Addressing the Gaps: Factors Influencing Surgical Faculty Engagement in Faculty Development

Faculty development (FD) is essential in academic medicine, but participation among surgeons varies. A single institutional program was evaluated and determined surgeons were 11% less likely to return for further education compared to medicine faculty. The aim of this study was to further investigate the factors influencing surgical faculty engagement in FD.

This was an exploratory, mixed-methods study via survey. Qualitative analysis on open-ended responses employed a thematic analysis. Quantitative analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics. Faculty were placed into cohorts based on FD participation: control (never attended), single (one-workshop), multiple (more than 1-workshop, no certificate), and certificate (earned certificate).

Out of 200 surgical faculty across 10 surgical specialties, 195 (97.5%) indicated an interest in FD. 53 (27.2%) were unaware of FD opportunities. Barriers to attend included time constraints, earlier schedule-filling, geographic location, and administrative burdens. The greatest motivation amongst interested faculty was the topics being covered and identification of knowledge or skill gaps. Reasons for attending only 1 session included schedule constraints, new assignments or deployment, and topics not specific to their field. Faculty who noted that FD provided networking and collaboration beyond workshops had significantly higher odds of attending more workshops (certificate cohort) compared to those that reported FD had no impact on their network (OR = 5.03, p = 0.004).

A majority of faculty are interested in FD, but barriers regarding clinical schedules, location related to training, and a desire for more focused topics should be addressed. There was also a significant impact on the clinician-educator network with increased FD engagement. Future FD programs should aim to grow surgery-specific content, advertise events earlier before schedules fill, and consider virtual options to ultimately improve educational opportunities to train the next generation of surgeons alongside the demands of surgical practice.