APAP Committee Report, Sept 23, 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 [Typically Winter/Spring], and RI Research Grant [Fall] Subcommittees).

--Peer-review of proposals for faculty research paper/abstract 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 will conduct the student writing competition (ongoing by Student Research Affairs Subcommittee).

--Advisory role to publication of Perspectives of Physician Assistant Education (Perspectives editor serves on RI advisory committee).

--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, Education Committee chair, the FDI chair, and a BOD liaison implemented new policies to improve and streamline the conference content processes for the Fall 2005 conference. These individuals will confer at the Fall 2005 conference to determine if additional adjustments will need to be implemented in the future to continue this process. The chair of each of these committees will site as ex officio members of the other two committees to improve communications between them.

--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 March 1,2005, 10 surveys have been approved with several others currently in suggested revisions. The rate of survey submission over the last six months has increased slightly. Dennis Blessing, subcommittee chair, recently published survey submission guidelines in Update at http://www.apap.org/0705docs/0705ResearchApproval.htm.

--The Research Institute has been providing feedback on unsuccessful proposals to the grant authors beginning with the Spring 2001 cycle. This process will be made available again for proposals from the Fall 2005 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 10 proposals submitted for the Fall 2005 cycle.

--The RI Student Research Affairs Subcommittee will again conduct the APAP Student Writing Contest this winter. The RI currently has a call out for candidates to chair this committee and also serve on the RI advisory committee. Winners will be honored at the San Francisco conference awards ceremony. APAP staff will need to insure that funding for this cycle is again available from JAAPA.

--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, and the topic chosen for this year is “Planning and Implementing Scholarly Work.” Three experienced faculty have been selected to teach this workshop.

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.

Budget Issues:

--APAP staff administers the funding ($6000 from JAAPA) for the APAP 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.

Board Action Required: See budget issue #2

Respectfully submitted

Rick Dehn, Research Institute Advisory Board chair