ACGME e-Communication - September 28, 2020

September 28, 2020

NEW! Guidance Statement on Resident and Fellow Assessment Available
Due to the disruption in the educational components of some graduate medical education (GME) programs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, competency-based medical education (CBME) is even more crucial in assessing the clinical competence of residents and fellows. The ACGME partnered with the certifying Boards to develop recommendations grounded in core CBME principles for programs, program directors, and Clinical Competency Committees to follow while facing COVID-19.

Read the Full Guidance Statement with Recommendations

FAQs related to this new guidance have been updated on the Frequently Asked Questions page in the COVID-19 section of the ACGME website.


ACGME Annual Educational Conference Banner

NEW! Registration Open for Exhibitors!

Exhibitors are invited to present their booths virtually at the 2021 Annual Educational Conference's virtual experience, February 24-26,2021.

The ACGME is excited to offer a virtual Exhibit Hall at a significantly discounted price for vendors offering educational products and services for the GME community, as well as several strategically placed sponsorship opportunities. Vendors marketing educational tools and software, as well as job recruiters, patient management solutions, publishers, and other non-profit organizations are invited to exhibit. The application deadline is January 22, 2021.

For more information about exhibiting and sponsorships, and connecting with over 4,000 members of the GME community, and to learn about the digital space offerings, click here.

Learn More about Exhibits and Sponsorships

Reserve a Booth or Sponsorship

Email questions to exhibitor@acgme.org.


Call for Abstracts Deadline Approaching

The ACGME invites proposals for abstracts to be presented as virtual posters during the 2021 Annual Educational Conference. All members of the GME community are encouraged to use this opportunity to share their ideas and research with their peers.

Learn More and Submit an Abstract
Proposals due Thursday, October 8, 2020 11:59 p.m. Central

Email questions to abstracts@acgme.org.


NEW! Participate in Milestones 2.0 Focus Group for Quality Assurance

The ACGME has established a quality assurance program as a part of the Milestones 2.0 implementation process and is looking for 20 volunteers in each of the following specialties and subspecialties to participate in this process:

Allergy and Immunology
Cardiovascular Disease
Clinical Biochemical Genetics
Complex General Surgical Oncology
Dermatology
Family Medicine
Interventional Radiology – Independent
Interventional Radiology – Integrated
Laboratory Genetics and Genomics
Medical Genetics and Genomics
Ophthalmology
Radiology – Diagnostic
Sleep Medicine
Surgery
Urology

Volunteers should be actively involved in program leadership or a member of the Clinical Competency Committee. Over the next few years, the ACGME will collect feedback about the new Milestones through a combination of focus groups and surveys. Focus groups will be held at annual program director meetings, and surveys will be completed electronically or by phone. Surveys will be brief and should take less than five minutes to complete.

Fill Out the Volunteer Form

Email questions to milestones@acgme.org.


NEW! Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME) Annual Call for New Ideas

JGME’s annual call for New Ideas is seeking novel GME interventions or assessments that have been implemented at least once and appear successful in preliminary evaluations. These interventions can be an innovation in curricula, teaching, assessment, quality and safety, program evaluation, supervision, faculty development, or other topics relevant to GME.

Selected papers will be published in the June 2021 issue of JGME.

This is an opportunity to turn everyday work into a publication in a quick, simple process—all that is needed is a brief abstract (see below for details). Examples include a new process of assessing key resident competencies, new curricula to meet an important deficiency, or an innovative response to the COVID-19 pandemic that appears successful.

New Ideas Criteria:

  • New Ideas must describe an intervention that is novel—not just locally but to GME broadly.
  • The intervention must have been implemented at least once; longer implementation is preferable. While outcomes data may be preliminary, feasibility (effort, costs) and acceptability (to subjects) must be discussed.
  • Preliminary evidence should suggest the intervention is successful.
  • The intervention potentially could be replicated in other specialties.

New Ideas manuscripts:

  • Must be no more than 600 words, including one reference.
  • Must be organized into three parts: Setting and Problem; Intervention (the “New Idea”); and Outcomes to Date.
  • May include one figure or table.
  • May include one reference but should not include a literature review.
  • Must be submitted via the online editorial management system by Monday, November 2, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Central.

Acceptance decisions will be communicated by Friday, January 29, 2021. NOTE: Due to the brevity of these submissions, manuscripts that are not accepted will not receive editor comments. Manuscripts not following the required submission format and/or submission deadline will not be considered.

Email additional questions to jgme@acgme.org.


AWARE Resources Added
AWARE Cognition and Well-Being Podcast Series Episode 7: Psychological First Aid for Coordinators
Stuart Slavin, MD, MEd, ACGME's Senior Scholar for Well-Being, discusses the role of psychological first aid in providing support for individuals who have suffered some kind of trauma or other devastating event. He discusses the relevance of the approach to supporting to clinicians, patients and others managing the stressors of the pandemic, as well as the specific strategies used in psychological first aid.

AWARE Course in Learn at ACGME
Designed for individual physicians, particularly junior residents, the AWARE course provides an array of concepts from cognitive behavior therapy to help identify opportunities to improve well-being. The course helps the user identify their personal cognitive habits and directs them toward practices and resources they may find useful for improving resilience and overall well-being.


Institutional Coordinator Workshop Postponed
A workshop for institutional coordinators originally scheduled for October 1-2, 2020 in Chicago has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new date will be announced and registration information will be provided as soon as possible.

Email questions to irc@acgme.org.


Aggregated Program Reports/Data for Resident/Fellow and Faculty Surveys Now Available
Sponsoring Institutions can now access a PDF containing all program survey reports for the 2019-2020 academic year in a single document. A single Excel spreadsheet with all program survey report data is also now available. These report formats have been added for both the Resident/Fellow and Faculty Surveys. They are available on the "Sponsored Programs Survey Reports" page in ADS, accessible from the Reports tab by selecting an "Academic Year" and clicking "View Reports." Note these new reports are not available for previous academic years.

In alignment with existing report downloads, report data in these formats will be unavailable for programs that did not meet the required completion rate or that had too few residents/fellows or faculty members scheduled to participate to anonymize the data.

Email questions to ads@acgme.org.


Program Requirements for Review and Comment
The following Program Requirements and accompanying Impact Statements are posted for review and comment, here.

Comment Deadline: October 9, 2020
Pediatric Dermatology


NEW! Review Committee News / Notices: Obstetrics and Gynecology
There has been a delay in implementing changes to the ACGME Case Log System for female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. The system will be updated in October. The Committee apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery programs are encouraged to monitor the ACGME e-Communication for additional Case Log updates. The resource, Case Log Information: Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, will also be updated to address questions that have been asked regarding logging cases and the new minimum procedural requirements.


NEW! Review Committee News / Notices: Urology
There has been a delay in implementing changes to ACGME Case Log System for female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. The system will be updated in October. The Committee apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

Female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery programs are encouraged to monitor the ACGME e-Communication for additional Case Log updates. The resource, Case Log Information: Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, will also be updated to address questions that have been asked regarding logging cases and the new minimum procedural requirements.


ACGME Seeks Public Members
The following Review Committees are seeking their next public member for terms beginning July 1, 2021. A public member serves on the Review Committee to share the perspective of the public, foster accountability to the needs of the public, enrich the work of the committee through outside expertise, and create transparency in the work of the Review Committee. Nominees must not be physicians. Other health care professionals are permitted, provided they are not employed by an organization with ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship programs. The term of appointment is six years.

Nuclear Medicine
Details: Read the full solicitation
Contact: Jenny Campbell
Deadline: October 1, 2020

Radiology
Details: Read the full solicitation
Contact: Jenny Campbell
Deadline: October 1, 2020


ACGME Seeks Resident Members
The following Review Committees are seeking their next resident member for terms beginning July 1, 2021. A resident member serves on the Review Committee to share the perspective of the resident, foster accountability to the needs of the resident, enrich the work of the committee through outside expertise, and create transparency in the work of the Review Committee. The Review Committee's selected nominee will be presented for approval by the ACGME Board of Directors at its September 2020 meeting. Terms will be from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023.

Emergency Medicine
Details: The resident member must be currently enrolled in an ACGME-accredited emergency medicine program when appointed and may not serve more than one year beyond completion of the program. Read the full solicitation.
Contact: Bianca Andino
Deadline: October 1, 2020

Radiology
Details: The resident member must be currently enrolled in an ACGME-accredited radiology program when appointed and may not serve more than one year beyond completion of the program. Read the full solicitation.
Contact: Bianca Andino
Deadline: October 1, 2020


NEW! Career Opportunities
The ACGME currently has the following open positions:

Click on the position linked above for details and to complete an application.