Emergency medicine clerkship directors: defining the characteristics of the workforce.
OBJECTIVE
Clerkship directors design and implement educational programs for students. Scholarly productivity is necessary for academic advancement. We define characteristics of emergency medicine clerkship directors and evaluate determinants of scholarly productivity and job satisfaction.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional survey. Clerkship directors for emergency medicine senior rotations completed a confidential online questionnaire. Demographic data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Scholarly productivity and job satisfaction indices were created for multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
One hundred eleven (82%) of 136 directors responded (age 38.9+/-7.0 years; men 72.1%; junior academic rank 72.1%; served as clerkship directors for < or =5 years 77.4%; formal training in education: medical education fellowship 36%, teaching credential 12.7%, emergency medicine subspecialty fellowship 6.3%; support for clerkship director's activities: clinical hours reduction 2.7+/-2.3 weekly; minimal training for clerkship director's role 85.6%; ongoing professional development 40.5%; scholarly productivity: < or =5 peer-reviewed publications 78.4%, grant 28%, textbook chapter 65%; plan to be clerkship director in 5 years 63%; perceived support from supervisor 88%; perceived value from colleagues 81%; perception that clerkship directors is as important as residency director 47.8%). Multivariate regression shows a significant effect of medical education fellowship (P =.013) and subspecialty training (P =.044). Departmental support enhances the effect of medical education (P =.008) or subspecialty (P =.026) fellowships and improves productivity for senior faculty (P =.047). Multivariate regression explaining job satisfaction shows a positive effect of reduced clinical hours (P =.038) and increased faculty development (P =.033).


CONCLUSIONS
Most emergency medicine clerkship directors are junior faculty with minimal release time or training for their positions.
Coates
Wendy C
WC
Department of Emergency Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA. coates@emedharbor.edu
Gill
Andrew M
AM
Jordan
Richard
R
D000328:Adult; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004526:Efficiency; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D008486:Physician Executives / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States