Dalmedforward annual update

#DalMedForward STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE

October 2017

#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Introduction Significant strides are being made towards the implementation of the Faculty of Medicine’s strategic plan, #DalMedForward, under the leadership of our executive sponsors: Dr. Jennifer Hall, Associate Dean, Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick who is leading Education; Dr. Roger McLeod, Associate Dean, Research who is leading Research; and Senior Associate Dean, Dr. Darrell White who is leading Serving and Engaging Society. This report highlights the details of our strategic plan goals, some early success stories, and updates about how things are proceeding with our priority initiatives.

I am pleased with the progress to date and recognize that there are many more opportunities ahead that must be fulfilled before the completion of our priority initiatives for the 2021 #DalMedForward timeline. This plan paves the way for fulfilling our vision to be internationally leading in medical education and research, and being responsive to the health needs across the Maritimes.

To illustrate our progress with implementation of #DalMedForward, we have colour-coded the priority initiatives for focus areas within each of Research, Education and Serving and Engaging Society, using the legend below. This represents our internal self-assessment of the progress to date. As always we highly value and welcome your feedback which you can send by email to dean.medicine@dal.ca.

David R. Anderson, MD, FRCPC, FACP Dean, Faculty of Medicine

The Status of our Priority Initiatives Research

Education

Serving & Engaging Society What do the symbols mean?

RED Not yet started or in early development

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3 1

1

4

3

YELLOW Gaining momentum

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GREEN Good progress; outcomes as expected at this time

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Research Goal Our Research Strategy addresses two opportunities: targeting international competitiveness while delivering health benefits for the Maritime region.

We will determine FoM research teams’ potential to be internationally leading, based on both the quality of their past work and their preparedness for new opportunities to come. This will inform near and longer-term FoM research priorities and supports requirements for all research initiatives.

Success will be marked by: increased research productivity and funding capture; private sector relationships realised; commercial ventures launched; industry research partnerships; and adoption of research in clinical practice and policy decisions.

Our local impact we will see joint Maritime research initiatives developed in partnership with: other faculties, Maritime Health Authorities, Ministries of Health, and Research Foundations, along with the public/communities and the private sector. We will build alliances one at a time and assess success by our progress toward a Maritime Academic Health Sciences Network at the end of 4 years.

To support these goals, we will identify and fill gaps in infrastructure and supports for all FoM research programs.

Our investigators will be motivated, successful, and actively engaged with our supporting initiatives. Early career investigators and trainees will be using our resources and there will be sustainable and enhanced levels of success.

Success Story It’s the spring of 2017. The Faculty asked teams to self-nominate in 2 ‘waves’: WAVE 1 being teams that considered themselves to be internationally leading in their area of research; and WAVE 2 being those that expect to reach that standing within 3-5 years.

We heard common themes around requirements for success, including better FoM support for preparing large-scale grant proposals. Many said that targeted faculty recruitment is key to reaching the next level of research excellence.

11 teams submitted WAVE 1 nominations.

16 teams submitted WAVE 2 nominations.

On October 11 we presented environmental scan findings to the community. In addition, we advanced on 2 challenges that will test our research leadership readiness; we completed the initial stages in the Canada Excellence Research Chair and the Canada 150 Research Chair programs.

This captured the readiness of the current environment, with over 200 investigators identifying with at least one team. There are signs of collegiality that supports team building and increasing research capacity.

Teams from fundamental discovery research to frontline community outreach and policy research stepped up, shining a light on our program depth and breadth.

#DalMedForward has generated new levels of collaboration, as work with Research Services, with other faculties, and with health authorities’ research leaders bolstered this effort.

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Priority Initiative Updates - Research Priority Initiative 1.1: Identify relative potential and mobilize. 

Identification of research teams through WAVE self-nomination with broad research community participation

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Strengths and deficits are identified by the community

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Strategic investments are beginning

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Synergies and complementation of groups are recommended

Priority Initiative 1.2: Strengthen infrastructure and supports. 

Policies have been recommended to the Dean for recruitment and leadership appointments respecting diversity and research priorities

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Targets for protection of research time are being developed and assessed in the context of other institutions

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Recommendations for enhancement of research supports to faculty

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Recommendations for improvements to CORES access, operations and governance are in progress

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Space allocation strategy in progress respecting the changing profile of research operations

Priority Initiative 2.1: Partner to establish focus and momentum. 

Senior leaders from the University and the Health Authorities are meeting regularly

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Lead investigators from WAVE teams that work in the application/ implementation initiative will be meeting with the senior leadership to agree on a strategic approach

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Collaborative plan development with the wider community to be developed

Priority Initiative 2.2: Build capacity in implementation research. 

Develop a collaborative policy on recruitment and leadership, respecting diversity and strategic directions

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Develop a process to recognize research mentorship

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Develop guidelines to assess protected time for research in implementation positions

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Conduct post-proposal assessment to identify and act on unsuccessful submissions

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Enhance the profile and utilization of heightening awareness of outcomes research support infrastructure (ORSI)

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Develop a space allocation strategy that includes partner faculties and institutions to promote multidisciplinary teams

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Education Goal By building on educational excellence, our programs will exceed accreditation standards and be responsive to the evolving health care needs of the Maritimes.

We will continue to demonstrate leadership in medical education with an enhanced focus on scholarship in key areas of focus.

Success Story In 2017 we have used our strengths to demonstrate excellence in meeting program standards during what has been a year of accreditation reviews.

In February and April:  The Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) reviewed the Undergraduate Medical Education program; and  The Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) reviewed the Continuing Professional Development program.

Many Faculty of Medicine colleagues and key stakeholders contributed their expertise to these accreditation processes. Our distributed education leaders and our Health Authority partners collaborated to demonstrate a highly-integrated team with a common goal.

Priority Initiative Updates Priority Initiative 3.1: Deepen our commitment to continuous improvement 

UGME Accreditation was completed with a positive exit interview. The final CACMS decision was to award the FoM full accreditation status for 8 years.

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CPD receives full CACME Accreditation

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Medical Sciences Program resourced with an evaluation specialist

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Education Council reorganized to support #DalMedForward priorities

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KPIs for each of Medical Sciences, UGME, PGME, CPD have been determined at Education Council

Priority Initiative 3.2: Evolve, focus & transform 

Areas of focus for scholarship that cross the continuum have been determined and include: 1. Distributed Education 2. Humanities 3. Clinical Skills a) Simulation b) Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship c) Early Clinical experience

4. Research Skills Across the Continuum a) Research in Medicine b) Graduate Studies c) Medical Sciences d) Postgraduate Scholarly projects

5. Medical Education Research a) Assessment of Learners/ Evaluation of Programs b) Ethnographic research

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Priority Initiative Updates - Education (cont’d) Priority Initiative 3.3: Build capacity for continuous improvement 

Faculty development resources have been organized to explore and address areas of need in key programs

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Masters level teaching skills to be supported through collaboration with other universities with a focus on educational programming.

Priority Initiative 4.1: Engage stakeholders as active partners in our Mission 

Senior leadership meet with key stakeholders at the Dean’s retreat to determine initiatives which will result in accelerated transformation of health care delivery needs in the Maritimes.

Priority Initiative 4.2: Develop capabilities across the education continuum 

A survey is being sent to CPD and PGME to understand ongoing IPE/IPC activities.

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A community engagement group was formed with broad stakeholder representation from community and from within medicine. Terms of reference are being developed to inform their work.

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The IPECC Faculty development group is completing an evaluation of the IPE/IPC faculty needs assessment survey. Findings will drive the content of faculty development pieces.

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The faculty development needs assessment will also inform the IPE online series to be offered in the spring of 2018. Preliminary meetings with faculty development leadership have confirmed objectives for these sessions.

Priority Initiative 4.3: Develop leaders in innovation & engagement 

Faculty development needs assessments ongoing.

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Leadership forum at Dean’s Retreat 2017 focuses on Distributed leadership

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Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick (DMNB) has created a data base of faculty development activities being populated with data from 2010 onward.

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Faculty development collaboration has occurred with MUN in New Brunswick to meet the needs of the distributed faculty in that environment.

Priority Initiative 5.1: Focus (on education research and other scholarly work) 

Education Council reviewed the job description for a PhD medical education researcher and have determined that a focus in Assessment and Evaluation will be of priority for the search.

Priority Initiative 5.2: Build capacity for education research and continuously improve 

Resources have been allocated to facilitate Dalhousie medical education research projects to be presented at CCME 2018 in Halifax

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017

Serving & Engaging Society Goal We will catalyze systems change in service of improving health outcomes at patient and population levels.

To improve health outcomes, our partnering with communities will include engagement of diverse and underrepresented voices.

Initial Steps Progress and success in the Serving and Engaging pillar will be incremental, iterative, and inter-dependent.

First, for both Focus Areas 6 and 7, we will engage faculty leaders (e.g. A&A Deans, Department Heads, faculty and other stakeholders) through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. This will help us learn about current activity and successes in these areas.

Interviews underway (14 completed to date) are identifying past and present successes and activities, as well as suggestions for contributing to this strategic “pillar”. These interviews also help disseminate information on this pillar.

Success Stories Further analysis is needed but prospective themes and directions emerging from the interviews would include: 

interview process is 2-way learning, information is both gathered and disseminated;

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a general feeling of enthusiasm to discuss serving and engaging society (SES);

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more is being done within Departments than is currently recognized;

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how faculty may and do “fit” into this pillar; a desire to have this work acknowledged and valued;

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be certain there is both scholarly activity as SES pillar evolves and opportunities to share success;

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faculty want involvement from the “ground up” and do not wish to be told what direction to take (while appreciating there may be some FoM-level priorities related to SES that emerge);

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FoM should not take sole credit for work already occurring;

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minimal discussion and awareness of work occurring in PEI;

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should we develop a “Maritime Health Council” including academic, health authority and government representatives from 3 provinces?

Pending those developments, the recent 2017 Medical Education Institute (MEI) and the Service Learning Program for Med 1 and 2 students exemplify some the successes we expect in future:  The MEI held in Truro on September 8 was called “Changing the Tides in Medical Education” to explore the theme of Social Accountability. Participants considered and discussed incorporating social accountability measures of diversity, equity, inclusivity and engagement into their roles as individuals, physicians, educators and mentors. The first event’s success generated plans to build this theme into a larger event in Halifax for June 2018 and an event in Saint John is being considered.

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#DalMedForward Status as of October 2017  Dalhousie Medicine offers an optional Service Learning Program for pre-clerkship Undergraduate Medical Education students in both Halifax and DMNB campuses. The Program includes preparation, orientation, and community-based service learning experiences1. Service Learning is integrated into the established UGME curriculum and facilitated in partnership through the Global Health Office. Service Learning sits at the intersection of community service, hands-on practical experience and academic learning. Service Learning provides reciprocity of benefits between the student and the organization. As of September 2017, there are 46 students (30 in Halifax; 16 at DMNB) and 24 community partners (18 in Halifax; 6 in SJ). Compared to last year, this is 20 more students and 10 more community partners (nine new in Halifax and one in SJ).

Priority Initiative Updates – Serving & Engaging Society Priority Initiatives 6.1 and 7.1: Take Stock and Get Beyond Concepts 

Structured interviews using a modified “Holland Matrix” with faculty, staff and community in the Maritime provinces are currently underway with preliminary results to be presented at the October Retreat

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“1-pager” - summary with definitions and nuances of "service" and "engagement" as they pertain to our strategic plan and the FoM

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Find champions or foci of excellence and highlight activities and achievements

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Develop list of community partners and interested faculty and community members resulting from semi-structured interviews; develop guidelines, principles and tools for interaction with partners

Priority Initiative 6.2: Partnering & Challenging the Status Quo 

Identify early, practical steps for building partnerships with government, health authorities and others. Use both top-down and bottom-up approaches to explore the parameters of these partnerships.

Priority Initiatives 6.3 and 7.2: Enhance our Own Capacity 

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Clarify roles and responsibilities to establish accountability for results under these Focus Areas including an Oversight Committee and Assistant Dean

Minimum 20 hrs. Includes participation in orientation, completion of a project based on community-identified needs, self and group reflection, student assessment and program evaluation.

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