Pursuing Scholarly Activity Without Overburdening Your Schedule

Faculty burnout, particularly among clinical educators, poses a significant challenge in osteopathic medical education. While scholarly productivity remains a critical requirement for faculty promotion, time and workload constraints often hinder faculty engagement in research and publication. This project applied a clinical model of scholarly activity, adapted from Oregon State University’s framework, to demonstrate how everyday academic and clinical responsibilities can be transformed into scholarly products. As part of an institutional Lunch and Learn series, we introduced strategies for increasing productivity—such as structured to-do lists, avoiding multitasking, making efforts count twice, and setting boundaries—emphasizing integration of scholarship into daily practice. To assess impact, we analyzed student research approval forms submitted over a one-year period surrounding the intervention. Results revealed a marked increase in faculty participation, with nearly half of post-session project mentors new to the mentorship role. These findings suggest that structured, pragmatic approaches can enhance faculty scholarly output, reduce barriers to engagement, and foster a sustainable culture of research in osteopathic medicine.