Identifying Opportunities to Strengthen Alignment Between Educational Mission and Faculty Effort in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

Abstract

Objectives: Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) clinician educators (CEs) face challenges in balancing clinical, educational, and scholarship expectations. We describe an early-stage, Division-level program evaluation to support CE faculty in teaching and advancement.

Methods: From August 2025 to April 2026, an Education Faculty Task Force (EFTF) was convened within an academic emergency department at a freestanding quaternary care children's hospital. The EFTF conducted a program evaluation incorporating (1) Division-level governance and College of Medicine promotion documents; (2) trainee evaluations; (3) a Division-wide survey; (4) a PEM fellow listening session; (5) a focused search of the external literature on education value unit models; and (6) an environmental scan of Division-level education structures within the Department of Pediatrics. We synthesized these data using concepts from complex adaptive systems and professional identity formation theories to identify areas of evidence convergence and inform implementation recommendations.

Results: The Division appointed 22 new CE faculty since 2020 and trains ~300 learners annually. Division educational governance was organized around programmatic roles with reporting lines directly to the Division Chief. A focused literature search on educational value units identified both benefits and barriers to sustained educator engagement. Within the Department of Pediatrics, heterogeneity existed in Division-level educational tracking and faculty engagement, reflecting local needs with no easily replicable model. Division-level programs involving simulation, interprofessional education, and procedural teaching demonstrated programmatic strengths but fragmentation. Strengthening educational infrastructure was deemed essential to support learners and sustainable CE scholarship. From these findings, the EFTF identified 5 priority implementation recommendations.

Conclusions: As academic medical centers grow in scale and complexity, thoughtful institutional support of PEM CEs is imperative. We utilized a systems-oriented approach to identify opportunities for improving educational infrastructure while accounting for structural barriers, local communities of practices, and professional identity, with the goal of supporting an engaged and sustainable academic workforce.