FAIMER Institute

The FAIMER Institute is a yearlong, part-time fellowship program designed to teach education methods and leadership skills, and to promote the development of professional relationships among participants. Institute Fellows attend two residential sessions in Philadelphia, one year apart, which mark the beginning and conclusion of the fellowship year. In the intersession period, Fellows work on a curriculum innovation project at their home institutions.

Residential Sessions
In the residential sessions, Fellows develop knowledge and skills in a wide range of educational concepts, such as problem-based learning, adult learning theory, lecturing, and use of computers in education. They also participate in sessions on clinical skills teaching and assessment, faculty development, student assessment, use of educational materials, and audio-visual techniques. Throughout the program, Fellows learn methods of effective organizational leadership and personal leadership style assessment, program evaluation, project management, conflict management, strategic planning, and various e-leadership skills using web-based tools.

Curriculum Innovation Project
A second major goal of the program is completion of a curriculum innovation project, proposed by Fellows in their initial application to the Institute, and implemented at their medical schools during the intersession period. Projects presented this year by the Institute 2001 Fellows represented change efforts, such as initiation of a school-wide clinical skills assessment using standardized patients, development of a new faculty evaluation survey instrument, implementation of an electronic distance learning program, and vertical integration of the curriculum. The projects serve as vehicles for learning and practice of planning and leadership skills, and for using newly-learned principles of adult education and assessment.

Institute Program Years
The first Institute program year commenced in October 2001. In October 2002, the Institute hosted its first combined program of twenty-one returning and incoming Fellows, marking the culmination of the Institute 2001 program year and the beginning of the Institute 2002 program year. Institute 2001 Fellows spent three overlapping days with new Fellows, presenting an interactive poster presentation describing the curriculum innovation projects they had been working on during their intersession period. They also discussed lessons learned from the past year, and individually mentored partners in the new class. When Institute 2002 Fellows return next year, they will have the same opportunity to mentor new Fellows, and to share their fellowship experiences. Exhibit C lists the Institute 2002 Fellows and their home country institutions.

Professional Networks
The days of overlap between the conclusion of Institute 2001 and the beginning of Institute 2002 advanced a major goal of the Institute — the development of a global network of medical educators, characterized by close personal and professional bonds among Fellows, to provide medical education expertise and support. Face-to-face interaction created important bonds as Fellows learned more about the projects of others, shared their experiences as medical educators, and got to know each other as people living in diverse parts of the world. The mentoring relationships between Fellows of the 2001 and 2002 classes will continue through monthly, on-line discussions. Several collaborations between Fellows began last year, and many more potential collaborations were discussed during the 2002 on-site session. These collaborations and mentoring relationships form the basis for professional networking.

For the 2001-2002 program years, FAIMER solicited applicants from Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. Exhibit D lists some of the institutions represented by Fellows during the initial program years. FAIMER expects the regions of eligibility to change in future program years as it attempts to develop a critical mass of FAIMER Fellows in various parts of the world.

Program Assessment
Evaluation of the FAIMER Institute has been built into the design of the program. A tool developed by faculty of the Columbia School of Business is used to quantify and describe the development of professional networks, an important goal of the Institute. Questionnaires designed to assess change in knowledge, skills, and attitudes are also used, with a slight modification from the traditional "pre-" and "post-" intervention model, in which participants at the end of the program look back and document what they knew before they started ("retrospective pre" methodology). Fellows are also asked to complete individual session and overall program evaluation questionnaires. At the conclusion of the program, Fellows participate in individual, structured interviews. Finally, additional follow-up telephone interviews and surveys are conducted after the fellowship period. Taken together, these evaluative measures allow development of rich, qualitative data on Institute experiences.

Ongoing Support for Fellows
The impact of the Institute fellowship experience is likely to be felt by participants long after the conclusion of the program. An Institute alumni group, formed entirely through the efforts of Fellows, has already been initiated, and promises to serve as an ongoing support network.

Exhibit C: 2002 Institute Fellows