Recruiting women faculty through inclusive, family-friendly practices.

Recruitment of STEM faculty is biased against parents and caregivers. Specifically, women experience discrimination associated with childrearing and marriage. Underestimating the value of these candidates leads to a tremendous loss of talent. Here, we present a toolkit to facilitate the recruitment of talented women caregivers by providing guidelines for hiring.

The transition phase: preparing to launch a laboratory.

The process of starting a laboratory varies between institutions. However, there are universal tasks all investigators will need to address when launching their laboratories. In this piece, we provide a brief summary of considerations for incoming group leaders to centralize this information for the scientific community.

The power of junior faculty mentoring committees.

Junior faculty mentoring committees have important roles in ensuring that faculty thrive and adjust to their new positions and institutions. Here, we describe the purpose, structure, and benefits of junior faculty mentoring committees, which can be a powerful tool for early-career academic investigators in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. There is a paucity of information about what mentoring committees are, how to use them effectively, what areas they should evaluate, and how they can most successfully help junior faculty progress in their careers. This work offers guidance for both junior faculty mentees and mentoring committee members on how to best structure and utilize mentoring committees to promote junior faculty success. A better understanding of the intricacies of the mentoring committee will allow junior faculty members to self-advocate and will equip committee mentors with tools to ensure that junior faculty are successful in thriving in academia.

Resident Assessment of Clinician Educators According to Core ACGME Competencies.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires faculty to pursue annual development to enhance their teaching skills. Few studies exist on how to identify and improve the quality of teaching provided by faculty educators. Understanding the correlation between numeric scores assigned to faculty educators and their tangible, practical teaching skills would be beneficial. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and describe qualities that differentiate numerically highly rated and low-rated physician educators. DESIGN: This observational mixed-methods study evaluated attending physician educators between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2021. Quantitative analysis involved descriptive statistics, normalization of scores, and stratification of faculty into tertiles based on a summary score. We compared the highest and lowest tertiles during qualitative analyses of residents' comments. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five attending physicians and 111 residents in an internal medicine residency program. MAIN MEASURES: Resident evaluations of faculty educators, including 724 individual assessments of faculty educators on 15 variables related to the ACGME core competencies. KEY RESULTS: Quantitative analyses revealed variation in attending physician educators' performance across the ACGME core competencies. The highest-rated teaching qualities were interpersonal and communication skills, medical knowledge, and professionalism, while the lowest-rated teaching quality was systems-based practice. Qualitative analyses identified themes distinguishing high-quality from low-quality attending physician educators, such as balancing autonomy and supervision, role modeling, engagement, availability, compassion, and excellent teaching. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insights into areas where attending physicians' educational strategies can be improved, emphasizing the importance of role modeling and effective communication. Ongoing efforts are needed to enhance the quality of faculty educators and resident education in internal medicine residency programs.

Diversifying faculty recruitment in biomedical sciences.

A wealth of data has consistently demonstrated that a diverse faculty maximizes productivity and innovation in the research enterprise and increases the persistence and success of groups that are underrepresented in STEM. While the diversity of students in graduate programs has steadily increased, faculty diversity, particularly in the biomedical sciences, continues to remain relatively flat. Several issues contribute to this mismatch between the pipeline and the professoriate including biases in search and hiring practices, lack of equity and equal opportunities for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, and unwelcoming campus climates that lead to marginalization and isolation in academic life. A comprehensive approach that addresses these challenges is necessary for institutions of higher education to achieve their faculty diversity goals and create a climate where individuals from all groups feel welcomed and succeed. This article focuses on the first step in this approach-diversifying faculty recruitment through adopting search practices that generate an applicant pool that matches national availability, ensures equity in evaluation and hiring practices, and promotes inclusion and belonging in the hiring experience. These strategies have been recently used at the University of California, Irvine's School of Biological Sciences and while the long-term impact remains unknown, short-term outcomes in recruitment and hiring have demonstrated significant improvement over previous years.

Harmonizing the Tripartite Mission in Academic Family Medicine: A Longitudinal Case Example.

Academic practices and departments are defined by a tripartite mission of care, education, and research, conceived as being mutually reinforcing. But in practice, academic faculty have often experienced these 3 missions as competing rather than complementary priorities. This siloed approach has interfered with innovation as a learning health system in which the tripartite missions reinforce each other in practical ways. This paper presents a longitudinal case example of harmonizing academic missions in a large family medicine department so that missions and people interact in mutually beneficial ways to create value for patients, learners, and faculty. We describe specific experiences, implementation, and examples of harmonizing missions as a feasible strategy and culture. "Harmonized" means that no one mission subordinates or drives out the others; each mission informs and strengthens the others (quickly in practice) while faculty experience the triparate mission as a coherent whole faculty job. Because an academic department is a complex system of work and relationships, concepts for leading a complex adaptive system were employed: (1) a "good enough" vision, (2) frequent and productive interactions, and (3) a few simple rules. These helped people harmonize their work without telling them exactly what to do, when, and how. Our goal here is to highlight concrete examples of harmonizing missions as a feasible operating method, suggesting ways it builds a foundation for a learning health system and potentially improving faculty well-being.

Lack of standardization and faculty development in pediatric colonoscopy: A qualitative study.

A standard curriculum for pediatric colonoscopy training has neither been required nor universally implemented in North American fellowship programs. This qualitative study assessed the needs of colonoscopy training in pediatric gastroenterology to determine the standardized components of procedural teaching. Focus groups with pediatric gastroenterology attendings, fellows, procedural nurses, and interviews with advanced endoscopists, all practicing at a single institution, were conducted between March and June 2018. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis principles. Four themes emerged: (1) lack of standardization of colonoscopy performance, (2) lack of professional development of procedure teaching skills, (3) need for teaching behaviors that promote learner's performance, and (4) barriers to effective teaching and learning. A conceptual framework was created for developing a standardized "train-the-trainer" curriculum. Our needs assessment supports expansion of efforts to make this comprehensive training available to all pediatric gastroenterologists involved in procedure teaching.

Hybrid Train-The-Trainer course for the Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy certificates improves self-confidence in knowledge of surgical energy and develops teaching skills: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Several well-trained expert instructors who completed the "Train-The-Trainer (TTT)" course are required to disseminate the safe use of surgical energy devices, which can be learned through the Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy (FUSE) program. This study aimed to explore whether the hybrid FUSE TTT course is feasible and effective, which can improve teaching skills of surgical energy. METHODS: The hybrid TTT course, which was designed to train FUSE-certified personnel as instructors, comprised three virtual sessions spread over 5 h in total and a 1-day in-person training, followed by a 100-min FUSE electrosurgery hands-on workshop in practice as an instructor. The participants reported on self-confidence regarding knowledge of various energy devices or adverse events before, immediately after, and 6 months after the course. Participants and experienced FUSE instructors assessed the trainees' presentation skills at the beginning of the in-person training and after the hands-on workshop. The primary outcomes were the feasibility and completion rate of the entire course. RESULTS: Seventeen participants completed the entire couse; most (94%) were satisfied with the course. Self-confidence in knowledge about various contents improved significantly: the fundamentals of electrosurgery (post, p < 0.001; 6 months, p = 0.01), mechanism and prevention of adverse events (post, p = 0.001; 6 months, p = 0.04), monopolar instruments (post, p = 0.002; 6 months, p = 0.01), bipolar instruments (post, p = 0.01; 6 months, p = 0.06), and integration with other medical devices (post, p = 0.006; 6 months, p = 0.02). The presentation skill index scores of self- and peer assessments improved after the in-person training (self-assessment [pre 44 vs. post 56, p < 0.001], peer assessment [pre 39 vs. post 68, p < 0.001]). CONCLUSIONS: The hybrid TTT course can provide FUSE-certified personnel with an improved self-confidence concerning knowledge of surgical energy and improve their presentation skills with midterm retention. This can help build trainees' self-confidence as instructors.

Factors influencing clinician-educators' assessment practice in varied Southern contexts: a health behaviour theory perspective.

In many contexts, responsibility for exit-level assessment design and implementation in undergraduate medical programmes lies with individuals who convene clinical clerkships. Their assessment practice has significant consequences for students' learning and the patients and communities that graduates will serve. Interventions to enhance assessment must involve these assessors, yet little is known about factors influencing their assessment practice. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence assessment practice of clerkship convenors in three varied low-and-middle income contexts in the global South. Taking assessment practice as a behaviour, Health Behaviour Theory (HBT) was deployed as a theoretical framework to explore, describe and explain assessor behaviour. Thirty-one clinician-educators responsible for designing and implementing high-stakes clerkship assessment were interviewed in South Africa and Mexico. Interacting personal and contextual factors influencing clinician-educator assessment intention and action were identified. These included attitude, influenced by impact and response appraisal, and perceived self-efficacy; along with interpersonal, physical and organisational, and distal contextual factors. Personal competencies and conducive environments supported intention to action transition. While previous research has typically explored factors in isolation, the HBT framing enabled a systematic and coherent account of assessor behaviour. These findings add a particular contextual perspective to understanding assessment practice, yet also resonate with and extend existing work that predominantly emanates from high-income contexts in the global North. These findings provide a foundation for the planning of assessment change initiatives, such as targeted, multi-factorial faculty development.

Exploring the relationship between psychosocial factors, work engagement, and mental health: a structural equation modeling analysis among faculty in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial hazards in the workplace were identified as a considerable risk to employee mental health as well as their general well-being. Few studies were found to examine its relationship with work engagement and mental health. Thus, this study examines the relationships between psychosocial factors, work engagement, and mental health within the faculty in Saudi Arabia using structural equation modeling. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample size of 375 faculty. Data collection was done using a self-administered online survey that included instruments such as the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). SmartPLS 3 software facilitated data analysis and included the assessment of factors. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the interplay between psychosocial factors, work engagement, and mental health. RESULTS: The robust measurement model was characterized by high loadings (0.719 to 0.970), Cronbach's alpha (0.595 to 0.933), and composite reliability (0.807 to 0.968). Convergent and discriminant validity were confirmed using AVE and various criteria. The fit of the saturated model was superior. Burnout explained significant variance (0.585) with predictive relevance for all constructs. Notably, the impact of burnout on family conflict and the influence of stress on burnout were found to have significant effect sizes. CONCLUSION: The study uses structural equation modeling to examine the relationships between psychosocial factors, work engagement, and mental health among faculty in Saudi Arabia. The robust measurement model demonstrated high reliability and validity, while the saturated model demonstrated excellent fit. These findings contribute to our understanding of psychosocial dynamics, work engagement, and overall health among faculty in Saudi Arabia.

Mentorship in academic musculoskeletal radiology: perspectives from a junior faculty member.

The first years of an academic musculoskeletal (MSK) faculty position are a time of transition for the junior faculty member, who must rapidly adjust to new clinical, academic, operational, and professional responsibilities. Mentoring has a critical role in helping the faculty member to thrive in these early years. Establishing clear communication, trust, and expectations can set the foundation for an effective mentoring relationship. Junior faculty members ideally would have multiple mentors with different areas of expertise, including mentors of all roles in MSK radiology but also in other radiology divisions and other departments. Private practice MSK radiologists can also benefit from mentorship. Barriers to mentoring in MSK radiology include overall smaller division sizes, a newer and smaller field on a national level, and the increase in clinical volume and remote work that results in less face-to-face interaction. Despite the challenges, both junior MSK faculty members and their mentors can benefit greatly from strong mentoring connections.

Evolving from Didactic to Dialogic: How to Improve Faculty Development and Support Faculty Developers by Using Action Research.

Problem: Since competency-based medical education has gained widespread acceptance to guide curricular reforms, faculty development has been regarded as an indispensable element to make these programs successful. Faculty developers have striven to design and deliver myriad of programs or workshops to better prepare faculty members for fulfilling their teaching roles. However, how faculty developers can improve workshop delivery by researching their teaching practices remains underexplored. Intervention: Action research aims to understand real world practices and advocates for formulation of doable plans through cycles of investigations, and ultimately contributes to claims of knowledge and a progression toward the goal of practice improvement. This methodology aligns with the aim of this study to understand how I could improve a faculty development workshop by researching my teaching practices. Context: In 2016, we conducted four cycles of action research in the context of mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) workshops within a faculty development program aiming for developing teaching and assessment competence in faculty members. We collected multiple sources of qualitative data for thematic analysis, including my reflective journal, field notes taken by a researcher-observer, and post-workshop written reflection and feedback in portfolio from fourteen workshop attendees aiming to develop faculty teaching and assessment competence. Impact: By doing action research, I scrutinized each step as an opportunity for change, enacted adaptive practice and reflection on my teaching practices, and formulated action plans to transform a workshop design through each cycle. In so doing, my workshop evolved from didactic to dialogic with continuous improvement on enhanced engagement, focused discussion and participant empowerment through a collaborative inquiry into feedback practice. Moreover, these processes of action research also supported my growth as a faculty developer. Lessons Learned: The systematic approach of action research serves as a vehicle to enable faculty developers to investigate individual teaching practices as a self-reflective inquiry, to examine, rectify, and transform processes of program delivery, and ultimately introduce themselves as agents for change and improvement.

'We're like Spider-Man; with great power comes great responsibility': Coaches' experiences supporting struggling medical students.

BACKGROUND: Medical students can experience a range of academic and non-academic struggles. Coaching is a valuable strategy to support learners, but coaches describe working with struggling learners as taxing. Transformative learning theory (TLT) provides insights into how educators grow from challenging experiences to build resilience. This study explores how coaches evolve as educators through supporting struggling students. METHODS: This qualitative study grounded in an interpretivist paradigm used interviews of longitudinal medical student coaches at two academic institutions. Interviews, using TLT as a sensitizing concept, explored coaches' experience coaching struggling learners. We performed thematic analysis. RESULTS: We interviewed 15 coaches. Coaches described supporting students through multi-faceted struggles which often surprised the coach. Three themes characterized coaches' experiences: personal responsibility, emotional response, and personal learning. Coaches shouldered high personal responsibility for learners' success. For some, this burden felt emotional, raised parental instincts and questions about maintaining boundaries with learners. Coaches evolved their coaching approach, challenged biases, and built skills. Coaches learned to better appreciate the learner point of view and employ resources to support students. DISCUSSION: Through navigating learner struggles, educators can gain self-efficacy, learn to understand learners' perspectives, and evolve their coaching approach to lessen their personal emotional burden through time.

Can ChatGPT generate practice question explanations for medical students, a new faculty teaching tool?

INTRODUCTION: Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are frequently used for formative assessment in medical school but often lack sufficient answer explanations given time-restraints of faculty. Chat Generated Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) has emerged as a potential student learning aid and faculty teaching tool. This study aims to evaluate ChatGPT's performance in answering and providing explanations for MCQs. METHOD: Ninety-four faculty-generated MCQs were collected from the pre-clerkship curriculum at a US medical school. ChatGPT's accuracy in answering MCQ's were tracked on first attempt without an answer prompt (Pass 1) and after being given a prompt for the correct answer (Pass 2). Explanations provided by ChatGPT were compared with faculty-generated explanations, and a 3-point evaluation scale was used to assess accuracy and thoroughness compared to faculty-generated answers. RESULTS: On first attempt, ChatGPT demonstrated a 75% accuracy in correctly answering faculty-generated MCQs. Among correctly answered questions, 66.4% of ChatGPT's explanations matched faculty explanations, and 89.1% captured some key aspects without providing inaccurate information. The amount of inaccurately generated explanations increases significantly if the questions was not answered correctly on the first pass (2.7% if correct on first pass vs. 34.6% if incorrect on first pass, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: ChatGPT shows promise in assisting faculty and students with explanations for practice MCQ's but should be used with caution. Faculty should review explanations and supplement to ensure coverage of learning objectives. Students can benefit from ChatGPT for immediate feedback through explanations if ChatGPT answers the question correctly on the first try. If the question is answered incorrectly students should remain cautious of the explanation and seek clarification from instructors.

Twelve tips for creating and sustaining a peer assessment program of clinical faculty.

While feedback is essential for learning in the health professions, clinical teachers rarely get feedback on their teaching, and the existing feedback is often non-specific and distant from teaching encounters. To enhance clinical teaching, we created a peer assessment program for clinical faculty. This program has been well-received and sustained for five years despite the challenges of faculty turnover and the pandemic. In this article, we identify twelve tips for creating and sustaining a peer assessment program for clinical faculty based on this experience. These tips focus on how to create a culture that supports peer assessment, on how best to implement a peer assessment program in practical terms, and on how to sustain a peer assessment program long-term. We hope these tips help educators receive better feedback about their clinical teaching and improve the future care delivered by our learners.

Negative faculty role modelling - is it a reflection of deteriorating societal values?

BACKGROUND: Negative faculty role modelling is an area of growing concern especially due to its implications on medical professionalism. The study aims to explore the impacts of negative role modelling on professionalism of medical students in the context of Pakistan. METHODS: This qualitative study is part of a larger study exploring impacts of role modelling on professionalism of students. It is based on Constructivist Grounded Theory involving six semi-structured interviews with clinical faculty and three focus group discussions with 22 students. Initial, focused, selective coding and thematic analysis was used to find the core category. RESULTS: Three overarching categories were developed: traits observed with negative role models; impact of negative role modelling; factors promoting negative role modelling. Subcategories of impacts included negative impact on professionalism, emotional impact, and its paradoxical positive impact. Negative role modelling, a manifestation of declining professionalism, was attributed to deteriorating societal values; further compounded by the lack of required mechanisms by institutions and the regulatory authority at their respective levels. CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of a strong moral platform at societal level, the burden of responsibility rests with the faculty and more importantly with institutions and regulatory bodies to discourage negative role modelling and educate students to recognize, reflect on and avoid negative behaviours and adopt strong professional values.

Characterization of Distinctive Teaching Practices in Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships: Perspectives From Students and Faculty.

Phenomenon: Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are novel curricula that place medical students in long-term learning and coaching relationships with faculty and require adaptation of teaching practices on the behalf of faculty to maximize learning outcomes. An understanding of how teaching in an LIC model differs from teaching trainees in more traditional models is critical to ensuring curricular innovation success through faculty development. Approach: A qualitative approach was used to describe the teaching practices of faculty and learning experiences of student participants in longitudinal integrated clerkships in different clinical and community settings. Forty-five faculty and 20 students participated in focus groups. Thematic analysis of focus group data was used to identify differences and similarities between groups, sites, and specialties. Findings: Two groupings of themes emerged in thematic analysis: (1) precepting strategies distinctive to the longitudinal integrated clerkship model and (2) precepting strategies enhanced when employed in the LIC model. Distinct to the LIC model, preceptors and students described the importance of understanding the curricular structure and supporting students in longitudinal care of patients. Enhanced in the LIC model are the strategies of relationship-based teaching, support of autonomy, feedback, and support of longitudinal growth in skills. Insights: Students and faculty across LIC sites were broadly aligned in their opinions of best practices for teaching in an LIC model. The longitudinal relationship between student and faculty in an LIC distinguishes this model from traditional block rotations and a distinctive approach to successful teaching is demonstrated. Preceptors use time afforded to build trusting relationships with students, which created opportunity for novel teaching approaches and enhanced otherwise effective teaching strategies. A focus on orientation to the curricular model and support of longitudinal relationships with patients may serve as an anchor for faculty development efforts in the development of an LIC.

"I realized I was not alone": A mixed-methods investigation of the implementation of Ubuntu groups to reduce burnout and social isolation in an allopathic medical School in the Southeastern United States.

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers experience higher rates of workplace burnout, a reality highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, small groups, inspired by South African philosophy, Ubuntu, were introduced to decrease burnout and social isolation and build community and belonging. This study examines how participation in these groups can impact these measures. METHODS: In this mixed-methods study, trained facilitators led small groups that utilized story-sharing to foster connections within the group and broader community. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately and merged to identify convergence. RESULTS: Three main qualitative themes emerged: 1) seeking and building connections and community, 2) curiosity, learning, and growing, and 3) open-hearted and thriving. These themes were linked to quantitative outcomes, showing a statistically significant decrease in social isolation among staff/faculty and students. Furthermore, faculty/staff exhibited reduced burnout compared to students, while students reported increased feelings of belonging. CONCLUSION: Participation in Ubuntu groups positively influenced students' sense of belonging, reduced faculty/staff burnout, and alleviated social isolation for all participants. Future research should explore the potential of this intervention to further promote wellness on medical campuses. Programs emphasizing the well-being of individuals, including faculty, staff, and students, are crucial for supporting the overall health of medical communities and the wider society.

How do we teach generative artificial intelligence to medical educators? Pilot of a faculty development workshop using ChatGPT.

PURPOSE: Artificial intelligence (AI) is already impacting the practice of medicine and it is therefore important for future healthcare professionals and medical educators to gain experience with the benefits, limitations, and applications of this technology. The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a faculty development workshop on generative AI using ChatGPT, to familiarise participants with AI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A brief workshop introducing faculty to generative AI and its applications in medical education was developed for preclinical clinical skills preceptors at our institution. During the workshop, faculty were given prompts to enter into ChatGPT that were relevant to their teaching activities, including generating differential diagnoses and providing feedback on student notes. Participant feedback was collected using an anonymous survey. RESULTS: 27/36 participants completed the survey. Prior to the workshop, 15% of participants indicated having used ChatGPT, and approximately half were familiar with AI applications in medical education. Interest in using the tool increased from 43% to 65% following the workshop, yet participants expressed concerns regarding accuracy and privacy with use of ChatGPT. CONCLUSION: This brief workshop serves as a model for faculty development in AI applications in medical education. The workshop increased interest in using ChatGPT for educational purposes, and was well received.

PharmaCORE: Optimizing medical pharmacology education with an innovative instructional dashboard.

WHAT WAS THE EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGE?: Diminishing emphasis on pharmacology education in medical schools has resulted in a concerning lack of prescribing knowledge among physician graduates. These concerns mirror our graduates' expressed dissatisfaction with the structure and quality of pharmacology educational experiences over the past 5 years. WHAT WAS THE SOLUTION?: PharmaCORE, a web-based instructional dashboard, was developed as an interactive faculty development tool to enhance integration and instruction of pharmacology content in pre-clinical curriculum at a US medical school. HOW WAS THE SOLUTION IMPLEMENTED?: PharmaCORE was introduced in Spring 2022 for instructors teaching pharmacology in the pre-clinical curriculum. Instructors used the dashboard to assess coverage of specific drug topics throughout the curriculum and to apply tailored, learner-centered teaching strategies to optimize learner engagement and comprehension. WHAT LESSONS WERE LEARNED THAT ARE RELEVANT TO A WIDER GLOBAL AUDIENCE?: The initial assessment indicated that the dashboard was user-friendly and positively influenced instructor awareness of pharmacology content and learner-centered teaching. This faculty development approach underscores the importance of skill-based mapping and maintaining learner-centered teaching standards to address other integrated subjects and broader curricular challenges. WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?: This study lays the foundation for the broader applicability of instructional dashboards in tracking and addressing curricular challenges across pharmacology and other science subjects. Future steps include more personalized feedback for instructors, creating a student-accessible version, and ongoing monitoring of maintenance measures like milestone exams.