Objective To establish a medical imaging teacher competency model and evaluate its application value in group teaching for undergraduates.

Methods Based on literature review, a competency model for teachers in medical colleges and universities was established. This study collected the self-evaluation scores and student evaluation scores of the competency model for teachers from Radiology Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital who participated in the undergraduate medical imaging group teaching from September 2020 to November 2021, and compared the differences of various competencies before and after training, between different professional titles and between different length of teaching.

Results A total of 18 teachers were included in the teaching of undergraduate medical imaging group, with 11 having short teaching experience (≤5 years) and 7 having long teaching experience (> 5 years). Altogether 200 undergraduate students participated in the course (95 in the class of 2016 and 105 in the class of 2017). There were 8 teachers with a junior professional title, 5 with an intermediate professional title, and 5 with a senior professional title. The teacher competency model covered a total of 5 first-level indicators, including medical education knowledge, teaching competency, scientific research competency, organizational competency, and others, which corresponded to 13 second-level indicators. The teachers' self-evaluation scores of two first-level indicators, scientific research competency and organizational competency, as well as three second-level indicators, teaching skills, academic research on teaching and research, and communication abilities, showed significant improvements after the training, compared to those before training(all P < 0.05). Compared to the teachers with intermediate to senior professional titles/long teaching years, the teachers with junior professional titles/short teaching years had lower self-evaluation scores for multiple first-level and second-level indicators before the teacher training. After the training, these teachers showed more significant improvements in multiple indicators of self-evaluation scores(all P < 0.05). Additionally, students' evaluation changes for the teachers with junior professional titles before and after the training were consistent with this trend.

Conclusions The competency model of undergraduate medical imaging teachers based on teacher competency can be preliminarily applied for the training of medical imaging teachers, as it reflects the change of competency of the teachers with different professional titles and teaching years in the process of group teaching.