To learn to see

Many medical students in the United States are entering residency without the skills that they need to provide safe patient care. The responsibility for preparing medical students for residency rests on undergraduate medical educators, many of whom lack formal training as educators, and who, as a result, many not see themselves as educators capable of impacting student learning. If medical school faculty do not see themselves as educators, they may not be able to successfully prepare students to enter their residences with the appropriate skills they need to provide safe, high-quality patient care. The purpose of this proposed study was to explore the process of professional identity formation for undergraduate medical educators, including what factors support or hinder these faculty in the development of their professional identities, how faculty development might impact the process of their identity formation, and how their identity as educators impacts their teaching practice. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods case study design, the researcher explored the process of professional identity formation for undergraduate medical educators at the Case Based School of Medicine (KPSOM). The study was designed to answer the following research questions: How do didactic and clinical medical school faculty see themselves as educators? How do medical school faculty construct their professional identities as educators? What role, if any, does faculty development play in the formation of the professional identities of medical educators? What is the perceived impact of professional identity on the teaching practice of medical educators? Primary data collection methods included a researcher-developed quantitative survey tool that focuses on participants' primary professional identity and their sense of being an educator while conducting various educational activities and semi-structured interviews that explored the quantitative findings. The findings revealed that although most medical educators do not see themselves primarily as educators, they do see themselves as educators to some degree. This is especially true when they are interacting with students and with the peers. The findings also revealed that participating in faculty development makes medical school faculty feel like educators, and the degree to which they feel like an educator impacts their confidence in the classroom.