Recommended Citation
Simpson D, Hansen T, Bidwell J, Turner MJ. The Value of Graduate Medical Education as Articulated by our Sponsoring Organizations’ Leaders. ACGME Annual Educational Conference- Marvin R. Dunn Poster Session. February 27-29, 2020. San Diego, CA.
Bidwell J, Simpson D, Hansen TJ, Turner MJ. Identifying the value of graduate medical education to a health care system. Poster presented at: Aurora Scientific Day; May 20, 2020; virtual webinar hosted in Milwaukee, WI.
Presentation Notes
Poster presented at ACGME Conference; February 27-29, 2020; San Diego, CA. Poster also presented at: Aurora Scientific Day; May 20, 2020; virtual webinar hosted in Milwaukee, WI.
Abstract
Our newly merged organization collectively sponsors over 650 residents and fellows in our accredited programs. Sponsoring GME programs require a significant investment from multiple parts of the organization – ranging from the executive, C-Suite and hospital leaders to those responsible for human resource, legal, finance, licensure, quality, safety and patient experience. As GME leaders, we sought a way to expand our connections with our health care system leaders, to improve our ability to communicate the value to our organizations, and ultimately advocate for resources. We began this process by meeting individually with system leaders to obtain perceptions regarding the value of GME to this new organization and what they wish others would value about our GME programs.
Objectives
- To (re)establish collegial relationships between our system and GME leaders in a newly merged organization.
- To obtain system leaders’ perceptions regarding the value of GME to our system.
- To obtain system leaders’ perceptions regarding gaps in knowledge regarding the value of GME programs to our system.
Methods
The DIOs of our sponsoring organization (we have maintained our separation as two sponsoring organization) and two Directors in Academic Affairs, each with extensive GME experience, met to identify key system leaders. We developed a brief semi-structured interview format with only a few brief questions to minimize interview length seeking(1) When you need to advocate for the value of our GME programs, what do you highlight? and (2) What do you wish others would value about our GME Programs? Each author was assigned to a key system leader and through personal contact (eg, e-mail, phone call, F2F) explained that we were interested in their perceptions re: the value of GME to our organization and asked if they would be willing to meet with us. A field notes worksheet was created for interviewers to record the key findings. Field notes were then noted by respondent’s leadership role (e.g., president, C-Suite, hospital president, finance/legal, HR) along with their responses to each question. Responses were then coded and categorized using standard qualitative methodology to identify cross-cutting themes.
Results
All leaders contacted agreed to be interviewed; 20 interviews were completed and analyzed. Respondents roles include: CEO and medical group/market leaders; hospital CEOs/presidents; and other leaders in finance, legal, quality, pt experience & safety. The top 3 areas they highlight when advocating for GME are: 1) its cost-effectiveness as a pipeline for physician recruitment; 2) the prestige/reputation associated with being an organization that trains future physicians; and 3) sustaining our culture of continuous learning. As a legal/finance leader stated “GME adds to our culture of learning…. I don’t know how good organizations could do it without educational programs.” The top area they wished others valued about our GME programs was GME’s contribution to a culture of continuous learning, an essential element for a high reliability organization. A typical comment: (Residents create a) “healthy tension in the organization. Organizations are built to just ‘do,’ not to create questions/reflect… It wouldn’t happen without education programs.” This was followed by workforce pipeline and our community & professional responsibility to educate future physicians.
Significance/Implications/Relevance
The leaders of our merged organizations provided key perspectives on the value of GME to our organization. The recruitment pipeline is a common talking point for GME, while our value to the organization’s reputation, our critical role in promoting learning within our organization and GME as a community and professional responsibility provide new areas for GME to explore. We plan to define metrics, gather data and share those findings locally and nationally to enhance our value to the organization.
Document Type
Article
Previous Versions
Mar 6 2020 (withdrawn)
Affiliations
Aurora Sinai Medical Center
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center
Advocate Aurora Health