Mission Critical: Reimagining Promotion for Clinician-Educators

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Academic Medicine
• Faculty Development

Background:

• Traditional academic promotion criteria undervalue clinician-educator contributions.
• Existing promotion processes for clinician-educators exhibit persistent inconsistency and inequity.
• Incremental changes over two decades have failed to resolve these systemic issues.

Discussion:

• The proposed five-step framework aims to reform academic advancement for clinician-educators.
• Key recommendations include elevating teaching scholarship, allowing specialization, and diversifying evidence of excellence.
• Prioritizing internal referees and increasing clinician-educator representation on committees are crucial for equitable evaluation.

Key Insights:

• Scholarly teaching should be valued over traditional publication metrics for clinician-educators.
• A broader range of evidence, beyond peer-reviewed papers, is needed to recognize educational contributions.
• Systemic policy and tradition changes are essential for meaningful reform.

Outlook:

• Implementing these changes can foster greater equity in academic advancement.
• Addressing promotion disparities is vital for retaining educators who train future health professionals.
• This revised approach supports a more inclusive and effective academic environment.