Program Director Role
Background
GME Program Directors (PDs) are critical to the overall success of the Partners education mission, ensuring the quality of resident and fellow education and overseeing trainee well-being. In conjunction with the Department Chair, the PD is responsible for developing and implementing a training program that recruits top candidates and provides them with an optimal education.
In addition to maintaining compliance with ACGME standards, the PD must comply with Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine (BORIM), Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), and National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) regulations relevant to GME.
Additional aspects of the role of the residency PD has been defined almost entirely at the departmental level.
Evolving responsibilities
Over the past decade, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has specified Program Director responsibilities—in both the Common and Specialty Program Requirements—that include curriculum development, trainee evaluation and feedback, policy development and implementation, and monitoring duty hours and resident "stress" and fatigue, while also assessing and documenting the competency of each trainee and continually evaluating the educational process. Some Residency Review Committees (RRCs) stipulate that "core" PDs must provide oversight (and sometimes formal evaluation) of subspecialty PDs.
Program directors’ responsibilities outside the departmental role now include:
• serving as the key contact and responsible person linking the institution’s GME leadership and infrastructure with the training program;
• attending meetings of the hospital education committee (and the Partners Education Committee, if elected);
• attending Program Director Workshops and other professional development opportunities designed for PDs;
• responding to periodic data requests and surveys from the institution and external agencies;
• serving on internal review committees for other GME programs;
• serving on task forces or subcommittees convened by the hospital-based or Partners GME committee.
Other aspects of the Program Director role are defined by the Chair. PDs are, in many cases, involved in GME at the national level through program director organizations and/or national specialty societies. These associations offer additional opportunities for involvement and leadership in GME, including scholarship and policy development.
PD Appointments
The ACGME requires that appointments of new PDs be submitted for approval to the GME Committee (GMEC), prior to submission to the ACGME. The ACGME Institutional Requirements state that “The Sponsoring Institution must ensure that program directors have sufficient financial support and protected time to effectively carry out their educational and administrative responsibilities to their respective programs ….. The Sponsoring Institution and the program must ensure sufficient salary support and resources (e.g., time, space, technology, supplies) to allow for effective administration of …. all of its programs.” The GMEC is, therefore, responsible for evaluating that PDs will be provided sufficient time, resources and support to serve effectively in their new position.
The Partners Education Committee has approved a template PD job description and a sample offer letter that Department Chairs can customize with the specific needs and individual circumstances, and to comply with the ACGME program requirements.
Page last updated on 12/29/17.