The Professional Educational Identity Across the Continuum of Medical Education

To the Editor: As a clinician–educator who has devoted my career to promoting evidence-based effective and efficient teaching and learning, curricular development, and scholarship, I have frequently pondered over the ability of the term “faculty development” to capture what I do. Dr. Sklar’s1 December 2016 editorial on the topic of faculty development once again stimulated more reflection on this issue. I find myself in agreement with leaders in the field regarding the definition of the term.2,3 I would add, however, that we are frequently teaching education theory and skills to medical students, residents, fellows, and, less often, nonphysicians. When we do so, the term “faculty development” becomes a misnomer and can be confusing to those not immersed in medical education. Ideally, what we should be aiming for is the continual educational growth and identity of the clinician–educator across the continuum of medical education, starting with medical students. This notion would, in itself, eliminate the “faculty” part of the term and work toward eliminating limitations placed on the scope of educational development. Unfortunately, the current education system in many academic health centers does not always promote this continuity, suggesting that we do not value educational theory and skills enough to include them in the curriculum. In my travels to other centers, I see the struggle we as educators face in response to leadership not always acting positively and proactively to value education as part of the mission of academic medicine. Perhaps that is the major reason there are gaps in promoting the professional identity of educators across the continuum. And, lest we forget, education is a cost and not a revenue center in the context of the tripartite mission, which also may be a barrier to ensuring the continuity of educational development across the continuum. So, fixing the term is important, but less so than ensuring and/or fixing the continuity of this concept. Larrie Greenberg, MDSenior consultant, medical education, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC; [email protected]