Physicians' reactions to learning style and personality type inventories

Abstract

There are a multitude of learning style and personality type inventories available for use in the medical setting. We wanted to know how physicians and physician educators view learning style and personality type inventories, i.e. the relative value and usefulness of the inventories from the physician's perspective. Our continuing medical education (CME) intervention consisted of a three-hour workshop on the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI), the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Hemispheric Mode Indicator (HMI). We interviewed participants one month after the workshop regarding their reactions to the inventories, including what it was like for them to take the inventories, whether they felt inventory results are relevant to medical practice and teaching, and their actual and/or anticipated behavioral changes with respect to medical practice and teaching as a result of their participation in the workshop. Physicians found the inventories interesting and fun to take. They thought the styles and types of information were applicable in patient care and education, practice management and administration, and medical education. They generally agreed that one month was not enough time to fully reflect on and act upon the ideas and concepts presented in the workshop. Requests for further information and training on how to use inventory results suggest topics and formats for future CME programming.