Author Archive for: Julie McCoy
Live blog: Get residents involved in site visit prep
October 22nd, 2009 
During her presentation on how to prepare for a site visit, Jeri Whitten, C-TAGME, really focused on the fact that residents need to be completely aware of and in agreement with what is written in the program information form.
Remember, the site visitor is there to verify and clarify what you have written. If the site visitor asks the residents a question about something in the PIF, and the residents say, “That’s not how it happens”, you’re chances of getting a citation are high.
Jeri suggested dedicating a few noon conferences to reviewing the PIF with the residents. These meeting should be a month before you submit the PIF. Discuss any discrepancies, and adjust the PIF as needed.
It’s also not a bad idea to include the chief resident(s) on any PIF planning committees.
How do you review the PIF with residents? Leave your comments below.
Live blog post: NEW award for program coordinators announced
October 22nd, 2009
I speak with coordinators everyday who go above and beyond the call of duty to improve their programs and promote the coordinator position. That’s why we created the Professionalism in GME Program Management Award.
This special award honors program coordinators whose leadership, teamwork, and professionalism embody an image of excellence and who make a difference in improving resident or fellow training. This award identifies and recognizes program coordinators who:
- Exemplify the best image of the program coordinator profession
- Advance the role of the program coordinator
- Demonstrate best practices in leadership
- Contribute to providing an excellent training environment for residents and/or fellows
- Serve as role models to other coordinators
- Strive to portray an image of professionalism in all that they do
- Act as integral, indispensable parts of the training program management team
To nominate yourself or a program coordinator colleague, all you have to do is write a 500 word description of how the individual portrays professionalism in all that he or she does.
The contest starts on Monday, October 26th, and we will announce the winner at our 2010 conference. For more information visit the Professionalism in GME Program Management Award Web site.
I’m off! See you at the Residency Program Management Workshop
October 21st, 2009
I’m sitting in the airport in Boston just about ready to head down to Atlanta for the 4th Annual Residency Program Management Workshop!
I’m excited to meet several Residency Manager Blog and Residency Program Alert readers who are attending this jam-packed two-day conference. It’s going to be a busy two days filled with great tips and solutions for program directors and coordinators.
If you’ll be there, please don’t hesitate to come up and introduce yourself to me!
Check back on Thursday and Friday for live blog posts from Atlanta. In addition to sharing our speakers’ tips, the Residency Department here has a BIG announcement to make on Thursday morning! Tune in to find out what it’s all about!
Monday’s Poll: Disaster preparations
October 19th, 2009
Yesterday, I spent a few hours doing an extreme makeover of my closet-out came the shorts and sundresses; in went the sweaters and jackets. This is a pretty routine practice for New Englanders in October.
What’s not routine for October is snow flurries, which we got yesterday afternoon. Immediately I started running down my mental snow-weather checklist: Where are my snow boots, is my snow brush and ice scrapper still buried in my trunk, where are my heavy gloves?
Follow up: Use recruitment templates carefully
October 14th, 2009
For all of the time and trees e-mail saves, it can also be ripe for mistakes. I certainly have been guilty of sending a colleague an e-mail intended for someone else. I also know of colleagues who ended up in embarrassing situations because they “Replied All” by accident or forgot to BCC recipients.
Not only do mistakes like these cause the sender embarrassment, but it can also cause a breach confidentiality, which coordinators should be aware of when communicating with applicants during recruitment. Ophthalmology coordinator, Mary Hitt, shared the following tip and asked that I pass it on to all Residency Manager Blog readers.
Sending mass e-mails to candidates during recruitment can land you and your program right in the middle of this embarrassing situation if you’re not careful.
If you send a mass e-mail out to candidates, be sure to blind copy all of the addresses to protect confidentiality. Otherwise, the recipients can see who else was denied an interview. Additionally, suppressing the “to-list” will ensure that recipients can only reply back to the sender, not everyone else included on the e-mail.
Hitt also reminds coordinators to add this tip into any written processes that you follow or that you leave for others who handle residency applications.
What else do you do to safeguard applicant privacy and ensure that you don’t end up in one of these sticky situations? Leave a comment in the box below.
Save time during recruitment with templates
October 12th, 2009
As several programs start hosting interview days this month, program coordinators are in an organizing frenzy. To help coordinators tame the craziness, I wrote an article in Residency Program Alert about how to work smarter and save time.
Creating e-mail templates is the most helpful tip for coordinators during recruitment. You’re corresponding with so many people about the same topics, why write countless e-mails stating the same exact information. Instead, just write it out once, save it in your drafts folder, and pull it out whenever you need it.
For example, send an e-mail with the following text to candidates you will not interview:
Dear [candidate name],
Thank you for you interest in the [name of program] training program at [name of hospital].
The members of our selection committee have reviewed the documents you submitted through ERAS , and we regret to inform you that we are not able to extend an invitation to interview at this time.
We wish you success in your medical career.
Thank you,
[your name]
Other ideas for recruitment template e-mails include:
- A description of the curriculum, training experiences, and faculty member qualifications to send to applicants requesting information about the program
- An outline of the interview day and directions to candidates coming for an interview
- An overview of which visas your program accepts and your programs selection criteria
What e-mail templates do you use? Leave a comment in the box below describing what you use templates for or cut and paste the text in the box!
Checklist for new coordinators
October 8th, 2009
Gabrielle Pett, GME administrative manager at University of Washington, was kind enough to share the the new coordinator checklist mentioned in the comment section of the Monday’s Poll post.
Of course, this has information specific to UW, but use it as a starting off point for your own checklist. View the new coordinator checklist.
New report on the future of teaching hospitals
October 6th, 2009
The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Trendwatch report took a look at the what’s in store for the future of the nation’s teaching hospitals.
Teaching Hospitals: Their Impact on Patients and the Future Health Care Workforce looks at two issues at the center of the healthcare debate as it relates to GME: Federal payments for funding training programs and the physician shortage.
AHA says that teaching hospitals will face financial troubles in 2009 and in the future as patient needs continue to change. Hospitals can’t keep up with the cutting edge technology if resident caps aren’t increased, thereby boosting federal funding.
This report is definitely worth the read if you’re interested in increasing your knowledge about the resident cap, IME/DGME payments, and how they’re related.
Monday’s poll: Training for new coordinators
October 5th, 2009
For the November issue of Residency Program Alert, I’m writing an article highlighting a few institutions that are on the cutting edge of a new trend in GME: Training for new coordinators.
The GME professionals I spoke with have some great resources in place to help new coordinators get acclimated to their new position and all of the details they have to manage.
This got me wondering just how many institutions are developing such a training. Take our poll below. If you answer “Other”, please describe what’s happening at your institution in the comment box below.
Coordinator to-do list for October
October 2nd, 2009
Along with buy/make kids’ Halloween costumes, buy boatloads of candy, and carving pumpkins, consider adding the following items to your to-do list this month:
- Prescreen applications
- Compile recruitment packets
- Develop interview itinerary
- Organize/confirm recruitment dinner, accommodations
- Train/remind faculty members how to use ERAS
- Register for in-training exam for many specialties
- Draft template e-mails to send to applicants, including one to send to those you want to interview and another for those who you will not extend an invitation to
What else is on your t0-do list this month? Let us know in the comment box below.
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Julie McCoy
Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.
Julie has written 192 posts.
