APAP Committee Report, September 13, 2001
Committee Name: APAP Research and Review Committee
Committee Chair: Rick Dehn, MPA, PA-C
Current Activities:
--Review of survey instruments utilized for surveying APAP member programs, faculty, or students is ongoing.
--Peer-review of small grant program applications as needed per grant cycle (ongoing). Completed review in August 2001 for grants to be awarded in October 2001.
--Peer-review of proposals for faculty research presentations for October conferences as needed (ongoing). Completed review in August 2001 of proposals for research presentations to be given at the October 2001 APAP meeting. Eleven presentations were approved.
--Peer-review of proposals for research poster presentations as needed (ongoing). Completed review in August 2001 of proposals for poster presentations to be displayed at the October 2001 APAP meeting. Eight presentations were approved and are at this time awaiting word whether there is room for that many displays.
--Discussions continue to be held with NCCPA about cooperation with research activities. The R&R Chair is scheduled to attend the NCCPA Research Committee meeting 9/14 in Atlanta to discuss and refine the process for next year. Three R&R members joined with three NCCPA Research Committee members to review proposals for the spring NCCPA/APAP research grant cycle. This is expected to become an ongoing process, and a recurring spring research grant cycle is anticipated.
--The Research and Review Committee will again conduct the J.Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest this year (ongoing). I. Keir Todd, MEd, PA-C, from Central Michigan University PA Program, will again administer the competition. Planning has begun for the 2002 cycle.
--The committee is planning an add-on day dedicated to "Research in the PA Profession" for October 2001 APAP meeting directed at showcasing the research done on the PA profession, including work done by non-PA researchers who research the PA profession. Rod Hooker is responsible for suggesting this proposal.
--The Research and Review Committee Chair works in cooperation with the Education Committee to review research-oriented workshop proposals for APAP meetings.
Completion dates: As above
Accomplishments/Success Stories:
--Development of objective criteria for accepting/rejecting survey instruments was completed May 2000 and posted on committee's web site at http://paprogram.medicine.uiowa.edu/randr. The new criterion and mechanism appear to be working as expected. Since last May 2001, 3 surveys have been approved, and the R&R Chair has directed several potential researchers to existing data that addresses their research questions. 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.
--Last year concern was noted that the small grant program might not have been evaluating proposals for research quality as well as it could. The committee has re-visited the small grant program to make sure it is accomplishing its goals of encouraging the development of research skills among the APAP faculty. A subcommittee was formed to redefine the goals and objective of the program and make recommendations as to how the committee might accomplish them. The subcommittee consisted of Dennis Blessing as chair and Rod Hooker and Tim Quigley. The subcommittee developed new guidelines and evaluative process, and these will be utilized in the 2001 small grant cycle. The committee is indebted to these three individuals for their work on this project.
--The Fall 2001 Small Research Grants cycle was completed, however at the time of this report the review was not yet completed. The review subcommittee was composed of: Dennis Blessing, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Subcommittee Chair; Meredith Davison, Midwestern University; Michelle Heinan, East Carolina University; Rod Hooker, University of Texas Southwest; Tony Miller, Shenandoah University; and Martha Petersen, Lock Haven University.
--The administrator of the J. Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest, I. Keir Todd, MEd, PA-C, Central Michigan University PA Program, will again conduct the competition. A substantial increase for funding the J. Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest was secured last year, and this funding will be used increase the support for honoring this year's winners. Winners will receive a cash prize of $500, $300, or $200 for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, as well as transportation, and lodging for three nights at the APAP hotel. The increased support is provided by JAAPA.
--There is an increase in the number of original papers and abstracts presented at the October 2001 APAP meeting as well as an increase in the size of the audience. An additional hour was added to this year's allocation of time for faculty paper presentations. Since an APAP mission to provide a venue for faculty advancement as well as dissemination of PA education information, it is proposed that two 2-hour faculty research presentation sessions (four hours total) be allocated for Fall 2002.
--The Research and Review Committee closed list serve is currently in use. It appears to be useful in allowing members to discuss committee issues as they come up rather than twice a year at meetings. The Research and Review Committee web site has been successful at keeping the survey review and grant activities organized.
--In anticipation of the restructuring of APAP's committee system, Research and Review Committee activities are being delegated to smaller task-focused subcommittees. Typically these committees will contain 3-6 members and will require a substantial work commitment for a limited period of time. The first attempt at this process was a subcommittee formed to re-write the small grants guidelines, and it has since been utilized for the NCCPA research reviews in the Spring of 2001 and the Fall 2001 Research Institute small research review process. The intent is to develop a cadre of experienced subcommittee members for each activity in order to foster institution memory and stability in ongoing processes, and to compartmentalize the work demands on volunteers to predictable times. So far these experiments in organization appear to be more successful than the preceding processes in the short run, however whether this will be the case in the long term is uncertain.
Concerns:
--Submissions to the J. Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest were down in 2001 compared to previous years. Committee discussions have speculated that faculty may have recently reduced their encouragement of students' participation. It is in the best interest of this committee, APAP, PA programs, and the future of the profession that scientific and professional writing by students be encouraged now and in the future. The committee's conclusion was to more aggressively promoting the writing competition in the coming year.
--APAP member faculty are responding to increasing pressure due to the demands of promotion and tenure, likely due to the conversion of programs to awarding advanced degrees. Since participation in professional academic activities on a national level is typically part of academic promotion and tenure processes, this committee has seen a sharp increase in the number of proposals for presentation of original work. In order to effectively provide for our members' needs in this area, APAP will need to provide adequate time and resources for faculty presentation activities. As one variation of how to accomplish this, a poster-presentation option was revived for the Fall 2001 conference, although the demand was underestimated. In response to the unprecedented number of faculty presentation submissions, an extra hour of faculty presentation time was scheduled for the Fall 2001 meeting. This trend is likely to increase; therefore next year more time should be scheduled at the October meeting for faculty presentation, and plans should be make for a larger number of poster displays. In anticipation of next year's demand, four hours of presentation time should be allocated, as well as room for up to 12 posters.
Budget Issues: Current research grant requires $20,000 for Year 2001 awards that has already been allocated through the Research Institute. APAP staff administered the funding ($6000 from JAAPA) for the J. Peter Nyquist Student Writing Contest for the first time this year, and similar funding is expected for next year. The committee is planning an add-on day dedicated to "Research in the PA Profession" for the October 2001 APAP meeting directed at showcasing all the research done on the PA profession, which is to be funded by an additional registration fee.
Board Action Required: The Research and Review Committee requests that additional time at the fall conferences be dedicated to individual faculty presentations and poster presentations. Additionally the committee asks the board to support the add-on day dedicated to showcasing research in the profession and to direct the staff to work with Rod Hooker to implement it.