Archive for: Residency Program Alert
Faculty development tips and ideas
This month’s issue of RPA features a lengthy story on how to build a faculty development program from scratch. Of course, you can’t write a story on faculty development without talking about what topics to cover and how to actually get faculty members to attend the sessions. Here are a few tips I picked up from my sources.
Faculty members are often too busy with their patient care responsibilities to attend educational session, so you must schedule around them. Try scheduling early morning, lunch time, or dinner time sessions when they typically do not see patients.
Also plan sessions before or after other important meetings faculty members have to attend. For example, if they attend a monthly division meeting from 8am-10am, then schedule a faculty development workshop at 10:30am while they’re already out of the patient care mode.
When it comes to selecting topics, the trick is to pick subjects that lend themselves to interactive exercises. Nobody wants to sit through an hour-long lecture. Use case studies, roll play, panel discussions, small group exercises to tackle some of the following topics:
- Evaluating learners/how to fill out an evaluation form accurately
- Managing the problem learner
- Incorporating the ACGME competencies in your teaching
- Evidence-based medicine for the busy clinician
Highlighting that the program appreciates faculty members’ teaching efforts is also important. Consider writing a quarterly newsletter focusing on the program’s educational efforts. In the newsletter, recognize a faculty educator and his or her teaching efforts.
You can also include helpful information for the faculty, such as journal articles on teaching methods, new rotations, days that residents will be out because of Board exams, and new educational initiatives.
What does your program do to promote faculty development? What topics are some of your most popular? Leave a comment in the box below.
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!
The results are in: 2009 residency coordinator salary survey
With an economy on the rocks, health care reform making its way through Congress, and funding for GME being scrutinized, it’s not a surprise that our annual coordinator salary survey got a record 579 responses. Here are some highlights from this year’s survey.
The good news is that more coordinators report earning higher salaries in 2009 than in previous year’s. The following is a breakdown of respondent salaries:
- 6% earn less than $30,000
- 35% earn $30,001–$40,000
- 35% earn $40,001–$50,000
- 16% earn $50,001–$60,000
- 6% earn $60,001–$70,000
- 2% earn more than $70,000
With salaries ranging from less than $30,000 to more than $70,000, there are several factors that influence coordinator compensation, including institution-type. Survey results show that:
- 65% of respondents work in academic- or university-affiliated hospitals
- 24% of respondents work in community-based facilities in rural, urban, and suburban areas
- 4% of respondents work in specialty hospitals
- 1% of respondents work in military facilities
- 5% of respondents listed other
Location also affects coordinator salaries.
Location also affects coordinator salaries. The Pacific and Northeast regions had the highest percentages of coordinators making $60,001–$70,000, 16% and 13% respectively. Respondents living in South Central made less money than any other region, with 89% reporting they make $50,000 or less.
Additionally, there may be a correlation between Training Administration in Graduate Medical Education (TAGME) certification and pay.
The number of respondents certified by TAGME or currently pursuing certification is up this year from 2008. According to 2008 data, only 1% of respondents were certified and 7% were pursuing certification. This year’s survey results show that:
- 7% of coordinators are certified
- 9% are currently pursuing certification
- 22% would like to become certified, but it is not available in their specialty
- 61% said they were neither certified nor pursuing certification
Although institutions vary in whether they recognize coordinator certification with higher pay or bonus, 78% of certified coordinators make more than $40,001. Only 59% who answered they are not certified make more than $40,000.
Although the recession hasn’t seemed to negatively affect coordinator salaries, it seems to be having an effect on raises. When asked how the current economic situation has affected coordinator pay, respondents said:
- 53% did not receive a raise this year
- 16% said this year’s raise was equal to 2008
- 13% said this year’s raise was smaller than 2008
- 3% said this year’s raise was higher than 2008
- 2% said their salary was decreased
- 19% listed other
For more on coordinator salary survey results, download a copy of the raw data.
RPA subscribers: Refer to the August 2009 issue of RPA for full coverage of the survey results and analysis of coordinator salary trends.
What do you think of our results? Leave your comments in the box below.
Residency coordinators need succession plans
I’m working on a few articles for RPA about time management skills and tips for coordinators. I’ve spoken to a few seasoned coordinators who have told me that they keep everything regarding the program in their heads.
Don’t skip electronic professionalism lessons for trainees
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.
Enhance residency program coordinator communication with faculty
Coordinators are the face of the residency program–regularly communicating with everyone from the GME office, to the ACGME, and specialty boards.
This interaction is central to your job, and it can be extremely frustrating when you can’t get what you need from various stakeholders. As I wrote in the May 2009 issue of RPA, coordinators at the ACGME’s 2009 Educational Conference said faculty members are the worst offenders. Think about it, how many times have you had to leave voice mails or send e-mails requesting an evaluation or updated CV? Some coordinators I know get so desperate for a response that they camp outside the faculty member’s office until he or she returns.
Orientation ice breakers
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.
OSCE activities for residents
In the April issue of Residency Program alert, I profiled Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) and the institution’s use of an OSCE during orientation to gauge new resident’s skills.
During the OSCE, residents must:
- Perform a H&P using a standardized patient
- Perform a clinical procedure using a standardized patient, partial task trainer, or hybrid combination
- Write orders for tests, labs, etc., based on their assessment
- Interpret test or lab results
- Present findings to an attending physician
- Complete a team-based ACLS activity as part of the patient cases
As you can imagine, it takes CAMC quite awhile to do all of these activities with all of their incoming residents and not everyone can be working with the standardized patients at the same time. CAMC rotates residents in groups through the OSCE as well as two other activities to ensure everyone is busy.
The first activity is a test using questions from the USMLE Step III practice exams, says Gordon Green, MD medical education consultant at CAMC. This gives program directors and faculty members a heads up on who may have trouble passing the real exam, and they can work with these residents to better prepare them for the exam.
The second activity also has to do with passing exams. Residents attend an exam preparation course to find out whether or not they have difficulty with exams from a skill perspective, anxiety, or deficits in knowledge. “We provide them with advice on how to improve their standardized exam taking ability,” Green says.
For those of you who do OSCEs in your institution/program, what do you have residents do while they wait to go through the various stations?
Sample pre-orientation e-newsletters
Ask and you shall receive!
As the first post indicated, Diane sends these e-newsletters out about once a week between Match and orientation. Being the good sport that she is, Diane shared two sample issues: The first is the introduction newsletter she wrote for this year’s new residents. The second is an example of an issue she sends out later in the summer, introducing current residents and some of the new ones.
One warning: Diane says don’t panic when you see how long the intros are for each resident in the second sample newsletter. She loves to write and goes all out. You certainly don’t need to.
Special note for RPA subscribers: I wrote an article about Diane’s e-newsletter in the May 2008 issue of RPA. You can read more about what Diane includes in each issue, why, and get an outline of what each issue includes. Access the archives by visiting HCPro’s Web site. You will have to log in to see past issues. Just click on Archives, then 2008, and then under May, look for the article entitled, Give new residents a head start on orientation. (I know, I used the same title for the blog post–I can only be so creative!)
Hail to the chief: Chief resident training
There’s no question that chief residents are a vital part of the management of the residency program. Whether your program has already selected next year’s chiefs or just starting the voting process, program directors and coordinators need to think about how they’re going to prepare chiefs for their new role.
-
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
Feeds
