Archive for: General Interest
Monday’s Poll: Disaster preparations
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
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.
New report on the future of teaching hospitals
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
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.
New specialty approved: Expect a new fellowship soon
The American Board of Pediatrics approved a new specialty in treating child abuse last week, according to American Medical News.
Approximately 225 physicians are expected to take the first exam in the specialty this November 16th, the article says.
Pediatricians have been fighting for this specialty for nearly a decade. They there is a need for board-certified experts in the filed to teach medical students and residents about child abuse.
The approval paves the way for the ACGME to create fellowship training guidelines for this new specialty.
Residency coordinators: Get your to-do list out of your head
Our 2009 salary survey revealed that many coordinators feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to complete everything that’s on their to-do list. When asked what the biggest challenge they’re facing, respondents gave answers such as:
- Managing the workload and meeting deadlines as the result of recent staff cuts
- Trying to get everything done in a 40-hour workweek and not being able to get overtime
- Having a large workload and not getting things organized before the next task comes along
Read the rest of this entry »
ACGME unviels new Learning Portfolio information
This week, the ACGME updated the Learning Portfolio section of their Web site to include a new demo of the online system and the latest time line for completion.
As Ruth Nawtoniak, C-TAGME will discuss at the 4th Annual Residency Program Management Seminar, coordinators and directors should check out this page frequently for the most current information about the ACGME’s portfolio initiative.
Early-bird discount extended for 4th Annual Residency Management Conference
Just a quick note that we’ve extended the $200 early bird discount for the 4th Annual Residency Program Management Workshop! Register before Oct. 1st to lock in this special pricing.
The event will be held Oct. 22-23 in Atlanta, GA, and will feature lour bloggers, Ruth Nawotniak, C-TAGME, Diane Farineau, and leading experts Franklin Medio, Jeri L. Whitten, C-TAGME, Sharon Gonzales, C-TAGME, and Tracy Sanson, MD.
For more information, and the full agenda, please visit our seminar Web site.
Of course, feel free to e-mail me any questions you have: jmccoy@hcpro.com.
Resident sues, claiming he was fired over his answers on the ACGME Resident Survey
A surgical resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital filed a lawsuit earlier this week against the institution saying that he was fired after he refused to lie on the ACGME Resident Survey, according to an article in The Frederick News-Post. (You must scroll down to see the story)
The trainee says program leaders told residents how they should answer the questions on the survey. When he gave his own answers, he was fired. Additionally, the resident claims that he was wrongly accused of writing a letter to the ACGME.
He is seeking millions of dollars, according to the article. A spokesman from Johns Hopkins University says that the resident was treated appropriately and that the program was reaccredited, the article goes on to say.
Quarterly core competency reports keep programs on track
Congratulations to Molly Ostrowski, surgery coordinator at Greenville Hospital System, in Greenville, SC. She won free registration to the 4th Annual Residency Program Management Workshop!
The following describe a quarterly report Molly puts together that measures how well the program is doing at meeting the six core competencies.
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