Enhancing Academic Productivity in Emergency Medicine: Outcomes of a Targeted Scholarship Program

Scholarly output is essential for career progression. Many EM departments lack a formalized strategy for non-tenure track physician scientists to facilitate the output of scholarly work. Prior work has identified time pressures, uncertain processes, and unclear resources as barriers. We describe the development, implementation, and effectiveness of a scholarship program, which includes dedicated effort from 2 faculty physician scientists and a Health Science Research Analyst.

The program was developed through a needs assessment survey, formal faculty development leader discussions, and the PRISM implementation framework to evaluate the program for adoption and acceptability. Effectiveness was assessed using an interrupted time series, (one year pre-implementation and one year post July 1, 2024) to assess scholarship defined a priori (manuscripts, abstract acceptances, regional/national presentations, book chapter publications, online publications).

The target audience was faculty, residents, fellows, attendings, and advanced practice providers. Our needs assessment survey suggested deficiencies in mentorship, formal curriculum, and administrative support. Respondents requested training in academic writing and navigating journal submissions. A conceptual framework for scholarship was developed with 4 domains: Education, Clinical Trials and Studies, Administrative, and Training. The program was adopted by 17% (n=17) of the audience. Acceptability ratings per survey were high, with over 88% of respondents selecting 4/5 or 5/5 (1-5 ordinal scale). Overall scholarship increased from 2023 (146 manuscripts, 69 abstracts, 54 presentations, 27 book chapters, 34 online publications; total 330) to 2024, (195 manuscripts, 90 abstracts,78 presentations, 28 book chapters, 57 online publications; total 448), representing a 35.8% growth. The most notable increases occurred in manuscripts, followed by abstracts and presentations. For adoptees, output increased from a mean of 0.4 to 0.58 per subject.

A faculty scholarship program for EM clinician educators was successfully executed within an implementation science framework. Our program was positively reviewed by end-users and increased scholarly output. Future evaluations will focus on program sustainability, growth, and impact on promotion.