Basic Science Faculty Members Research Articles

Requirements of Process-Oriented Integration of Soft Skills in Dentistry Basic Science Courses: A Qualitative Study.

University training for committed and specialized human resources is not provided only through specialized skills training; graduates in any field need high quality soft skills for fulfilling the requirements of the community, so the proper integration of such skills into the curriculum of that profession is essential. Given the significance of soft skills in the success and quality of dentistry and lack of attention to soft skills training in basic sciences courses, the present study aimed to identify the requirements of the process-oriented integration of soft skills training in basic sciences courses of dentistry. The present qualitative study employed a semi-structured interviewing technique for data collection. The research population consisted of 39 basic sciences faculty members at Isfahan and Mazandaran Universities of Medical Sciences and education experts selected by a purposive sampling technique. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data. For the process-oriented integration of soft skills in basic sciences courses, the current study identified four central requirements: providing background conditions (provision of socio-cultural contexts in society; development of educational and evaluation platforms in pre-university courses), providing professionalism (development of professionalism in the doctoral course of basic medical sciences; improvement in the model of faculty members), providing conditions for changing the curriculum (modification of curriculum and objectives in the basic sciences courses in dentistry; development of the attitude and knowledge of basic science faculty members towards soft skills training), and providing conditions for university pedagogy (provision of interactive and communication conditions; benefitting from diverse and appropriate learning activities; development of faculty members' pedagogical abilities). Medical sciences curriculum planners can integrate the soft skills of dentistry in the basic science courses of the field by providing the conditions for the identified requirements.

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

The systematic approach to faculty development activities for biomedical educators.

Introduction: The term continuing professional development encompasses competencies required to practice the high quality medicine, including medical, managerial, ethical, social, and personal skills, whereas continuing medical education refers only to expanding the knowledge and skills required by physicians. The competencies for basic science faculty identified are management and administration, teaching, assessments, curriculum development, and research. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of faculty development initiatives at Avalon University School of Medicine and examine the optimal approach to faculty development activities. Methods: This is a survey-based quantitative study. A cross-sectional survey was conducted after implementing the faculty development activities. We took thirteen basic science faculty members as a unit and recruited them for different faculty development activities from 2015. Faculty members were involved in various faculty development courses, workshops, and training sessions. A survey was conducted among faculty members using a questionnaire on the Likert scale to identify if there are any increased knowledge or skills on teaching and assessment methods, educational scholarship, and scholarly activities after implementing faculty development initiatives. The faculty responses were tabulated and quantified in the Excel sheet and analyzed by SPSS software.Results: All thirteen faculty members responded to the questionnaire (100% response rate). There was an increased self-reported knowledge and skills of faculty members. 70% of the faculty agreed that they are able to get involved in designing their course learning objectives. 100% of the faculty were aware of different teaching methods, and 93% of them were implementing different types of teaching methods, including small group discussions, flipped classrooms, standardized patient-based teaching, and problem-based learning. 100% of the faculty were aware of different assessment methods and implementing them. There were self-reported and observed behavioral changes.Conclusions: Faculty development activities at Avalon University School of Medicine have shown to be effective. At larger institutions, the department chair can lead the faculty development activities.

A culinary laboratory for nutrition education.

Proficiency in medical nutrition requires an understanding of food-related biochemistry and the application of this knowledge in the context of culinary, cultural, psychosocial and interprofessional components. Our aim was to develop a teaching format where medical students could learn the biochemistry of nutrition in the context of patient narratives, interactive cooking and dialogues with nutrition professionals. We designed and implemented a day-long culinary laboratory intervention (lab), which is taught to first-year medical students at the University of Rochester with the help of dietetic interns from Cornell University. Here, we present the details of the intervention, the resources used and the preliminary outcomes on student attitudes. We designed and implemented aday-long culinary lab, which is taught to first-year medical students A questionnaire with quantitative rating scales and open-ended questions was used to probe student attitudes regarding the educational approach used in the lab. Our preliminary findings suggest that the lab was well received and that the dietetic interns were viewed as effective teachers in this context. A culinary lab is a feasible educational environment for integrating the breadth of topics within the discipline of nutrition. The experiential, food-based format appears to stimulate questions central to current nutritional controversies, particularly challenges related to translating biochemical mechanism into practical nutrition interventions. Close involvement with basic science faculty members, clinical faculty members and allied health professions are essential for this type of endeavour.

Engaging External Senior Faculty Members as Faculty Mentors

A small nonprofit private college with limited resources and a high proportion of junior faculty developed a nontraditional external faculty mentor program in the summer of 2011 in response to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) faculty survey data regarding the professional development needs of pharmacy faculty members. Experienced faculty members with national reputations from other colleges and schools of pharmacy were hired as consultants to serve as mentors for assigned faculty members. Program goals were to provide directed, individual mentorship for pharmacy practice and basic science faculty members, expand peer review of faculty teaching prowess, and enhance monthly faculty development programming. The latter was based upon the specific needs assessment of the faculty. Program outcomes reported will include faculty satisfaction (AACP faculty survey data) changes over time, achievement of board certification for clinical faculty members and other credentialing, and other benchmarks, eg, publications, grant funding, service engagement (site development, professional organizations), after the implementation of the nontraditional faculty-mentoring program.

Perceptions of Tenure and Tenure Reform in Academic Pharmacy

To determine the academic pharmacy community's perceptions of and recommendations for tenure and tenure reform. A survey instrument was administered via either a live interview or an online survey instrument to selected members of the US academic pharmacy community. The majority of respondents felt that tenure in academic pharmacy was doing what it was intended to do, which is to provide academic freedom and allow for innovation (59.6%). Respondents raised concern over the need for faculty mentoring before and after achieving tenure, whether tenure adequately recognized service, and that tenure was not the best standard for recognition and achievement. The majority (63%) agreed that tenure reform was needed in academic pharmacy, with the most prevalent recommendation being to implement post-tenure reviews. Some disparities in opinions of tenure reform were seen in the subgroup analyses of clinical science vs basic science faculty members, public vs private institutions, and administrators vs nonadministrators. The majority of respondents want to see tenure reformed in academic pharmacy.

Perceptions of professional student readiness for physiology courses: can online review modules help? (720.3)

There can be a disconnect between the level of content covered in undergraduate coursework and the expectations of professional‐level faculty of their incoming students. Some basic science faculty members may assume that students have a good knowledge base in the material and neglect to appropriately review, while others may spend too much class time reviewing basic material. It was hypothesized that the replacement of introductory didactic physiology lectures with interactive online modules in a first‐year D.M.D. course could improve student preparedness prior to lectures. These modules would also allow faculty members to analyze incoming student abilities and save valuable face‐to‐face class time for alternative teaching strategies. Results indicated that the performance levels of incoming students was poor (57% average on a pre‐test), and students often under‐predicted their abilities (by 13% on average). Faculty expectations varied greatly between the different content areas, and did not appear to correlate with the actual student performance. Three review modules were created which produced a statistically significant increase in post‐test scores (46% increase, p<.0001, n=114‐115). The positive results of this study suggest a need to incorporate online review units in dental physiology courses and revise introductory material tailored to students’ strengths and needs.

Perceptions of D.M.D. student readiness for basic science courses in the United States: can online review modules help?

There can be a disconnect between the level of content covered in undergraduate coursework and the expectations of professional-level faculty of their incoming students. Some basic science faculty members may assume that students have a good knowledge base in the material and neglect to appropriately review, whilst others may spend too much class time reviewing basic material. It was hypothesised that the replacement of introductory didactic physiology lectures with interactive online modules could improve student preparedness prior to lectures. These modules would also allow faculty members to analyse incoming student abilities and save valuable face-to-face class time for alternative teaching strategies. Results indicated that the performance levels of incoming U.S. students were poor (57% average on a pre-test), and students often under-predicted their abilities (by 13% on average). Faculty expectations varied greatly between the different content areas and did not appear to correlate with the actual student performance. Three review modules were created which produced a statistically significant increase in post-test scores (46% increase, P < 0.0001, n = 114-115). The positive results of this study suggest a need to incorporate online review units in the basic science dental school courses and revise introductory material tailored to students' strengths and needs.

Medical Faculty Members’ Spiritual Intelligence/Quotient (SQ): A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study in Iran

Introduction: Recently, promotion of SQ has been introduced as a factor in improving the quality of working life and performance of employees. Since faculty members are the greatest resource of universities; recognition of the SQ and its effectiveness would be the shortcut route to improve their overall performance. Finding and applying all factors affecting the educational organizations promotion is the main approach in improving the quality of higher education. This study aimed to determine the demographic of faculty members, the level of spiritual intelligence and its dimensions in medical faculty members. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study with the participant of 160 medical faculty members (32 basic science faculty members, 128 clinical science faculty members) conducted through stratified probability sampling in one of the medical universities in Iran. King’s modified Spiritual intelligence questionnaire was used. The data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0. Results: The mean score of faculty members’ SQ was 63.0±1.2, which was moderate. There was no significant difference between faculty members’ SQ scores (p=0.7) considering the minimum score of 28.0 and maximum score of 87.0; (t=0.4). In dimensions of SQ: the highest score was for critical existential thinking and the lowest one was for transcendental awareness. There was significant difference between dimensions of SQ among the participants (p<0.001). Conclusion: Since we found a significant difference between dimensions of SQ among participants, the studies exploring the nature of this difference were warranted. It seems that proper training for promotion of SQ can be an important step for the development of universities educational organization.

Knowledge of Social Accountability in Medical Education among Faculty Members at Medical Sciences of Mashhad University

Background: Medial educations' models should train physicians with competencies and commitment to meet health needs in the community. This social accountability in medical education is not a new concept but provides equity, quality, relevance and cost-effectiveness in health care system. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of faculty members towards the situation and activities in this topic. Methods: 133 university faculty members participated in this research from seven schools (Medical, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Paramedical, Health and Complementary Traditional Schools) at Medical Sciences of Mashhad University (MUMS) in Iran during 2012-2013. A questionnaire was distributed to faculties that asked about their knowledge about social accountability in medical education and its position at this university. Findings: The mean knowledge about social accountability was 3.80 ± 0.423 in clinical and 3.81 ± 0.368 in basic science faculty members (p>0.05). The mean knowledge in Professors, associates and assistant professors were 3.79 ± 0.11, 3.79 ± 0.08 and 3.90 ± 0.09, respectively (p>0.05). The faculties at Pharmaceutics School got the lowest level in this research. Conclusion: The level of knowledge among faculties at MUMS on educational accountability is limited, and is lowest at Pharmaceutics School. There is a need for informing the necessity, development of position and concepts about this method among faculties, especially at Pharmaceutics School, to improve health services.

Medical Faculty Members’ Teaching Competencies and Factors Affecting It

Background: Faculty members are the main sources of universities. Determination and promotion of their competencies lead to the overall performance promotion of universities. Faculty members’ teaching competencies have the greatest role in the improvement of education, research and universities social services quality. Therefore, in order to investigate this issue more carefully, this study aimed to determine the level of teaching competency in medical faculty members and factors affecting it. Methods: This applied research is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was done by stratified probability sampling with 160 medical faculty members as subjects (32 basic science faculty members, 128 clinical science faculty members) in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, solar year 1390.. Selected items from Alabama University teaching competency self assessment instrument was used as the questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the software SPSS 11.0. Results: The median score of teaching competency was 92.0 with the minimum score of 39.0 and maximum score of 112.0; there was no significant difference between basic and clinical faculty members’ competencies score (p=0/05).The most powerful competency was the classroom management, and students performance evaluation had the lowest score. There was a significant difference between teaching competency scores depending on academic degree (p=0/009), adult education competencies (p=0/02), and marriage (p=0/03). Conclusions: Because of the key role of faculty members in educational system, with the revision of educational plans and policies; we can promote the teaching competencies of teachers.

Mercer University School of Medicine

Mercer University School of Medicine

Duke University School of Medicine

Duke University School of Medicine

Careers in Basic Cardiovascular Research

Received August 2, 2008; accepted January 28, 2009. The opportunities in basic science for graduating PhD students and for aspiring physician-scientists have never been so extraordinary. The sequencing of the human genome and the development of the human haplotype map have enabled scientists to begin to unravel the basis of complex multigenic disorders. Rapid developments in stem cell biology are affecting many areas of cardiovascular biology and may enable repair of injured myocardium. High-throughput chemical genetic screening, proteomics, and metabolomics are changing the approaches with which investigators characterize novel signal transduction pathways and develop new therapeutic paradigms. Rapidly evolving molecular imaging technologies are noninvasively illuminating the fundamental processes contributing to cardiovascular diseases. New insights into the mechanisms involved in cardiac myocyte hypertrophy and dysfunction have important therapeutic implications for an expanding population of patients with congestive heart failure. For the young scientist looking to the future, there are major benefits in pursuing a basic science career including the excitement of discovery, the opportunity for life-long learning, and the potential to broadly affect cardiovascular science and medicine. On the other hand, the young investigator considering a basic science career is confronted by many challenges. The budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has remained essentially unchanged for 5 years (when the impact of inflation is considered). The success rate of R01 grant applications has consistently declined since 2000, and the average age when an investigator receives a first R01 grant (or equivalent) increased to 42.6 in 2007 (NIH Extramural Data Book at www.report.nih.gov/index.aspx). At the same time, the increased costs of undergraduate and medical school educations have burdened potential young investigators with ever-increasing financial commitments. Many academic leaders have suggested that an entire generation of young scientists is “at risk” (www.BrokenPipeline. org). Long hours at the laboratory bench are compensated …

Part-time medical practice: Where is it headed?

One of the fundamental tenets of medicine has been the centrality of the profession as a life calling; physicians work long hours and routinely sacrifice personal interests for professional demands. In 1993, only 13% of clinical faculty and 6% of basic science faculty members of U.S. medical schools worked part-time.1 Historically, female physicians have been more likely than their male counterparts to work less than full time. Yet, despite increasing numbers of women in medicine and increased interest in personal time for self and family, U.S. medical workforce projections have forecast only a 3% decrease in the anticipated full-time equivalent of physicians over the next 10 years. (aut. ref.)

Support of a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum by Basic Science Faculty

Although published reports describe benefits to students of learning in a problem-based, student-centered environment, questions have persisted about the excessive faculty time commitments associated with the implementation of PBL pedagogy. The argument has been put forward that the excessive faculty costs of such a curriculum cannot be justified based upon the potential benefits to students. However, the magnitude of the faculty time commitment to a PBL curriculum to support the aforementioned argument is not clear to us and we suspect that it is also equally unclear to individuals charged with making resource decisions supporting the educational efforts of the institution. Therefore, to evaluate this cost - benefit question, we analyzed the actual basic science faculty time commitment in a hybrid PBL curriculum during the first phase 18 months of undergraduate medical education. The results of this analysis do demonstrate an increase in faculty time commitments but do not support the argument that PBL pedagogy is excessively costly in terms of faculty time. For the year analyzed in this report, basic science faculty members contributed on average of 27.4 hours to the instruction of medical students. The results of the analysis did show significant contributions (57% of instructional time) by the clinical faculty during the initial 18 months of medical school. In addition, the data revealed a four-fold difference between time commitments of the four basic science departments. We conclude that a PBL curriculu m does not place unreasonable demands on the time of basic science faculty. The demands on clinical faculty, in the context of their other commitments, could not be evaluated. Moreover, this type of analysis provides a tool that can be used to make faculty resource allocation decisions fairly.

Evolution of a partnership to improve K-16 science education.

This article grew out of a presentation at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Division in Irvine, California in June 2001. The symposium "Sharing Science: Successful Scientist Expert-Teacher Practitioner Interactions" was organized by Drs. Nancy J. Pelaez and Barbara L. Gonzalez of California State University at Fullerton. Goodman's presentation was entitled "The Team Approach to Outreach Activities for K-12 Teachers in a Large, Rural State." This personal view report describes the development and evolution of educational outreach programs at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine (USDSM) and the support provided by the administration. The number and strength of the programs at USDSM have grown in direct proportion to the commitment that the institution has been willing to make to faculty members with interests in science education. Currently, USDSM has three Basic Science faculty members who spend significant effort working with K-12 students and teachers and who have been called upon nationally as consultants and reviewers for similar programs.