Increasing the level of Program Support
In 2014, PGME launched a 20-session pilot Information Series for Program and Hospital Site Administrators to increase the level of program support offered. Through interactive sessions, administrators were provided with the up to date information and how best to support their PGME programs. While the main focus of the pilot series was knowledge enhancement, it also provided networking opportunities for participants. Building upon this success, the 2015-16 series offered 23 in-class sessions held mainly in the University and Dundas area. Two sessions were hosted on-site at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and the Touchstone Institute hosted a session and facility tour on location. This year, new sessions in Electives, Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) and CanMEDS 2015, and Event Planning were added to the program. PGME experts from Registration to Research and Education to Resident Wellness presented on the various topics within the series. Representatives from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Professional Association of Residents of Ontario (PARO) and HealthForceOntario also led sessions. The complete program can be reviewed here.
“The Wellness session by Dr. Edwards was phenomenal. She is a very engaging speaker and her experience dealing with a variety of learners definitely came through. I think this topic is worth a repeat session.” – BOE, Remediation and Resident Wellness
“The sessions put on are very well organized and after attending the ICRE in Vancouver this year, I realize that I am lucky to work with UofT PGME as many other universities don’t offer these sessions in such a format. Thank you for all the hard work you put into making these sessions successful.” – Year-End Survey
The interest in the 2015-16 series increased by 50% in comparison to the inaugural program. Attendance rates increased by 23% and over 600 administrators attended. The series is now offered to all administrative staff who support postgraduate medical education in some capacity – program and fellowship administrators, site administrators, administrative assistants and medical education coordinators. This has allowed PGME to reach 186 unique attendees across 12 clinical departments, over 65 residency programs and 22 of our fully- and community-affiliated hospitals and research institutes.