FACILITATING FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH THROUGH CRITICAL-REVIEWOF GRANT PROPOSALS AND ARTICLES

Background. In 1983 the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston established a faculty development pr ogram to address faculty needs for continuing education and improved r esources for research. At first a part-time coordinator was hired; the n, in 1985, a full-time, faculty-level science communicator provided h elp with strategic planning of projects and intensive review of grant proposals and journal articles. Faculty participation in the program w as voluntary. Method. Pre- and post-intervention data for 1983-1992 in cluded numbers of faculty using the program, faculty evaluations of th e program, grant dollars awarded, counts of grant submissions and awar ds, and numbers of published articles. Results. The review services we re used heavily for grant proposals (75% of the department's proposals ), but were used lightly for research articles (18% of publications). Grant funding quadrupled from 1983 to 1988; although funding peaked in 1988, it thereafter remained at three to four times the 1983 level. I n contrast, the mean number of publications per faculty per year dropp ed between 1983 and 1990. Conclusion. The program provided valuable as sistance to the faculty in writing grant proposals, and it helped to g enerate critically needed resources. However, the program's failure to increase the publication productivity of the faculty suggests that de spite financial pressures, similar programs should use their influence and resources to promote a balance between scholarly publication and grant acquisition.