A Novel Faculty Development & Promotion Opportunity for Junior Clinical Track Physician Faculty Jean Malouin, M.D. M.P.H. James Peggs, M.D. Department of Family Medicine University of Michigan

Academic medical centers increasingly depend on clinical revenue to sustain their missions: Training Research Patient Care

Opportunities for junior clinical track faculty to: Gain new skills Develop new or improved programs Advance academic careers …are increasingly more scarce!

“Protected” time for teaching, scholarly work, research is rare Time away from clinic/hospital is salary lost to faculty and revenue lost to the medical center/department.

“Special Arrangements” with the Chair have traditionally been necessary to allow such faculty development to occur.

Such “deals” often create a shift in workload to other faculty members and a perceived disparity in opportunities.

The Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan presently counts: 65 Physician faculty members 54 “clinical track” physicians

Current rank of clinical faculty: 3 Professors 2 Associate Professors 18 Assistant Professors 31 Instructors

Current funded opportunities at the Medical School: Clinical Skills Instructor.10 FTE Longitudinal Case Discussion Leader.10 FTE

Current faculty development programs available (with partial funding): Medical Education Scholars Program Faculty Development Institute

Department faculty retreat: Consensus opinion to “set aside” funds to support teaching of residents and students and encourage other academic and administrative activities

In order to increase every faculty member’s opportunities to advance their career and pursue additional scholarly activities, we created the following: Family Medicine Scholars Program (FMESP) (a “mini-fellowship” program)

Program goals: Provide advanced, targeted faculty development for clinical faculty members in educational leadership development (i.e., predoctoral, residency and fellowships); and/or, clinical leadership development (i.e., medical directors, service chiefs)

Program goals (continued): Promote and enhance education innovation Prepare current and future faculty members for increased leadership responsibility within the department

Application Process: All clinical faculty members are eligible May apply for 3, 6, or 9 month-long appointment either part-time over a period of time (1/2 day per week) or “block time” of complete release for short period Application cycles occur every six months

Selection process: Applications reviewed by senior education leadership Recommendations made to Chair for final approval

Project Mentorship Each faculty member needs to identify a project mentor Mentor can be internal or external to dept. Role of mentor: Keep project on track Navigate roadblocks Facilitate completion of scholarly products

Financial Support Clinical practice expectation reduced by one half-day per week for length of program or shorter “block period” Up to $500 in project support costs for each three month project (maximum $1500)

Expected Outcomes Each participant is expected to present their results in a department forum (e.g. Grand Rounds, resident-faculty meeting, resident teaching conference, department faculty development session) Submission for publication, presentation at regional/national meetings, or grant proposal will be encouraged and supported

Faculty Response First round – Fall applicants 7 approved Second round – January applicants 5 approved

Types of projects/proposals approved: Curriculum development – 5 Clinical process improvement – 2 Publication submission – 4 Administrative development - 0 Clinical research - 1

Reasons for denial: Project inconsistent with departmental needs Project funding available from other sources

Examples of funded projects: Develop Hospice and palliative care curriculum module Develop Integrative Medicine curriculum Develop Latino health initiative Revise and submit publication on Clinical Simulation Center Completion of three ongoing funded research projects related to cancer screening Revise and expand evidence-based medicine curriculum

Comments and feedback from faculty: “Great opportunity” “Has allowed me to complete academic projects on time” “Need to offer this to more faculty” “I LOVE my FMESP time” “When can I do it again???”

Pitfalls and potentials: Expensive Now reimbursing at clinical incentive rate, may change to educational rate Would allow us to offer this to more faculty Faculty reluctant to transition back into usual weekly clinical commitment Mentoring can be time-consuming

QUESTIONS???