Patient Safety

In one of the final sessions at the 2018 Annual Educational Conference on Sunday, March 4, a panel of ACGME executives, deans, a patient safety expert, and a resident spoke to the crowd about how medicine is changing and graduate medical education may need to evolve to serve patients well into the 21^st century.

As the current chair of the ACGME Board of Directors, Rowen Zetterman, MD, filled several important roles at this year’s Annual Educational Conference, presenting awards and introducing Dr. Nasca for his President and CEO Address among them. We caught up with Dr. Zetterman in between his activities to learn a little more about his experience the last few years with the ACGME and, in particular, at the Annual Educational Conference.

ACGME President and CEO Dr. Nasca kicked off his Saturday morning session at the Annual Educational Conference with some “non-rhetorical” questions: Can anyone predict what the health care system will look like in 2035? Can anyone predict how long your residents will practice? 40 years?

After stumping the room, he went on to explain that it is our job is to prepare residents to practice in the future—not to arm them with practices, skills, and knowledge of the present. We want our residents to be prepared not just for 2018 but for 2035—and beyond.

For the third year in a row, the Annual Educational Conference is featuring three theme-focused sessions following the Welcome and CEO Address on Friday morning. This year’s conference theme, Engaging Each Other: Transformation through Collaboration, encompasses an array of applications in health care and GME. These three sessions speak to that range, underscoring central issues facing physicians at all levels of experience.

Physician well-being has been a key issue for the ACGME for as long as the organization has been serving the GME community.

With pre-conferences, specialty sessions, plenaries, a keynote, the Exhibit Hall, poster sessions, awards, and networking on tap, the 2018 ACGME Annual Educational Conference has tons to offer!

We know it can be a lot to juggle, so to help you make the most of your experience, here’s a snapshot of some of what’s in store based on your program or institutional role or area of interest – call it a cheat sheet of sorts.

Timing the launch of this blog with our Annual Educational Conference might just be kismet, because the theme of this year’s conference, Engaging Each Other: Transformation through Collaboration, speaks to the goal of tuning in and work together, to gather and initiate growth and change.