Evaluating and improving clinical instruction.

An empirical method for developing a form to describe and evaluate clinical teaching is presented. The form consists of descriptive statements that characterize teachers nominated by students and faculty as the BEST teachers and that do not characterize those nominated as the WORST teachers. Each instructor receives a profile summarizing the students' ratings of him and compares his teaching effectiveness with that of his colleagues. It is emphasized that teaching evaluations do not in themselves improve teaching but that they can inspire improvement when they are used as a framework for introducing specific new teaching behaviors to instructors during consultations with an independent person such as a psychologist.