AO Faculty Development contributed to a thought-provoking workshop titled, “Creating a Faculty Development Program for Continuing Professional Development (CPD), at the live, virtual 2021 Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) Annual Meeting.
AO Faculty Development was part of an eminent faculty team at 2021 SACME annual meeting. This stimulating three-hour workshop, Creating a Faculty Development Program for CPD, brought together an experienced group of CPD providers from a broad range of backgrounds, giving them an opportunity to expand their concepts of faculty development in CPD.
Miriam Uhlmann, AO Faculty Development Manager, presented the AO's work alongside other panelists, including faculty development expert Yvonne Steinert, PhD, director of the Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University (Canada) and Don Moore, professor of Medical Education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (United States).
A group of five participants joined Uhlmann and cofacilitator Jane Wiedler in an interactive session exploring how they could expand the faculty development learning approaches in their institutions and create an action plan for developing, revising, or supporting a CPD faculty program. In this thought-provoking and mutually supportive atmosphere, these professionals eagerly exchanged experiences and sought solutions for diverse challenges and hurdles, while profiting from the AO’s lessons learned and the success of its faculty development processes.
Participant Mary Turco, Principal for Scholarship Enhancement and Academic Professional Development, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, USA reported "I learned a great deal and met others with whom I am corresponding. I have shared Yvonne’s article with my colleagues in Faculty Affairs and will discuss the presentations and article, as well as our small group conversation, with them." A number of participants plan to transfer their new knowledge to practice: "We will review all of our offerings and attempt to align them with the needed professional development for our faculty"; We will work with Faculty Affairs to integrate our activities with theirs"; "Will try to improve our Virtual Faculty Development program and community of practice".
Some of Steinert's summary key recommendations and takeaways seem to be of relevance to and offer valuable perspectives for the AO, in particular to recognize the impact of a dedicated and functional faculty for organizational development and change.
