A Comparison of Medical Student and Resident Assessments of Internal Medicine Faculty

Background: Learner assessments of attendings are used for self-improvement, academic promotion, and teaching awards, as well as remediation. If assessment differences exist between learners, this could help inform faculty development and institutional evaluation policies. Objective: To compare medical student and resident assessments of internal medicine attendings' teaching. Methods: Ten years (2013-2023) of medical student and resident end-of-rotation assessments of internal medicine attendings were evaluated, excluding faculty who weren't rated at least 10 times by both students and residents. Students and residents rated attendings in 9 domains, with 5 overlapping (overall, clarity, rapport, communication, and feedback). We analyzed data using mixed-effects ordered logistic regression with random effects adjustment for clustering on faculty. Results: There were 35 433 assessments of 496 faculty by 2520 medical students and 1847 residents. Residents rated faculty higher in all domains assessed (overall teaching effectiveness OR=1.39, 99% CI, 1.29-1.49; clarity OR=1.37, 99% CI, 1.27-1.47; rapport OR=2.24, 99% CI, 2.07-2.41; decisions OR=1.48, 99% CI, 1.38-1.59; feedback OR=1.27, 99% CI, 1.19-1.37). Most ratings of overall effectiveness were excellent (medical students: 60%; residents: 67%), and ratings increased from learners from the third-year medical students through senior internal medicine residents. Conclusions: Most attendings' teaching was rated as "excellent" in all domains assessed. Higher level of trainee was associated with higher faculty ratings in all domains.