APAP Committee Report, May 06, 2005

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 AAPA/APAP Research Grant [Spring], and RI Research Grant [Fall] 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 again conducted the student writing competition (ongoing by Student Research Affairs Subcommittee).

--Advisory role to 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 last three fall meetings and dedicated research content in fall conference (ongoing by Faculty Development Subcommittee)

Completion dates: As above

Accomplishments/Success Stories:

--The RI chair recently met with the current and future Education Committee chair, the FDI chair, and a BOD liaison to strategize toward improving APAP conferences and other APAP faculty development processes. Some suggestions for improving and streamlining the conference content processes will be implemented for the Fall 2005 conference, and after evaluation additional improvements will be implemented in the future. The chair of each of these committees will site as ex officio members of the other two committees to improve communications between them.

--Research Institute member Gene Jones has been appointed editor of the APAP scholarly journal Perspectives on Physician Assistant Education. The RI applauds his appointment to this position.

--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 1,2004, 8 surveys have been approved with several others currently in suggested revisions. The rate of survey submission over the last six months has declined slightly. The Research Review Subcommittee is currently considering revisions to the policies and procedures for survey approval.

--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 2004 cycle. Anecdotal observation supports that this is well received by the PIs, and likely has made a positive contribution to the maturation of the research community. The RI has standardized this process for providing feedback to PIs across all APAP research 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 20 proposals submitted for the Fall 2004 cycle, which is the largest number ever submitted to an APAP grant cycle. Grants will be awarded at the November APAP Educational Forum:

· Carl Fasser, Baylor College of Medicine PA Program, and Dennis Blessing, UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, $4,995 for “Consensus Approach to Online Course Development: History of the PA Profession.”

· Bridget Calhoun, Duquesne University PA Program, $3,980 for “The Use of Standardized Patients in the Training and Evaluation of PA Students.”

· Leslie Freels-Lloyd, Bret Simon, Fred Isberner, and Laurie Dunn, Southern Illinois University PA Program, $2,000 for “How PA Programs Define and Implement Complementary and Alternative Medicine.”

· Michel Statler and Debra Sullivan, Midwestern University Glendale PA Program, $3,000 for the “Impact of Promotion and Tenure on PA Faculty.”

· Phoebe Foltz, Midwestern University Downer’s Grove PA Program, $2,000 for “PA Education on Spirituality and Medicine.”

· Jeff Nicholson, University of Wisconsin-Madison PA Program, $4,000 for “A Survey of Accredited PA Programs to Determine Magnitude and Distribution of Instructional and Noninstructional Responsibilities of Faculty and Staff.”

--The APAP Student Writing Contest was again conducted last winter by the RI Student Research Affairs Subcommittee, consisting of chair Keir Todd and members Theresa Hegmann and Robert Hadley. Winner will be honored at the Orlando conference awards ceremony and include:

· First place: Anita Makowski, PA-S, University of Iowa PA Program, "Pediatric Pain: Are We Doing Enough?"

· Second place: Kevin T. Wyne, PA-S, University of Iowa PA Program, "Tremor Diagnosis and Treatment"

· Third place: Kim M. Rutter, PharmD, RPh, MPAS, PA-C, Marquette University PA Program, Graduated: December 2004, "Measuring Functional Response to Opioid Therapy in Chronic Nonmalignant Pain: A Literature Review and Recommendation"

--The RI will again present a full-day research-oriented workshop at the 2005 APAP fall meeting. Such workshops have been presented at the last three fall meetings and have been very successful and well attended. Planning for this workshop has been tasked to the RI Faculty Development Subcommittee, which is currently studying the results of the recent APAP Needs Assessment Survey to select a workshop topic.

--The Education Committee has informed the RI that the Fall 2005 APAP conference will offer a Research Track within the conference curriculum. Planning for this set of faculty development offerings has been assigned to the RI Faculty Development Subcommittee, chaired by Michelle Heinan.

--Recent restructuring of the RI has led to an infusion of new members, which has subsequently led to increasing the gender diversity of the RI. Currently two of eight members (25%) of the Research Institute Advisory Board are female. In total, 21 individuals make up the combined RI Advisory Board and RI subcommittees, and eight of these 21 (38%) are new this year to RI service, and nine of the 21 (43%) are female.

Concerns:

--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. This discussion will be continued as Perspectives on Physician Assistant Education is moved to APAP in house publication, as one option is for this issue to be addressed as part of Perspective’s eventual Internet presence.

--The RI has long supported the establishment of an award to recognize excellence in student research. Discussion on this topic continues within the Student Research Affairs subcommittee. Funding appears to be the biggest barrier.

--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.

--NCCPA apparently has decided to stop supporting the spring NCCPA/APAP research grant cycle, however has agreed to contribute $10,000 annually to APAP’s research grant processes. The RI will consider reconfiguration of the current three grant cycles into two beginning this year, with the addition of the $10,000 to the fall RI small grants program cycle. The fall 2004 cycle attracted 20 proposals, making it a likely place where additional funding could be effectively used.

--With the selection of Gene Jones as editor of Perspectives in Physician Assistant Education, he will be replaced as chair of the RI Research Review Subcommittee, due to the anticipated workload associated with the editorship, to be replaced by Rick Dehn. Keir Todd has recently left PA education and resigned his position on the Research Institute and his chairmanship of the Student Research Affairs Subcommittee. A replacement for the subcommittee chair who will also sit on the Research Institute will be solicited, and a new appointment to the Research Institute Student Research Affairs Subcommittee will also be solicited. The RI would like to thank Keir Todd for his leadership of the APAP Student Writing Contest over the last three years.

Budget Issues:

--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 2005-2006 by JAAPA’s publisher before the contest materials go out this fall.

--$20,000 APAP allocation is required to fund the APAP Research Institute Research Grants fall 2004 cycle (typically automatically allocated). The RI would like to request that NCCPA’s $10,000 annual contribution toward PA research be added to the fall cycle beginning in 2005, allowing that cycle to award up to $30,000 in grant awards. An increasing number of proposals of increasing quality justify this change (20 proposals received in the Fall 2004 cycle).

Board Action Required: See budget issue #2

Respectfully submitted

Rick Dehn, Research Institute Advisory Board chair