Needs Assessment for Faculty Development Activities in Medical Schools in Israel

Introduction: Faculty members at medical schools have diverse academic responsibilities, such as teaching, research and administration. The process of training faculty members is known as faculty development (FD). Objective: To describe the perceived needs of teaching staff for FD activities, at two medical schools in Israel. Methods: Faculty members at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and at the Technion were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire that included: background information, formal FD training, perceived level of competence, and interest in participating in FD activities. Results: At BGU 108 faculty members completed the questionnaire (15% response rate), and 129 at the Technion (28.6% response rate). Over 60% of respondents had never participated in any FD activity. Over 50% of respondents expressed interest in participating in most FD activities in most topics evaluated. Discussion: The majority of teachers at medical schools in Israel lack formal training in areas considered essential to their academic performance. In spite of their high sense of competence they are interested in participating in FD activities. Medical schools should allocate resources to develop both national and locally- tailored, comprehensive FD programs, to develop the medical educator of tomorrow. Although the data is not easy to extrapolate to other international realities, it becomes part of the international database for others interested in comparisons between their local reality and the international one.