Abstract
IntroductionFaculty educational contributions are hard to quantify, but in an era of limited resources it is essential to link funding with effort. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of an educational value unit (EVU) system in an academic emergency department and to examine its effect on faculty behavior, particularly on conference attendance and completion of trainee evaluations.MethodsA taskforce representing education, research, and clinical missions was convened to develop a method of incentivizing productivity for an academic emergency medicine faculty. Domains of educational contributions were defined and assigned a value based on time expended. A 30-hour EVU threshold for achievement was aligned with departmental goals. Targets included educational presentations, completion of trainee evaluations and attendance at didactic conferences. We analyzed comparisons of performance during the year preceding and after implementation.ResultsFaculty (N=50) attended significantly more didactic conferences (22.7 hours v. 34.5 hours, p<0.005) and completed more trainee evaluations (5.9 v. 8.8 months, p<0.005). During the pre-implementation year, 84% (42/50) met the 30-hour threshold with 94% (47/50) meeting post-implementation (p=0.11). Mean total EVUs increased significantly (94.4 hours v. 109.8 hours, p=0.04) resulting from increased conference attendance and evaluation completion without a change in other categories.ConclusionIn a busy academic department there are many work allocation pressures. An EVU system integrated with an incentive structure to recognize faculty contributions increases the importance of educational responsibilities. We propose an EVU model that could be implemented and adjusted for differing departmental priorities at other academic departments.
Highlights
Faculty educational contributions are hard to quantify, but in an era of limited resources it is essential to link funding with effort
An educational value unit (EVU) system integrated with an incentive structure to recognize faculty contributions increases the importance of educational responsibilities
We propose an EVU model that could be implemented and adjusted for differing departmental priorities at other academic departments. [West J Emerg Med. 2015;16(6):952–956.]
Summary
Faculty educational contributions are hard to quantify, but in an era of limited resources it is essential to link funding with effort. The result was often that incentives were not tied to specific educationrelated activity, but were evenly distributed among faculty.[2] In response, medical schools attempted to quantify educational activity using the relative value unit system of measuring patient care activity as a model.[2,3,4,5] The educational value unit (EVU), promising in its potential to incentivize educational activity, has not achieved widespread utilization or been studied extensively. This is especially true in the ED, where only one study was published a decade ago.[5]
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