Who will be the faculty of the future? Results of a 5-year study growing educators using an immersive third postgraduate year (PGY-3) faculty development mini-fellowship

Background: Residency education requires large numbers of skilled teaching faculty. Potential faculty can often be identified during residency training. Aims: Employ a 4-week immersive faculty development mini-fellowship to enhance the teaching skills of selected PGY-3 residents and study outcomes over 5 years. Methods: PGY-3 residents were competitively selected and completed the 4-week curriculum to increase skills in precepting, small group teaching, large group teaching, learner feedback/assessment, academic career development, and research. Results: Fifteen residents completed the mini-fellowship over the 5-year study period. The curriculum was rated highly by the residents with mean ratings of curriculum components ranging from 4.5 to 4.9 on a 5-point scale. Eight residents (53%) were selected for faculty positions compared to a usual selection rate of 11. Compared to new faculty without mini-fellowship completion, program directors rated the residents completing the mini-fellowship as better prepared to perform learner feedback (4.1 vs. 3.0, p≤0.01) and to understand the conduct of research (3.6 vs. 2.5 p≤0.01). Conclusions: This study demonstrates short-term success at growing faculty with enhanced teaching skills during residency. While long-term retention in academic medicine cannot be predicted, this program represents one method to mitigate shortages of qualified junior residency faculty.