APAP Committee Report, September 9, 2003

Committee Name: APAP Research Institute

Committee Chair: Rick Dehn and Eugene Jones

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 seasonally by NCCPA/APAP Research Grant and AAPA/APAP Research Grant 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 conduct the student writing competition this year (ongoing by Student Research Affairs Subcommittee). The APAP Student Writing Competition is again gearing up for submissions in February 2004.

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

--The restructuring of APAP's committee system has progressed with integration of the Research and Review Committee into the Research Institute. Research and Review Committee activities 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
APAP Data	Oversee Annual Report and other APAP Data
Research Affairs	Represent APAP Research to Other Research Organizations

Completion dates: As above

Accomplishments/Success Stories:

--The process of approving survey instruments 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 March 1,2003, 12 surveys have been approved with several others currently in suggested revisions. As of August 2003, this task has been delegated to the Research Review Subcommittee.

--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. 19 papers/abstracts submissions were received for review and presentation and 26 poster submissions were received for review and display at the Fall 2003 meeting. This is an increase over the number of submissions last year, and it is likely that the number of proposals 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 and the board will need to continue to take actions that will ensure this time is available at future APAP conferences.

--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. Approximately 50% of unsuccessful PIs requested feedback on their proposals submitted in Spring 2003. Anecdotal observation supports that this process is well received by the PIs.

--NCCPA/APAP Research Grant review Subcommittee, consisting of co-chairs Emil Petrusa and Rick Dehn, and NCCPA members Ruth Ballweg and Dan McNeill, and APAP members Gary Bouchard and Pat Kelly, reviewed the ten proposals submitted for the Spring 2003 cycle. Two proposals were selected for funding:

· The Doctoral Pipeline in PA Education - Venetia L. Orcutt of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of PA Studies.

• Teaching Professionalism in Physician Assistant Education - Marshall Blesofsky of the Primary Care PA Program at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

--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 review process is currently underway, and awards will be presented at the fall meeting.

--The RI and the FDI will again combine to present a full-day workshop at the fall meeting “Developing and Implementing an Effective Research Curriculum.” Workshop capacity was set at 36 participants. Faculty will include Rick Dehn as workshop administrator, Dennis Blessing, and Connie Goldgar. Early registration has been strong indicating enrollment may reach capacity before the registration deadline.

--Three APAP Research and Review Committee Members, Gene Jones, Dennis Blessing, and Pat Kelly, served on the AAPA-IAC - Research Advisory Subcommittee for 2002-2003. The results of this endeavor included a decision in May 2003 by the AAPA BOD to allocate $20k for research grants and $5k for administration to APAP annually for an AAPA/APAP grant cycle structured similar to APAP’s arrangement with NCCPA. This brings to three the number of APAP-administered research grant processes that together total $60,000 annually. The new process will be administered by the AAPA/APAP Research Grant Subcommittee made up of three representatives from APAP and three from AAPA with one co-chair from each organization. At the time of this report APAP appointments have been made while AAPA appointees are being finalized. It is anticipated at this time that requests for proposals will go out at the fall APAP meeting for a review process that will be completed before the spring NCCPA/APAP process begins in March 2004. The RI would like to thank the AAPA board of directors for their generosity in support of PA research.

--The following individuals were appointed to the Research Institute by co-chairs Eugene Jones and Rick Dehn, and the APAP board has approved their appointment: Dennis Blessing, Don Pedersen, Keir Todd, Meredith Davison, Pat Kelley, Tony Miller, Bert Simon, David Asprey. They as well as Jones and Dehn will all chair RI subcommittees.

Concerns:

--The Research Institute is beginning to receive 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.

--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. This structural problem works to the detriment of this committee being able to offer its research expertise to the APAP membership, and thus continues to be an issue that should be addressed by the BOD. The October 2003 research workshops (with the exception of the add-on day workshop) were reviewed and selected by the Education Committee without any Research Institute input, as were the research presentation accepted for the May 2003 conference. This committee believes that research curriculum for the APAP conferences should be selected and reviewed by this committee, not the Education Committee. It is hoped that future APAP committee reorganization will address this problem.

Budget Issues:

--The Fall/Winter 2003-2004 new AAPA/APAP research grant process will receive a $25,000 contribution from AAPA for APAP to administer $20,000 in research grants for Year 2004 awards.

--The Spring 2004 NCCPA/APAP research grant process will receive a $25,000 contribution from NCCPA for APAP to administer $20,000 in research grants for Year 2003 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 2003-2004 by JAAPA before the contest materials go out this fall.

--$20,000 will be required to fund the APAP Research Institute Research Grants fall 2003 cycle (allocated). Similar funding will be necessary in 2004.

--The committee is still considering an add-on day dedicated to “Research in the PA Profession” for the October 2004 fall APAP meeting directed at showcasing all the research done on the PA profession, which is projected to be funded by an additional registration fee and possibly some outside grant money. Rod Hooker will be responsible for developing this proposal.

--If this fall’s RI add-on day workshop is successful, another research-oriented topic will be presented at the fall 2004 meeting in the same add-on day format.

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Board Action Required: The Research and Review Committee will likely send proposals to the BOD at the November 2003 meeting that need attention:

--The Research and Review Committee requests that board consider restructuring how the content of APAP conferences is determined, specifically that research curriculum workshops be selected and peer reviewed by the Research Institute rather than the Education Committee.

Respectfully submitted

Rick Dehn

Eugene Jones