|
Residency Program Director's Corner
Introduction:
This is the 10th anniversary of The Orthopaedic Journal at
Harvard Medical School (formerly The Harvard Orthopaedic
Journal…but therein lies a story). It began with the first edition
in 1999 and has been a wonderful publication, produced by our
residents, for alumni and friends. It has also served as a great
recruiting tool for medical students. Just as everything seems
to be changing these days…so is our journal. This year for the
first time it is entirely digital. Only the title page and table of
contents are being sent to you in print…the entire volume is
contained in the attached CD. We hope you like it.
As I mentioned in last year’s report we had just completed
an internal review of our residency program. I included the
Partner’s Education Committee’s commendations and recommendations.
We have implemented many of the changes recommended.
This fall…in September…we will host our RRC’s
specialist site visitor for our cycle of accreditation. In preparation
for this visit, as well as a discussion on needed expansion…yes
again by another two residents per year…of our residency program
to take advantage of the growing teaching opportunities
at the BIDMC, we held a HCORP retreat on Saturday, January 5,
2008. Participants included the executive committee, a faculty
representative from each hospital, two residents from each year
(PGY 2 thru PGY 5) and two recent graduates currently in their
fellowship at MGH or BWH. A large body of data was discussed:
our residents surgical experience at each PGY year for the past
four years and graduating residents…bench - marked against
national data of all graduating residents provided by the RRC;
analysis of the residents’ evaluation of the specialty services at
each hospital and faculty for the 2006-2007 academic year; and
an anonymous survey completed by all residents of every rotation
they had experienced and every faculty member they had
worked with during their training to date.
Results of the retreat and many subsequent discussions
involving the residents and faculty and executive committee
include some important changes and improvements as well as
some continued issues. The most significant improvement is
the lengthening of most of the rotations to two or three months
instead of the current four weeks...beginning 6/25/08. The residents
worked very hard on developing a final schedule which
has been approved…lead recently by Mark Price with the help
of Mike Glotzbecker and built on a foundation started by Andy
Jawa and George Dyer. The new schedule is terrific and gets us
back to a schedule similar to the one we had a few years ago.
Some concerns remain including the duty hour requirements
of the ACGME…specifically compliance with the required
10 hours off between shifts and 80 hour work weeks...difficult
goals to reach in some areas, but mandated by the ACGME.
Another concern is that the number of fellows has increased
tremendously in the last 5 years…126%; whereas the increase
in fellows in orthopaedic specialties in the US was only 34%
during the same period. It is troubling that we now have as
many/or more fellows at the MGH and BWH combined than we
have residents. This increase of fellows in our program became
very apparent as we reviewed our program with the anonymous
survey and listened to the residents in preparation for our
retreat. We continue to work through these issues and I believe
we will resolve them before our site visit.
The new office for our residency program director and
program coordinator are now opened on White 5, just below
the Smith-Peterson Library. We are hoping to have one wall
dedicated to pictures of our residents’ graduating classes. If any
alumni can send in a photo of their graduating class it would
be much appreciated.
Finally, on a personal note…this will be my last Residency
Program Director’s Corner. I will be retiring from my administrative
responsibilities after serving as a department chairman
and/or residency program director for almost 35 years. I plan to
stay on at MGH/BWH…teaching/mentoring residents and students,
writing and speaking about patient safety and hopefully
finish a book on the History of Orthopaedics at Harvard Medical
School. I have had a wonderful experience playing a small part
in the development of our next generation of young orthopaedic
surgeons and am very proud of the numerous residents/
students I have touched during my career.
This year our residents have received numerous awards
and serve in leadership roles including:
Chris Boulton:
Best Third-Year Ortho Teaching Resident, Journal of Trauma
Brian Haus:
OREF/DePuy Resident Research Grant: “The Effect of Skeletal
Maturity on Anterior Cruciate Ligament Healing.”
Mike Glotzbecker:
AOA-OREF Zimmer Resident Leadership Forum attendee at
the Combined AOA/COA meeting in Quebec City, Canada in
June.
Manish Sethi:
Chair of the AMA resident section that has 30,000
members. Grant for 75,000 to study Defensive Medicine
in Massachusetts.
Coleen Sabatini:
Serves as one of the Resident Board Members of the J. Robert
Gladden Orthopaedic Society.
John Kadzielski:
HMS Teacher/Mentor award from the Medical Students
|
