Geriatrics Recruitment Resources

at the Indiana University School of Medicine

Program Overview

The Indiana University School of Medicine developed the Scholarly Activities Clinic in 2005 to support self-motivated clinician-educator junior faculty in geriatrics who want to pursue scholarly activities leading to first-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals. Participation in scholarly activities leading to publication is a goal of many geriatrics clinician-educators who also strive to achieve excellence in either clinical service and/or teaching. It is also required for academic promotion.

During a retreat dedicated to discussion of scholarly activities and promotion for clinician-educators, faculty geriatricians in the Hartford Center of Excellence identified several key barriers to the success of junior clinician-educators in pursuing scholarly activities:

• overall time constraints
• frequent interruptions related to clinical service responsibilities
• inadequate knowledge and skills in scientific writing
• the need for mentorship by a senior faculty clinician-researcher.

The program objectives are to have each junior faculty participant submit an abstract for presentation at the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annual meeting, and then have a first-authored paper either submitted, under review, or accepted for publication by a peer-reviewed journal by the end of the academic year.

Program Operations

Scholarly Activities Clinic participants are assigned a clinician-research mentor (Medical Director), attend required small-group orientation seminars covering topics pertaining to scientific writing, and have regularly scheduled half-day clinic sessions that are held in the Center for Aging Research. Prearranged pager coverage helps avoid interruptions and insures availability of their mentor for consultation.

The Medical Director facilitates participants’ skill development and efforts in writing and publishing, with the goal of identifying a project that has a projected 95% to 100% chance of being accepted in a journal if the program participant and the Medical Director follow through on expectations.

One or more Medical Directors facilitate the seven one-hour orientation seminars conducted during the first four months of the academic year. These seminars take place before or after scheduled clinic time. The only excused absences are for illness, vacation, or attendance at a CME conference.

Two half-day or four-hour clinic sessions dedicated to writing are scheduled in advance for each program participant and are included on the weekly Geriatrics Clinical Schedule. These sessions are held in a reserved space in the Center for Aging Research when the assigned Medical Director can be generally available to the participating junior faculty for questions and/or discussion. The program participants are expected to be present in the clinic area during these designated time periods, just as if they were in a clinic with scheduled patient visits. Clinical and pager coverage are prearranged for the program participants as if they were on vacation or attending a Continuing Medical Education conference. Similarly, if a program participant has a planned absence, this will be communicated, just as a vacation/conference request is made for any absence from a clinical patient care session (including notifying the Medical Director).

At the end of December and in June, each program participant provides a brief Productivity Report to the Center of Excellence leadership. Each respective Medical Director is expected to review and contribute to these Productivity Reports and to notify the Center of Excellence leadership at the earliest indication that the program participant is consistently not meeting agreed upon Scholarly Activity Clinic productivity targets. (This is similar to the steps a clinical Medical Director would take in the event that a clinic attending was falling behind on expected visits.)

Staffing Requirements

Scholarly Activity Clinic Orientation Seminars and mentorship of two to four junior faculty require senior faculty clinician-researcher time (total 5% FTE effort). In addition, approximately 10% FTE effort for data management is needed, depending on the specific projects undertaken.

Program Costs and Funding Sources

Program costs include support for 5% dedicated time (two half-day Scholarly Activities Clinic sessions a month) for each participating junior faculty clinician-educator as well as the faculty time and data management support noted above.

Potential funding sources include the Hartford Center of Excellence grant or matching funds, Geriatrics Academic Career Awards, endowed chair support, faculty development funds, and discretionary monies.

Process and Outcomes Data

In the first year, two junior faculty clinician-educators participated, and both submitted an abstract and subsequently presented it at the AGS annual meeting. One of the participants successfully submitted a paper to a peer-reviewed journal, and the second participant completed a draft of a paper by the end of the academic year.

Implementation Lessons

• In the first year of the program implementation, it became apparent that it was important for the participants to spend their designated research and writing time in the Center for Aging Research due to the inherent distractions of attempting this work in their own offices.
• Providing participants with pager coverage is also essential to productive time in the program and achieving the program objectives.

Available Materials

Tools/Resources

• Topics for the seven one-hour orientation seminars

For More Information

Steven R. Counsell, MD
Mary Elizabeth Mitchell Professor and
Director, IU Geriatrics
Indiana University School of Medicine
1001 West 10th Street, WOP-M200
Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 630-7007
scounsel@iupui.edu

Download the program as a PDF file