Profession
Residency programs in trouble
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 5, 2004
Eastern Virginia Medical School's obstetrics-gynecology resident program has been put on probation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The ACGME also has threatened Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center's neonatology resident program with closure.
The ob-gyn program was the only resident program at EVMS to be cited by the ACGME. Doug Gardner, spokesman for EVMS, said the program's primary problems were with record-keeping, such as tracking the number of procedures each student performed. Their teaching format also was found to be out of line with ACGME requirements because topics were being taught through seminars rather than lectures, he said.
EVMS has hired an outside consultant to do an internal review of the program, Gardner said, with the goal of getting the program on solid ground before an ACGME site visit in June. The program's accreditation will be reviewed by the ACGME Resident Review Committee for ob-gyn in the fall of 2004.
The King/Drew neonatology program is the third to be put on the chopping block at the medical center, operated by the L.A. County Dept. of Health. The ACGME last year pulled accreditation for the general surgery and radiology resident programs. Both are slated to close in June.
John Wallace, assistant director of the Los Angeles County Dept. of Health, said the hospital would appeal closure of its neonatology program, but if the appeal is denied, it too could close in June.
Alternative training programs are being sought for affected residents.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/01/05/prbf0105.htm.
