MODELing Growth: Effect of Targeted Faculty Development for Rural and Urban Veterans Health Administration Clinician Educators.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalists within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) carry the important responsibility of educating health professions trainees in the United States (US), but no dedicated faculty development program existed to support them. AIM: Project MODEL (Maximizing Ongoing Development in Educational Leadership) is a pilot faculty development intervention that provides a no-cost series tailored to empower hospitalist clinician educators at geographically and culturally diverse VA Medical Centers. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six VA sites participated in MODEL with 417 total attendees. Sites included 14 rural and 22 nonrural in the continental US and Puerto Rico. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Project MODEL is a 5-h virtual faculty development series that covers common topics applicable to VA hospitalists. Rural and nonrural sites were paired to maximize relationship building and knowledge sharing across diverse practice environments. PROGRAM EVALUATION: Post-series survey results showed significantly higher affinity for teaching and understanding of educational roles, increased confidence in teaching skills, and plans to increase frequency of behaviors associated with highly effective clinician educators. DISCUSSION: This initial program evaluation of Project MODEL provides promising results that our series improves clinician educator attitudes and confidence and may increase effective teaching behaviors among VA hospitalists.