Boost resident attendance at hospital committee meetings
In the October issue of RPA, I profiled how one institution went from nine months of zero residents attending hospital committee meetings to 100% attendance. Getting residents to participate in hospital committees is important because it’s an ACGME institutional requirement, and it’s one way they can meet the systems-based practice competency.
The institution I profiled created a Housestaff Council, which chose resident delegates to attend various meetings. All delegates meet about once every month or so and share what’s happening in their committees. This reporting mechanism created accountability and now residents are less likely to skip or forget meetings.
Obviously, there is more than one solution to getting residents to faithfully attend hospital committee meetings. So, I asked Vicki Hamm, GME program administrator at University of Nebraska to share what her institution does and how they document resident participation for the ACGME.
When residents are appointed to any committee, Hamm suggests sending a letter to their program directors informing them of the appointment. This serves a dual purpose. First, it notifies directors the residents had the honor of being appointed; secondly, residents now know directors may keep track of their attendance.
After about three meetings, the GME office should check in with the committees that have newly appointed resident to make sure residents are attending, says Hamm. If they aren’t, the GME office should call and find out why the residents are missing meetings.
Thirdly, if residents are having trouble attending the meeting (the time doesn’t fit into their schedules, meetings are too long, etc), the GME office should seek a replacement. This should be done with the cooperation of the residents currently sitting on the committee, Hamm recommends.
Stress to residents the importance of their attendance by explaining that this is something the ACGME looks for during the institutional site visit (you have to report committee participation by residents on the IRD). Residents will often have a good idea of someone in their own program who might be interested and willing to attend.
If all else fails, send out a mass email to all residents asking for a volunteer. Hamm does this frequently and is always amazed at how many residents actually want to participate on a hospital committee.
All in all, the GME office must constantly monitor committee attendance to ensure this requirement is being met. This is a huge systems-based practice improvement activity and the ACGME loves it.
What do you do to ensure residents are attending hospital committee meetings? Anyone do anything on the program level? Leave a comment below.
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