A Study on Educational Accountability of Faculty in Medical Schools

Abstract

Purpose: A college or university faculty can be regarded as an educator, researcher, and service provider. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accountability of medical school professors focusing on the educational duties and to propose the solution and strategy for accountability evaluation of medical school faculty. Methods: The study used questionnaires which was developed in five big categories asking basic information of the faculty, educational activities, subject of the accountability evaluation, and the primary disturbing factor in accomplishing the educational accountability. The questionnaires were asked to 61 faculty members in Yonsei University College of Medicine. Results: The accountability importance of the medical school faculty was research (37.13%), teaching (31.80%), practice medicine (21.97%) and service (9.10%). Much weight was given for research (40.00%) and education (19.42%). The faculty concentrated mostly on delivering learning objectives as their educational activities. The biggest problem affecting the faculty from concentrating on educational accountability was the over workload. Insufficient incentives and lack of interest in education came next. The faculty also showed dissatisfaction with the obscurity of accountability assessment in operation, uniformity of the measurement and the absence of objective assessment standard. Conclusion: Medical schools need to create an environment in support of the faculty to focus on the educational activities. And when evaluating their accountability, the assessment standards need to be systematized and differentiated according to their specialities.