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. 2024 Mar;25(2):175-180.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.18454.

Staffing Patterns of Non-ACGME Fellowships with 4-Year Residency Programs: A National Survey

David A Haidar  1 , Laura R Hopson  1 , Ryan V Tucker  2 , Rob D Huang  1 , Jessica Koehler  1 , Nik Theyyunni  1 , Nicole Klekowski  1 , Christopher M Fung  1
Affiliations

Staffing Patterns of Non-ACGME Fellowships with 4-Year Residency Programs: A National Survey

David A Haidar et al. West J Emerg Med. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) is one of few specialties with variable training lengths. Hiring a three-year graduate to continue fellowship training in a department that supports a four-year residency program can lead to conflicts around resident supervision. We sought to understand hiring and clinical supervision, or staffing, patterns of non-Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowships hosted at institutions supporting four-year residency programs.

Methods: We performed a web-based, cross-sectional survey of non-ACGME fellowship directors (FD) hosted at institutions supporting four-year EM residency programs. We calculated descriptive statistics. Our primary outcome was the proportion of programs with four-year EM residencies that hire non-ACGME fellows graduating from three-year EM residencies.

Results: Of 119 eligible FDs, 88 (74%) completed the survey. Seventy FDs (80%) indicated that they hire graduates of three-year residencies. Fifty-six (80%) indicated that three-year graduates supervise residents. Most FDs (74%) indicated no additional requirements exist to supervise residents outside of being hired as faculty. The FDs cited department policy, concerns about quality and length of training, and resident complaints as reasons for not hiring three-year graduates. A majority (10/18, 56%) noted that not hiring fellows from three-year programs negatively impacts recruitment and gives them access to a smaller applicant pool.

Conclusion: Most non-ACGME fellowships at institutions with four-year EM programs recruit three-year graduates and allow them to supervise residents. This survey provides programs information on how comparable fellowships recruit and staff their departments, which may inform policies that fit the needs of their learners, the fellowship, and the department.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.
Flow diagram detailing the survey response hierarchy of fellowship directors of non-Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education fellowships regarding clinical supervision patterns for 3-year emergency medicine (EM) residency graduates at institutions with a 4-year EM program. EM, emergency medicine; PGY, postgraduate year; FPPE, focused professional practice evaluation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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