StandPoint Survey

In recognition of the key roles faculty play in academic health center performance–including delivering excellent healthcare, conducting ground-breaking research, and teaching the next generation of physicians and scientists–the Association of American Medical College (AAMC) created an initiative called StandPoint Faculty Engagement Survey. StandPoint supports medical schools in their efforts to attract and retain the best and brightest academic scientists, educators, and clinicians. StandPoint is a collaborative partnership between the AAMC, member medical schools, and teaching hospitals around the country that is focused on measuring and enhancing faculty engagement.

StandPoint is the largest national faculty workplace survey designed to address the issues unique to faculty engagement in academic medicine. Over 80 US medical schools have participated in StandPoint to identify strengths and development areas enterprise-wide, for each department, and to benchmark with other organizations to share innovative and effective engagement practices.

• AAMC StandPoint representatives met with faculty leadership groups, SOM and department leaders, and UVA Health leaders on March 15-16, 2023 
• A faculty-wide results sharing session was held Friday, March 31, 12-1pm via Zoom. Representatives from the AAMC StandPoint team provided a summary of results, highlighted improvements since the last survey, and shared opportunities for the SOM and UVA Health to be stronger organizations.
• All department chairs and administrators received data reports and a presentation summary of department-specific results and will meet with the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development and the Director of Faculty Development to review and discuss. Department leaders will share department results with their faculty.
• To view Standpoint Survey results, the March 31, 2023 Faculty Results Sharing Zoom session recording, and past Action Plans click here.

• Departments selected areas of focus for departmental action planning by June 30, 2023.
• Departments will set specific action plan goals as part of the Department Annual Review process.
• Leaders can use this Action Planning Worksheet to plan and track action planning efforts and progress.
• Action planning efforts are being developed for School-wide areas of focus.
• See the departmental and institutional areas of focus here.

All full-time and part-time UVA SOM faculty members were invited to take part in the StandPoint Faculty Engagement Survey. Faculty hired on or before August 1, 2022 received a survey invitation.

Continued faculty participation is vital and will allow the SOM to assess firsthand what drives faculty engagement at UVA and inform meaningful action plans.

We benchmark survey data with peer institutions and use the results to engage in meaningful action planning and provide training and learning opportunities that will make our school an even more vibrant place for our faculty to work.

StandPoint Faculty Engagement will provide a comprehensive statistical report of our institution’s faculty environments strengths and development areas as perceived by full-time and part-time faculty. This data has been used to identify institution-wide or department-specific issues, which will allow us to develop a plan to rectify these issues.

To view Standpoint Survey results, past Action Plans, and the March 31, 2023 Zoom session recording, click here.

Engagement is a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that a faculty member has for his/her role, organization, manager, or coworkers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply additional discretionary effort at work (Gibbons, Conference Board, 2007). Research on engagement indicates that the alignment of engagement and contribution has more robust links with retention and performance outcomes due to personal investment in the success of an organization. Engaged individuals:

• give more than is expected of them in their workplace and are happy to do so
• have a sense of mission and passion that motivate them to give exceptional effort to their work
• need the resources, support, and tools from the organization to act on, or drive, their sense of mission and passion

When action is taken to improve the practices and policies that support the recruitment and retention of faculty, faculty will thrive. Physicians who are engaged with their jobs provide better quality patient care and also foster greater patient satisfaction. More engaged faculty are more likely to remain with the institution.

The AAMC takes a number of steps to ensure confidentiality and protect respondents. Faculty participation is voluntary. Respondents may skip any particular question or discontinue the survey at any time. Confidentiality is assured in all StandPoint Surveys analyses and reports. When StandPoint Surveys submits the survey report to UVA, only the aggregate data will be included in the report. No identifiers are matched to reported responses, and no disaggregated data will be presented for any subgroup with fewer than five respondents. In addition, any personally identifiable information will be removed from all responses to open-ended questions.

StandPoint, developed and reviewed by experts in survey design, academic medicine, talent management, and organizational development, grew from a series of in-depth focus groups with medical school clinical and basic science faculty members. This independent, research-based survey is used to assess drivers of faculty engagement and the effectiveness of faculty-related institutional policies and practices in the following domains:

• Nature of Work
• Focus on Medical School Mission
• Workplace Culture
• Department Governance
• Medical School Governance
• Relationship with Supervisor
• Mentoring and Feedback
• Opportunities for Career and Professional Growth
• Promotion and Tenure Requirements
• Promotion Equality
• Collegiality and Collaboration
• Compensation and Benefits
• Faculty Recruitment and Retention
• Faculty Diversity and Inclusion
• Clinical Practice Environment
• Part-time Faculty Experiences
• Global Satisfaction and Retention