Archive for: February, 2009
Resource for teaching residents about The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals
In March’s issue of Residency Program Alert, I wrote an article about how to tie The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) in to core competency training.
Many GME professionals and hospital quality managers told me they’re shocked at how many residents have never heard of the NPSGs. Many residents don’t realize that the NPSGs are behind many of the processes that they have to follow everyday as they care for patients.
Orientation is a great time to introduce residents to the NPSGs, says Constance K. Haan, MD, MS, senior associate dean of educational affairs and designated institutional official at Unviersity of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville.
She developed a matrix that gives residents all the information they need to know about the NPSGs. Listen to her explain what’s on the handout, and consider developing your own for next year’s new residents.
Tell us how you teach residents about the NPSGs in the comment box below.
Download a copy of Haan’s NPSG Policy and Procedures to use as a template for your own handout. Obviously, a lot of the information included is specific to Haan’s institution, but it gives you a great start!
Looking ahead to the 2010 NRMP Match
As residency program directors and coordinators submit their Match rank lists this week, the last thing you probably want to do is start thinking about next year’s recruitment season. However, now is the best time to sit down and regroup while the experiences are still fresh in your mind. Ask yourself the following:
- What went smoothly on interview day and during selection meetings?
- What were the hang ups or inefficiencies during interview day and selection meetings?
- What feedback did interviewing faculty and residents, and candidates give you regarding the program and interview process?
- After you receive the Match list, what can you do next year to ensure your program recruits the cream of the crop? Revamp selection criteria?
Take a look at the NRMP Program Director Survey results, published in December 2008. The survey polls program directors of all specialties on what factors they use when deciding which candidates to interview. Data is reported for all programs as well as broken out by clinical specialty. It gives you a clue what other programs emphasize and consider when interviewing applicants.
What plans do you have for reviewing your recruitment and selection processes? Who leads the charge-program coordinator, director, or someone else?
Fellowship Forum: Quick tips for managing a fellowship program
Ever make a master list of all the things we fellowship coordinators do in the course of a year?
If you did, you would see that a fellowship coordinator’s job is never done because soon as we’re finished with one task, something new comes along.
Here’s a partial inventory of ongoing tasks we do at various times, and beside each is a small suggestion to support the process. We’ll call these helpful hints “Fellowship Tips,” or “Flip Tips,” for short:
Symposium abstracts Post requirements and deadlines in fellows’ library
Job search Keep fellows’ recommendation letters and CVs updated
Grant submissions Set time lines for drafts, proof-reading, binding, etc.
New appointments Stay in cell phone contact and e-mail welcome newsletters
Reappointment Bug fellows to do online training modules, TB tests, etc.
Conference travel Get departmental pre-approval
Research day Reserve poster space for fellows’ entries
Proficiency Grids Check Boards for meeting minimum case log requirements
Speaker forums Record sign-in attendance for CME compliance
Moonlighting Remind fellows to get permanent licenses, if required
Duty Hours Monitor for compliance and possible violations
And, my personal favorite: Do everything you can to keep the ACGME competencies alive and well and way out front for all fellow activities.
Have a “Flip Tip” of your own? Add it in the comment box below.
Fetal medicine fellowship loses accreditation
The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology stripped The University of South Florida’s fetal medicine fellowship of accreditation, according to an article in the St. Petersburg Times.
After a site visit in October, the Board ruled that there was too little supervision at some of the clinics the fellows worked in, said the article.
The fellowship program director claims that the reasons the Board cites for removing accreditation are not factual. The Board issued 10 citations, according to an article in The Oracle, USF’s newspaper. For example, the article states that one of the citations issued is because the program director did not have any published papers, but the program director publishes about one paper per month. Apparently, the Board had the wrong director listed.
According to The Oracle, GME officials says they’re confident the program will regain accreditation quickly.
Monday’s Poll: Heading to Grapevine?
I’m psyched for the ACGME Education Conference next week! Tune into Residency Manager Blog next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for live blog posts and more from the conference!
Ensure residents provide cost-effective care in a tough economy
These days, everyone has an eye on the bottom line, including patients. Perhaps you or your residents have noticed more patients asking how much certain medication or procedures cost before deciding on a treatment. Or, maybe you’ve seen an increase in uninsured patients come through the hospital’s door.
Providing cost effective care, a component of the systems-based practice competency, is more important to patients today than ever before. Although program directors and attending physicians most likely convey to residents how to make the best, most budget conscious choices for their patients, how do you know they’ve caught on and are doing it themselves?
ACGME reveals plans for reviewing duty hour standards
The ACGME hasn’t said much since the Institute of Medicine release its duty hours recommendations back at the beginning of December. . . until now.
Today, this letter from ACGME CEO Thomas Nasca appeared on the accreditor’s Web site describing the actions the organization will take to review duty hour rules.
I’m still reading through and digesting the information, but look for a summary in Tuesday’s edition of our free e-newsletter, Residency Program Connection.
All I know is that I look forward to attending the session on duty hours at the ACGME conference in a few weeks!
Soundbooth Friday: Creating a new resident manual
Besides interview season, a coordinator’s office doesn’t get much busier than at the start of the academic year. Your office is like a revolving door of new and senior residents coming in with questions about paperwork, parking, and policies, just to name a few.
Tips for preventing the flu
For those of you who visited Residency Manager Blog on Tuesday after receiving our free e-newsletter, may have noticed things hadn’t really been updated in awhile. It’s because I was out with the flu.
Yes, my boyfriend and I spent a very romantic Valentines Day sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for confirmation that I had the dreaded influenza. I had never had the flu before, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy– it was awful!
To keep you healthy for the rest of this flu season, consider the following tips:
- The CDC suggests that you avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth as much as possible. You may get sick if you touch something contaminated with the flu virus and then touch your face.
- Hand sanitizers can kill the virus, according to the CDC. If someone close to you is sick, keep hand sanitizer near by. After putting the gel on your hands, rub them together until they are dry. Also use sanitizer after you cough or sneeze.
- Drink plenty of liquids that hydrate you, the CDC recommends. Drinks such as coffee and soda are not ideal because they are the best hydraters. Also watch out for beverages high in sugar, like sports drinks. Water is your best bet.
- WebMD suggests wiping your work area down with disinfectant wipes. Clean your desk, where you typically touch drawers or file cabinets, and carefully wipe down your keyboard and phone.
What do you do to avoid getting the flu and colds?
A man and a dog walk into a bar. . .
Yesterday, I spoke to a emergency medicine program director James Turner, DO, who used a joke to sum up exactly why training programs need to look at the numbers behind residents’ performance and outcomes data.
Here’s the joke:
A man and his dog walk into a bar. The bartender looks over and says, “Sir, you can’t bring your dog in here.”
And the man replies, “But this dog is a special dog! I taught him to talk.”
The bartender, very impressed, tells the man to sit down at the bar with his dog and tries to strike up a conversation with the gifted pooch. After five minutes, the dog still has not made a sound, and the bartender looks up at the man and says, “There’s no way this dog can talk.”
To which the man replies, “I never said he could talk; I just said I taught him how to.”
Without analyzing residents’ evaluations and compiling performance data reports, how are programs supposed to know if what they’re teaching is working. . . if residents are actually learning?
All too often, we look at evaluations as an indicator of how a specific resident is doing in a specific function or skill. Residency program leadership should also remember to look at them as an indicator of how their teaching efforts are being received.
Look out for an article in April’s Residency Program Alert featuring Dr. Turner talking about assessment measures his program uses to evaluate residents’ skill level during orientation.
How often does your program look at residents’ performance across the board? Who compiles and analyzes the data and is responsible for leading change?
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