Integrating Graduates of a National Faculty Development Program Into a Community of Practice.

PURPOSE: The Educational Scholars Program (ESP) started as a national 3-year faculty development (FD) program for pediatric educators. Fourteen years later, the ESP has grown into a larger community of practice (CoP). The purpose of this study was to identify programmatic processes that serve as bridges or barriers to integrating ESP graduates into the CoP. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was sent to 126 ESP graduates. Based on their self-reported level of engagement, graduates were categorized into 4 groups: Core, Active, Peripheral, and Outsider groups. Factors contributing to engagement with the ESP community, and the impact of varying levels of engagement on outcomes related to the organization and the graduate were ascertained. RESULTS: Half of the ESP graduates completed the survey. Thirty-five percent of the respondents were in the Core or Active groups. Almost all ESP graduates in the Core and Active groups felt a sense of belonging to the ESP community. Opportunities provided to network, collaborate, and receive mentorship were reported as highly significant influences on their decision to remain engaged. CONCLUSION: Purposeful integration of graduates of an FD program within a CoP, by allowing varying levels of involvement, enhances engagement within the CoP.

Influences on and Characteristics of the Professional Identity Formation of Clinician Educators: A Qualitative Analysis.

PURPOSE: Professional identity formation is the process of internalizing the ideals, values, and beliefs of a profession. In recent years, research on clinician-educator (CE) identity formation has expanded, yet gaps exist in understanding initial influences on an educator identity, sustainment throughout a career, and development of successful pathways for early CEs. This study explored the initial influences on and characteristics of the professional identity formation of CEs in an age-diverse, multispecialty population in the United States. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional qualitative study of a purposive sample of medical educators at 6 institutions across the United States between 2018 and 2019. Focus groups were conducted to obtain participants' perspectives on their career choice and subsequent formation of their professional identity as CEs. The authors used a thematic analysis of focus group data to identify themes and domains through an iterative process. RESULTS: Twelve focus groups were conducted with a total of 93 participants. Responses were categorized into 5 domains: community supportive of medical education, culture of institution and training, personal characteristics, facilitators, and professionalization of medical education. Themes highlighted the importance of role models and mentors, an affinity and aptitude for teaching and education, specific facilitators for entry into a career in medical education, the evolution from a layperson, importance of formalized training programs, and a supportive academic community. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians experienced a variety of factors that influenced their initial career choice in medical education and subsequent professional identity formation as a CE. This study confirms and expands the current understanding of this process in an age-diverse, multispecialty population of CEs. Educators and administrators designing career development programs across the continuum of medical education should consider these aspects as they mentor and support their learners and faculty.

Optimizing Your Mentoring Relationship: A Toolkit for Mentors and Mentees.

INTRODUCTION: Mentorship is a vital component of academic and professional development. Mentees report positive impacts from mentorship programs, yet institutions and societies may struggle to meet their mentees' needs due to factors such as mentor fatigue and lack of mentor training. To address this in our own professional society, the Association of Pediatric Program Directors, we developed a mentor toolkit in order to utilize a variety of mentoring models, provide faculty development for midlevel mentors, and offer guidance to mentees. METHODS: Most of these tools were designed to be administered in an interactive format such as a workshop or seminar with think-pair-share opportunities. The toolkit begins by providing a definition of mentoring and reinforcing the benefits and the characteristics of effective mentoring relationships. Next, we discuss the important role that mentees have in creating and maintaining effective mentoring relationships (i.e., mentee-driven mentoring). We then introduce a mentoring mosaic activity designed to help mentees examine their professional network and think about how they might expand it to fulfill the spectrum of their mentoring needs. Next, we present guidelines for the implementation of four mentoring models that can be used within one's institution: traditional dyadic mentoring, peer group mentoring, meet the professor mentoring, and speed mentoring. We then provide tools that can be used to help facilitate effective mentoring development. RESULTS: This toolkit has successfully served as a self-guided resource at national meetings for many years, garnering positive feedback from mentors and mentees alike. DISCUSSION: The principles and methods are easily generalizable and may be used to guide mentorship programs within institutional and professional societies, as well as to assist mentors and mentees in optimizing their individual mentoring relationships.

Update in medical education for pediatrics: insights and directions from the 2010 literature.

BACKGROUND: While most would agree that utilizing the literature to enhance individual educational practice and/or institutional success is the ideal method for improving medical education, methods to focus attention on the most relevant and valuable information have been heretofore lacking in the pediatric medical education literature. METHODS: We performed a review of the medical education literature for the year 2010. Utilizing a similar strategy employed by others in Internal Medicine, we selected 12 high-yield education journals and manually reviewed the table of contents to select titles that would have grassroots applicability for medical educators. A broad search through PubMed was then completed using search terms adopted from prior studies, and titles from this search were similarly selected. The abstracts of selected titles (n=147) were each reviewed by two of the authors, then all authors reached consensus on articles for full review (n=34). The articles were then discussed and scored to achieve consensus for the 11 articles for inclusion in this paper. RESULTS: Several themes emerged from reviewing these publications. We did not select topics or sections of interest a priori. The themes, grouped into four areas: supervision and leadership, hand-off communication, core competencies: teaching and assessment, and educational potpourri, reflect our community's current concerns, challenges, and engagement in addressing these topics. Each article is summarized below and begins with a brief statement of what the study adds to the practice of pediatric medical education. DISCUSSION: This review highlights multiple 'articles of value' for all medical educators. We believe the value of these articles and the information they contain for improving the methods used to educate medical students, residents, and fellows are significant. The organically derived thematic areas of the representative articles offer a view of the landscape of medical education research in pediatrics in 2010. Readers can use these individual articles as both tools to improve their practice, as well as inspiration for future areas of research.