Archive for: Recruitment
Residency recruitment requirement reminder
Recruitment season is such a busy time for program administrators. There are so many things to tell the applicants, like who we are, where we are, why you should come here, how to get here, what to do here. . . the list goes on and on.
Save time during recruitment with templates
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!
Innovative recruitment strategy eases financial burden on residents
Kaiser Permanente (KP) is offering a virtual recruitment session for medical students interested in applying to their residency programs this Saturday, Sept. 12.
A KP press release states that the online open house is the organization’s response to the increasing financial burdens medical students face (student loans, weak economy). Instead of flying out to visit the program, applicants can speak with program directors and current residents via the Web.
If you’re interested in learning more about this event, log on and see for yourself how it runs. The open house lasts from 10:30am-12pm PST on Saturday. Simply log onto http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=61401
Resident recruitment: Job interview or event?
Over the past several weeks, coordinators have been submitting their recruitment best practices for publication in our newsletter Residency Program Alert.
Congratulations to Toni Haddad, general surgery coordinator at Henry Ford Hospital, who won our drawing for a free copy of our newest book,The Complete Residency Program Management Guide.
The following is an excerpt of Toni’s submission. Look out for the rest of Toni’s submission and those of several of your coordinator colleagues in the October issue of RPA.
Applicants’ responses to blind interviewing
Last week, we featured a post describing how my program conducts blind interviews during recruitment. Several readers had questions about how applicants respond to this technique.
Live blog from ACGME Conference #1: Coordinators say faculty are most difficult to communicate with
Hello!
Sorry for my silence yesterday– I was traveling to sunny (and warm) Grapevine for the ACGME conference.
This morning has already been very informative. I attended a session in which coordinators discussed the communication challenges they face daily. When asked, “Who is the most difficult to communicate with,” faculty members were coordinators’ number one answer. Reasons preventing effective communication with faculty included:
- Faculty members do not view or value the coordinator as a professional and do not respond to his/her requests
- When hired, faculty members do not receive education on what educational responsibilities the job entails, so they do not turn in evaluations etc.
- Faculty members don’t care about ACGME requirements or standards
A few coordinators said they track faculty members’ contributions to education using a faculty scorecard. The coordinator gives the program director or department chair that information when the faculty member is up for review. Luckily, I was sitting right next to one of the coordinators who does this, and she agreed to provide an interview for an upcoming issue of Residency Program Alert. Look out for the article!!
What do you think–are faculty the most difficult group to communicate with? If not faculty, who do you have the most trouble communicating with? What have you done to make communication easier?
Check back later for more from ACGME.
Listen up: Using podcasts in GME
While I was surfing the Web looking for the latest and greatest in GME, I came across the University of California San Francisco’s podcast library and thought it was a cool idea.
Podcasts are audio files uploaded to the Internet, which listeners can download and listen to on their computers or MP3 players, such as iPods.
UCSF’ posts grand round and orientation presentations to the library so residents and fellows can catch them if they were unable to attend the lecture or refer to them for a refresher on the topic, says Bobby Baron, MD, DIO at UCSF.
This is a great, inexpensive, effective way to convey important information to residents who may otherwise miss the lectures due to scheduling and duty hour limits. And, as I wrote about in an issue of Residency Program Alert, programs can also use podcasts as a recruitment tool.
Additionally, it gives institutions a permanent archive of the presentations, Baron says.
However, it’s important to note that Baron says residents who miss orientation have to go through a more formal process than simply just listening to the podcast presentations, including passing a post-test on all of the information presented.
I did a quick search to see if other residency programs are using Podcasts, and they are. Check them out (Note: You may need iTunes or other audio software installed on your computer in order to listen to the files):
University of Arizona College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics Pedcast
University of Tennessee Health Science Center Internal Medicine Residency Program Podcasts
University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine Podcast on why a resident chose the program
Southern Regional Area Health Education Center in North Carolina’s RadioAHEC
Johns Hopkins University Radiology
Does your program or institution use podcasts or video in any creative ways? If so, tell us about it in the comment box below-feel free to include links, too!
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?
Henry Ford Hospital allows public to follow kidney surgery on Twitter
Remember awhile back when I blogged about how residency programs should let potential applicants follow the program director, current resident, faculty member through their day using the social networking site Twitter? You guys probably thought I was off my rocker to suggest something like that. Well, I wasn’t.
Proposed changes to the Scramble
A few weeks ago, I blogged about how the NRMP has formed a working group to redesign how the Scramble works.
The group has been busy and recently released this report outlining proposed changes to the Scramble.
The document outlines further considerations the committee must take into account before approving a new Scramble process. The NRMP asks residency program managers to submit their comments and concerns before March 1.
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