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AbstractResidents undergo professional identity formation during training, and the integration of a teacher identity into that of a clinician is part of this process. We aimed to measure the teacher identity of incoming interns of various specialties. In this cross-sectional, survey-based study, we modified a validated teacher identity scale and distributed it to residents attending orientation at a large, academic institution. A total of 297 residents took the survey, including 272 interns; 80% (218/272) of interns completed the survey and permitted use of their data. The mean score for global teacher identity was 4.16 (SD 0.67) on a 1 to 5 Likert scale. There were significant differences between interns’ current self-assessed teaching abilities and their desired future performance as teachers (P< 0.001 for all domains). Male interns had higher global teacher identity scores (4.27) than female interns (4.05; P =0.02). There were no differences in global teacher identity between interns in medical, surgical, and supportive specialties. Interns who had participated in a student-as-teacher program in medical school had higher global teacher identity (P< 0.001) than those who had not. In conclusion, teacher identity is high in incoming interns, with higher scores in men and in those who completed student-as-teacher programs in medical school.

ABSTRACTBackground Increasing demands on residents' time have made it critically important to maximize the effectiveness of didactic activities and motivate independent study.Objective Our aim was to correlate characteristics of noon conferences with internal medicine (IM) residents' ratings of perceived effectiveness and intent to pursue independent reading.Methods We assessed characteristics of each noon conference by direct observation using predetermined metrics. We surveyed IM residents to assess their perception of the conference's effectiveness and their intention to pursue additional reading. A variety of modeling techniques were used to discern meaningful correlations of effectiveness and motivation.Results A total of 649 evaluations of 29 conferences were submitted by 153 of 185 (83) residents in the program. Median effectiveness score was 6 (on a scale of 1 to 7). Clinicopathological conferences had 0.55-point higher effectiveness scores than traditional conferences (P .011). In multivariable analyses focusing on traditional conferences, summary statement inclusion was significantly associated with 0.43-point higher effectiveness scores (P .016), and having resident speakers was associated with 0.50-point higher effectiveness scores than unfamiliar faculty (P .045). Conferences with higher effectiveness scores had significantly higher proportions of respondents indicating intention to read.Conclusions This is the first study to quantitatively assess correlations of high effectiveness ratings of noon conferences in a residency program. Intention to read improved with increasing effectiveness scores of conferences, suggesting residents are more inclined to pursue self-directed learning when topics are well presented. Considering these attributes in designs of didactic sessions may enhance their educational value.