Kirkpatrick's Approach to Build Faculty Development Programs in Medical Education

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

A key challenge for faculty development is ensuring that learning is transferred to the workplace. An effective program fosters the development of a particular blend of knowledge, dispositions, and behaviors that are applied and sustained over time. The role of expert clinician aside, faculty in academic institutions may not be formally prepared for the evolving range of roles and tasks they are asked to fulfill. Designing an effective faculty development program poses formidable challenges. While the literature offers ample guidance on designing faculty development episodes, perspectives on organized and comprehensive faculty development programs based on the principles of transfer of training are lacking. In this perspective, we highlight 11 key considerations for effective faculty development in an institutional context (TABLE). Our aim is to guide individuals responsible for designing and implementing a development program with the goal of enhancing the transfer of learning into workplace practice.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Lubbock.

In medical education there has been increasing emphasis on faculty development programs aimed at the professionalization of teaching and increasing students' learning. However, these programs have been shown to have an impact beyond improvement in teaching skills. The medical school of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (EMUC) has been running a faculty development program (DEM) since 2000. To explore the perception of graduates on the effects of having participated in DEM on their development as teachers and clinicians. Using an exploratory, descriptive and qualitative design, the 79 teachers who graduated from DEM from 2004-2008 were sent a questionnaire containing three open questions. Their answers were analyzed using the Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis of Glaser and Strauss by four researchers. Faculty development, becoming a better clinician, personal development, appreciation of the value of teaching and strengthening of the academic community were the five categories that emerged from the answers. Graduates felt that, besides learning new educational skills, they changed their attitude towards teaching. DEM was perceived as facilitating self-awareness and reflection about the graduates' role as doctors and teachers. The graduates also valued meeting other faculty. Faculty development programs can have an impact far beyond the learning objectives. The planning and design of programs contributes to their wider impact. This should be taken into consideration in the design, planning, and evaluation of faculty development programs. Care should be taken to protect time for participation, reflection and for interaction with other academics.

State University of New York Upstate Medical University College of Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Background Medical education is a continuously evolving field that requires faculty members to engage in ongoing professional development to maintain high-quality instructions. Faculty development programs at medical education department of medical colleges play a critical role in equipping educators with the necessary skills to address the dynamic challenges of medical education. However, the effectiveness of such programs is contingent upon accurately identifying faculty training needs. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive need assessment survey to determine the specific areas where faculty members require further development in order to improvise their teaching skills. Methods The study was conducted at College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa. A structured google survey was designed and developed to assess faculty training needs across various competencies, including teaching methodologies, clinical instruction, curriculum development, and educational research. Faculty members were asked to rate the importance of each competency and indicate their need for additional training. The survey was distributed to all faculty members of college of medicine, King Faisal University, Al-ahsa by email. 41 faculty members across different departments, including Surgery, Biomedical Sciences, Clinical Neurosciences, and Obstetrics and Gynecology responded to the survey. Data collection was conducted over one month, and responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results The survey yielded responses from 41 faculty members, with Assistant Professors constituting 70% of the participants. The highest departmental representation was from Biomedical Sciences (35%) and Surgery (25%). Teaching in large and small groups received the highest mean importance rating (4.5), followed by facilitating and managing learning (4.3). The most frequently reported areas requiring additional training included large group teaching (65%), assessment and learning (60%), and educational research (55%). Faculty members recommended regular workshops on teaching methodologies, educational research, and statistical analysis, with an emphasis on accreditation of training sessions through relevant health authorities. Discussion The findings highlight the critical need for faculty development in large group teaching, student assessment, and educational research. The increasing role of technology in medical education was also evident, as faculty members expressed a need for training in e-learning platforms. Need assessment surveys provide valuable insights for tailoring faculty development initiatives; however, their limitations must be acknowledged. Surveys may not capture all faculty challenges due to reliance on self-reported data, potentially leading to a narrow focus on training programs. To address these limitations, institutions should integrate qualitative methods such as focus groups and peer mentoring to supplement survey findings. The integration of interdisciplinary faculty development initiatives has the potential to augment collaborative efforts and elevate the quality of educational experiences. Conclusion: This need assessment survey provides essential insights into the training needs of faculty members, emphasizing the importance of structured and targeted faculty development programs. While need assessment surveys serve as a foundational tool for shaping faculty training initiatives by the Faculty Development Committee, Medical institutions must adopt a multifaceted approach that includes qualitative insights and collaborative strategies to ensure comprehensive professional development of faculty members and other staff. By fostering an inclusive and dynamic faculty development culture, medical institutions can enhance teaching effectiveness and improve overall educational outcomes. The study helped a lot in development of annual faculty training need for the college of medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa BJMS, Vol. 25 No. 01 January’26 Page : 297-304

BackgroundThe role of clinician educators has expanded to encompass diverse responsibilities alongside providing competent care and engaging in scholarly activities. Faculty development (FD) programs have emerged as vital tools for equipping educators with teaching skills and career advancement opportunities. However, assessing faculty development programs’ impact on organizational culture remains challenging due to their multifaceted nature. This study explores this gap to understand how faculty development influences organizational culture.MethodsThis qualitative study used a constructivist approach to explore faculty perspectives on the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Faculty Development Program’s influence on organizational culture. Forty-three faculty members participated in nine semi-structured focus groups, selected for diversity across roles and locations. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and anonymized to ensure accuracy and participant confidentiality.Data analysisTranscripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. A multidisciplinary team independently reviewed transcripts, identified preliminary codes, and refined themes through iterative consensus building. Coding was organized using memos and grouped into themes. Using information power principles, the team determined that nine focus groups provided sufficient data richness to meet the study’s aims.ResultsThe research team identified and refined four central themes: professionalization, legitimization, the value of community, and leadership impact. The participants reported a greater sense of professionalization through enhanced teaching skills, increased awareness of educational literature, and heightened confidence in their educator roles. The faculty development program fostered a strong community, promoting collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support across specialties and locations. Leadership impact was evident at individual and institutional levels, increasing confidence, mentorship, and organizational support.ConclusionsThis study provides valuable insights into the organizational impact of faculty development programs, shedding light on how such initiatives influence faculty experiences and organizational culture. Future research should explore leadership values, faculty retention, burnout prevention, and the broader value of education within academic institutions.

Although faculty development programs in medical education have increased over the past two decades, there is a lack of rigorous program evaluation. The aim of this study was to determine quantifiable outcomes of Harvard Medical School's (HMS's) Fellowship in Medical Education and evaluate attainment of its goals. In 2005 and 2009 the authors collected curricula vitae (CVs) and conducted within-subject analysis of 42 fellowship graduates and also conducted comparison analysis between 12 academic year 2005 fellows and 12 faculty who did not participate in the program. The authors identified 10 metrics of academic advancement. CV analysis for the 42 graduates started 2 years prior to fellowship enrollment and continued for 2-year intervals until June 2009 (10 years of data collection). CV analysis for the comparison group was from 2003 to 2009. The authors also analyzed association between gender and academic outcomes. Fellowship graduates demonstrated significant changes in 4 of 10 academic metrics by the end of the fellowship year: academic promotion, educational leadership, education committees, and education funding. Two metrics-educational leadership and committees-showed increased outcomes two years post fellowship, with a positive trend for promotions. Fellowship graduates significantly outpaced the comparison group in 6 of 10 metrics. Women did significantly more committee work, secured more education funding, and were promoted more often than men. Findings indicate that the HMS Fellowship in Medical Education meets programmatic goals and produces positive, measurable academic outcomes. Standardized evaluation metrics of longitudinal faculty development programs would aid cross-institutional comparisons.

Supporting Change in Entrepreneurship Education: Creating a Faculty Development Program Grounded in Results from a Literature ReviewEpicenter, an NSF-funded STEP Center, is creating a team-based program to supportinstitutional change and faculty development, the Pathways to Innovation Program, with the goalof integrating entrepreneurship and innovation education into formal and informal engineeringcurriculums in higher education. To guide the design and implementation of the facultydevelopment program, a literature review was conducted during June-August 2013 to identifyeffective models and promising practices from the complementary topic areas of facultydevelopment and change in higher education. During the review and selection process, relevantarticles were expected to address the following parameters:1. Scale: the faculty development program should be regional or national;2. Topic: the program should support engineering faculty in adopting or adapting curricula;3. Context: engineering faculty should integrate entrepreneurship and innovation curricula;4. Sustainability: successful changes would be institutionalized at all levels;5. Evaluation: faculty development programs would demonstrate changed attitudes, knowledge, and practices in engineering faculty and students.Although articles that definitively addressed all of these parameters were not found, we wereable to identify articles that reported promising practices or models around Scale, Context, and tosome extent, Evaluation. We synthesized these results into findings about the components ofeffective faculty development and change programs.Components of Meaningful Faculty Development Programs:• The combination of duration, experiential learning opportunities, and peer interaction are factors that contribute to meaningful faculty development programs.• The content and activity of faculty development programs should be constructed around a learning theory and principles of instructional design.• Evaluation, beyond satisfaction, is not conducted programmatically in faculty development programs; but it should be incorporated into every stage of a faculty development program, including pre-planning activities.Components of Fostering Change in Higher Education• Curriculum change must be viewed systemically. It is not merely a matter of ‘adding-on’ or ‘adding-in’ missing or new curriculum components.• Theories of change must guide the work of making change in order to evaluate the success of particular approaches or the impact of the change effort.• External facilitators are essential to managing group change processes and to creating a less stressful learning environment when faculty members begin to question their approaches.Our paper will present detailed results about promising faculty development models andinstitutional and curricular change management processes. It will discuss implications of thefindings and recommendations for the design of the Pathways to Innovation Program. And it willreport on the progress of the program launch (planned for Spring 2014) and integration intoentrepreneurship and innovation curriculums at participating institutions of higher education.

Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Faculty play an important role in the delivery of quality instruction in the ambulatory setting. As medical schools and residency programs move more clinical training to ambulatory care settings, more faculty must be recruited and trained. Medical educators have attempted to prepare faculty to teach in ambulatory care settings by conducting faculty development programs. This study documents the current practices of a sample of 14 peer-nominated medical educators who conduct this type of faculty development program. The authors conducted telephone interviews to learn what these educators taught, how they conducted and evaluated their programs, and the theoretical framework guiding their selection of program content and format. Results show that these faculty development programs were delivered almost exclusively in the workshop format, and that there was remarkable similarity in the topics and strategies used. Evaluation was generally limited to satisfaction ratings. Based on the results of this study, the authors recommend that faculty development programs that now emphasize the teaching encounter itself should give equal emphasis to (1) the importance of pre-instructional planning; (2) teaching faculty how to employ post-instructional techniques such as reflection; and (3) training learners and clinic staff to collaborate with faculty in the learning process.

Purpose: The process of attracting, training, and retaining adjunct clinical faculty can be a challenge for regional medical campuses. It is important to have a faculty development program that addresses the specific needs of community-based faculty members. However, there is a shortage of literature on how to best develop and deliver such programs at regional campuses. Objective: to describe the development and implementation of a comprehensive faculty development program at a regional medical campus.
 Method: An intensive faculty development program was developed at the regional medical campus of a large US Midwestern medical school. The faculty development program was directed by a senior faculty member at the regional medical campus working with a senior educator from the medical education office on the main campus. The program expanded the number of yearly faculty development workshops offered to all faculty at the regional campus and specifically included an intensive two-year program for 12 faculty teaching scholars. The two-year Teaching Scholars program entailed additional meeting sessions along with assignments, readings, and the scholars’ commitment to incorporate session content into practice. Results: Teaching scholars maintained regular session attendance. Self-assessed knowledge and skills in completing common teaching activities improved for participating faculty across the study period. All participating faculty rated the program good (18%) to excellent (82%) and all indicated they would recommend the program to colleagues.
 Conclusions: The described program can be accomplished by any regional medical campus working with faculty experts at the main campus. The financial costs of the program were minimal, and data from the program supported its benefits.

Group Peer Review: The Breakfast of Champions.

PurposeThe faculties are crucial to education. They should have enough training facilities and be encouraged to actively contribute to high-quality education and successful learning. Faculty engagement and development activities should be explored and included in learning organizations and employee engagement in India. This paper aims to describe higher education as a learning organization. The research will also assess how faculty development programs affect faculty engagement behaviors in these institutions and if professional development mediates this effect, which has not been previously examined.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted with quantitative data collected from 267 faculties through reliable and validated adapted questionnaires. Semistructured interviews were conducted with heads and professor-level faculties to gain insights into faculty development and engagement. Partial least squares structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM 3.3.6 version) was used to test the conceptually drafted model.FindingsFaculty professional development programs shown to improve higher education faculty engagement and professional progress. The studies also showed that higher education institutions must prioritize faculty development to become learning organizations. Professional development reduced the direct effects of faculty development program (FDP) on faculty engagement. This suggests that professional growth mediates the research.Practical implicationsThis research emphasizes and professional development to boost teacher involvement in B-Schools. Management must design faculty development programs to construct professional development and learning organizations, according to the results. Developing and writing rules that encourage faculty engagement in such internal and external programs would also enhance their academic and administrative abilities and assist higher education institutions become learning organizations.Originality/valueThe study is one of the few to examine the impact of faculty development programs and professional development on faculty engagement in higher education institutions, particularly B-Schools, and its competitive mediating role.