PC2114: Pilot of a Global Virtual Faculty Development Program in Emergency Medicine

Background: Emergency Medicine (EM) is one of the youngest specialties in medicine, currently only recognized in 82 countries. Moreover, pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) remains in its infancy. An EM physician has complex leadership demands that require focused effort to develop. Faculty development is critical for building skills, which will in turn expand the legitimacy of EM and advance emergency care systems globally. Globally, there is limited availability of EM-specific leadership training and no longitudinal faculty development training. In 2021 the George Washington (GW) International Emergency Medicine team constructed and implemented a virtual pilot faculty development program (FDP) piloted with faculty members in Saudi Arabia and India. The goal of the program was to help participants develop skills needed to foster a successful career in emergency medicine.

Methods: The FDP is a one-year modular program with three themes – Teaching, Research and Leadership. The program utilized asynchronous content with practice assignments accompanied by monthly synchronous, virtual faculty-led teaching sessions. Each of the themese incorporated PEM as part of the curriculum. The program culminated 3 intensive sessions that allowed for topic review and opportunity to practice skills learned during the training.

Results: Nine faculty members participated in the pilot program, representing various levels of career development ranging from junior faculty to those with lead roles in administration and education. Online program delivery facilitated participation from various locations. Feedback was solicited anonymously after each session to assess content and content delivery through the use of Likert scale and open narrative questions. Summary data showed 79.3% of respondents rated content utility as excellent and 86.2% or respondents rated content delivery as excellent. Narrative responses were generally positive with common themes including appreciation of interactive cases and small groups and approval of topics selected for synchronous sessions.

Conclusion: The FDP was effective in delivering content to a diverse group of faculty members. This program will continue to build research, education and leadership capacity for the next generation of academic leaders in emergency medicine. The program was well-received by participants and there are plans to continue and expand cohort size in the near future. Next steps include evaluating outcomes of the program, including evaluating the impact on career advancements of its participants.