title: Part-time careers in academic internal medicine: a report from the association of specialty professors part-time careers task force on behalf of the alliance for academic internal medicine.
abstract: To establish guidelines for more effectively incorporating part-time faculty into departments of internal medicine, a task force was convened in early 2007 by the Association of Specialty Professors. The task force used informal surveys, current literature, and consensus building among members of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine to produce a consensus statement and a series of recommendations. The task force agreed that part-time faculty could enrich a department of medicine, enhance workforce flexibility, and provide high-quality research, patient care, and education in a cost-effective manner. The task force provided a series of detailed steps for operationalizing part-time practice; to do so, key issues were addressed, such as fixed costs, malpractice insurance, space, cross-coverage, mentoring, career development, productivity targets, and flexible scheduling. Recommendations included (1) increasing respect for work-family balance, (2) allowing flexible time as well as part-time employment, (3) directly addressing negative perceptions about part-time faculty, (4) developing policies to allow flexibility in academic advancement, (5) considering part-time faculty as candidates for leadership positions, (6) encouraging granting agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Administration, to consider part-time faculty as eligible for research career development awards, and (7) supporting future research in "best practices" for incorporating part-time faculty into academic departments of medicine.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine Scholars, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Mark.linzer@hcmed.org
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linzer
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Warde
authors.forename: R Wayne
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Deborah M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Demarco
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haupt
authors.forename: Leroi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hicks
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kutner
authors.forename: Carol M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mangione
authors.forename: Hilit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mechaber
authors.forename: Meridith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rentz
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Glen D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Volberding
authors.forename: Tod
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008019:Life Style; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload