Program Evaluation in Health Professions Education: An Innovative Approach Guided by Principles

Program evaluation approaches that center the achievement of specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals are common in health professions education (HPE) but can be challenging to articulate when evaluating emergent programs. Principles-focused evaluation is an alternative approach to program evaluation that centers on adherence to guiding principles, not achievement of goals. The authors describe their innovative application of principles-focused evaluation to an emergent HPE program. APPROACH: The authors applied principles-focused evaluation to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Medical Education Collaboratory, a works-in-progress program for HPE scholarship. In September 2019, the authors drafted 3 guiding principles. In May 2021, they used feedback from Collaboratory attendees to revise the guiding principles: Advance Excellence, Build Bridges, and Cultivate Learning. OUTCOMES: In July 2021, the authors queried participants about the extent to which their experience with the Collaboratory adhered to the revised guiding principles. Twenty of the 38 Collaboratory participants (53%) responded to the survey. Regarding the guiding principle Advance Excellence, 9 respondents (45%) reported that the Collaboratory facilitated engagement in scholarly conversation only by a small extent, and 8 (40%) reported it facilitated professional growth only by a small extent. Although some respondents expressed positive regard for the high degree of rigor promoted by the Collaboratory, others felt discouraged because this degree of rigor seemed unachievable. Regarding the guiding principle Build Bridges, 19 (95%) reported the Collaboratory welcomed perspectives within the group. Regarding the guiding principle Cultivate Learning, 19 (95%) indicated the Collaboratory welcomed perspectives within the group and across disciplines, and garnered collaboration. NEXT STEPS: Next steps include improving adherence to the principle of Advancing Excellence, fostering a shared mental model of the Collaboratory’s guiding principles, and applying a principles-focused approach to the evaluation of multi-site HPE programs.