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MEDICAL EDUCATION New Criteria Are Promoting Clinical TeachingLast February, HMS approved a new set of criteria for promoting instructors who consistently demonstrate excellence in teaching and clinical work but who may not be as widely published as their peers. The Clinician Teacher (Longer Service) criteria allow full or part-time instructors with a doctoral degree who have at least 10 years of meritorious service at the Medical School to be promoted to assistant professor. In recent years HMS has moved away from considering only publications in peer-reviewed journals as the major criterion for promoting faculty. The new criteria enable instructors who have contributed to the School for a decade or more to be promoted on the basis of continuous high-quality teaching and clinical activities, regardless of their written scholarship. Frederick Lovejoy, the William H. Bradley professor of pediatrics and chair of the subcommittee that considers the proposed promotions, says the purpose of the new ladder is to address a group of people who were not being recognized in the promotion system. "There were faculty who were absolutely marvelous teachers and who carried out significant amounts of the teaching for the School, who were 10, 15, 20 years at their work, and they were still instructors. The School wished to reward their meritorious service," Lovejoy says. An initial group of faculty members from Harvard-affiliated hospitals have been promoted according to the new criteria during the first four monthly meetings of the subcommittee. "Every one of them, in the eyes and view of the committee, was immensely deserving," Lovejoy says. Potential CandidatesThere are currently more than 1,000 full-time and part-time instructors who have been in the HMS system for 10 years or more who may be eligible for promotion. Department heads and the instructors themselves will play a critical role in determining how many people will be promoted. An instructor must complete a CV and should discuss the possibility of promotion with his or her department chair or division chief, who then composes a letter of recommendation outlining the candidate's contributions and obtains three letters of reference from clinical and teaching colleagues.To be considered for the new promotional ladder, an instructor must show consistent growth and influence as a teacher and clinician. The major aspects of performance to be reviewed are teaching and education, clinical practice and care, citizenship, and leadership. The candidates may be involved in a broad range of activities; for instance, the teaching category can include mentoring, a role in continuing education, or the development of a new course or curriculum. Instead of focusing on published materials, the committee will look at peer recognition, awards, letters of recommendation, and involvement in community activities and administrative positions. The purpose of the new ladder is not to discourage written investigation or deny its importance. "It's a different kind of scholarship," says Alan Ezekowitz, the Charles Wilder professor of pediatrics, who has recommended instructors in his department for this type of promotion. "There are a lot of people who are dedicated and give a lot of time and effort to the Medical School." They are often medical practitioners who see patients in addition to teaching courses and providing leadership in the medical community. Forms of ScholarshipThomas Inui, professor and department chair of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, has also been involved with promoting deserving instructors in his department using the new criteria. "This new set of criteria will be indispensable for the recognition of individuals who have labored long and hard for HMS in many settings to support our core teaching programs," Inui says. He emphasizes that the contributions of these instructors are equal to those who focus on research. "I believe that scholarship takes several forms," Inui says, "the scholarship of discovery (research), application (evidence-based practice), and effective dissemination (teaching)."In 1997, medical dean Joseph Martin appointed the Committee to Review Appointments and Promotions to find a more efficient way of promoting faculty. At the time, there were four promotional tracks that emphasized different kinds of scholarship. Based on recommendations of the committee, HMS approved a new system in September 1998, collapsing the four separate tracks into two criteria, the Investigator Criteria and the Clinician Teacher Criteria. The committee also found that clinical teachers had a difficult time being promoted from instructor to assistant professor, even though some had spent many years at HMS and had shown a strong commitment to teaching. The longer service track was added as a way to rectify an oversight in the current system. Eugene Braunwald, the Hersey distinguished professor of the theory and practice of physic and chair of the review committee, says that "the promotions do not, in any way, diminish the importance of scholarly publications but rather indicate that important, continued service at Harvard can be rewarded by promotion to assistant professor, the entry rank for faculty at other outstanding medical schools." —Courtney Humphries |
