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American Journal of Pharmaceutical... Jun 2022To explore methods that pharmacy programs can use to redefine their work environment to reduce stress, improve well-being, and increase faculty productivity. To... (Review)
Review
To explore methods that pharmacy programs can use to redefine their work environment to reduce stress, improve well-being, and increase faculty productivity. To demonstrate a culture of support, organizations should consider a five-fold approach to enhancing and maintaining faculty well-being, including optimizing faculty and staff support, establishing a faculty development and mentoring program, permitting flexibility in work schedules, improving productivity of meetings, and managing communication tools. Individuals can also take measures to improve their well-being, including controlling email, giving attention to faculty citizenship, implementing stress reduction and coping techniques, and maintaining boundaries between work and home. This article discusses approaches that have been shown to reduce burnout and provides strategies organizations and individuals can implement to improve productivity and faculty well-being. While certain areas, such as faculty wellness and productivity, have been well-studied in the pharmacy and health professions literature, significant gaps were identified in other areas, including alternate work arrangements. In some cases, data from the business sector can be extrapolated to pharmacy education; however, inferences from effective corporate strategies may not be transferable to the culture and expectations of academia. While there is significant overlap between institutional and individual strategies, a culture of communication, collaboration, support, and citizenship is foundational. There is no single strategy that will work for everyone, and flexibility is important to develop an individualized approach.
Topics: Burnout, Professional; Education, Pharmacy; Faculty; Faculty, Pharmacy; Humans; Mentoring
PubMed: 34507961
DOI: 10.5688/ajpe8764 -
American Journal of Pharmaceutical... Jan 2020As practice evolves and scientific advancements are achieved the natural inclination for educators and administrators is to add new content to existing curricula. Often...
As practice evolves and scientific advancements are achieved the natural inclination for educators and administrators is to add new content to existing curricula. Often pre-existing curricula that may be outdated or no longer relevant may go un-checked leading to excessive coursework and program completion times. Faculty may also have emotional or other attachments to certain topics or content and that may serve as an additional or independent barrier to removing extraneous material. To avoid and curtail curricular hoarding of material it may be prudent to periodically engage in reviews of material assessing them for not only adherence to accreditation standards but also in terms of their on-going appropriateness and relevance to contemporary pharmacy practice. These exercises may be especially important today given the rate of information creation and dissemination in the modern digital age.
Topics: Accreditation; Curriculum; Education, Pharmacy; Faculty; Hoarding; Humans; Pharmaceutical Services
PubMed: 32292200
DOI: 10.5688/ajpe847714 -
Current Biology : CB Dec 2020Interview with Aniruddh Patel, who studies the cognitive, neural, and evolutionary foundations of music at Tufts University.
Interview with Aniruddh Patel, who studies the cognitive, neural, and evolutionary foundations of music at Tufts University.
Topics: Faculty; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Male; Music; Psychology; Universities
PubMed: 33290698
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.065 -
American Journal of Pharmaceutical... Nov 2022To assess pharmacy faculty's knowledge of prominent and prevalent teaching and learning myths and misconceptions and evidence-based strategies prior to training....
To assess pharmacy faculty's knowledge of prominent and prevalent teaching and learning myths and misconceptions and evidence-based strategies prior to training. Participants completed a baseline assessment containing 16 true-false knowledge questions about teaching and learning misconceptions (10) and myths (six), one open-ended application question, and four participant demographic questions including years of experience in pharmacy academia, the focus of their institution (teaching or research), the number of education meetings attended, and whether they had formal training in education. After completing the baseline assessment of the top 16 misconceptions and myths, faculty were trained on the top 10 evidence-based teaching and learning strategies. At session completion, faculty were provided the assessment answers and scored their original responses. Results from the survey revealed that most responders (56%) had been in academics between one and 10 years and attended two to 10 education meetings (62%). The majority of participants worked at teaching-intensive universities (56%), and most had no formal training in teaching (65%). The average score on the assessment was 43% for the myths section versus 70% for the misconceptions section. Faculty participants were overconfident in their predictions (predicted=74%, actual=60%). Faculty demographics did not influence the assessment scores. Pharmacy faculty may not know which teaching and learning strategies are evidence based and which are myths or misconceptions. In addition, they are likely to be overconfident in their knowledge of this evidence. This provides opportunity for faculty development in these areas.
Topics: Humans; Faculty, Pharmacy; Education, Pharmacy; Learning; Faculty; Pharmacy; Teaching
PubMed: 34893466
DOI: 10.5688/ajpe8751 -
Family Medicine Feb 2022COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on faculty of academic family medicine departments. We sought to characterize faculty's self-reported changes in engagement and...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on faculty of academic family medicine departments. We sought to characterize faculty's self-reported changes in engagement and productivity in clinical, education, and scholarly efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to correlate the changes with age, gender, and level of COVID-19 exposure. We also sought to determine if differences in faculty engagement and productivity were related to departmental efforts to create virtual community, manage conflict, foster engagement with colleagues, and support faculty emotional well-being.
METHODS
We surveyed family medicine department faculty nationally on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their engagement and productivity in clinical care, teaching and research, and on the effect of departmental efforts on well-being.
RESULTS
Most respondents reported decreased engagement and productivity across clinical, teaching, and research domains. Older age and male gender were associated with higher clinical engagement. Most respondents were satisfied with their departments' virtual community but reported that social distancing had a negative impact on departmental ability to problem-solve and on personal emotional well-being. Higher engagement and productivity in all three domains of effort (clinical, teaching, and research) were associated with respondents' well-being and with positive perceptions of their department's efforts.
CONCLUSIONS
Clinical, teaching, and research engagement and productivity for academic family physicians decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty well-being and departmental interventions lessened the impact of diminished productivity and research engagement.
Topics: Aged; COVID-19; Efficiency; Faculty, Medical; Humans; Male; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 35143682
DOI: 10.22454/FamMed.2022.355977 -
GMS Journal For Medical Education 2017
Topics: Faculty, Medical
PubMed: 29085894
DOI: 10.3205/zma001127 -
American Journal of Pharmaceutical... Mar 2021Although there are at least twice as many non-tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty as tenured and tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty entering academia based on...
Although there are at least twice as many non-tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty as tenured and tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty entering academia based on data collected from 2013 to 2019, there are ongoing equity, inclusion, and advancement issues between these categories of faculty that require consideration. Contracts with clear descriptions of responsibilities are needed along with regular evaluations and promotion opportunities based on the faculty member's performance of the assigned responsibilities, appropriate compensation including fringe benefits, inclusion in institutional voting and governance, and due process protections against abrupt termination. Further, universities and schools and colleges of pharmacy should foster a culture that values all faculty regardless of rank or position. The purpose of this commentary is to describe ongoing efforts and lessons learned by one public university with a college of pharmacy that has non-tenure-track and tenure-track faculty. Our hope is to provide insight into how these experiences could be used as a basis to inform changes in policy by other universities with a school or college of pharmacy, as well as to inform possible changes to the Academy's policies.
Topics: Education, Pharmacy; Faculty; Faculty, Medical; Faculty, Pharmacy; Humans; Pharmacy; Salaries and Fringe Benefits
PubMed: 34283773
DOI: 10.5688/ajpe8428 -
Microbiology and Molecular Biology... Aug 2019The percentage of women employed in professional scientific positions has been low but is increasing over time. The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National... (Review)
Review
The percentage of women employed in professional scientific positions has been low but is increasing over time. The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have both implemented programs to improve women's participation in science, and many universities and companies have diversity and equity programs. While most faculty and scientists believe that they are fair and unbiased, numerous well-designed studies published in leading peer-reviewed journals show that gender bias in sciences and medicine is widespread and persistent today in both faculty and students. Recent studies show that gender bias affects student grading, professional hiring, mentoring, tenure, promotion, respect, grant proposal success, and pay. In addition, sexual harassment remains a significant barrier. Fortunately, several studies provide evidence that programs that raise conscious awareness of gender bias can improve equity in science, and there are a number of recommendations and strategies for improving the participation of women.
Topics: Faculty; Female; Humans; Laboratory Personnel; Male; Science; Sexism; United States
PubMed: 31315903
DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00018-19 -
American Journal of Pharmaceutical... Mar 2023Faculty workload is difficult to delineate and quantify equitably because of the various factors and diverse roles that define faculty positions. This is especially true...
Faculty workload is difficult to delineate and quantify equitably because of the various factors and diverse roles that define faculty positions. This is especially true in health professions education, including pharmacy. Nonetheless, ensuring fair and transparent distribution of faculty workload is necessary for equity and engagement of the faculty workforce. While it is impossible to develop a uniform policy for all faculty, there can be a guide for how workload is developed and measured, especially for promotion or awarding of tenure, focusing on equity and transparency. Developing clear definitions of workload, setting mutually agreed expectations, and sharing transparent workload assignments and distribution within the institution may be needed. It is imperative to discuss an optimal policy for equitable and transparent workload in each institution and in academic pharmacy as a whole; a lack of this effort can create undue hardship for faculty, decrease productivity, potentially worsen faculty morale, and ultimately impair faculty retention.
Topics: Humans; Workload; Education, Pharmacy; Faculty; Pharmacy; Policy; Faculty, Pharmacy
PubMed: 35470173
DOI: 10.5688/ajpe9012 -
Advances in Physiology Education Mar 2017The goal of this review is to highlight key elements underpinning excellent high-stakes summative assessment. This guide is primarily aimed at faculty members with the... (Review)
Review
The goal of this review is to highlight key elements underpinning excellent high-stakes summative assessment. This guide is primarily aimed at faculty members with the responsibility of assigning student grades and is intended to be a practical tool to help throughout the process of planning, developing, and deploying tests as well as monitoring their effectiveness. After a brief overview of the criteria for high-quality assessment, the guide runs through best practices for aligning assessment with learning outcomes and compares common testing modalities. Next, the guide discusses the kind of validity evidence needed to support defensible grading of student performance. This review concentrates on how to measure the outcome of student learning; other reviews in this series will expand on the related concepts of formative testing and how to leverage testing for learning.
Topics: Educational Measurement; Faculty; Humans; Physiology; Students
PubMed: 28188198
DOI: 10.1152/advan.00116.2016