The following is a summary of “Faculty Development and the Emergency Medicine Educator: A National Needs Assessment,” published in the July 2023 issue of Emergency Medicine by Karademos et al.

Faculty development (FD) is a comprehensive approach focusing on improving medical educators’ knowledge, skills, and behaviors through structured programming. There currently needs to be a standardized framework for faculty development within the medical field, and academic institutions differ in their approaches to faculty development programming, their ability to overcome obstacles, their utilization of resources, and their attainment of consistent outcomes. The study aimed to evaluate faculty development requirements among emergency medicine educators from six different academic institutions with diverse geographical and clinical settings. 

This information will guide the overall improvement of faculty development in emergency medicine. This cross-sectional study evaluated the requirements for faculty development among emergency medicine educators. A questionnaire was formulated, tested, and disseminated to the faculty through the internal e-mail listserv of each academic institution. Participants were requested to assess their level of comfort and interest in various areas of FD. Participants were also asked to disclose their medical history, the status of contentment with the medical care they have received, and obstacles encountered in accessing medical care. Across six medical facilities, 136 out of 471 medical faculty members completed the survey during the latter part of 2020, resulting in a response rate of 29%. About 69.1% of respondents reported experiencing overall satisfaction with the FD (medical intervention) they have participated in, and 50.7% reported experiencing pleasure with education FD (medical training) specifically. 

Faculty members demonstrate increased levels of comfort and interest in various domains when they express satisfaction with the education-specific professional development (FD) they have received, in contrast to individuals who indicate dissatisfaction. Emergency medicine faculty generally report high satisfaction with the overall faculty development they have received, although only half express satisfaction with their education-related faculty development. Faculty developers in emergency medicine may utilize these findings to guide and shape upcoming faculty development initiatives and frameworks.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736467923001634