Have We Made Progress? Interprofessional Diversity Within Faculty and Course Directors of Continuous Professional Development Courses Pre- and Post-Joint Accreditation.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to quantify the impact of joint accreditation on the prevalence of physician and non-physician continuous professional development (CPD) course directors(CDs) and faculty.

Methods: CPD CDs and faculty credentials were collected in 2017 (one-year pre-joint accreditation) and 2022 (one-year post-joint accreditation), using electronic and manual data extraction. CPD CDs and faculty were grouped into physician and non-physician cohorts for the quantitative analysis.

Results: A significant increase in the number of non-physician CDs was observed from 2017 (11.3%) to 2022 (22.5%). There were significantly more non-physician faculty at non-physician-focused courses (8.7 ± 8.1 faculty compared to 2.6 ± 4.1 at physician-focused conferences, p = 0.003) with a large effect size, Cohen's d = -1.32 [95% CI -1.8, -0.9]. Finally, while physicians had statistically higher faculty scores for all three measurements (p < 0.001), the effect sizes were small (Cohen's d ranging 0.18-0.20).

Conclusion: Increased diversity in CDs and faculty was noted when comparing pre- and post-joint accreditation suggesting compliance with joint accreditation standards and the growing emphasis on team-based healthcare. Future research is needed to investigate barriers to CPD participation as CDs and faculty for both physician and non-physician healthcare team members. Additional research will continue to help expand diverse professional representation among CDs and faculty within CPD courses.