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. 2017 Dec;6(6):396-404.
doi: 10.1007/s40037-017-0390-9.

Hospital-wide education committees and high-quality residency training : A qualitative study

Milou E W M Silkens  1 , Irene A Slootweg  2 , Albert J J A Scherpbier  3 , Maas Jan Heineman  2 , Kiki M J M H Lombarts  2
Affiliations

Hospital-wide education committees and high-quality residency training : A qualitative study

Milou E W M Silkens et al. Perspect Med Educ. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: High-quality residency training is of utmost importance for residents to become competent medical specialists. Hospital-wide education committees have been adopted by several healthcare systems to govern postgraduate medical education and to support continuous quality improvement of residency training. To understand the functioning and potential of such committees, this study examined the mechanisms through which hospital-wide education committees strive to enable continuous quality improvement in residency training.

Methods: Focus group studies with a constructivist grounded theory approach were performed between April 2015 and August 2016. A purposeful sample of hospital-wide education committees led to seven focus groups.

Results: Hospital-wide education committees strived to enable continuous quality improvement of residency training by the following mechanisms: creating an organization-wide quality culture, an organization-wide quality structure and by collaborating with external stakeholders. However, the committees were first and foremost eager to claim a strategic position within the organization they represent. All identified mechanisms were interdependent and ongoing.

Discussion: From a governance perspective, the position of hospital-wide education committees in the Netherlands is uniquely contributing to the call for institutional accountability for the quality of residency training. When implementing hospital-wide education committees, shared responsibility of the committees and the departments that actually provide residency training should be addressed. Although committees vary in the strategies they use to impact continuous quality improvement of residency training, they increasingly have the ability to undertake supporting actions and are working step by step to contribute to high-quality postgraduate medical education.

Keywords: Educational governance; Hospital-wide education committees; Postgraduate medical education; Residency training.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

K.M.J.M.H. Lombarts received a grant provided by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports to finance, amongst others, this study. The ministry had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting of data. M.E.W.M. Silkens, I.A. Slootweg, A.J.J.A. Scherpbier and M.J. Heineman declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The institutional ethics review board of the Academic Medical Centre of the University of Amsterdam confirmed that the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (WMO) did not apply to the current study on the 3 December 2014 (W14_322 # 14.17.0386) and as such provided a waiver for the current study. However, to safeguard our participants, we took several necessary precautions. We fully informed our participants on the goal, methodology, advantages and disadvantages and possible consequences of our study by means of a detailed participant information letter. In this letter, we stressed that participation was voluntary at all times, data were treated confidentially and published anonymously, and withdrawal from the study was possible at any time throughout the whole research process without any consequences for the participants. We repeated this information verbally preceding the focus groups. Furthermore, participants were asked to sign informed consent prior to the focus group or interview, stating they had been informed about and were aware of the abovementioned details of the study.

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