Author Archive for: Residency Program Alert
Don’t skip electronic professionalism lessons for trainees
July 27th, 2009 
Sometimes all it takes is a small action by a resident to spark an idea for a new lecture series or other learning activity.
Nancy Spector, MD, pediatric associate program director at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia launched an e-professionalism lecture series after she was CC’d on an e-mail from a resident to all other trainees that included a reminder to censor their replies because Dr. Spector would receive them as well.
Program changes help reduce resident burnout
June 28th, 2009
As you watch eager new residents start their training, I know it’s hard to think about trainee burnout, but it’s a serious issue in resident education. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to address burnout risk factors and wellness as I recently found out while writing an article on the subject for Residency Program Alert.
Orientation ice breakers
June 1st, 2009
Playing a few ice breakers during orientation is a great way to help residents relax and identify common interests among colleagues. The challenge for program directors and coordinators is coming up with fun activities that will keep everyone engaged.
A man and a dog walk into a bar. . .
February 19th, 2009
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?
Quick tips for handling verification requests
January 26th, 2009
CMS and The Joint Commission have put credentialing regulations in place that require medical staff offices to obtain documentation showing that physicians are trained and qualified to perform the clinical privileges they request, as reported in the January issue of Residency Program Alert (RPA). That means the number of verification requests residency programs receive is not going to dwindle anytime soon, according to Kathy Matzka, CPMSM, CPCS.
In the RPA article, I covered the dos and don’ts of completing verification requests for residents whom the program director trained and directly evaluated. However, residency program managers also receive verification requests for physicians who graduated before the program director or coordinator joined the organization. Here are two tips on how to handle verification forms for those individuals:
- Be transparent. If the person filling out the verification form is basing their comments upon the review of a file-rather than personal knowledge of the skills, training, or experience of the applicant-note that on the form, says Matzka. Simply write the phrase, “Based upon review of the file. . . ” before any comments you give, suggests Matzka.
- Modify templates. If you use your own verification form in lieu of the one hospitals or credentialing verification organizations send, develop a separate template to use for physicians who did not train under the program director, says Penny Potvin, neurology coordinator at Fletcher Allen Healthcare in Burlington, VT. Make sure your verification form clearly states that the information given is based on a review of the file, not personal experience. Once the program director completes the verification form on these individuals, Potvin puts a copy in the physicians’ folder. That way, if more requests come in, they have the form already filled out.
What to do if residents do not report their scholarly activities
December 29th, 2008
The ACGME requires programs to have evidence of residents’ scholarly activities and research. Keeping tabs on residents’ projects can be a bear of a task for coordinators.
It’s a small world after all: Teaching residents cultural competency
December 10th, 2008
Cultural competency training is an important aspect to include in your residency training. Not only is it relevant to the professionalism, interpersonal communication, and patient care competencies, teaching residents how culture can affect the patient-physician relationship helps them improve overall patient satisfaction.
Encourage consistent and accurate reporting by faculty on evaluations
December 1st, 2008
At HCPro’s 3rd Annual Residency Program Management Workshop in Chicago, many program directors and coordinators lamented over the troubles they have getting faculty to report poor performance on resident evaluations. The October and November issues of Residency Program Alert included articles explaining what prevents faculty from completing accurate evaluations and tips on how to help faculty become better evaluators.
Liven up your didactic lectures with audience response systems
November 21st, 2008
I recently caught up with a friend of mine who is a resident in New York City. While we chatted, he took out his cell phone to show me pictures of friends and family. A picture of one of his fellow residents dozing off during noon conference really caught my attention.
Residency program interviews: Screen out the bad apples
October 23rd, 2008
As interviewees start parading through your office, there’s no question that most are on their best behavior. I’ve heard a few program directors and coordinators say some of their ‘problem’ residents should’ve earned Academy Awards for the act they put on during interviews. This begs the question: How can we screen these problem residents out during the interview process?
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Residency Program Alert
Residency Program Alert is the only monthly resource that brings you best practices and tools from the most well-respected experts working in the field.
RPA has written 15 posts.
