Reimagining Faculty Development: A 5-Year Journey of Outcomes and Lessons Learned of a Physician Assistant Faculty Fellowship

Abstract

Introduction Faculty sufficiency remains one of the major bottlenecks in health workforce development. There is a need for effective models for practicing clinicians to successfully transition to academic teaching roles. This article describes outcomes and lessons learned at the 5-year mark for a statewide faculty development workforce initiative for the physician assistant (PA) profession at the PA Leadership and Learning Academy (PALLA) in Maryland. Methods The PALLA PA faculty fellowship is a state-funded workforce initiative that consists of a 10-month training program that includes synchronous workshops, asynchronous learning modules, experiential teaching opportunities, and completion of an individual project in the realm of scholarship/service under longitudinal mentorship. Programmatic outcomes were longitudinally tracked using the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation to evaluate the faculty training program at 4 levels of criteria: reaction (level 1), learning (level 2), behavior (level 3), and results (level 4). Key performance indicators for the fellowship include the ability for fellow graduates to provide educational support to Maryland PA programs, engage in, and promote scholarship in the PA profession and build an academic portfolio. Results To date, 4 cohorts of PAs (23 individuals) have completed the fellowship. Learner reaction (level 1) evaluated through surveys, and interviews reveal a positive fellowship experience, with fellows noting benefits of the longitudinal nature of the experience and individualized mentorship and fellows self-report high level of achievement of fellowship learning goals (level 2). Local and national PA review of fellow curricular and scholarly products has been positive (level 3). After graduation, 9 fellows are engaged in faculty roles, providing academic support to local PA programs; 11 fellows have had scholarly products accepted; all fellow graduates have generated an academic portfolio; and 2 fellows have provided new service to PA organizations (level 4). Discussion Four years of fellowship data demonstrate positive impact across Kirkpatrick 4 levels of training evaluation. Nearly, all participants have new contributions in teaching, scholarship, or service roles because of the fellowship. Key lessons learned were the benefits of the longitudinal nature of the experience for scaffolding of learning and ongoing, individualized mentorship.