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GME News & Notes: May

May 20, 2022 | Announcements, Events, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra Assistant Dean, GME

This week we reflect on our collective sadness and horror over the deaths of Black shoppers in Buffalo last weekend.  Please remember that our GME Wellness Service can be a source of support for trainees and UW Medicine’s Employee Mental Health resources includes support for members of the broader community.   

In her blog, President Cauce reflects, “ [a]s we grieve for the victims in Buffalo, we must examine our own responsibilities and capacity for reversing what has become a public health crisis.”  Here at UW Medicine, the Office of Healthcare Equity has launched a new blueprint and website.  More information is available in this Huddle article, 6 Goals to Improve Health Equity. 

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and we want to acknowledge contributions by members of the AAPI community here at UW.  I enjoyed reading about the meaning of the flowers in the Flowers of the AAPI Solidarity Email Signature.  The Huddle feature also features Voices of Our Asian American Colleagues. 

The May 2022 issue of GME News & Notes includes information about newly proposed ACGME common program requirements, Pride Events, language/interpreter services resources, QI match, a UW safe ride home program and many other valuable resources.  As usual, if there’s anything you’d like to see included in next month’s News & Notes, please let me know. 

Finally, a reminder that if you are uncertain about new or updated GME policies, please check the GME Policies and Procedures page, where each policy has a parenthetical indicating when it was last revised, and follow News & Notes, where any policy updates will be listed with a brief description. 

Thank you, 

Cindy  

 

 

Policies and Processes

  • The ACGME Task Force on Burden Reduction recently completed its work on the revision of the Common Program Requirements. The revised proposed Common Program Requirements are now posted on the ACGME website for public review and comment.  Visit the Review and Comment page for details on the revisions.  Please fill out this survey with your comments by June 10.  Our GME Accreditation Team will compile and submit feedback on behalf of the institution by the deadline.
  • During resident/fellow onboarding, programs should remain mindful of the COVID Vaccine requirement and disability accommodation requests.  The COVID vaccine requirement remains a condition of employment for all incoming residents and fellows. During onboarding, trainees may also notify you of a disability or request specific accommodation.  If you have an incoming resident/fellow seeking a COVID vaccine medical or religious exemption or a resident/fellow requesting a disability accommodation, please notify GME as soon as possible.  
  • UW Medicine residents and fellows who will conduct their own human subjects research are required to take a one-time, 60 minute, on-demand, e-learning tutorial. The UW Human Subjects Division: IRB 101 Online Tutorial covers the basics of human subjects research and provides important practical information about navigating the approval process through the Human Subjects Division, a unit of the UW Office of Research. The learner needs to provide their Certificate of Completion with their IRB application in order to receive approval to do human subjects research.  
  • The ACGME has made revisions to supervision related requirements over the last few years (CPR VI.A.2) to allow for direct supervision through telecommunications technology for some specialties in recognition of the wide adoption of telemedicine as a result of the pandemic. The GME office has updated the Institutional Supervision & Accountability Policy as well as the program policy template to reflect the CPR revisions. 

Program Information

  • Welcome New Program Administrators:
    • Lynda Schumacher, Pediatric Rheumatology
    • Becca Smith, Pediatric Pulmonology
  • The GMEC approved the following policy at the May meeting:
    • The “Working Outside of the Training Program (Including Moonlighting) Policy” has been renamed to Moonlighting and Outside Work Policy. 
    • Additional information about moonlighting and outside work is available on our Outside Work page.

Events of Interest

  • GME Lunch & Learns
  • GME Session on ACGME Non-Standard Training (NST) Recognition: Wednesday, May 25, 3:00 to 4:00 pm 
  • GME Program Administrators Meeting: Tuesday, June 14, 8:30 to 10:30 am
  • UW Medicine Pride Flag Raising: Wednesday, June 1, noon, at all UW Medicine hospital campuses.
  • Pride in the Park: Saturday, June 4, noon to 7 pm, Volunteer Park, Seattle This free-to-attend event will feature a can’t-miss lineup of local LGBTQIA+ performances co-curated in partnership with Taking B(l)ack Pride, activities, food trucks, an alcohol garden, non-profit booths and much more.
  • Trauma Stewardship Institute Workshops: UW Medicine and the School of Medicine are partnering with Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and the Trauma Stewardship Institute to address the accumulative toll of the pandemic on UW Medicine healthcare staff and providers through a 2-hour system-wide workshop. June 21, 4 to 6 pm, Register for the June Trauma Stewardship Training.
  • Seattle Pride Parade: Sunday, June 26, 11 am to 3 pm, Fourth Avenue, Downtown Seattle Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year we are limited to 200 participants, and we will fill the spots on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP to let us know that you’re interested in volunteering and/or participating. All participants will receive a UW Medicine Pride t-shirt (while supplies last).
  • The Life After Residency Seminar is on Saturday, August 27 (registration will open in July). This event is intended to educate and support graduating trainees on their transition to independent practice.  Featured speakers typically discuss topics such as writing cover letters, negotiating salary and benefits, how to read your employment contract and more.  Trainees of all levels are invited to attend.
  • Other GME Events including AY23 can be found on our calendar.

Projects and Resources

  • The GME Office is now recruiting for a Learning Environment Specialist. This position provides accreditation and learning environment project management, website improvements and support, event planning and management, and administrative support to the Associate Dean, the Director of Accreditation, the Clinical Learning Environment Review Subcommittee, and the Learning Gateway team. Please feel free to share and ask interested parties to apply.
  • The Language Access module from Learning Gateway offers training regarding interpreter/language services in the hospitals and also highlights health equity and delivering high quality care for patients who are non/low English proficient. The Huddle recently highlighted the amazing work of the Harborview Interpreter Services Team.
  • UW Medicine is now accepting applications for a third round of Patients Are First Innovation Pilots. This program awards up to $50,000 in funding to UW Medicine faculty and staff with an innovative idea to improve patient care or address issues in our care delivery process. They intend to award up to four pilot grants. The recorded webinar on the PAFIP website covers the application and approval process, implementation timeline for approved projects and Q&A.
  • The AAMC’s Organization of Resident Representatives is now accepting resident nominations for the Community Service Recognition Award. The purpose of the award is to foster a service ethic among resident physicians by recognizing those who have made contributions above and beyond the rigors of residency training to improve the local communities surrounding their training institution. Learn More. Submission deadline is June 12.
  • The UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety is proud to announce the (re)-launch of QI Match. QI Match is an online web platform to match collaborators to quality improvement and patient safety initiatives across UW Medicine. Projects get posted to the site and any faculty, student, staff, or trainee can notify the project lead of their interest. Projects that are posted to QI Match may be a single event (such as a patient safety root cause analysis or a QI focus group) or longer term QI projects. Get started today.
  • Ride Home reimbursement is a benefit for those in the Faculty/Staff U-PASS program, and Bike Locker or House permit holders at the Seattle Campus. This benefit is in addition to the GME Emergency / Safe Ride Home program.  For more information, please visit the Emergency Ride Home page.
  • Please see a recent highlight of ACGME Resources:
    • Webcast for Program Directors and Coordinators on the 2022-2023 Annual Update Changes: This webcast will provide information about the Accreditation Data System (ADS) Annual Update timelines and changes for Academic Year 2022-2023 to help designated institutional officials, program directors, and coordinators better prepare for and effectively complete the Annual Update. Register for the Thursday, May 26, 2022 event (11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Central). The recorded webcast will be available in Learn at ACGME within a week of the live presentation.
    • Burden Reduction – Faculty Board Certification Update: As part of the ACGME’s commitment to and continued efforts toward improving the user experience, beginning July 1, 2022, the ACGME will default to using data obtained from the American Board of Medical Specialties and American Osteopathic Association for faculty certification. These data will be populated into the Faculty Roster in the Accreditation Data System (ADS) and used during program review and in accreditation and recognition site visit materials. This change is intended to reduce programs’ data entry burden. Programs will no longer be required to manually enter faculty members’ ABMS/AOA board certification data in ADS. Physician faculty members will be matched to the datasets based on National Provider Identifier (NPI) number, as well as name, date of birth, and medical school graduation year.  NPI numbers entered in ADS must be accurate and complete ASAP.
    • Resident/Fellow and Faculty Survey reports are now available: Additional ACGME Resident/Fellow and Faculty Survey reports are now available in ADS for programs that participated in the 2021-2022 surveys but had fewer than four survey takers scheduled to participate. These reports aggregate survey data across multiple reporting years, allowing the ACGME to provide feedback to programs that would otherwise not receive a report due to a smaller cohort of survey takers. Programs will receive this multi-year report if they had at least four total survey takers complete the survey over the past few academic years.
    • Transitions in Medical Education Toolkits: The ACGME, in collaboration with several other medical education organizations, has released three toolkits to aid programs and learners as they progress through the medical education continuum from medical school to practice. The toolkits are meant to help guide programs and learners as they deal with disrupted years of education due to the pandemic. See Transitions in Medical Education on the ACGME website.
    • Revised Milestones Available: Updated versions of more than 20 Milestones are now available. Programs will officially start using the new Milestones in July 2022, with the first reporting in January 2023. See the Milestones page of the ACGME website.
    • Meeting and Agenda Closing Dates Posted: Meeting dates are listed on the overview page of each specialty section on the ACGME website. While many specialties have already updated their information, updates may continue until July 1, 2022.
    • Milestones Year End Reporting: The Milestones reporting window is now open and closes Friday, June 24, 2022. Milestones assessments can be submitted via ADS.
  • Please remember to check the GME website where many current forms, policies, processes, and educational resources are posted. We also appreciate your feedback about what else we can add to make it more useful. The GME Report a Concern form is a way for community members to report concerns to the GME Office (including the opportunity to report confidentially).
  • Resources for parents:
    • UW WorkLife recently hosted a panel discussion about your childcare benefits through Bright Horizons, UW CareLink, and KinderCare, including information about new reimbursable out-of-network backup care program. The recording is now available.
    • The National Institute of Health (NIH) now provides eligible NRSA and Institutional Training Grant trainees (such as postdoctoral trainees appointed on T32 awards) an NIH Childcare Allowance. This allowance is up to $2,500 per year, per trainee and goes towards assisting with childcare costs.  To see if you qualify, please contact your grant administrator.

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