A controlled trial to compare the teaching quality of clinical-skills training faculty: the clinician-educator career path in China.

Background: Full-time clinician educators are becoming more predominant in China, yet their effect is unknown.

Purposes: The purpose of this study was to compare the teaching quality of full-time (FT) faculty with that of part-time (PT) faculty in one Chinese medical school.

Methods: In 3 consecutive years, 881 3rd year medical students were enrolled and randomly distributed into two groups, being taught by either a FT faculty member or a PT faculty member. Their teaching quality was evaluated with student performance on a written exam, the standardized patient exam, and student satisfaction.

Results: The students in the FT group always scored better on the written exam (1st year = 79.82 ± 9.2 vs. 81.26 ± 8.2, p < .188; 2nd year = 73.10 ± 9.8 vs. 76.51 ± 7.9, p = .001; 3rd year = 75.15 ± 9.0 vs. 79.51 ± 8.7, p < .0001). In the standardized patient exam, the students from FT groups always showed better performance in history taking and physical examination. Students continually gave higher evaluations to FT faculty in questionnaires (1st year = 76.8 ± 6.5 vs. 84.3 ± 2.2; 2nd year = 78.6 ± 3.9 vs. 89.7 ± 4.2; 3rd year = 75.8 ± 3.9 vs. 88.5 ± 3.5, all ps < .001).

Conclusions: The teaching quality of FT faculty in clinical-skills training is better than PT faculty in this study.