Faculty Attendance Research Articles

“If You’re Talking, I Think You’re Muted”: Follow-up Analysis of Weekly Peer Review Discussion and Plan Changes After Transitioning From Virtual to In-Person Format

AimsDuring the COVID-19 public health emergency, we previously identified decreased rates of radiotherapy (RT) peer review (PR) discussion and plan changes in virtual versus in-person PR conferences. To expand on these findings, we continued to prospectively collect data on all PR conferences from 2021 to 2023 and performed a follow-up analysis before and after the transition back to in-person PR. Materials and methodsA prospectively maintained database of weekly PR cases was queried for consecutive cases reviewed before and after the transition from virtual to in-person conferences. Rates of PR discussion and change recommendations were summarized and compared between the virtual and in-person groups. A survey was developed and administered to assess participants' perceived levels of engagement, opinions on optimal PR format, and preferences for future meetings before and 3 months after the transition back to in-person PR. ResultsIn total, 2,103 RT plans were reviewed: 1,590 virtually and 513 after the transition back to in-person. There was no difference in faculty attendance between groups. The proportion of cases with PR discussion increased from virtual (9.8%) to in-person (25.5%) format (p < 0.001). In the virtual group, 8.1% of cases had 1 topic and 1.7% had 2+ topics discussed. This increased to 15.8% and 9.7% during in-person PR, respectively (p < 0.001). The rate of change recommendation also increased from 1.5% (virtual) to 3.3% (in-person, p = 0.016). Among cases with at least 1 topic discussed, there was no difference in changes. Survey-reported distraction significantly decreased from virtual to in-person PR (p < 0.001). ConclusionUpon returning to in-person PR conferences, peer discussion and plan change recommendations significantly increased and returned to pre-pandemic levels, and participants’ perceived levels of distraction were reduced. In an increasingly virtual world, additional efforts to develop best practices that maximize PR discussion and minimize distraction outside virtual conferences are warranted.

Center for teaching and learning websites as online faculty development: A framework

Center for teaching and learning (CTL) websites help communicate information,&amp;nbsp;services, and opportunities to institutional stakeholders while also&amp;nbsp;serving as an institutional brand to external audiences. Thus, CTL websites&amp;nbsp;must strike a balance of being publicly accessible and user-friendly while&amp;nbsp;also providing various support, resources, and pathways tailored to faculty&amp;nbsp;needs and development. Still, faculty attendance at and participation in&amp;nbsp;CTL-supported faculty development programs and initiatives are persistent&amp;nbsp;and pervasive challenges in higher education. Faculty have many&amp;nbsp;competing priorities and may lack the necessary incentives or time needed&amp;nbsp;to engage with such development opportunities, especially in in-person&amp;nbsp;settings. CTLs are increasingly turning to online faculty development to&amp;nbsp;provide faculty with access to professional development offerings anytime,&amp;nbsp;anywhere. However, few, if any, studies focus on the CTL website as&amp;nbsp;a form of online faculty development in and of itself. The purpose of this&amp;nbsp;single-instrument case study was to shed light on CTL websites as a&amp;nbsp;medium for online faculty development. Data were collected using Google&amp;nbsp;Analytics and through heuristic evaluation and moderated remote usability&amp;nbsp;tests with purposive samples of faculty from varying disciplines and&amp;nbsp;higher education institutions. The case explored provided insights into&amp;nbsp;website design, user experiences, and the information architecture of one&amp;nbsp;CTL website. Findings and lessons learned are discussed, and a framework&amp;nbsp;for online faculty development via CTL websites is theorized. Newly&amp;nbsp;formed or existing CTLs may find value in the results.

Does Offering CME Credit Increase Emergency Medicine Faculty Attendance at Weekly Resident Conference?

Does Offering CME Credit Increase Emergency Medicine Faculty Attendance at Weekly Resident Conference?

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Grand Rounds Attendance: Comparison of In-Person and Remote Conferences.

Many academic medical centers transitioned from in-person to remote conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the impact on faculty attendance is unknown. This study aims to evaluate changes in attendance at medical grand rounds (MGR) following the transition from an in-person to remote format and as a function of the COVID-19 census at Vanderbilt Medical Center. We obtained the faculty attendee characteristics from Department of Medicine records. Attendance was recorded using a SMS text message-based system. The daily COVID-19 census was recorded independently by hospital administration. The main attendance metric was the proportion of eligible faculty that attended each MGR. Comparisons were made for the entire cohort and for individual faculty. The observation period was from March 2019 to June 2021 and included 101 MGR conferences with more than 600 eligible faculty. Overall attendance was unchanged during the in-person and remote formats (12,536/25,808, 48.6% vs 16,727/32,680, 51.2%; P=.44) and did not change significantly during a surge in the COVID-19 census. Individual faculty members attendance rates varied widely. Absolute differences between formats were less than -20% or greater than 20% for one-third (160/476, 33.6%) of faculty. Pulmonary or critical care faculty attendance increased during the remote format compared to in person (1450/2616, 55.4% vs 1004/2045, 49.1%; P<.001). A cloud-based digital archive of MGR lectures was accessed by <1% of faculty per conference. Overall faculty attendance at MGR did not change following the transition to a remote format, regardless of the COVID-19 census, but individual attendance habits fluctuated in a bidirectional manner. Incentivizing the use of a digital archive may represent an opportunity to increase faculty consumption of MGR.

Faculty Development in Academic Hospital Medicine: a Scoping Review.

This scoping review sought to identify and describe the state of academic faculty development programs in hospital medicine and other specialties. We reviewed faculty development content, structure, metrics of success including facilitators, barriers, and sustainability to create a framework and inform hospital medicine leadership and faculty development initiatives. We completed a systematic search of peer-reviewed literature and searched Ovid MEDLINE ALL (1946 to June 17, 2021) and Embase (via Elsevier, 1947 to June 17, 2021). Twenty-two studies were included in the final review, with wide heterogeneity in program design, program description, outcomes, and study design. Program design included a combination of didactics, workshops, and community or networking events; half of the studies included mentorship or coaching for faculty. Thirteen studies included program description and institutional experience without reported outcomes while eight studies included quantitative analysis and mixed methods results. Barriers to program success included limited time and support for faculty attendance, conflicting clinical commitments, and lack of mentor availability. Facilitators included allotted funding and time for faculty participation, formal mentoring and coaching opportunities, and a structured curriculum with focused skill development supporting faculty priorities. We identified heterogeneous historical studies addressing faculty development across highly variable program design, intervention, faculty targeted, and outcomes assessed. Common themes emerged, including the need for program structure and support, aligning areas of skill development with faculty values, and longitudinal mentoring/coaching. Programs require dedicated program leadership, support for faculty time and participation, curricula focused on skills development, and mentoring and sponsorship.

AUTOMATION OF STUDENTS INFORMATION SYSTEM USING PHP

The faculty members in the college departments maintain the data manually using the hardcopy and a few basic technologies. However, the limitation is that neither the students nor the parents have access to this information. While following the manual system, the staff members contact the parents to inform the grades of their wards, test results and attendance history. This leads to extra consumption of time and employed parents are unable to take time off their busy schedule. This research article is a study on automating the student information system to be accessed outside the organization in order to minimize the time involved and increase the range of accessibility. The system's user interface is simple, and data administration is efficient. The system has four components. Student attendance, result analysis, tracking placement information, and faculty attendance system are among them. Students, HOD’s, and tutors are the users. Results are sent to the students in the PDF format.

Anonymous Data for English As a Second Language Educational Assessment

Anonymous demographic and course attendance data from both credit and non-credit English as a second language (ESL) courses at a community college in the USA formed the basis to compare the two. Derived from public information obtained from students, this data served to gauge the success of both individual courses as well as the college's goals for student success. Course efficiency was measured as a ratio between faculty number and student attendance hours. Functioning to comply with funding requirements, the data also showed the differences between the two course types. This method had relevance for curriculum choice, funding, and both individual course as well as overall program evaluation. The literature review placed the comparison on a timeline of data used in educational assessment from 1961 grant reports to 21st century learning analytics. Included are suggestions for future applications.

Virtual Versus In-person Grand Rounds in Orthopaedics: A Framework for Implementation and Participant-reported Outcomes.

Introduction:Grand rounds have been weekly gatherings at academic orthopaedic surgery programs across the country for decades. During the 50th year of grand rounds at our institution, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the transformation of this in-person forum into a virtual setting. The purpose of this study was to detail this initiative and to report survey data providing participant-reported perceptions and satisfaction of virtual versus in-person grand rounds.Materials and Methods:Once in-person meetings were discontinued, virtual grand rounds commenced using the Zoom video application. At the conclusion of the 2020 to 2021 academic year, a 30-item online survey was sent to all residents, faculty, and visiting faculty to assess their perspective and satisfaction. A five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, with 5 being extremely effective, was used. A 21-item follow-up survey was sent to all speakers as well.Results:Thirty-six virtual grand rounds were successfully hosted. The response rate for the survey was excellent—80 of 86 (93.0%) surveys returned completed. Respondents found that virtual grand rounds were more convenient to attend, were more convenient to obtain Continuing Medical Education, and were more satisfied with virtual grand rounds. Respondents reported that in-person grand rounds were more effective for stimulating social collegiality and networking. Speakers found that virtual grand rounds were more effective for uploading the presentation and overall convenience, whereas they were less effective at retaining audience attention and receiving audience feedback. Improved faculty attendance after the switch to virtual grand rounds was also noted.Conclusion:This study found that respondents across all groups appreciated the convenience of attending and obtaining Continuing Medical Educations at virtual grand rounds while also noting the merits of in-person grand rounds for promoting peer interaction, camaraderie, and departmental identity. All respondents strongly recommended continuation of this program in a hybrid format. Virtual orthopaedic grand rounds are viable, readily implemented and demonstrate improved participant satisfaction.

In-Classroom Faculty Attendance Monitoring System based on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with Captured Image Cross-verification Mechanism

Objectives: Faculty attendance in schools are monitored based on Daily Time Record (DTR) which captures a daily time-in and time-out of teachers in and out of the school campus using various technologies and methods, however there is a scarcity of studies in monitoring faculty attendance in the actual bounds of the classroom. Hence, this study aimed to develop an In-Classroom Faculty Attendance Monitoring System based on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with captured image cross-verification mechanism. Methods: The system comprises two modules, namely the Teacher Attendance Module and Attendance Monitoring Web Application module. The Teacher Attendance Module, it is composed of a UHF-RFID reader and a camera module that is interfaced to the Raspberry Pi board. Passive tags are embedded on the teachers’ ID cards for them to be uniquely identified by the UHF-RFID reader when they are within the 2- meter read distance. Meanwhile, the Attendance Monitoring Web Application module is developed using a PHP framework connected to a MySQL database. It aggregates the attendance data collected from the Teacher Attendance Module for monitoring purposes which is accessible to both the monitoring staff and teachers via a web browser. Findings: Based on the evaluation results, the proposed system received positive feedback from the end users in terms of its functionality and usability and was found to be more favorable over existing attendance monitoring systems. Novelty: The system provides a non-obtrusive way of checking teachers’ attendance by utilizing the UHF-RFID technology which has a longer read range than other RFID categories used in previous studies. Moreover, unlike existing solutions, the system checks for attendance multiple times, not only during entrance and exit which then calculates thetotal stay-in time of the teacher during a class session. Most importantly, the system can prevent fraudulent activities through a camera module. Keywords: UHFRFID; Attendance; Faculty; Raspberry Pi; Camera

Implementing a Full Time Equivalent-Supported Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Core Faculty Program May Improve Faculty Engagement in Education, Mentorship, and Recruitment

Background:The American Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires every U.S. residency and fellowship training program to designate Core Faculty (CF) who participate in teaching and mentoring trainees. With increasing recognition of competing faculty responsibilities in academic medicine, many groups have recently recommended providing CF with salary support in exchange for their educational efforts, yet few programs have implemented such initiatives. During the 2020-2021 academic year (AY), the Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program at Yale School of Medicine created a CF program with 10% full time equivalent (FTE) support to 18 CF selected for their dedication to teaching and mentoring fellows. These CF were given responsibilities in participation in fellow conferences, fellow mentorship, and fellowship recruitment. Mentorship Committees (MC) were also launched during the 2020-2021 AY, with each first-year fellow assigned to a group of CF members for career planning and guidance throughout the AY.Methods:We performed a mixed-methods study to explore the impact of our FTE-supported CF program utilizing a combination of faculty and fellow survey data, free-text written comments, and data on faculty participation in educational activities. At the end of the 2020-2021 AY, an online survey utilizing the Qualtrics platform was sent via email to all 18 CF members and all 24 Hematology/Oncology fellows. All CF members and fellows were asked questions about the CF program, while only the CF members and the eight first-year fellows were asked questions regarding the MC. The surveys consisted of multiple choice and open-ended questions with free-text responses and were distributed from June-July 2021. Quantitative data was obtained regarding faculty attendance at the fellowship program's weekly New Patient conference and availability of faculty for fellowship recruitment interviews for both the 2019-2020 AY and the 2020-2021 AY.Results:A total of 14 (77.8%) CF members and 13 (54.2%) fellows responded to the survey. Among CF respondents, 11 (78.5%) reported that both their overall job satisfaction and sense of involvement in the fellowship program and its educational mission increased by either “a little” or “a lot” as a result of becoming a CF member. In free-text comments, positive aspects of being a CF member included “satisfaction in being an integral part of fellowship education,” a “sense of commitment” to the educational mission of the fellowship program and improved “communication with colleagues and house staff.” As a result of being a CF member, seven (21.1%) reported increased attendance at fellow conferences, nine (27.3%) devoted more time to mentoring and advising fellows, and seven (21.1%) increased their participation in fellowship recruitment compared to prior years. Five (15.5%) CF members felt that they had not appreciably changed their activities, but rather that they received much appreciated recognition and support for activities they were already engaged in prior to becoming a CF member.Among fellow respondents, six (46.2%) noted that following implementation of the CF program, faculty attendance at fellow educational conferences increased. One fellow praised the CF program for “identifying teachers who are very committed to educating fellows” and another commented “fantastic faculty and education overall”. Three (37.5%) first year fellows responded to questions about MC, with all three indicating that the MC assisted “a little” or “a lot” in identifying or elucidating their career path.Thirty-eight (36.5%) faculty participated in New Patient conference in 2019-2020 vs. 50 (46.7%) in 2020-2021. Of faculty who were designated CF in 2020, 12 (75%) attended New Patient conference a median of 9 times in 2019-2020 vs. 18 (100%) a median of 20.5 times in 2020-2021. In terms of recruitment, 14 (87.5%) CF reported availability to interview a median of 2 times during 2019-2020 vs. 17 (94.4%) a median of 8.5 times during 2020-2021.Conclusions:Our FTE-supported CF program was viewed enthusiastically by fellows and participating faculty, resulting in increased faculty conference attendance, mentorship of trainees, and involvement in recruitment. MCs may hold promise in guiding career decisions for first year Hematology/Oncology fellows. DisclosuresPodoltsev: CTI BioPharma: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squib: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Incyte: Honoraria; Blueprint Medicines: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; PharmaEssentia: Honoraria.

352 Virtual Etiquette: A Closer Look at Emergency Medicine Didactics in the Age of COVID

Covid derailed multiple facets of emergency medicine (EM) residency training, including the need to move from in-person to online weekly didactics. While online education has been used within 90% of medical schools, it has not traditionally been used for residency education. Recent studies evaluating post-graduate residents' perception of online education found a receptive audience eager to incorporate the modality. To date, no study has analyzed how EM programs are approaching online education, including content, efficacy, and attendance etiquette. As part of a process improvement project, an online Survey Monkey questionnaire was sent out to 180 EM residency program directors and coordinators. The survey was open from November 2020 to March 2021. We received 52 responses from program directors and coordinators from all regions of the United States with a majority from academic or university-affiliated programs. Due to COVID-19, over 90% of programs shifted to an online didactic platform with only 10% maintaining in-person didactics. Zoom has been the preferred modality utilized at 89% of programs we surveyed with minimal security and techinical issues. Program consensus was that residents should be on time or no more than 5-minutes late for credit (42% of programs), have video cameras on (52% of programs), and appear attentive (44% of programs). Virtual etiquette was also examined, including screen presence: upright posture (less than 18% of programs reported accountable), background (less than 10%), and lighting (less than 6%). A majority of programs had not set expectations for screen presence. If not presenting, the dress code is generally at the resident’s discretion and was noted to be casual (52%). Sixty percent of programs reported increased faculty attendance since moving to a virtal conference. Programs also reported maintiaing consistency in content (62% of programs), increased utilization of guest speakers (50% of programs), use of national platforms (21% of programs), and maintaing small group sessions (77% of programs). Many residency programs do not record didactics, and only 15% offer credit if lectures are watched at a later date. When safely able, over 65% of programs plan to return to in-person didactics. The online learning platform provides opportunities and proves challenges. Many programs have shifted to online learning and diversified their curriculum. EM residency training requires a strong foundation in core content, which may not entirely be suited for an online platform. This coupled with the loss of face-to-face learning may reflected in the desire for programs to return to in-person learning. The benefits of online learning, which include accessibility, flexibility, and broader reach of topics should not be neglected. Further exploration of the efficacy of knowledge acquisition within online didactics would aid in decisions regarding next steps for return to a potential hybrid teaching model.

Design and implementation of faculty class attendance monitoring system using BLE beacons

Objectives: To create a hardware and software tool that can be used for monitoring the faculty attendance and to generate customized reports. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The Bluetooth Low Level Energy (BLE) beacons would be set as stationary device that has proximity unique identifier. Once the smartphone of the faculty is within the range of the beacon, it can then record the faculty’s attendance. Calibrated beacon range makes the proposed design unique in terms of addressing common attendance tracking issues. Also, an automated attendance monitoring tailored based on the periodic report the Human Resource (HR) of the university. The researchers conducted a testing in the laboratory classrooms to check the functionality and reliability of the automated attendance monitoring. Findings: Based on the testing conducted, the system is capable to detect the faculty once he/she is inside the classroom, records his/her attendance and generates reports. The mean percentage error is 8.02% which means that the BLE beacon is acceptable in detecting the faculty’s smartphone prior entering to his/her class.

An Enhanced Web Based Attendance Application Using Global Positioning System and Face Recognition

The fashion of sustaining faculty attendance each day is one significant fundamental task in all institutions. The likelihood of having a fallacy, being tampered amidst for parsimonious reasons transpires further great while handling mythical ways of managing attendance. That embeds the institution at the hazard, comprising abrupt efficient, furthermore even restricting the individual interruption in data. Besides, using a biometric mechanism engrosses more extended time plus subsistence of the design is too unusual. To complete with this wearisome process, we purpose to design a Web-based application that includes locating GPS coordinates also facial id based upon front-facing cameras concerning registering the attendance of the student which performs the method simple plus more productive. Google GPS API and camera API that exists in this application to permit the application increased flawless. The user’s attendance is verified based upon the GPS location and camera API. Also, the permission is done with facial ID via face recognition. This system necessity is sensitive to the campus location, i.e., except authorized admin, that should not operate in areas outside the institution plant. A database is used to hold track of all the user’s attendance data. The application is a user-friendly UI in which the admin can analyze the detailed reports of all the users. A monthly report of a user can be downloaded by them during the next day’s entry of their attendance. The application is capable of generating daily, monthly and yearly reports of all users. That, we intend to create alternative attendance system for organizations.

Attendance and Quality and Quantity of Research Presentations at an Obstetrics and Gynecology Regional Meeting Pre- and Postchanges in Federal Funding.

Participating in scientific meetings offers value to physician trainees and faculty. In 2012, the U.S. Government (including the Department of Defense) instituted restrictions on conference travel, requiring central approval to attend. Hence, our objective was to determine the academic impact of research presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Armed Forces District Meeting and the effect of this federally mandated policy change on attendance and the quality and quantity of research. Attendance logs and meeting programs were reviewed for the 3 years immediately before and after institution of travel regulations. A PubMed search of each abstract was performed to determine if it resulted in publication and the mean duration in months from presentation to publication was calculated and compared between oral and poster presentations. The top journals accepting manuscripts were noted along with the corresponding impact factor. The overall meeting publication rate was 22%. Oral presentations were significantly more likely than posters to achieve publication (P<0.001). Following implementation of travel regulations, mean faculty attendance declined from 130 per year to 105 (P<0.05). Declines in resident attendance and publication rates were not statistically significant. The top journals publishing investigations included Obstetrics and Gynecology (n=15), Military Medicine (n=12), and Fertility and Sterility and Gynecologic Oncology (tied, both n=11). Approximately one in five presentations at the ACOG Armed Forces District Meeting are published, many in high impact journals within the specialty. Implementation of stricter travel regulations adversely impacted faculty physician attendance, but not trainee participation or the publication rate.

Enhancing the Educational Value and Faculty Attendance of a Morbidity and Mortality Conference

There exists significant variation in the approach to and execution of morbidity and mortality conference (M&MC). Faculty attendance remains a working challenge. We sought to change our department's M&MC and hypothesized improved educational value and attendance. Complications were submitted in Clavien-Dindo format. A designated M&MC moderator facilitated discussion. A teaching point (TP) was assigned to each complication intended to be the focus of discussion. Presentations followed a structured 6-slide PowerPoint template. A web-based tool using Google Forms was developed and distributed as an "App" for tracking of attendance. An anonymous online survey was distributed to participants to elucidate perception of M&MC following the intervention. Academic medical center. Postgraduate year-1 to 5 surgery residents and faculty at West Virginia University, Morgantown. Forty-eight of sixty-three surveys were returned (response rate 76%). Twenty-five faculty (70%) and 23 residents (82%) responded. A predetermined TP was viewed as the most favorable change made by both faculty and residents. 65% of faculty and residents acknowledged improved educational value, 58% found a single moderator to help streamline Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) presentations and 71% felt that a standard PowerPoint template improved quality of presentations. Both residents (96%) and faculty (68%) believed a predetermined TP improved the educational value of the conference and medical knowledge during preparation. More residents (43%) than faculty (16%) believed that changes to the department's M&MC format allowed better identification of quality improvement issues. Furthermore, the majority of residents (83%) believed that changes to the department's M&M format allowed better identification of system factors compared to faculty (32%), p = 0.003. Faculty participation increased from 60% to 80% after changes (p = 0.03). The educational value of M&MC and attendance can be improved with simple changes, but faculty and residents may have different expectations and perceptions.

IOT Based Automated Attendance with Face Recognition System

Our Paper involves the student attendance and faculty attendance. The student attendance is marked by face recognition. For face detection and face recognition the raspberry pi. If the camera is connected to Raspberry pi USB port then only images will capture of the students who are available in the class for face detection. The captured images recognises with stored images then in that images we will recognize the faces of every student and according to thatattendance will be given to that subject class. This process is carried out for every class and students are given attendance accordingly. Faculty attendance is monitored with this project. A unique RFID card is given to the faculty, when faculty enters the classroom swipes the RFID card attendance will be marked with date and time. ESP8266 is used along with OLED to display the faculty attendance. We can mark the attendance at any time without any human Intervention.

What Is the Current Role and Factors for Success of the Journal Club in Podiatric Foot and Ankle Surgery Residency Training Programs?

The journal club (JC) is a traditional part of postgraduate medical education, although little has been written on its current role in podiatric surgical training programs. The goal of the present study was to determine how JCs are conducted and the factors associated with their success. Anonymous electronic surveys were distributed to all podiatric foot and ankle surgical training program directors in the United States with a valid e-mail address. A total of 202 surveys were initially e-mailed to training program directors, with a second and third round sent to those who did not respond. The eventual response rate was 47.5%. The variables associated with success included high faculty attendance, dissemination of articles in advance, and regularly scheduled meetings. Of the residency programs that responded, 39.0% provided some type of handout or supplemental session and 39.8% provided supplemental session or handouts regarding the process of critical review, epidemiology, or biostatistics. A structured review instrument or checklist was used to guide critical appraisal in 21.5% of the JCs, and 11.8% of the programs provided feedback to residents. The JC was perceived by residency directors to be valuable and worthy of maintaining. Residency directors perceived the following factors to be associated with a successful JC: faculty participation, a designated leader, mandatory attendance, dissemination of materials in advance, and regularly scheduled meetings. Areas cited for improvement included implementation of a structured review instrument, delineation of clear goals, and periodic evaluation. We believe these findings could aid residency directors interested in maximizing the educational benefits of their JC.

Toward Best Practices for Surgical Morbidity and Mortality Conferences: A Mixed Methods Study

To assess formats for surgical morbidity and mortality conferences (M&M) for strengths and challenges. A mixed methods approach with local observations to assess key domains of M&M practice (i.e., goals, structure, and process/content) and surveys to assess participants' expectations and experiences. Surgical departments of two teaching hospitals (Boston, USA and Leiden, Netherlands). Participants of surgical M&M, including attending surgeons, residents, physician assistants, and medical students (total n = 135). Surgical M&M practices at both hospitals had education as its overarching goal, but varied in structure and process/content. Expectations were similar at both sites with ≥80% of participants (n = 90; 67% response) expecting M&M to be focused on education as well as quality improvement (QI), blame-free, mandatory for both residents and attendings, and to lead to changes in clinical practice. However, compared to expectations, significantly fewer participants at both sites experienced: a QI focus (both p < 0.001); mandatory faculty attendance (p = 0.004; p < 0.001) and changes to practice (both p < 0.001). In comparison, at the site where an active moderator and QI committee are present, respondents seemed more positive about experiencing a QI focus (73% vs 30%) and changes to practice (44% vs 16%). Despite variation in M&M practice, the same (unmet) expectations existed at both hospitals, indicating that certain challenges may be more universal. M&M was reported to be well-focused on education, and certain aspects (e.g., active moderator and QI committee) seemed beneficial, but expectations were not met for the conference's focus and function for QI. Greater exchange of "best practices" for M&M may enhance the conference's value for improving surgical care.

Increasing faculty participation in resident education and providing cost-effective self-assessment module credit to faculty through resident-generated didactics

Purpose/Objective(s)Board certified radiation oncologists and medical physicists are required to earn self-assessment module (SAM) continuing medical education (CME) credit, which may require travel costs or usage fees. Data indicate that faculty participation in resident teaching activities is beneficial to resident education. Our hypothesis was that providing the opportunity to earn SAM credit in resident didactics would increase faculty participation in and improve resident education. Methods and materialsSAM applications, comprising CME certified category 1 resident didactic lectures and faculty-generated questions with respective answers, rationales, and references, were submitted to the American Board of Radiology for formal review. Surveys were distributed to assess main academic campus physician, affiliate campus physician, physicist, and radiation oncology resident impressions regarding the quality of the lectures. Survey responses were designed in Likert-scale format. Sign-test was performed with P < .05 considered statistically different from neutral. ResultsFirst submission SAM approval was obtained for 9 of 9 lectures to date. A total of 52 SAM credits have been awarded to 4 physicists and 7 attending physicians. Main academic campus physician and affiliate campus physician attendance increased from 20% and 0%, respectively, over the 12 months preceding CME/SAM lectures, to 55.6% and 20%, respectively. Survey results indicated that the change to SAM lectures increased the quality of resident lectures (P = .001), attending physician participation in resident education (P < .0001), physicist involvement in medical resident education (P = .0006), and faculty motivation to attend resident didactics (P = .004). Residents reported an increased amount of time required to prepare lectures (P = .008). ConclusionsWe are the first department, to our knowledge, to offer SAM credit to clinical faculty for participation in resident-generated didactics. Offering SAM credit at resident lectures is a cost-effective alternative to purchasing SAM resources, increases faculty attendance, and may improve the quality of radiation oncology resident education.

A Faculty's Approach to Distance Learning Standardization

A nursing faculty workshop on distance learning highlighted several areas that needed review and revision of the existing approach toward distance education. Nursing educators, especially those responsible for providing distance education, need to possess the necessary digital wisdom in order to navigate the technological jungle of nursing distance education and better prepare nursing students of the 21st century. The ability to use technology effectively by both faculty and student is critical for participation in distance learning. A literature review and exploration of distance learning programs in institutions of higher learning was performed by a distance education sub-committee guided by the distance learning nursing standards and guidelines recommended by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Following exploration by the distance education sub-committee, recommendations included faculty attendance in a prepatory workshop for faculty instruction in distance learning, an established definition of distance learning, a standardized Web site template, a student readiness quiz, and faculty peer evaluation and faculty student evaluation for distance learning courses.