PAEA Committee Report, Sept 15, 2006

Committee Name: PAEA Research Institute

Committee Chair: Rick Dehn

Current Activities:

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

--Peer-review of the PAEA Research Institute small grant program applications as needed per grant cycle (ongoing by AAPA/PAEA 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 conducted the student writing competition (ongoing by Student Research Affairs Subcommittee).

--Collegial advisory role to publication of Journal of Physician Assistant Education (Journal 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 fall meetings and dedicated research track at the 2006 fall conference (ongoing by Faculty Development Subcommittee)

Completion dates: As above

Accomplishments/Success Stories:

--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 May 1,2006, 8 surveys have been approved with several others currently in suggested revision. The rate of survey submission over the last six months has remained stable. Dennis Blessing, subcommittee chair, has published survey submission guidelines in Update at http://www.paeaonline.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 most recent cycle. Anecdotal observation supports that this is well received by the PIs, and 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 PAEA research grant processes.

--The RI Research Grant Subcommittee, consisting of chair Mary Warner and members Meredith Davison, Patricia Jennings, Frank Wynn, Michelle Heinan, and Anthony Miller, received 15 proposals submitted for the Fall 2006 cycle. Grant proposals were selected for funding which will be awarded at the Quebec meeting.

--The RI Student Research Affairs Subcommittee again conducted the PAEA Student Writing Contest this spring. Theresa Hegmann was the new chair of this subcommittee, which also included Robert Hadley, Claire O’Connell, and Antone Opekun. The winning students and their submissions are:

--Amanda Pinkert, from the Duke University Medical Center PA Program, for “The Effect of Treatment Options on Quality of Life in Patients with Persistent or Recurrent Atrial Fibrillation: A Review of the Literature.” As the first-place winner, Pinkert was also designated the Nyquist winner in commemoration of J. Peter Nyquist, for whom the competition was originally named.

--Theresa Jones, from the Medical University of Ohio at Toledo PA Program, for “Analyzing the Attitudes and Practices of Residents of Lucas County, Ohio, in Regard to Advance Care Planning”

--Ryanne Coulson, from the Chatham College PA Program in Pennsylvania, for “Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Infection: The New Common Cold?”

The awards were presented in conjunction with JAAPA at the PAEA awards ceremony on May 27, 2006 in San Francisco. The RI would like to express its gratitude to JAAPA for its generous financial contribution toward this endeavor.

--The RI will again present a full-day research-oriented workshop at the 2006 PAEA fall meeting. Such workshops have been presented at the last four fall meetings and have been very successful and well attended. Planning for this workshop has been tasked to the RI Faculty Development Subcommittee, which has selected “Designing and Writing a Successful Research Grant Proposal” as this year’s topic. Additionally, this year a research-oriented track dedicated to performing survey research will be a track within the Fall 2006 conference.

Concerns:

--The RI is concerned that there are no good venues for the dissemination of student scholarly work. Discussion continues on the establishment of a PAEA-supported Internet journal for PA student scholarly work. Funding and likely staff demands appear to be the biggest barriers

--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 PAEA 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 biggest obstacle is that the survey approval website requires constant updating for it to be of value to PAEA members. Progress has been made on this and the transfer will likely occur as soon as the PAEA staff can accommodate it.

--The RI requests that the final report (presented at the BOD meeting Nov. 2004) of the APAP ad hoc committee dedicated to studying the use of the organization’s data for research and other purposes be implemented in that the data request review committee be organized to deal with researchers interested in PAEA collected data.

Budget Issues:

--PAEA staff administers the funding ($6000 from JAAPA) for the PAEA Student Writing Contest. PAEA Staff should confirm the continuation of this funding for 2007-2008 by JAAPA’s publisher before the contest materials go out for the Fall 2008 cycle.

--$20,000 PAEA allocation is required to fund the PAEA Research Institute Research Grants fall 2006 cycle (typically automatically allocated). Additionally, NCCPA contributed a $10,000 annual contribution toward PA research, which was added to the fall cycle beginning in 2005, allowing that cycle to award up to $30,000 in grant awards. Staff should confirm that NCCPA’s contribution will continue for the 2007 cycle.

Board Action Required: See concern #4

Respectfully submitted

Rick Dehn, PAEA Research Institute Advisory Board chair