The evolution of teaching education in the health area

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance through time of the Centro de Investigación Educativa y Formación Docente (Educational Research and Teaching Education Center) at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Institute of Social Security), Nuevo León Office using as an indicator the ability for critical reading of theoretical texts of education. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study was made among professors with and without teaching education, as well as among the several generations of professors that took teaching education courses at the Centro de Investigación Educativa y Formación Docente. A previously validated instrument was used to measure the ability for critical reading. It was applied to 358 professors, 107 with teaching education at the Centro de Investigación Educativa y Formación Docente in Monterrey and 251 without teaching education, at the IMSS Nuevo León Office. RESULTS: It was found that the previous teaching education constitutes a "positive risk" with an odds ratio of 17.66 (CI 9.02-34.12). Statistically significant differences were also found between not educated professors (median of 15) and educated professors (median of 35). In the scale, the grades at random and very low predominated in not educated professors, while the educated ones were located in the low and average. CONCLUSION: Professors at the Centro de Investigación Educativa y Formación Docente are improving their teaching labor using research as a means of self-criticism.