Published in CenterView July 19, 2010

New SOM program smoothes new faculty's transition to UMMC

Smith, left, and seated from left, Pipitone, Barker and Patricia
Richardson, administrative assistant, welcome Dr. Michael
Shoemaker-Moyle, associate professor of medicine, to UMMC.

After Dr. Patrick Smith joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center faculty in the mid-'90s and became involved in faculty recruitment, he learned that the School of Medicine was poorly equipped to handle incoming faculty's arrival.

At that time, many new School of Medicine faculty did not have a "prepared" office environment or computer access. In some cases, clinical faculty would have to wait for weeks to begin seeing patients due to the various required processes.

It was a scenario that had played out far too often at UMMC: incoming faculty eager to hit the ground running were stifled by uncoordinated entry activities that left them without the essential tools to perform their jobs from day one.

A new on-boarding program in the School of Medicine's freshly minted Office of Faculty Affairs promises to make the most of the "honeymoon stage" for new faculty and the Medical Center alike.

The goal, according to Dr. LouAnn Woodward, associate vice chancellor for health affairs, is to have a standardized, multifaceted process in the School of Medicine to effectively integrate incoming faculty into the Medical Center environment. Woodward and Dr. James Keeton, vice chancellor for health affairs and School of Medicine dean, gave the go-ahead to develop the on-boarding program, which started development in August 2009.

"Previously, each department managed the on-boarding of new faculty in isolation," Woodward said. "Some departments did a good job, but some didn't have the resources or the institutional knowledge to provide a comprehensive service.

"A critically important component of the new on-boarding process is the opportunity to share the institution's values, the mission and the vision. Now we welcome the faculty member to the Medical Center at large and give them an organizational framework to carry as they move into their departmental home."

According to Smith, who now heads the Office of Faculty Affairs, effective on-boarding of new faculty improves productivity and retention while building a shared culture.

"When people began to look at the value of an on-boarding process, we saw how a good process impacts retention," he said. "If you can retain faculty members, it saves a lot of money and creates continuity across our missions."

Recruitment of new faculty to the School of Medicine takes place in various ways, but because of constant demand by University of Mississippi Health Care and the institution's growing research enterprise, all 21 departments in the school are generally in a "recruitment mode."

Information about the potential faculty member is plugged into the on-boarding computer system by a designated "lead person" in each department chair's office. Given the new faculty's profile, a specific on-boarding plan is tailored for the faculty member by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Then, during the faculty member's first two days at UMMC, he or she receives structured on-board training.

Kathy Pipitone, coordinator of faculty on-boarding and relations, said the new on-boarding system is designed to put each new faculty member's initial experience to the most efficient use possible.

"The goal is for everyone coming in - if everything is done timely - to have a good experience to start off," Pipitone said. "If you come in but don't have an office, or have an office but don't have a computer, or have a computer but don't have access, it can be a real problem."

Another major piece of the on-boarding system regards flow of information. The scheduling and approval process has been streamlined through the School of Medicine's electronic Faculty On-Boarding System.

"It's taking advantage of technologies to make the process flow better," Smith said.

That applies to dates of hire as well. Pipitone said it had become common practice for new faculty members to join UMMC at any time. Now, department chairs hire new faculty only on Mondays or the first business day of the week to coincide with regular on-boarding schedules.

In the past, faculty members did not go through any organized or coordinated entry into the School of Medicine, which meant they weren't always informed of required logins or passwords. As recently as a year ago, faculty were using work-arounds on some systems just to get certain things done.

"Now we're letting people know on the front end, this is what we're expecting of you," Smith said. "And we're letting them know what they should expect from us."

The new on-boarding system directly addresses a host of compliance issues.

According to Smith, physicians and clinical faculty require different kinds of activities to be plugged into the clinical service delivery process. Without proper orientation, new faculty might go to work, then sometime later receive an e-mail informing them to complete a requirement no one had told them was needed.

Smith said the new specialized faculty on-boarding process is a multidisciplinary effort that includes representatives from every Medical Center department that "touches" faculty, from benefits to research to compliance.

"What the leaders have done is create a team approach to on-boarding by allying all these groups together," Smith said.