Preparing residents for teaching careers: The faculty for tomorrow resident workshop

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Progress toward growing the primary care workforce is at risk of being derailed by an emerging crisis: a critical shortage of family medicine faculty. In response to the faculty shortage, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) launched a 2-year initiative called “Faculty for Tomorrow” (F4T). The F4T Task Force created a workshop designed to increase residents’ interest in, and prepare them for, careers in academic family medicine. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this workshop. METHODS: Participants were family medicine residents who preregistered for and attended the F4T Resident Workshop at the 2016 STFM Annual Spring Conference. The intervention was a full-day, 9-hour preconference workshop delivered by a multi-institutional faculty team. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire before and immediately after the workshop. Data collected included demographics, residency program characteristics, future career plans, self-reported confidence in skills, and general knowledge relevant to becoming faculty. RESULTS: A total of 75 participants attended the workshop. The proportion of those who were “extremely likely” to pursue a career in academic family medicine increased from 58% to 72%. Participants reported statistically significant improvements in their confidence in clinical teaching, providing feedback to learners, writing an effective CV, knowledge about the structure of academic family medicine, and knowledge about applying for a faculty position. CONCLUSIONS: The STFM F4T Resident Workshop was effective at increasing participants’ interest in academic careers, as well as self-reported confidence in skills and knowledge relevant to becoming faculty. The data collected from participants regarding their career plans may inform future interventions.