Recommendation 3: The program director must have at least 0.5 FTE protected non-clinical time to devote to the administration of the program.
Justification:
Review of the 2018-19 ACGME Ads data shows that program directors have, on average, used 60-75% of their time in non-clinical administrative work. The recommendations from the RPS - Programs of Excellence call out the need for protected time and discuss the opportunity to share the administrative lift among the associate program director(s). Review of other specialties shows a varied level of required time for non-clinical work but emergency medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine require 0.5 FTE.(4) Emergency medicine identified increased tenure with increasing levels of support for administrative load.(12) As we continue to innovate in our programs the need for protected time is crucial. The article from 2005 discussing the implementation of core competencies is an example of how our programs will continue to lag in development if we do not have protected time for innovation and implementation of best practices. Three years after the implementation of core competencies almost 20% of PDs were unaware that evaluation of competencies was required. Time for faculty development was cited by PDs as the cause for their lack of implementation.(11) In the executive summary of their member survey from 2018, “STFM Members in all work settings identified workload/administrative burden/competing priorities as their biggest challenge”. (8) Our colleagues in emergency medicine, orthopedics and cardiology all identify over 50% time for administrative duties including research. One of the long-standing concerns in family medicine is the lack of educational research. Perhaps having more time protected will allow for further educational research and better evidence for the time needed.(22) (ref: 1,4,5, 12, 11, 8, 22)
We should be consistent in citation methodology. The after Recommendation 2 cited authors names. This one cites the bibliography by number.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of discussing increase in scholarly activity as a justification for protected time for the PD. We might also want to add that having the appropriate amount of protected time would allow the PD to participate in more scholarly activity and therefore act as a role model and/or collaborator for the faculty and residents. I would also suggest taking the word "perhaps" out of the last sentence to make it more absolute and less of a question. -SH
ReplyDeleteAgree with the comments above. Would also consider supplementing the 2018-2019 ADS data with the additional years (2009 on), which bolsters this point even further.--SG
ReplyDelete