Marshall Journal of Medicine (Apr 2021)
Impact of a Faculty Development Course on Promotion at a Health Sciences Center
Abstract
Background: The objective of this study was to quantify the association between graduation from our annual comprehensive Institutional Faculty Development Course (IFDC) and being promoted from assistant professor to associate professor at our health sciences center. Methods: A retrospective cohort study (October 2008-October 2019) was conducted using publicly-available faculty data. A total of 148 IFDC graduates were compared to 87 non-graduates. Subjects were full-time assistant professors at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso at the start of follow-up. The binary outcome was promotion to associate professor. The outcome was measured annually from 2008 to 2019. Follow-up ended when the faculty member left our institution, was promoted to associate professor, or the study ended, whichever came first. A longitudinal data analysis was performed using generalized estimating equations (GEE) logistic regression with an independent working correlation structure. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) for promotion were calculated from the GEE logistic regression model. Results: The 235 faculty members contributed a total of 1015 records. The average ages (standard deviation) of IFDC graduates and non-graduates were 40.7 (8.6) and 40.3 (7.4) years, respectively. More than half of the IFDC graduates were female (54.1%) and 44.8% of the non-graduates were female. A positive association was detected between IFDC status (graduates vs. non-graduates) and being promoted to associate professor after controlling for time, age, sex, race and Hispanic ethnicity, discipline/specialty, and tenure track status in a GEE logistic regression model: adjusted OR=11.68, 95% confidence interval: 2.72 – 50.21, P=0.001. Conclusions: Completion of the IFDC was strongly correlated with promotion to associate professor at our health sciences center.
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