Abstract
Background:Needs assessment helps in situation analysis and setting priorities for establishing a faculty development program to ensure quality improvement in education. The objective of this study was to identify areas for faculty development in orderto incorporate them in continuingmedical education program. Methods: It was a cross sectional survey conducted from 2014 to 2015 in Fatima Memorial Hospital College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan. A non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used to include 195 faculty members from Medical & Dental College of all cadres. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire & analysed using SPSS 20.Chi square was applied and p-value of ≤0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: Out of 194 participants, 133 belonged to clinical departments and 61 to basic Sciences, with a higher proportion of female faculty members. (p=0.025).Importance of DME was recognized by 97% clinical and 95.1% basic science faculty.Faculty development program was considered essential by 69.1% of the clinical faculty & 30.9% of the basic faculty. (p=0.185).The priority areas identified wereeducational psychology (p=0.030), teaching skills (p=0.341), assessment techniques (p=0.296), educational research (p=0.849), management skills (p=0.797),work-based ethics & conduction of meeting. (p=0.01& p=0.003). About 71.25% of the clinical teachers and 28.8% of the basic subject teachers have never attended any medical education program (p=0.001).The area of highest motivation was teaching (p=0.002), research (p=0.052), patient care (p=0.001) and administration (p=0.870).Conclusion: This survey reinforces the need of an effective faculty development program targeting training in teaching methodologies and assessment tools.
