The teacher simulation exercise: changes in physician teaching emphasis and strategy.  The SGIM Task Force on the Medical Interview. 
The objective of the study was to determine the effect of a faculty development course in teaching medical interviewing on participants' ability to provide effective feedback to interviewers.  The study used a non-concurrent control group design which randomized subjects into two groups before the intervention.  The two groups completed different pre-tests; each group then completed the other group's pre-test as its post-test.  The post-course scores of one group were compared with the pre-course scores of the other group to establish differences.  The research was conducted at the 1985 faculty development course sponsored by the SGIM Task Force on the Medical Interview.  49 of 52 teachers of medical interviewing attending the course completed the study.  The week-long intervention consisted of a variety of educational activities which assisted the participants in defining and actively pursuing their learning objectives in interviewing, teaching, and self-awareness.  In their assessment of two videotaped segments of initial medical visits, participants were more likely after the course to comment on the interviewer's lack of attention to patient affect (69.0% versus 27.2%, p = 0.005 in one segment) and somewhat more likely to identify teaching strategies that actively involved the interviewer (47.2% vs. 35.0%, p = 0.09 in one segment).  Both shifts were congruent with assessments made by course faculty.  Faculty development can influence teachers to recognize the need to provide feedback on skills that expert teachers would emphasize.  The non-concurrent control group design provides an innovative approach to common constraints in evaluating faculty development courses.