APAP Committee Report, April 21, 2004

Committee Name: APAP Research Institute

Committee Chair: Rick Dehn

Current Activities:

--Review of survey instruments utilized for surveying APAP member programs, faculty, or students. (ongoing by Research Review Subcommittee).

--Peer-review of the APAP Research Institute small grant program applications as needed per grant cycle (ongoing by NCCPA/APAP Research Grant [April], AAPA/APAP Research Grant [February], and RI Research Grant [August] Subcommittees).

--Peer-review of proposals for faculty research presentations for fall conference as needed (ongoing by Presentation Review Subcommittee).

--Peer-review of proposals for research poster presentations for fall conference as needed (ongoing by Presentation Review Subcommittee).

--The Research Institute has again conducted the student writing competition this year (ongoing by Student Research Affairs Subcommittee).

--Ongoing publication of Perspectives of Physician Assistant Education (ongoing by Publication and Endowments Subcommittee).

--Development, organization, and implementation of research curriculum for faculty development, such as the add-on-day research workshop at the fall meetings (ongoing by Faculty Development Subcommittee)

--The restructuring of APAP's committee system has progressed during the first year of integration of the Research and Review Committee into the Research Institute. The Research Institute Advisory Board was streamlined this year, resulting in downsizing the size of the board. The RI activities and responsibilities have been delegated to smaller task-focused subcommittees as listed in the following table:

Subcommittee Name	Subcommittee Charge
Research Review	Review and approve research on PA education (surveys)
Publication and Endowments	Oversee APAP Publications Oversee RI Endowment
Student Research Affairs	Oversee Student Awards
RI Research Grant	Administer Small Grants Process
NCCPA/APAP Research Grant	Administer NCCPA Grants Process
AAPA/APAP Research Grant	Administer AAPA Grants Process
Faculty Development	Oversee Research Conference and Workshop Curriculum
Presentation Review	Oversee Presentation of Original Faculty Work at Conferences

Completion dates: As above

Accomplishments/Success Stories:

--RI mission statement and objectives/tasks were created by the RI advisory board in collaboration with the board liaison, and submitted to the APAP BOD.

--As an ongoing part of APAP committee and institute restructuring, the RI advisory board was downsized from 10 members to 8, including the chair. As a result, RI tasks and responsibilities have been restructured to systematically distribute RI activities equitably among the advisory board.

--The Research Institute has again conducted the the APAP Student Writing Competition last winter and spring (2004), and the winners have been announced:

• 1st Place - Winner of the J. Peter Nyquist Prize
  "Stacey Stellins, Midwestern University PA Program, Downers Grove, Illinois, for "No Breath of Fresh Air: Asthma in Inner-City Children."
• 2nd Place
  Kristine Himmerick, University of Iowa PA Program, "Enhancing Contraception"
• 3rd Place
  Michelle Ronsick, Wichita State University PA Program, "Crohn s Disease: Through the Bowels and Beyond."

The winners receive a check for $500.00, the second place winner receives $300.00, and the third place winner receives $200.00. The winners also receive support to attend the AAPA annual conference in Las Vegas to present their papers. The contest is underwritten by the JAAPA, and the RI thanks JAAPA for their generous support of this important endeavor. The RI also thanks all faculty members who supported this contest by reviewing papers. I. Keir Todd, MEd, PA-C, from Pacific University PA Program again administered the competition. The number of entries totaled nearly 200, more than a 30% increase from the previous year.

--The process of approving survey instruments, delegated to the Research Review Subcommittee, is ongoing and appears to be working smoothly. Approved surveys are posted on committee's web site at http://paprogram.medicine.uiowa.edu/randr. The process of reviewing surveys is intended to avoid duplication in surveys, improve the quality of research done on the PA education system, and to prevent "survey burnout" that would negatively impact all of our research efforts. Since October 1,2003, 12 surveys have been approved with several others currently in suggested revisions.

--As predicted by this committee over recent years, there has been an increase in both the number of original papers/abstracts and posters submitted for APAP meetings. 16 papers/abstracts submissions were accepted for presentation after peer review, as were 26 posters, for the Fall 2003 meeting. Both the original paper/abstract presentations and the poster session were considered a big success and an important part of the APAP meeting. The 2003 experience is similar to the number of submissions the previous year, and it is likely that the number of both presentation and poster submissions will increase in the future given the current trend of PA faculty now occupying positions that require these types of activities for promotion and tenure. This committee will need to continue to monitor this situation to make sure this time is available for these important activities at future APAP conferences. Additionally, the RI will continue to explore new venues where faculty of member programs can participate in activities designed to support their promotion and tenure activities.

--The Research Institute has been providing feedback on unsuccessful proposals to the grant authors beginning with the Spring 2001 cycle. This process was made available again for proposals from the Fall 2003 cycle as well as the Winter 2003-2004 AAPA/APAP grant cycle. Anecdotal observation supports that this process is well received by the PIs and has contributed to the maturation of the growing research community. The RI is currently developing a systematic process for providing feedback to PIs across all three grant processes.

--The RI Research Grant Subcommittee, consisting of chair Meredith Davison and members Dennis Blessing, Michelle Heinan, Tony Miller, Martha Peterson, and Mary Warner, received 17 proposals submitted for the Fall 2003 cycle. The following projects were selected for funding:

• Olive Chen from the University of North Texas Health Science Center for “What Non-Cognitive Admission Selection Criteria Can Best Predict PA Students’ Clinical Performance?” $4,304.
• David Asprey from the University of Iowa PA Program for “Program Director Perceptions of Student Mistreatment during PA Education.” $3,185.
• Alyson L. Smith from the Midwestern University PA Program, Downer's Grove, for “Childhood Obesity Education in PA Programs.” $1058.
• James D. Stoehr and Alison Essary from Midwestern University PA Program in Glendale, Arizona, for “A National Review of Master's Education and Graduate-Level Core Competencies within PA Programs” $4,206
• Susan L. Symington and Lisa Wallace from Midwestern University PA Program in Glendale, Arizona, for “Comparing Cultural Competency Education Across PA Programs.” $2,442.50.
• Theresa Hegmann from the University of Iowa PA Program for “Models of Research Instruction in PA Education.” $4,804.

--The AAPA/APAP Research Grant Subcommittee, consisting of Justine Strand (co-chair), Bill Fenn, and Sarah Toth from AAPA and Rick Dehn (co-chair), Gene Jones, and Don Pedersen from APAP, administered the first AAPA-funded grant cycle directed at encouraging PA workforce research. Nine proposals were received in this first cycle of our new grant collaboration with AAPA, and the following project was selected for funding:

• Roderick Hooker and Lisa Henry, University of Texas PA Program, for “What Contributes to Physician Assistant Retention in Rural Communities?” $20,000.

--The NCCPA/APAP Research Grant review Subcommittee, consisting of co-chairs Emil Petrusa and Pat Kelly, and NCCPA members Ruth Ballweg and Dan McNeill, and APAP members Gary Bouchard and Rick Dehn, are currently reviewing the ten proposals submitted for the Spring 2004 cycle.

--The RI will again present a full-day research-oriented workshop at the 2004 APAP fall meeting. Such workshops have been presented at the last two fall meetings and have been very successful and well attended. Planning for this workshop has been tasked to the RI Faculty Development Subcommittee for topic selection and workshop faculty recruitment.

--The following individuals were appointed to the 2004 Research Institute advisory board, and the APAP board of directors has approved their appointment: Dennis Blessing, Don Pedersen, Keir Todd, Meredith Davison, Michelle Heinan, and David Asprey. They as well as RI chair Rick Dehn will all chair various RI subcommittees as part of their advisory board responsibilities.

Concerns:

--The Research Institute has in recent years received an increasing number of poster abstract submissions on clinical topics from PA students. Due to the focus of APAPs mission on faculty development, The Presentation Review Subcommittee recommends that student submissions for poster presentations at APAP meetings be limited to the following scenarios:

• The work must be directly linked to faculty development or PA education issues.
• An APAP faculty member must be the principal investigator/first author on the submission.

All poster abstracts submitted for consideration will undergo the same competitive peer review process. The RI will continue to discuss the issue of student research work with the goal of finding appropriate ways to recognize exceptional individual works within APAP.

--The RI is concerned that there are no good venues for the dissemination of student scholarly work. Discussion is progressing on the establishment of an APAP-supported Internet journal for PA student scholarly work. A proposal has been generated for the APAP BOD for consideration, and it appears that funding is a major hurdle at this time.

--The RI would like to transfer its web site, currently maintained by its chair, to the APAP staff. This will need to be planned and implemented carefully, as access to the information about the survey approval process should be maintained during the move. The RI is not aware if APAP staff has budgeted for this process.

--This committee has found it impossible to plan and implement research curriculum at APAP meetings. This is due to this committee’s duties and responsibilities in this area continue to overlap with those of the Education Committee. The RI welcomes Michelle Heinan to its advisory board to help develop a solution to this issue in cooperation with the Education Committee.

Budget Issues:

--The Spring 2004 NCCPA/APAP research grant process will receive a $5,000 administrative contribution from NCCPA for APAP to administer $20,000 in research grants for Year 2004 awards.

--APAP staff administers the funding ($6000 from JAAPA) for the J. Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest. APAP Staff should confirm the continuation of this funding for 2004-2005 by JAAPA before the contest materials go out this fall.

--$20,000 will be required to fund the APAP Research Institute Research Grants fall 2004 cycle (allocated). Similar funding will be necessary in 2005.

--If this fall’s RI add-on day workshop is successful, another research-oriented topic will be presented at the fall 2005 meeting in the same add-on day format. In the history of the last two years of research add on workshops, both as generated a profit.

Board Action Required: None

Respectfully submitted

Rick Dehn, Research Institute Advisory Board chair