Eastern Virginia Medical School
Norfolk, VA
Abstract Authors: Joshua Sill, MD; Michael Hooper, MD; Heather Newton, EdD; Agatha Parks-Savage, RN, EdD
Program Director: Joshua Sill, MD
Type of Program: Pulmonary/Critical Care
BACKGROUND
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) stipulates that all internal medicine residency programs and subspecialty fellowship programs must monitor and track faculty development. The ACGME places specific emphasis on this topic, requiring periodic evaluations of faculty development curricula as part of the ongoing self-study process and annual program evaluations. Challenges to faculty development include limited faculty time, discordant participant schedules, and the resources required for administration of the program. Eastern Virginia Medical School implemented a new pulmonary and critical care fellowship program in the spring of 2014. In keeping with ACGME policy, we developed a faculty development program for the fellowship’s faculty members. We present our experience with the development of a new, multifaceted faculty development program.
METHODS
In developing our program’s faculty development curriculum, we sought to maximize opportunities for collaboration with our core residency program and with the sponsoring institution. Doing so, allowed us to focus our resources on items that were specific to our subspecialty, rather than duplicating the efforts of others. Our curriculum included several different types of activities. 1) Concise, online, computer based training modules were developed with assistance from the sponsoring institution. 2) Brief talks and small group discussions were presented by different faculty members at the beginning of monthly faculty meetings. 3) Highlights from the minutes of the Graduate Medical Education Council meeting were emailed to faculty members monthly for review. 4) Faculty members were encouraged to attend national educational meetings or educational sessions at national subspecialty meetings. 5) Faculty were encouraged to attend an ongoing faculty development lecture series provided by the sponsoring institution.
RESULTS
Overall feedback from faculty members was positive. They found the curriculum to be helpful and not overly time consuming. Having required items either coincide with previously scheduled meetings or be available in a short, self-directed, online format was appreciated by faculty members. The site visitors during a recent ACGME lauded the faculty development program, stating that it was in keeping with “best educational practices.”
CONCLUSIONS
Faculty development is an important part of any ACGME-approved internal medicine subspecialty fellowship program. Working within the framework of pre-existing institutional and core residency curricula may help to make the process more efficient. Limiting the time requirements imposed on the faculty members may help improve faculty participation.
REFERENCES
Philibert I, Lieh-Lai M. A practical guide to the ACGME self-study. Journal of Graduate Medical Education. September 2014; 612-614. Acknowledgements Linda Archer, PhD, Vice Dean for GME, Designated Institutional Official, Eastern Virginia Medical School Chrisandra Knight, Program Coordinator, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program, Eastern Virginia Medical School Elza Mylona, PhD, MBA, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, Eastern Virginia Medical School
