Barriers to scholarship in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy practice faculty

Barriers to Scholarship Among Health Profession Faculty at a Public Institution of Higher Learning

Like any other career, pursuing a career in academia comes with positives and negatives. Faculty members teaching in higher education come from various backgrounds, with different skill sets and training. While barriers to scholarly production exist at many levels, and for various reasons, not much is known about faculty members teaching in clinical and health professions programs mainly due to the limited availability of data on this topic. This research aimed to explore the barriers to scholarly productivity faced by faculty members teaching in health professions programs at a public academic institution. A qualitative inductive approach using thematic analysis was used for this research. Participants from the Physician Assistant, Nursing, Clinical Laboratory Science, Occupational Therapy, and Social Work programs were recruited to share their experiences through an in-depth, one-on-one interview. Four main themes emerged from the data regarding barriers to scholarship among health profession faculty members. These are the need for mentorship, resource availability, time constraints, and the lack of discipline-specific guidance. Navigating the reappointment, tenure, and promotion grid can be challenging for many in academia, particularly those new to the profession. It is important for academic institutions to provide faculty members with the flexibility, tools, resources, and appropriate mentorship to boost their buy-in, morale, productivity, and self-esteem, all of which are expected to create a positive environment within the institution.

Gender inequality among the editorial boards of periodontology and implantology journals

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was to investigate gender composition of the editorial board members of the journals in the field of periodontology and implantology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A rigorous search was performed through Web of Science database to identify journals, scoping on the periodontology and implantology research fields. Data on journal's demographic information, gender of the editorial board members were gathered from the journals fulfilling the predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Variables including journal impact factor and quartiles were extracted as well.

RESULTS

The proportion of women in the editorial team in periodontology journals was 27.3%, whereas it was almost 19% in implantology journals. As for editorial leadership, these ratios were 22.1% and 19.8%, respectively. There were significantly less women than men in editor-in-chief position in periodontology journals (p = 0.042). Journal metrics had no impact on the gender distribution of editor-in-chief positions in both fields.

CONCLUSIONS

Women seem to be under-represented as editorial leaders or board members in journals of periodontology and implantology. The proportion of women in periodontology journals has increased in the last decade; however, there is still a clear need for further increase to have a gender balance.

Pulling back the curtain: Exploring norms and practices among a sample of anatomy-related departments in U.S. medical schools

Anatomy-related departments have access to comparative research productivity data (e.g., Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research), yet no datasets exist for comparing departments' general practices pertinent to education-focused faculty. Practice trends in anatomy-related departments across U.S. medical schools were explored by surveying departmental leaders. The survey inquired about: (i) faculty time allocations, (ii) anatomy teaching services, (iii) faculty labor distribution models, and (iv) faculty compensation practices. A nationally representative sample of 35 departments (of 194) responded to the survey. On average, anatomy educators are allotted 24% (median = 15%) protected time for research, irrespective of funding, 62% for teaching and course administration (median = 68%), 12% for service, and 2% for administration. Forty-four percent (15 of 34) of departments taught at least five different student populations, often across multiple colleges. Many departments (65%; 11 of 17) applied formulaic methods for determining faculty workloads, often as a function of course credits or contact hours. Average base salaries for assistant and associate professors reported by this survey were consistent (p ≥ 0.056) with national means (i.e., Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Faculty Salary Report). Merit-based increases and bonuses averaged 5% and 10% of faculty's salaries, respectively, when awarded. Cost-of-living increases averaged 3%. Overall, departments' workload and compensation practices vary widely, likely a consequence of different institutional cultures, locations, needs, and financial priorities. This sample dataset allows anatomy-related departments to compare and reflect upon their practices and competitiveness in recruiting and retaining faculty.

Barriers and enablers to scholarship for post basic nursing students in clinical service

BACKGROUND

Clinical scholarship is defined as an approach that enables evidence-based nursing and the development of best practices to meet the needs of clients efficiently and effectively. However, there are many barriers that impede its progress.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to identify the barriers and enablers to scholarship for post basic nursing students in clinical service areas.

METHOD

This multimethods study used a structured questionnaire followed by semi-structured individual interviews of post basic nursing students and their lecturers (nurse educators).

RESULTS

The 81 students who completed the questionnaire indicated a lack of support or funding assistance and mentoring, as well as no mechanisms to reward or recognise scholarship as top barriers to clinical scholarship. Top enablers were noticed as reward mechanisms in place, more protected time and availability of role models and mentoring. Twelve respondents engaged in the qualitative phase and three categories emerged from the data, namely (1) resource dependent, (2) 'what's the use of research', (3) making a change.

CONCLUSION

It has been shown that there is a need to adopt and promote a culture of clinical scholarship to ensure that the best available evidence is being utilised by nurses to effectively manage their patients; however, to support clinical scholarship, resources are needed.Contribution: This study highlighted the lack of funding and resources as being a major barrier to scholarship, together with an institutional culture that did not promote clinical scholarship. Providing protected time, mentoring and criteria for promotion and reward based on scholarship is viewed as enabling.

Evaluation of Scholarship Motivators and Barriers for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in a Department of Pharmacy Practice

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 2016 set explicit expectations for faculty scholarship. However, many non-tenure-track faculty have struggled with the scholarship portion of the academic tripart mission of clinical practice, teaching, and scholarship. Therefore, we sought to identify themes regarding the barriers, motivators, and potential solutions associated with non-tenure-track faculty scholarship. Four focus group interviews were held via videoconference during July 2021, which consisted of non-tenure-track faculty within the TTUHSC Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy. Each focus group answered a standard script of questions that were evaluated for face validity over a 30-60 min session. Twenty-two non-tenure-track faculty members (47% response) participated in one of the four focus group interviews. The four common barriers were insufficient time, lack of acknowledgment, obscurity of scholarship expectations, and a lack of resources and support. Scholarship's lasting impact on academia, students, and clinical practice was the one common motivator identified by the groups. The barriers identified were not unique to our faculty, despite the unique four-city structure of our program. Actions have continued to be taken to help address the barriers and potential solutions identified by the focus groups. In summary, our results echo that non-tenure-track faculty need more time and training to help them feel like they can meet institutional scholarship requirements.

Scholarly practice in healthcare professions: findings from a scoping review

Scholarly practitioners are broadly defined as healthcare professionals that address critical practice problems using theory, scientific evidence, and practice-based knowledge. Though scholarly practice is included in most competency frameworks, it is unclear what scholarly practice is, how it develops and how it is operationalized in clinical practice. The aim of this review was to determine what is known about scholarly practice in healthcare professionals. We conducted a scoping review and searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL from inception to May 2020. We included papers that explored, described, or defined scholarly practice, scholar or scholarly practitioner, and/or related concepts in healthcare professionals. We included a total of 90 papers. Thirty percent of papers contained an explicit definition of scholarly practice. Conceptualizations of scholarly practice were organized into three themes: the interdependent relationship between scholarship and practice; advancing the profession's field; and core to being a healthcare practitioner. Attributes of scholarly practitioners clustered around five themes: commitment to excellence in practice; collaborative nature; presence of virtuous characteristics; effective communication skills; and adaptive change ethos. No single unified definition of scholarly practice exists within the literature. The variability in terms used to describe scholarly practice suggests that it is an overarching concept rather than a definable entity. There are similarities between scholarly practitioners and knowledge brokers regarding attributes and how scholarly practice is operationalized. Individuals engaged in the teaching, research and/or assessment of scholarly practice should make explicit their definitions and expectations for healthcare professionals.

What Does It Mean to Be a Clinical Track Faculty Member in Public Health? A Survey of Clinical Track Faculty Across the United States

OBJECTIVES

The clinical professor track has expanded and reflects a trend toward hiring non-tenure-track faculty in public health; however, little is known about this track. We documented characteristics of clinical faculty at US schools of public health.

METHODS

We surveyed clinical faculty at Council on Education for Public Health-accredited schools of public health in the United States in 2019, identified via each school's website. We invited faculty (n = 264) who had the word clinical in their title (ie, apparently eligible faculty), had a working email address, and were not authors of this article to provide information about their rank, degree credentials, expectations for teaching, service, research and practice, and promotion criteria at their institution. In addition, we used open-ended responses to explain and contextualize quantitative data.

RESULTS

Of 264 apparently eligible faculty surveyed, 88 (33.3%) responded. We included 81 eligible clinical faculty in our final sample, of whom 46 (56.8%) were assistant professors and 72 (88.9%) had a terminal degree; 57 of 80 (71.3%) had an initial contract of ≤2 years or no contract. Most clinical faculty listed service (96.2%), teaching (95.0%), and student advising/mentoring (86.3%) as duties; fewer clinical faculty reported research (55.0%), practice (33.8%), or clinic (7.5%) duties. Only 37.1% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that promotion policies for clinical track faculty were clear.

CONCLUSIONS

If most clinical faculty are at the lowest academic rank, with short contracts and unclear expectations, it will be difficult for clinical faculty to advance and challenging for schools of public health to benefit from this track. Clear institutional expectations for scope of work and promotion may enhance the contribution of clinical faculty to schools of public health and help define this track.

The impact of failure on faculty development

INTRODUCTION

Failure is an inevitable outcome in life. Even though this is a commonly accepted fact, the environment in academic pharmacy has stigmatized failure. This stigmatization potentially stunts faculty development if inappropriate coping strategies evolve and skills such as creativity and problem solving do not flourish.

COMMENTARY

There is an opportunity for pharmacy academia, especially faculty, to assume a new lens when examining failure. The authors will examine the impact of failure on active learning and scholarship.

IMPLICATION

Despite the many challenges and apprehensions that surround the concept of failure, it is important that academia reframes failure. This new perspective can positively view failure as a progressive mechanism by creating novel solutions to challenges in academia and demonstrating to pharmacy students that failure is something to embrace as a learning tool.

Preparing for tenure at a research-intensive university

At research-intensive universities in the United States, eligible faculty must generally excel in research, teaching and service in order to receive tenure. To meet these high standards, junior faculty should begin planning for a strong tenure case from their first day on the job. Here, we provide practical information, commentary and advice on how biomedical faculty at research-intensive institutions can prepare strategically for a successful tenure review.

Dissemination of Quality Improvement Project Results After Local Presentation

Among quality improvement (QI) projects submitted for local presentation, the authors sought to understand how often project results were eventually disseminated through national/international presentation or peer-reviewed journal publication. Projects submitted for local presentation from 2016 to 2019 were linked to resulting publications or national/international conference presentations. Submitting authors were surveyed about their intentions, experience, and satisfaction with the process of disseminating their project results. Of 83 projects, 5 were published and another 10 were presented nationally/internationally. External dissemination was more likely with fewer project cycles and cost-focused outcomes. Survey responses indicated that most project leaders wanted to see their results published but held mixed opinions about resources and encouragement available to reach this goal. Few QI projects submitted for local presentation resulted in wider dissemination of project results. Sharing results and lessons learned beyond the local institution requires long-term planning, education, and support beginning early in the QI process.

Understanding community family medicine preceptors' involvement in educational scholarship: perceptions, influencing factors and promising areas for action

BACKGROUND

Residency training is increasingly occurring in community settings. The opportunity for community-based scholarship is untapped and substantial. We explored Community Family Medicine Preceptors' understanding of Educational Scholarship (ES), looked at barriers and enablers to ES, and identified opportunities to promote the growth of ES in this setting.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen purposively chosen community-based Family Medicine preceptors in a distributed Canadian family medicine program.

RESULTS

Community Family Medicine Preceptors strongly self-identify as clinical teachers. They are not well acquainted with the definition of ES, but recognize themselves as scholars. Community Family Medicine Preceptors recognize ES has significant value to themselves, their patients, communities, and learners. Most Community Family Medicine Preceptors were interested and willing to invest in ES, but lack of time and scarcity of primary care research experience were seen as barriers. Research process support and a connection to the academic center were considered enablers. Opportunities to promote the growth of ES include recognition that there are fundamental differences between community and academic sites, the development of a mentorship program, and a process to encourage engagement.

CONCLUSIONS

Community Family Medicine Preceptors identify foremost as clinician teachers. They are engaged in and recognize the value of ES to their professional community at large and to their patients and learners. There is a growing commitment to the development of ES in the community.

Stimulating and sustaining scholarly activity at teaching-intensive institutions

INTRODUCTION

Research and scholarship are core elements of the academic mission. Yet fulfilling institutional and accreditation requirements for scholarly activity can be challenging, particularly for teaching-intensive institutions. This paper describes strategies for employing a teacher-scholar model to stimulate and sustain scholarly activity.

METHODS

Metrics of scholarly productivity were programmatically assessed and reported for at least five years following implementation of sixteen different strategic initiatives at three teaching-intensive colleges of pharmacy. Data reported included publications (original peer-reviewed publications, case reports, review articles), presentations (posters, podiums, and continuing education sessions), peer-reviewed published abstracts, grants awarded, and total extramural funding per annum. Faculty and student engagement in scholarship was indicated by authorship on at least one scholarly work.

RESULTS

Broad increases in metrics of scholarly productivity were observed, while the timing and degree of change varied (1.4-fold to 10.4-fold, across all institutions, all years). Notably, the most robust growth was observed in grantsmanship and the number of faculty and student contributors to scholarly works. A key observation was that increased scholarly output was sustained, as during the most recent three-year period publications increased 1.6-fold, grants and extramural funding increased 3.4- and 15.8-fold, respectively, and faculty and student contributors increased 1.8- and 4.5-fold, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, these data point to a substantive, detailed approach for increasing scholarship at diverse, teaching-intensive institutions by implementing cost-conscious strategies, including clear ties between scholarly effort/productivity and faculty performance/advancement, strong faculty development and mentoring, institutional commitments to infrastructure and research budgets, and student engagement in scholarly activities.

Equity for and Inclusion of Non-Tenure-Track Pharmacy Faculty Within Academia

Although there are at least twice as many non-tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty as tenured and tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty entering academia based on data collected from 2013 to 2019, there are ongoing equity, inclusion, and advancement issues between these categories of faculty that require consideration. Contracts with clear descriptions of responsibilities are needed along with regular evaluations and promotion opportunities based on the faculty member's performance of the assigned responsibilities, appropriate compensation including fringe benefits, inclusion in institutional voting and governance, and due process protections against abrupt termination. Further, universities and schools and colleges of pharmacy should foster a culture that values all faculty regardless of rank or position. The purpose of this commentary is to describe ongoing efforts and lessons learned by one public university with a college of pharmacy that has non-tenure-track and tenure-track faculty. Our hope is to provide insight into how these experiences could be used as a basis to inform changes in policy by other universities with a school or college of pharmacy, as well as to inform possible changes to the Academy's policies.

Ten Tips for Pharmacy Faculty Members for Successfully Navigating Promotion and Tenure

This paper presents 10 key tips or recommendations for successful navigation of the promotion and tenure process. The 10 key tips are: know institutional expectations, develop an action plan at least two to three years in advance; identify your balance of teaching, scholarship, service; synergize activities and develop a niche; prioritize time to activities of high-impact to promotion and tenure; track achievements in the format expected for promotion and tenure application; seek out faculty guidance on promotion and tenure; meet with mentor(s) regularly to review progress; have a well-written personal statement; and have your final dossier reviewed by colleagues. Faculty members are more likely to be successful through timely and appropriate planning, balancing and synergizing activities, tracking activities and achievements, developing a well-written personal statement, and requesting help from experienced colleagues.

Shaping a Culture for Continuous Quality Improvement in Undergraduate Medical Education

PURPOSE

This study sought to identify key features of an organizational quality culture and explore how these features contribute to continuous quality improvement of undergraduate medical education.

METHOD

Between July and December 2018, researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands conducted a multicenter focus group study among 6 education quality advisory committees. Participants were 22 faculty and 18 student representatives affiliated with 6 medical schools in the Netherlands. The group interviews focused on quality culture characteristics in relation to optimizing educational development, implementation, evaluation, and (further) improvement. Template analysis, a stepwise type of thematic analysis, was applied to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Five main themes resembling quality culture constituents to continuous educational improvement were identified: (1) fostering an open systems perspective, (2) involving stakeholders in educational (re)design, (3) valuing teaching and learning, (4) navigating between ownership and accountability, and (5) building on integrative leadership to overcome tensions inherent in the first 4 themes. A supportive communication climate (which can be fueled by the organization's leaders) contributes to and is integrated within the first 4 themes.

CONCLUSIONS

The results call for a shift away from static quality management approaches with an emphasis on control and accountability toward more flexible, development-oriented approaches focusing on the 5 themes of a culture for continuous quality improvement. The study provides new insights in the link between theory and practice of continuous quality improvement. Specifically, in addition to quality management systems and structures, faculty's professional autonomy, collaboration with peers and students, and the valuing of teaching and learning need to be amplified.

Implementation of a Scholarly Activity Program in a Small Academic Medical Center Department

Small departments within academic medical centers have fewer numbers of clinicians, less time devoted to research, and fewer staff with senior faculty academic ranks available as mentors. This report describes the rationale behind Mayo Clinic's Department of Dental Specialties' scholarly activity program, implemented to combine mentorship with scholarship provided in a variety of formats. Program objectives focused on providing mentorship, disseminating existing scholarship, and bringing a diversity of scholarly activities into departmental mainstream.

Mentorship availability and needs for junior faculty members at the United States and Australian dental schools

OBJECTIVES

The aims of this study were to understand the experiences junior faculty have during their professional socialisation as educators and how they perceive the need and value of mentorship.

METHODS

A cross-sectional qualitative study design was used. Data were collected in 2019 through a pre-survey and focus groups with junior faculty (defined as 0-5 years) across four institutions in Australia and the United States of America. Framework analysis was used to identify themes in the data, based on our defined research questions, and socio-cognitive career theory was applied to guide our analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 22 junior faculty participated in the study. Only one of the four institutions had a formal mentoring programme for junior dental faculty. At this institution, 83% of participants indicated they were likely/extremely likely to remain in dental education. Across the three institutions where formal mentoring for junior dental faculty was not available, only 40% of participants indicated they were likely/extremely likely to remain in dental education. We identified five themes in the qualitative data: motivation for career choice, the importance of relationships, personal goals and the need for self-direction, expectations of the role, and institutional effects.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that mentoring is a critical factor in a junior faculty member's experience entering and socialising into a career in dental education. The perceived value of mentoring emerged across all themes, both from the perspective of participants who had received formal mentoring and those who had not.

Women as first authors in key pharmacy journals: Analysis by publication type

BACKGROUND

Numerous national and international studies have explored the issue of gender disparity in health science-publication rates. However, few have examined publication type (e.g., reviews and original research) and authorship order, which are 2 key factors in contribution recognition and the work's visibility and application.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this work was to determine the changes in the distribution of women as first authors by publication type over time in pharmacy practice journals.

METHODS

This was a bibliometric data analysis of pharmacy practice publications from January 2007 through December 2017. We used data from the U.S. Social Security Administration, and the multilingual Genderize application program interface (Genderize.io) to identify the authors' potential gender. To determine the publication type, we used the Web of Science article list (Clarivate Analytics, Philadelphia, PA). The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to determine the differences over time.

RESULTS

Articles published from January 2007 through December 2017 in 8 pharmacy practice journals were reviewed (N = 14,658 articles): research articles (63.8%), reviews (17.0%), editorial material (11.1%), and letters (8.1%). There was a statistically significant increase in the number of first-authored articles and reviews by women (45.1% to 55.4% and 39.2% to 56.1%, respectively). There was not a significant increase in the proportion of women as first authors in editorials or letters over the study period.

CONCLUSION

Despite increases in research and reviews with women as first authors, there is still a need for increased representation of women in opinion-based publications such as editorials.

Role of graduate courses in promoting educational scholarship of health care professionals

PROBLEM ADDRESSED

Many courses are offered to health care professionals to improve educational scholarship and scholarly teaching. The literature on the effect of such courses on promoting educational scholarship and scholarly teaching is currently suboptimal.

OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM

To evaluate scholarly productivity of health care professional learners participating in 2 graduate courses in which curricula and assignments facilitated experiential learning.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

A retrospective analysis of course assignments and publications of learners from 2007 to 2014 was conducted. Learners' current positions were identified through Google Scholar searches, and publication of course work was identified through PubMed or EMBASE author searches. There were 137 learners, with a male to female ratio of 3:7, consisting of physicians (73%) and other health care professionals (27%). During the 7 years, 50% completed both courses, 42% only the first course, and 8% only the second course. Of the learners whose current positions could be identified, 66% worked at academic centres, 20% at community hospitals or office practices, and 5% were in senior leadership positions. Current positions were unidentifiable through public records for 9% of learners. Sixty-eight percent of learners (93 of 137) published 1050 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Twenty-six percent of learners (35 of 137) published 1 or more articles based on their course assignments, for a total of 49 peer-reviewed articles; 80% of articles were published within 3 years of completing the course.

CONCLUSION

Experiential learning facilitated by curricular design and assignments coupled with mentorship stimulated scholarly publications. Educational courses should design curricula to promote scholarship in learners and evaluate their effect.

Positioning the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Squarely on the Center of the Desk

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) is one of four traditionally defined domains of research. Yet faculty members who pursue the SOTL may feel disadvantaged because of its relatively low perceived value by many institutions. Thus, interested faculty members may relegate the SOTL to a limited, secondary line of research and instead pursue other types of research that appear to be more highly valued by the institution. This commentary explores the benefits to the institution when the SOTL is expressly valued and purposefully supported. We advocate for a multifaceted approach by which pharmacy education leaders can examine how the SOTL is valued, encouraged, and supported through organizational structure and policy. Approaches to solidify and communicate the institutional value of the SOTL are discussed. Specific attention to ensure the SOTL is represented in rewards and incentive systems, such as the college or school's promotion and tenure policies, may empower faculty members to pursue success in this area of research.

A cross-sectional analysis of self-reported scholarly publications among United States pharmacy practice faculty

INTRODUCTION

The objectives of this study were to provide an estimate of self-reported peer-reviewed publications and evaluate characteristics associated with publication rates among pharmacy practice faculty within United States (US)-based colleges and schools of pharmacy.

METHODS

An online survey instrument was distributed to pharmacy practice faculty via email listserv. Information regarding faculty members' publication histories, faculty position, institutional characteristics, and faculty demographic characteristics was gathered. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize participants, and t-tests and analysis of variance were used for comparisons among groups.

RESULTS

Two hundred and nine pharmacy practice faculty were included. The majority were female (67%), white (81%), and from public institutions (66%). Academic ranks were well-represented. Reporting higher percent time spent in research, employment at public institutions, and having earned a doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree were all significantly associated with higher total number of publications and a higher annualized publication rate. Tenure track faculty who were not yet tenured had higher annual publication rates than faculty who were tenured or in non-tenure track positions. The overall annual publication rate was 2.0 ± 2.1 publications per year.

CONCLUSIONS

Characteristics such as being in a tenure track position, holding a PhD, spending more time in research, and employment within a public institution were all associated with a higher publication rate. These self-reported data from pharmacy practice faculty also indicate an increase in the average number of scholarly publications per year from previously reported estimates.

Facilitating Advancement of Clinical-Track Pharmacy Faculty Members

Clinical faculty members in most pharmacy practice departments are expected to engage in practice, teaching, research and scholarship, and service. Although new clinical faculty members are typically well equipped to engage in the clinical practice aspect of their position, they generally lack experience in the other academic pillars and, depending on the institution, may not have dedicated time to engage in each area of effort, particularly research and scholarship. Consequently, achieving balance and realizing success in the tripartite mission of academia can be challenging. A multimodal approach can be used to facilitate advancement among clinical faculty members through faculty development and mentoring, attention to workload, clear expectations, and provision of feedback on performance and progression toward goals. This approach, which has been well received, has been associated with higher rates of promotion among clinical faculty members at one institution. Schools and colleges of pharmacy that value research and scholarship and are struggling to facilitate advancement among clinical faculty members may consider adopting some or all aspects of this program.

A scoping review of mentor training programs in medicine between 1990 and 2017

Effective mentoring enhances the personal and professional development of mentees and mentors, boosts the reputation of host organizations and improves patient outcomes. Much of this success hinges upon the mentor's ability to nurture personalized mentoring relationships and mentoring environments, provide effective feedback and render timely, responsive, appropriate, and personalized support. However, mentors are often untrained raising concerns about the quality and oversight of mentoring support.To promote effective and consistent use of mentor training in medical education, this scoping review asks what mentor training programs are available in undergraduate and postgraduate medicine and how they may inform the creation of an evidenced-based framework for mentor training.Six reviewers adopted Arksey and O'Malley's approach to scoping reviews to study prevailing mentor-training programs and guidelines in postgraduate education programs and in medical schools. The focus was on novice mentoring approaches. Six reviewers carried out independent searches with similar inclusion/exclusion criteria using PubMed, ERIC, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and grey literature databases. Included were theses and book chapters published in English or had English translations published between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2017. Braun and Clarke's approach to thematic analysis was adopted to circumnavigate mentoring's and mentor training's evolving, context-specific, goal-sensitive, learner-, tutor- and relationally dependent nature that prevents simple comparisons of mentor training across different settings and mentee and mentor populations.In total, 3585 abstracts were retrieved, 232 full-text articles were reviewed, 68 articles were included and four themes were identified including the structure, content, outcomes and evaluation of mentor training program.The themes identified provide the basis for an evidence-based, practice-guided framework for a longitudinal mentor training program in medicine and identifies the essential topics to be covered in mentor training programs.

Report of the 2018-2019 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee

The 2018-2019 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) was charged with critically evaluating the leadership development support necessary for pharmacy researchers, including postdoctoral trainees, to develop the skills needed to build and sustain successful research programs and analyzing how well those needs are being met by existing programs both within AACP and at other organizations. The RGAC identified a set of skills that could reasonably be expected to provide the necessary foundation to successfully lead a research team and mapped these skills to the six domains of graduate education in the pharmaceutical sciences established by the 2016-2017 RGAC (Table 1). In addition, the RGAC identified competency in team science and the bench-to-bedside-to-beyond translational spectrum as being critical elements of research leadership. The universality of these skills and their value prompted the RGAC to make two related recommendations to AACP: [Table: see text] Recommendation 1: AACP should promote the development and use of strategies to ensure intentional and ongoing professional development, such as Individual Development Plans. Recommendation 2: AACP should explore collaborative research leadership development opportunities between faculty at research-intensive institutions and faculty at non-research-intensive institutions. The RGAC also examined programs available at AACP and other national organizations that could help pharmacy faculty develop foundational skills for research leadership (Table 2). The RGAC administered two surveys, one to administrators responsible for research at colleges and schools of pharmacy and one to faculty members at pharmacy schools, to gather information about training needs, programming and support available for research leadership development. Administrators and faculty agreed that research is important for career advancement for faculty, and almost all administrators reported their schools provide funds, release time and mentoring for participation in research career development. However, a lack of faculty awareness regarding programs and available support may be a barrier to participation. The RGAC therefore makes two recommendations and one suggestion related to AACP programming: [Table: see text] Recommendation 3: AACP should expand research leadership development opportunities building from existing programs such as ALFP and AACP Catalyst, with consideration placed on developing programs that promote collaborative research. Recommendation 4: AACP should collaborate with other professional organizations to expand research leadership development opportunities across the academy. Suggestion 1: Colleges and schools of pharmacy should take a proactive role in promoting and facilitating research leadership development for faculty. The RGAC separately examined the research leadership development needs of postdoctoral trainees, recognizing the distinct needs of trainees along the PhD or PhD/PharmD, PharmD/fellowship, and PharmD/residency paths. A review of organizational resources and opportunities for post-doctoral trainees available from national organizations, including AACP, was undertaken (Table 5). The RGAC sees an opportunity for AACP to foster research development of those trainees whose career track will likely be in clinical practice and makes one recommendation and one suggestion related to postdoctoral trainees: Recommendation 5: AACP should support and/or develop programs and activities for pharmacy residents seeking to transition into faculty positions to acquire the skills necessary to develop and lead research programs. Suggestion 2: Colleges and schools of pharmacy should include postdoctoral trainees with academic interests in research leadership development opportunities available to junior faculty. In addition, the RGAC proposed one policy statement that was adopted July 2019 by the AACP House of Delegates: Policy Statement: AACP recognizes the positive role that research leadership development can play in the success of early and mid-career faculty.

Impact of Achieved Tenure and Promotion on Faculty Research Productivity at a School of Pharmacy

Objective:

Critics of the promotion and tenure system contend that promotion and tenure may lead to a decline in research productivity (“dead wood phenomena”) by those faculty. To assess this perception, we compiled the publications and grants at the time of application for promotion, and again through 2017 for the same faculty following promotion and/or tenure.

Methods:

Promotion documents at a school of pharmacy at a public Midwestern university were assessed. Mean publication rates and grant dollars per year per faculty member were compared to the same group of faculty (n=13) pre and post-promotion.

Results:

At the time of promotion to associate professor, mean numbers of total publications per year per faculty in the pharmacy practice department were 1.1, compared to 1.4 post-promotion. For pharmaceutical sciences department faculty, corresponding means were 5.0 and 4.1, respectively. At the time of promotion to full professor, mean numbers of total publications per year for pharmacy practice faculty were 7.0, compared to 7.2 post-promotion. For pharmaceutical sciences faculty, corresponding means were 3.5 and 4.7, respectively. For grant activity, both associate professors and full professors increased the mean total dollars per year from pre-promotion to post-promotion for both departments.

Conclusion:

Research productivity at this school of pharmacy continues to be either maintained or increased since promotion for the collective group of faculty. This evidence runs counter to the perception that promotion and tenure may lead to decreased scholarly productivity. The study provides a roadmap for other schools/colleges to quantify research productivity and make comparisons to national mean levels reported in the literature.

Faculty Support for a Culture of Scholarship of Discovery: A Literature Review

BACKGROUND

A review of the literature was completed answering the question: "What is known about the barriers to, and support of, the scholarship of discovery that faculty members in nursing and related health sciences (i.e., medical, dental, and pharmacy) whose time is used in both the academic setting and clinical setting encounter as they develop programs of research, engage in grant writing, and pursue scientific publication?"

METHODS

Using a systematic approach, a total of 29 articles were included in this review.

RESULTS

Four major themes were identified: (1) Organizational expectations (2) administrative support (3) mentorship and (4) barriers to scholarship in nursing and related health sciences faculty. Organizational expectations and administrative support were critical in developing and maintaining a culture of scholarship, various mentorship models improved faculty scholarship skills and productivity, while multiple barriers were found to inhibit faculty development and scholarly productivity.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of organizational, administrative, and faculty activities and interventions can promote a culture of scholarship. Further research is needed to determine which interventions are most helpful in developing health science faculty scholarship.

Publication Records and Bibliometric Indices of Pharmacy School Deans

Objective. To characterize the publication records and bibliometric indices of current CEO deans at pharmacy schools and colleges in the United States. Methods. Using the Web of Science database, the publication records of all CEO pharmacy deans in the US were collected. Bibliometric indices calculated included: lifetime publications, publications/year, h-index, m-quotient, lifetime citations, citations/year, average citations/paper, productivity, and creativity. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance for nonparametric data was used to assess differences between groups. Results. All bibliometric parameters were different between pharmacy schools and colleges that were research-intensive vs teaching-intensive, academic health center-based vs non-academic health center-based, and public vs private. Additionally, the discipline and degree of each dean yielded significant differences. There were no significant differences in bibliometric parameters between male or female deans. Conclusion. Deans of current SCOP display a varied range of publication records and bibliometric indices.

Overview and Preparation Guide for Academic Careers in Pediatric Pharmacy, Part 1: Career as a Pediatric Pharmacy Practice Faculty Member

Pediatric clinical pharmacy is a growing and evolving field with an increasing number of pediatric clinical pharmacists in academia. In 2017, pediatric practice faculty members represented approximately 7.6% of all pharmacy practice faculty in the United States. The benefits of practicing in an academic environment are many, including, but not limited to, the ability to shape the future of pharmacy practice through the training of the next generation of pharmacists, contributing to science through research and scholarly activities for the care of pediatric patients, and positively impacting patient care for the most vulnerable of patients. Part one of this two-part series describes careers in academic pediatric pharmacy, as well as faculty roles and responsibilities, and provides information and advice related to the preparation and transition into careers in academic pediatric pharmacy.

Addressing needs of diverse stakeholders: Twelve tips for leaders of health professions education programs

Designing and evaluating health professions educational programs require a range of skills in a rapidly changing educational and healthcare environment. Not all program directors possess all the required leadership skills. In this twelve tips article, we describe a systematic approach to effectively address the complexity facing program leadership, implement robust programs and meaningfully evaluate their impact. They also offer a roadmap for managing diverse stakeholders with often competing demands. The tips are categorized under three domains: Planning, Initial Implementation, and Monitoring. Specific recommendations are provided on addressing context, organizational culture, and key relationships along with practical techniques adapted from continuous quality improvement programs. An outcomes-based approach ensures that program leaders balance competing demands. The tips provide a structure for educational leaders worldwide to reflect on what is feasible in their own context, understand and address complexities in program design and evaluation, regardless of the resources at their disposal.

Challenges and Issues Surrounding Promotion and Tenure of Faculty with Clinical Service Responsibilities in Veterinary Medicine

Mentoring, assessing, and rewarding faculty who have clinical service responsibilities with promotion and tenure can be challenging in many respects. Clinical service responsibilities can limit the time that faculty have available to participate in scholarly activities, especially if the scholarship required for promotion is restricted to traditional research efforts where an individual faculty member is assessed in terms of the number of scientific publications in high-tiered journals with senior authorship and the amount of extramural funding garnered. Even if other forms of scholarship are recognized, metrics used to evaluate research efforts are often inappropriately applied to other scholarly activities. This challenge is not unique to veterinary medicine. This literature review reveals information regarding barriers and recommended solutions from other healthcare and service professions as recognizing scholarly engagement in academic veterinary medicine is just beginning. Opportunities and examples of how faculty can derive scholarship from their clinical service activities are provided. In addition, an approach for mentoring faculty in the prospective planning and documenting of scholarly engagement efforts is suggested. Lastly, challenges and guidance for assessing such scholarship in academic veterinary medicine are recommended as one step toward encouraging colleges of veterinary medicine to develop methods to assess scholarly engagement within their promotion and tenure processes. A change in approach to the promotion and tenure process can result in more faculty being rewarded for their clinical, diagnostic, and scholarly excellence, which positively impacts patient care, career fulfillment, institutional reputation, the veterinary profession, and society as a whole.

The evaluation of scholarship in academic promotion and tenure processes: Past, present, and future

Review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) processes significantly affect how faculty direct their own career and scholarly progression. Although RPT practices vary between and within institutions, and affect various disciplines, ranks, institution types, genders, and ethnicity in different ways, some consistent themes emerge when investigating what faculty would like to change about RPT. For instance, over the last few decades, RPT processes have generally increased the value placed on research, at the expense of teaching and service, which often results in an incongruity between how faculty actually spend their time vs. what is considered in their evaluation. Another issue relates to publication practices: most agree RPT requirements should encourage peer-reviewed works of high quality, but in practice, the value of publications is often assessed using shortcuts such as the prestige of the publication venue, rather than on the quality and rigor of peer review of each individual item. Open access and online publishing have made these issues even murkier due to misconceptions about peer review practices and concerns about predatory online publishers, which leaves traditional publishing formats the most desired despite their restricted circulation. And, efforts to replace journal-level measures such as the impact factor with more precise article-level metrics (e.g., citation counts and altmetrics) have been slow to integrate with the RPT process. Questions remain as to whether, or how, RPT practices should be changed to better reflect faculty work patterns and reduce pressure to publish in only the most prestigious traditional formats. To determine the most useful way to change RPT, we need to assess further the needs and perceptions of faculty and administrators, and gain a better understanding of the level of influence of written RPT guidelines and policy in an often vague process that is meant to allow for flexibility in assessing individuals.

Roles and competences for educators of undergraduate dental students: a discussion paper

INTRODUCTION

Dental educators are important people who contribute to the development of every aspect of dental education. In part due to the lack of understanding of their roles and competences, dental educator development has so far received little consideration. With the aim of enhancing the dental profession's contribution to the development of undergraduate dental education, this article explores common roles of educators of undergraduate dental students and the competences needed to be effective educators.

METHODS

This is a discussion paper based on a wide reading of the literature on the education of health professionals with a specific focus on roles and competences of educators.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Roles of educators of undergraduate dental students typically encompass four areas: teaching, research, administration and providing healthcare. Educators may not be involved in every role; they normally perform the roles relevant to their work contexts. Competences for dental educators based on the four main roles comprise 12 domains: educational theories and principles; modes of education; learner issues; educational materials and instructional design; assessment and feedback; curriculum matters; evaluation; educational research; educational management; quality assurance; patient care and healthcare system and professionalism. Not all competences are required by all educators although educators need to be competent in the areas related to their roles and duties.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the roles and competences for educators of undergraduate dental students can help individual educators to improve their personal effectiveness and institutions to tailor staff development programmes appropriate to the needs of their staff. Faculty development contributes to sustained enhancement of undergraduate dental education.

AACP Special Taskforce White Paper on Diversifying Our Investment in Human Capital

The 2015-2017 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Special Taskforce on Diversifying our Investment in Human Capital was appointed for a two-year term, due to the rigors and complexities of its charges. This report serves as a white paper for academic pharmacy on diversifying our investment in human capital. The Taskforce developed and recommended a representation statement that was adapted and adopted by the AACP House of Delegates at the 2016 AACP Annual Meeting. In addition, the Taskforce developed a diversity statement for the Association that was adopted by the AACP Board of Directors in 2017. The Taskforce also provides recommendations to AACP and to academic pharmacy in this white paper.

Impact of Student vs Faculty Facilitators on Motivational Interviewing Student Outcomes

Objective. To determine the impact of student or faculty facilitation on student self-assessed attitudes, confidence, and competence in motivational interviewing (MI) skills; actual competence; and evaluation of facilitator performance. Methods. Second-year pharmacy (P2) students were randomly assigned to a student or faculty facilitator for a four-hour, small-group practice of MI skills. MI skills were assessed in a simulated patient encounter with the mMITI (modified Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity) tool. Students completed a pre-post, 6-point, Likert-type assessment addressing the research objectives. Differences were assessed using a Mann-Whitney U test. Results. Student (N=44) post-test attitudes, confidence, perceived or actual competence, and evaluations of facilitator performance were not different for faculty- and student-facilitated groups. Conclusion. Using pharmacy students as small-group facilitators did not affect student performance and were viewed as equally favorable. Using pharmacy students as facilitators can lessen faculty workload and provide an outlet for students to develop communication and facilitation skills that will be needed in future practice.

Retention and recruitment of general dentists in an adjunct teaching model-A pilot study

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

Retention and recruitment of part time clinical adjunct faculty members in dental education is becoming increasingly difficult as dental schools come to rely on this workforce for their increased involvement in clinical education. Contributing factors include full time faculty shortage, aging workforce, practice and student debt, practice and family commitments, and financial compensation. This study attempts to ascertain barriers to teaching so appropriate strategies can be formulated to address this issue.

METHODS

In the spring of 2016 an email survey was sent to current and former adjunct faculty members to ascertain demographics and retention and recruitment strategies. Descriptive analyses were completed for all variables in the sample.

RESULTS

Twenty nine of forty six subjects responded to the survey with a response rate of 63%. Subjects over the age of sixty comprised 55% with only 17% being under the age of forty five. Overall family and practice commitments along with compensation were the primary barriers to teaching part time. For new dentists, student loan debt was the primary barrier to teaching. Travel to teach was also a barrier as 70% of respondents drove 200 miles or less to the dental school.

CONCLUSION

The study demonstrated that the aging part time work force is a great concern and new part time clinical adjunct faculty members must be recruited. Barriers to recruitment and retention of faculty must be considered and addressed to sustain this teaching model.

The impact of participation in a Research/Writing Group on scholarly pursuits by non-tenure track clinical faculty

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of a faculty Research/Writing Group (RWG) by quantifying the amount of scholarly productivity from participants in the group compared with that of a matched cohort.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

The RWG meets monthly to discuss current projects, providing an assessment of their scholarly activity. Participants offer ideas on improvement, resources and possible platforms for presentations and/or publications.

FINDINGS

To evaluate the success of this model, scholarly production from the participants in the RWG was compared to a matched group of clinical non-tenure track faculty not participating in the group over a three year period. Faculty perception of RWG participation was evaluated by data collected through a survey using Qualtrics.

SUMMARY

Participation in the RWG provided these junior faculty the support system to feel confident in their pursuit of scholarly activities; and therefore, they outpaced their counterparts in dissemination of their research.

On being a successful clinician educator: Lessons learned to share with new practitioners

This article discusses lessons learned by a pharmacy clinician-educator during the early stage of her career in academia. In particular, the importance of establishing good mentoring relationships is highlighted as is the need for flexibility, board certification, publications, and loyalty to one's institution. The purpose of this article is to provide new clinician-educators with specific action steps - i.e. principles for success, to combine with self-motivation in order to promote longevity in academia and a sense of personal fulfillment and accomplishment.

The Influence of an Academic Pharmacy Mentorship Program on Mentees' Commitment to Pursue an Academic Career

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholars Program on mentees' attitudes towards and decision to pursue a career in academia. Upon completion of the AACP Walmart Scholars Program, wherein mentor-mentee pairs attend the AACP Annual Meeting to learn about academic pharmacy careers, mentees wrote essays evaluating the program. Their views on academic pharmacy careers were analyzed for themes in the evaluations. Of the mentees who addressed the impact of the program on their perspectives on a career in academic pharmacy, over half stated the program positively influenced pursuit of such a career. This reinforces the importance of mentorship for those interested in or new to academic pharmacy.

A Novel Mathematical Model for Determining Faculty Workload

Objective. To develop a mathematical model for determining faculty workload at a college of pharmacy with a team-based learning curriculum. Methods. Using faculty provided data, our model calculated activity and weighted means in teaching, scholarship and service. Subsequently, these data were used to develop departmental and institutional workload models. Results. For the pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences department, percent faculty activity mean values were greatest for service followed by teaching and scholarship. These values in the clinical sciences department were greatest for teaching followed by service and scholarship. Overall, the institutional workload model had the largest maximum faculty activity value for teaching, followed by service and then scholarship. Conclusions. A novel faculty workload model proved to be effective in optimizing faculty workload within a college of pharmacy. Since the workload analysis, the faculty service commitment has been substantially changed, by reducing the number of committees at our institution. This type of workload analysis may particularly benefit colleges of pharmacy that employ a team based learning curriculum, with a large time commitment to teaching.

Factors that influence career progression among postdoctoral clinical academics: a scoping review of the literature

BACKGROUND

The future of academic medicine is uncertain. Concerns regarding the future availability of qualified and willing trainee clinical academics have been raised worldwide. Of significant concern is our failure to retain postdoctoral trainee clinical academics, who are likely to be our next generation of leaders in scientific discovery.

OBJECTIVES

To review the literature about factors that may influence postdoctoral career progression in early career clinical academics.

DESIGN

This study employed a scoping review method. Three reviewers separately assessed whether the articles found fit the inclusion criteria.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar (1991-2015).

ARTICLE SELECTION

The review encompassed a broad search of English language studies published anytime up to November 2015. All articles were eligible for inclusion, including research papers employing either quantitative or qualitative methods, as well as editorials and other summary articles.

DATA EXTRACTION

Data extracted from included publications were charted according to author(s), sample population, study design, key findings, country of origin and year of publication.

RESULTS

Our review identified 6 key influences: intrinsic motivation, work-life balance, inclusiveness, work environment, mentorship and availability of funding. It also detected significant gaps within the literature about these influences.

CONCLUSIONS

Three key steps are proposed to help support postdoctoral trainee clinical academics. These focus on ensuring that researchers feel encouraged in their workplace, involved in collaborative dialogue with key stakeholders and able to access reliable information regarding their chosen career pathway. Finally, we highlight recommendations for future research.

An Analysis of Community Pharmacy Shared Faculty Members' Contributions to Teaching, Service, and Scholarship

Objective. To identify community pharmacy shared faculty members across the United States and to describe their roles and responsibilities in terms of teaching, service, and scholarship. Methods. This study was a mixed-methods analysis using surveys and key informant interviews. Results. Twenty-two faculty members completed the survey; nine were interviewed. Their major roles and responsibilities included teaching in community-based and experiential learning courses, precepting students and/or residents, being actively involved in professional organizations, providing patient care while leading innovation, and disseminating findings through scholarship. Conclusion. Community pharmacy shared faculty members contribute to their academic institutions and community pharmacy organizations by educating learners, providing direct patient care, and advancing community practice through innovation and service to the profession. Findings of this study can be used as a guide for academic institutions and community pharmacy organizations interested in partnering to develop a community pharmacy shared faculty position.

Development of an interprofessional and interdisciplinary collaborative research practice for clinical faculty

This article describes an interprofessional collaborative research practice fellowship designed to foster the research skills of clinical faculty. The year-long fellowship was grounded in big data analysis and the triangle of informatics--knowledge, information, and data. Fellows were selected to include diverse perspectives, training, and knowledge but had limited experience in team science or being a member of an interprofessional research team. The underlying philosophy of the fellowship was experiential learning. Protected time and formal mentorship were necessary factors for developing the interprofessional research practice and the skills to participate in an interprofessional research team. We believe that this innovative interprofessional faculty research fellowship is a viable option for supporting scholarly activity and research collaboration. The findings could inform interprofessional clinical practice and be implemented for patient care. Engagement in interprofessional collaborative research and incorporation of the perspectives, knowledge and expertise of multiple professions, is a model to de silo knowledge creation.

Cultivating Medical Education Research Mentorship as a Pathway Towards High Quality Medical Education Research

The lack of effective and consistent research mentorship and research mentor training in both undergraduate medical education (UME) and graduate medical education (GME) is a critical constraint on the development of innovative and high quality medical education research. Clinical research mentors are often not familiar with the nuances and context of conducting education research. Clinician-educators, meanwhile, often lack the skills in developing and conducting rigorous research. Mentors who are not prepared to articulate potential scholarship pathways for their mentees risk limiting the mentee's progress in early stages of their career. In fact, the relative paucity of experienced medical education research mentors arguably contributes to the perpetuation of a cycle leading to fewer well-trained researchers in medical education, a lack of high quality medical education research, and relative stagnation in medical education innovation. There is a path forward, however. Integration of doctoral-level educators, structured inter-departmental efforts, and external mentorship provide opportunities for faculty to gain traction in their medical education research efforts. An investment in medical education research mentors will ensure rigorous research for high quality innovation in medical education and patient care.

Recommendations for the successful pursuit of scholarship by pharmacy practice faculty members

Scholarship has long been a basic expectation of faculty members at institutions of higher learning in the United States and elsewhere. This expectation is no less assumed in academic pharmacy. A number of organizations have verbalized and enforced this precept over the years.(1-3) For example, this expectation is spoken to directly in the American Council for Pharmacy Education's Accreditation Standards and Guidelines.(4) This expectation is further emphasized in the draft document of the accreditation standards to be implemented in 2016, in Standard 20. Specifically, Element 20.2 states: "The college or school must create an environment that both requires and promotes scholarship, and must also develop mechanisms to assess both the quantity and quality of faculty scholarly productivity."(5) The successful pursuit of scholarship by clinical faculty members (those engaged in both clinical practice and teaching, without regard to tenure or clinical track status) is challenging. (6-10) Thus, faculty member job descriptions or models should be designed so clinical faculty members can successfully meet all academic job expectations, including productive and meaningful scholarship. In 2012, an AACP Section of Teachers of Pharmacy Practice task force was charged with examining this issue and providing recommendations for models for clinical faculty members that would allow the successful pursuit of scholarship. The task force gathered information relating to the current state of affairs at a number of colleges and reviewed relevant literature. This information, along with personal experiences and much discussion and contemplation, led to some general observations as well as specific recommendations. This paper reiterates the task force's observations and recommendations and provides further detail regarding our interpretation of the findings and basis for the eventual recommendations to the section.

Perceptions of division directors in general internal medicine about the importance of and support for scholarly work done by clinician-educators

PURPOSE

To determine perceptions of general internal medicine (GIM) division directors of the importance of and support for clinician-educators' (CEs') scholarship.

METHOD

In 2010, the authors identified 127 accredited U.S. MD-granting medical schools with a GIM division, identified 144 GIM directors, and were able to survey 129 of them. Directors were asked to rate the importance of specific CE scholarly accomplishments for promotion from assistant to associate professor, to describe current research support for CEs, and to state how they would support the scholarly work of CEs if they had funding.

RESULTS

Fifty-five directors (42.6%) from 52 institutions responded; there were no significant differences between responding and nonresponding schools. Curriculum development, presentations at national meetings and other institutions, review articles, and book chapters were rated as "most/very important" or "important/somewhat important" by over 90%. Approximately half rated published original peer-reviewed articles as "most/very important"; slightly less than half rated these "not important," a difference associated with having a specific CE track. If $100,000 per year were available to enhance the scholarly productivity of CEs, directors suggested spending it on faculty development, project coordination, protected time for CEs, and methodological and statistical support.

CONCLUSIONS

This nationwide survey of GIM division directors confirms that academic CEs in GIM are judged on a wide variety of scholarly activities, many of which are consistent across institutions. However, academic GIM CEs need to understand their institutions' specific criteria, especially regarding the value placed on original, peer-reviewed publications.

Assessment of educational criteria in academic promotion: Perspectives of faculty members of medical sciences universities in Iran

INTRODUCTION

One of the important criteria in the promotion of faculty members is in the scope of their educational roles and duties. The purpose of this study was the assessment of reasonability and attainability of educational criteria for scientific rank promotion from the perspective of the faculty members of Medical Sciences Universities in Iran.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This descriptive study was conducted in 2011 in 13 Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran. Through stratified sampling method, 350 faculty members were recruited. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to investigate the reasonability and attainability of educational criteria with scores from 1 to 5. The self-administered questionnaire was distributed and collected at each university. The mean and standard deviation of reasonability and attainability scores were calculated and reported by using the SPSS software version 16.

RESULTS

Faculty members considered many criteria of educational activities reasonable and available (with a mean score of more than 3). The highest reasonability and attainability have been obtained by the quantity and quality of teaching with the mean scores (3.93 ± 1.15 and 3.82 ± 1.17) and (3.9 ± 1.22 and 4.13 ± 1.06) out of five, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of total scores of reasonability of educational activities were 50.91 ± 14.22 and its attainability was 60.3 ± 13.72 from the total score of 90.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The faculty members of the Universities of Medical Sciences in Iran considered the educational criteria of promotion moderately reasonable and achievable. It is recommended to revise these criteria and adapt them according to the mission and special conditions of medical universities. Furthermore, providing feedback of evaluations, running educational researches, and implementing faculty development programs are suggested.