Get coordinators involved in internal reviews
While working on our book, Internal Review Made Simple, I learned that examining program documentation is one of the most arduous tasks undertaken during internal reviews. I brought that up recently during a conversation with a GME leader, who was describing how she recently revised her institution’s internal review process. GME leaders at this institution decided that because coordinators know the ins and outs of documentation better than anyone, a coordinator would sit on every internal review committee. He or she meets with the coordinator of the program under review and goes through all of the various documentation, including resident files, evaluations, case logs, etc. The internal review committee coordinator member reports his or her findings back to the rest of the committee and participates in all other meetings related to the internal review.
The woman I spoke with said this new process contributed greatly to making their internal review process more efficient and effective.
Do coordinators sit on the internal review committees at your institution? What is the coordinator’s role? Leave a comment in the box below.
« ACGME puts Chicago neurosurgery program on probation | Home | Coordinator To-Do List for July »
-
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
Feeds
Julie McCoy
Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.
Julie has written 192 posts.
Comments
Yes, GME leadership staff (GME administrator, coordinators, administrative associate) participate as active members of the internal review committee. With the internal review currently in progress, the GME coordinator is coordinating the review.
I have only been involved in one internal review process, and the physician reviewer totally dismissed me. I wanted to sit in on the process from an educational standpoint, but he did not want that to happen.
I have recently begun to include coordinators on our internal review teams. We use the same approach as the rest of our committee – the coordinator is from a program that is not her own and she fully participates in the review.
As coordinator for Family Medicine, Osteopathic Family Medicine and Sports Medicine Fellowship, I sit on internal review committees for these programs as a resource for information regarding programmatic requirements and how we are meeting them. Being a dually-accredited program presents challenges in the internal review process, especially for those who are not involved with Medical Education on a daily basis. I am able to sort out the requirements and compliance for each component and make it easier to evaluate. I also participate,as available, on the internal review committees for Internal Medicine and Transitional Year programs as a “critical eye”. I find the process to be quite interesting as well as a learning
tool for improvement of our programs.
As coordinator of a Pathology Residency program and two Pathology Fellowship programs for the past three years, I have been asked to sit in on two internal reviews for my programs and to take minutes of the meetings. I have not been asked to sit on any of the other internal reviews for other programs. This would be helpful to me and I will ask that this be an agenda item for the next Coordinator meeting.
As a previous coordinator and current member of the GME office at our institutions, I serve on all internal review committees for two hospitals. My eye for documentation (from having been a coordinator for 6 years) has been valuable. We are able to quickly pinpoint areas of non-compliance with ACGME standards (from paperwork alone), as well as identify trends, in order to correct issues prior to site visits.
For the last four years, each Internal Review at our institution has included a coordinator from another program. The coordinator functions as any other team member – can ask questions, make suggestions for improvement, and participates in developing the final action plan/recommendations from the IR Team. We also have a coordinator member on the GMEC, which rotates annually between specialties so that every coordinator has the experience and can gain more in depth information and insight into the GME process.
Leave a Comment