feedback; Education; 03 medical and health sciences; R5-920; 0302 clinical medicine; Multi-Source; Evaluation; 360 Degree

Abstract This 360-degree evaluation for faculty is a multisource feedback tool designed to provide an assessment of faculty in the following areas: leadership, communication, flexibility and efficiency, teaching, professionalism, and contribution to the three missions of the university (research, education, and clinical service). The Faculty 360 consists of five instruments developed for completion by peers, residents, nurses, consultants, and self. The purpose of the Faculty 360 is to facilitate self-improvement by identifying specific behaviors and relative strengths and weaknesses that can be modified or further developed. The data obtained from the Faculty 360 are intended to provide the faculty member with helpful feedback in order to guide professional improvement. Our program started using the Faculty 360 in winter 2014. So far, data have been collected on 15 of 21 faculty members. Anecdotal evidence from the chair of the department suggests that the Faculty 360 is useful in guiding the provision of feedback to faculty. He also noted that the results were received favorably by the faculty evaluated. This is consistent with the results of a survey. After receiving faculty feedback from the chair, faculty were sent a brief survey about their intent to use the 360-degree feedback received. All faculty who completed the survey reported that they agreed (n = 3) or strongly agreed (n = 1) with the statement “I intend to use the feedback I received,” although this was based on small sample. A review of the data shows that the mean individual item scores ranged from 2.83 to 7.00. This represents an improvement from our previous evaluations, which seemed to produce inflated scores with little variability. The majority of scores on our previous evaluation tool were 4s (on a 4-point scale), and the average score was 3.75. Future plans are aimed at examining the impact of 360-degree feedback on faculty performance.