Faculty Development Program in Hawler Medical University, Iraq: A Qualitative Assessment from Participants’ Perspectives

Aims: The aim of this study was to provide a general description of a newly developed faculty development program in medical education field and assess the program from the participants’ perspectives and experiences.
Study Design: Qualitative study.
Place and Duration of Study: Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Iraq in April 2013.
Methodology: At the end of the faculty development program, the perspectives of 24 participants were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included three open questions; the positive aspects of the program, the negative aspects of the program and suggestions to improve future programs. Thematic analysis was applied for the qualitative data analysis.
Results: The program syllabus and the included topics were positively emphasized by majority of participants. Other positive aspects of the program included the information technology and computer skills part of the program and the role of the program in improving teaching skills. The participants identified a number of negative aspects of the program including having long lectures that sometimes contained extra information that were not directly related to this particular program’s objectives, having some poorly qualified instructors, inconvenience of time schedule to the participants and poor satisfaction with the assessment methods. The participants made a number of suggestions for improving the program with the main emphasis being on revising of the syllabus of the program, training the instructors on advanced teaching methods, changing the time schedule of the program and decreasing the duration of the program to make it brief and informative.
Conclusion: The faculty development program was generally positively received by the participants particularly in terms of its syllabus and contents. However, a number of important concerns were raised that need to be considered by program organizers to make the program more effective and responsive to the needs of the faculty members.