Faculty development in a changing academic environment

Faculty development--thought of not merely as improving teaching skills, but more broadly as nurturing the growth of trainees into accomplished faculty--is critical to the existence of academic medical centers. Profound changes in academic medicine and health care delivery are making the traditional model of faculty development obsolete. That model is now inadequate and untenable in the face of shrinking government support, changes in the sophistication, costs, and funding of biomedical research, changes in the reimbursement systems for hospitals and physicians, a general loss of respect for the medical and scientific professions, and radical changes in the structure of the health care delivery system. The changes have implications for the type of faculty development needed for this new environment, and a new model is outlined.