Program Profile

VA Boston Healthcare System First Friday Faculty Development Presentation Series

A multidisciplinary online and in-person continuing education program utilizing the teaching, research, awards, interprofessional, networking (TRAIN) framework has provided nearly 1,000 credits for health care professionals across multiple specialties.

Fed Pract. 2019 November;36(11):514-516

Author(s):

References

1. US Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Academic Affiliations. 2017 statistics: health professions trainees. https://www.va.gov/OAA/docs/OAA_Statistics.pdf. Accessed September 6, 2019.

2. Chang BK, Brannen JL. The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014: examining graduate medical education enhancement in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Acad Med. 2015;90(9):1196-1198.

3. Lee J, Sanders K, Cox M. Honoring those who have served: how can health professionals provide optimal care for members of the military, veterans, and their families? Acad Med. 2014;89(9):1198-1200.

4. Houston TK, Ferenchick GS, Clark JM, et al. Faculty development needs. J Gen Intern Med. 2004;19(4):375-379.

5. Holmboe ES, Ward DS, Reznick RK, et al. Faculty development in assessment: the missing link in competency based medical education. Acad Med. 2011;86(4):460-467.

6. Steinert Y, Mann K, Centeno A, et al. A systematic review of faculty development initiatives designed to improve teaching effectiveness in medical education: BEME Guide No. 8. Med Teach. 2006;28(6):497-526.

7. Steinert Y, Mann K, Anderson B, et al. A systematic review of faculty development initiatives designed to enhance teaching effectiveness: A 10-year update: BEME Guide No. 40. Med Teach. 2016;38(8):769-786.

8. Lee SM, Lee MC, Reed DA, et al. Success of a faculty development program for teachers at the Mayo Clinic. J Grad Med Educ. 2014;6(4):704-708.

9. Topor DR, Roberts DH. Faculty development programming at academic medical centers: identifying financial benefits and value. Med Sci Educ. 2016;26(3):417-419.

10. Starmer AJ, Spector ND, Srivastava R, et al; I-PASS Study Group. Changes in medical errors after implementation of a handoff program. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(19):1803-1812.

11. Maloney S, Haas R, Keating JL, et al. Breakeven, cost benefit, cost effectiveness, and willingness to pay for web-based versus face-to-face education delivery for health professionals. J Med Internet Res. 2012;14(2):e47.

12. Clark JM, Houston TK, Kolodner K, Branch WT, Levine RB, Kern DE. Teaching the teachers: national survey of faculty development in departments of medicine of U.S. teaching hospitals. J Gen Intern Med. 2004;19(3):205-214.

13. Hatem CJ, Lown BA, Newman LR. The academic health center coming of age: helping faculty become better teachers and agents of educational change. Acad Med. 2006;81(11):941-944.

14. Topor DR, Budson AE. A framework for faculty development programming at VA and non-VA Academic Medical.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) trains a large number of learners from across multiple health care professions— more than 122,000 in 2017. ¹ The VA has affiliation agreements with almost all American medical schools (97%), and annually about one-third of all medical residents in the US train at VA academic medical centers (AMCs). ^1,2 The VA also trains learners in more than 40 health care professions from >1,800 training programs. ^1,3This large commitment to training aides the recruitment of these learners as VA clinicians. In fact, a high percentage of current VA clinicians previously trained at the VA. For example, 60% of VA physicians and about 70% of both VA optometrists and psychologists trained at the VA. ¹

Given the large scope of training experiences and the impact on future employment, it is critical that VA educators provide a highquality learning experience for trainees. To do this, VA educators need both initial and ongoing education and support to grow and develop as teachers and as supervisors. ⁴ Few educators currently report receiving this type of training, which includes effectively providing feedback to trainees, assessing trainee learning, and teaching on interprofessional teams. ⁵

Numerous benefits to the AMC may be realized when a structured approach to faculty development is implemented. Systematic literature reviews of such approaches found that faculty members were satisfied with programming and that the content of programing was useful and relevant to their teaching. ^6,7 Faculty reported increased positive attitudes toward faculty development and toward teaching, increased knowledge of educational principles, greater establishment of faculty networks, and positive changes in teaching behavior (as identified by faculty and students). ^6,7 Further, participating in faculty development programming increased teaching effectiveness. ^6-8 Faculty development programs also provided direct and indirect financial benefits to the AMC and may lead to increased patient safety, increased patient satisfaction with care, and higher quality of care. ^9,10Faculty development programming can be delivered via an online system that is as effective as face-to-face trainings and is more cost-efficient than are face-to-face trainings, particularly for educators at rural sites. ¹¹

Methods

The VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS) is a large AMC with more than 350 academic affiliations, 500 faculty members, and 3200 trainees from a wide range of health care professions. Despite this robust presence of trainees, like many other AMCs, in 2014 VABHS lacked a structured approach to faculty development programming. ^12,13

To realize the potential benefits of this programming, VABHS developed a framework to conceptualize multiple components of faculty development programming. The framework focused on faculty development activities in 5 areas: teaching, research, awards, interprofessional, networking (TRAIN). ¹⁴ The TRAIN framework allowed VABHS to develop specific faculty development programs in a strategic and organized manner.

In this article, we describe the VABHS First Friday Faculty Development Presentation series, a faculty development program that was created to improve teaching and supervising skill. The presentation series began in 2014. Faculty members at all 3 VABHS campuses participated in the presentations either in-person or via videoconference. Over time, faculty members at other New England VA AMCs began to express interest in participating, and audio and videoconferences were used to allow participation from those sites.