Growing medical educators in the Pacific. How do knowledge and skills learned transfer to Fijian clinicians teaching practice?

Background: Medical education workshops have been conducted in the Pacific since 2015 to improve clinical
teaching and supervision. Systematic reviews, however, around faculty development recommend more qualitative
research on ‘How’ workshops can change teaching practice. Fiji provided a unique low-resource setting for this
research as faculty development is in its infancy.
Summary of Work: A qualitative case study was conducted to explore how Fijian clinicians translate knowledge and
skills learnt in a medical education workshop to their teaching practice. Data were collected from nine clinicians
through reflective journals, interviews, lesson plans and videos of teaching over four months followed by thematic
data analysis.
Summary of Results: Six themes were identified that represented the clinicians’ journey to changing their teaching
practice: 1) Perception of the workshop; 2) Evolving teaching philosophy; 3) Changing practice; 4) Teachers’
perception of responses from the students; 5) Inhibitors to change; and 6) Enablers of change.
Discussion: Based on the findings, a model of change was developed and reviewed against current educational
change and medical education literature to provide a series of actionable recommendations for faculty
development in low-resource settings like the Pacific.
Conclusion: To facilitate a change in teaching behaviours the background influences of the culture of the
organisation, the individual experiences of the clinical teacher, the enablers and barriers to change should be
considered to ensure faculty development is evolving and relevant. Furthermore, the clinical teachers require
support through mentoring, feedback and collaboration to facilitate positive change.
Take home Message: Faculty development resulting in changed behaviour in Fiji is complex and requires
consultation, support, reflection and feedback to meet the needs of the institution and individual.