Submission ID 77907
| Code | OG-5-4 |
|---|---|
| At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: | |
| Category | Medical Education |
| Type | Oral |
| Will the presenter be a: | Graduate Student |
| Title | A Foucauldian-Inspired Discourse Analysis of Administrative Staff and Faculty Relations in Health Professions Education |
| Background/Purpose | Administrative staff in higher education have been described as invisible and characterized as being "non-academic, non-faculty, non-teaching, [and] non-professional" (Losinger, 2015, p. 157).With few exceptions, if staff appear in the HPE literature it is as a passive object, often as a resource, a possession, or a liability. This absence is felt in everyday staff experiences: staff may be overlooked in meetings, feel uncomfortable contributing knowledge, or feel devalued or invisible in their roles. The increasing professionalization of staff roles, occurring as health professionals experience their own shifts in power and prestige, can lead to tensions, if not toxicity, in health professions education (HPE) spaces. Better understanding this complex staff-faculty relationship can lead to a healthier working and learning environment for all. |
| Methods | Focused on three clinical departments in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto I build and examine an archive consisting of documents, interviews with staff and faculty, and my own lived experience as staff. I conduct a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis to identify discourses that regulate the work of and power relations between administrative staff and faculty in HPE. |
| Results | Staff have been discursively constructed as devoted caregivers, controlling matriarchs and as professionals. These three discourses continue to regulate staff and faculty relations, construct hierarchies, and influence the working relationships between staff and faculty. |
| Discussion | These findings indicate the continued presence of staff and faculty hierarchies within HPE. (Re)building staff agency will be important to ensure healthy and productive working and learning environments between an increasingly professionalized staff and faculty in HPE. |
| Keyword 1 | staff |
| Keyword 2 | qualitative research |
| Keyword 3 | collaboration |
| Abstract content most relevant to: (check all that apply) | Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (faculty development, CME) |
| Abstract Track - First Choice | Wellness and the culture of medicine |
| Authors | Ayelet Kuper Stephanie Waterman Cynthia Whitehead Morag Paton |
