NET Library – Resources for the DPC, Breakout Session Facilitated by NRMN

Write-up by Sarah Gluck

At the recent Diversity Program Consortium (DPC), scientists from all over the nation converged to discuss their progress in creating a more diverse biomedical workforce. One of the challenges of operating a large program like the DPC is identifying and promoting the use of common data metrics -what type of information is collected, what tools are being used to collect data and how these decisions are being informed.

As part of annual DPC meeting, Drs. Eileen Harwood and Christine Pfund, of the University of Minnesota and the University of Madison-Wisconsin, represented the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) in a breakout session designed to share a newly created library of metrics. This library, created by Drs. Japera Johnson (Morehouse School of Medicine) and Jenna Rogers (University of Wisconsin-Madison), with the assistance of the NRMN Evaluation Team (NET), was created to catalog metrics being used( or available for use) across NRMN.

Metrics included in the library span a range of domains from demographics, the effectiveness of targeted activities, knowledge/ skill/ confidence gains, psychosocial factors, productivity and career progression. In addition to the scales themselves, the library also includes information on the origins and validation of each scale and alignment with DPC hallmarks of success.

The breakout session helped participants learn about how such a library could be utilized for their own purposes. In the span of two hours, participants were given a demonstration of the library, learned about the purposes of the library and discussed how such a tool can help the DPC achieve its research goals. After learning about the NRMN NET Library, participants were split into groups, where they generated ideas about what a DPC-wide library could include and whether such a library would be useful. 

While there was great enthusiasm for the idea of a common metrics library and the ways it could encourage consistency and collaboration across the entire DPC, it was acknowledged that such a project would require additional resources and coordination.

Facilitator: Christine Pfund and Eileen Harwood - NRMN
 
All facilitators were allowed to share the session materials through the intranet. These materials may be accessed here. 

If materials are not found, please contact the facilitators directly.