Design and Implementation of a Standardized Toolkit for Core Faculty Selection in Graduate Medical Education

The effectiveness of GME programs depend on core faculty expertise. ACGME mandates protected time for core faculty, yet core faculty selection processes often lack transparency and objectivity. Many institutions rely on subjective nominations or internal politics, which can compromise equity and fail to align faculty strengths with specific residency program needs. This gap highlights the need for a standardized administrative process to guide the equitable selection of core faculty.

Our objective was to design and implement a standardized toolkit to move core faculty selection from a subjective process to an applied administrative skill. By utilizing a structured application and a criterion-based rubric, residency and departmental leadership can identify program-specific educational niches that align with ACGME requirements. The process aims to reduce bias, ensure transparency, and differentiate faculty across varied career stages through an objective evaluation framework.

We implemented a core faculty recruitment toolkit in the Department of Emergency Medicine at a large academic center. The process included: forming a core faculty working group, creating a Qualtrics application requiring a CV, teaching philosophy, and cover letter, creating a rubric for application evaluation, and recruiting a core faculty selection committee. Core faculty applications were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale rubric across five domains: Research, Service, Professionalism, Teaching & Mentoring, and Niche Alignment.

21 faculty across diverse career stages were evaluated. Rubric scores demonstrated variability across domains, confirming the toolkit’s ability to differentiate faculty characteristics rather than clustering scores based on career stage. Qualitative feedback indicated the toolkit was feasible, easy to utilize, and supported objective comparison. Reviewers noted that scoring a single domain across all applicants promoted consistency and minimized individual bias. The toolkit successfully aligned selection with residency program needs.

This PowerPoint presentation will detail the design, implementation, and evaluation of a transferable toolkit for standardized Graduate Medical Education (GME) core faculty selection. The Problem: The effectiveness of GME programs is intrinsically linked to the commitment of core faculty. While the ACGME mandates 10% clinical release time for core faculty, the core faculty selection process is often left to individual departmental discretion. Without a formal selection structure, departmental leaders often rely on subjective nominations or internal politics, which compromises equity and limits a program’s ability to ensure the core faculty cohort meets specific residency educational needs. The Innovation: We developed a core faculty selection toolkit that moves the process from a subjective exercise to a standardized, transparent, and objective process. This toolkit features: 1. A Standardized Application: This was created and administered via Qualtrics and requires a CV, teaching philosophy, cover letter, responses to open-ended interview style questions, and niche interest selection by core faculty candidates. 2. Educational Niches: Pre-selected educational categories (toxicology, board prep, health equity, etc.) allow core faculty candidates to align their expertise and interests with specific residency priorities. 3. A Criterion-Based Rubric: A 5-point Likert scale rubric evaluated candidates in five domains: Research, Service, Professionalism, Teaching & Mentoring, and Niche Interest Alignment with Residency Program Needs. Implementation Strategy: The presentation will walk through our phases of the new core faculty implementation and selection process. Phase 1: Form a core faculty working group to oversee the design and implementation of the core faculty selection process Phase 2: Create a toolkit consisting of a standardized application and rubric for core faculty candidate evaluation Phase 3: Convene a selection committee including faculty and residents to evaluate and select core faculty candidates Toolkit Evaluation Strategy: We utilized “horizontal scoring,” where one reviewer scores a single domain across all applicants to promote consistency and minimize bias to collect quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected during a core faculty working group debrief after scoring applications. Impact and Outcomes: Implementation of the toolkit across EM and Pediatric EM residency programs at our institution resulted in 21 applications. 21 applicants applied for 21 core faculty spots and therefore the selection committee did not review applications as initially planned. Retrospective scoring of core faculty applications by the core faculty working group demonstrated that the rubric successfully differentiated faculty characteristics across career stages rather than clustering scores. Qualitative feedback from the core faculty working group confirmed the toolkit was easy to use, feasible, and supported objective comparison of candidates across career stages. Take-Home Message: Core faculty selection should be treated as a standardized and transparent process utilizing an application and objective criteria-based rubric. This will allow residency leadership to align core faculty strengths and residency program needs with ACGME requirements. Next steps: We will continue to study core faculty wellness, ACGME resident evaluations of the core faculty, and core faculty selection at our institution over the years to come.