Faculty Development in an Academic Trauma Center

In order for faculty to feel that their efforts are meaningful to their career goals, their service requirements need to be aligned to their academic aspirations. When faculty feel that they are too busy to be productive, that is they feel unproductive in a scholarly sense, be it by teaching, publication, research, etc., burnout can develop and lead to job dissatisfaction. Here it is posited that both the structure, promotion process and leadership of a department of surgery and of the trauma/critical care/acute care surgery section/division must have governance and process that allows for proper alignment of clinical services to academic productivity. Academic productivity comes in many forms from basic bench biology to clinical translational science to community engagement and can include research in areas such as disparities in health access, ethics in trauma care and the social determinants of health. Leadership and promotion processes must acknowledge the contributions of each and properly reward all efforts, independent of the perceived impact on the field and how “productivity” is traditionally evaluated. Start-up funds, protected time and extramural funding and mentorship are discussed.