Back to Front PageVOLUME 6, NUMBER 4

Group on Resident Affairs

The AAMC's 12 professional development groups are the point of entry for many AAMC constituents. Each month this year, the AAMC Reporter will describe a group's activities.

It's difficult to think of any of the myriad functions of teaching hospitals and medical schools that is not in some way influenced by graduate medical education.

What's more, graduate medical education has assumed a new urgency for academic medical centers, which face the threat of resident unionization and dwindling federal funds.

The AAMC's Group on Resident Affairs (GRA) helps medical center administrators and officials meet these GME challenges and make residency a rewarding, effective, and educational process for all involved.

The GRA provides a national forum for the discussion of issues related to residency training programs. Through its constituent services and information resources, it also fosters the professional development of AAMC members who have primary institutional responsibility for GME.

"The mission of the GRA is to support members who oversee important resident issues such as academics, discipline, and accreditation requirements," says Sunny Yoder, senior staff associate for the AAMC's Division of Health Care Affairs and executive secretary of the GRA. "It's a body of highly committed, energetic, and concerned people who help members fulfill their many responsibilities within an environment of increasingly strained resources."

The GRA is composed of approximately 500 senior representatives appointed annually by the deans of accredited medical schools, chief executive officers at Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems member hospitals, and member societies of the Council of Academic Societies. "This is a group of people whose lives are personally affected by GME every day," says Alan Burgener, GRA chair and associate director of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

"GME is central to so many trends in academic medicine-whether it's economic pressures on hospitals to limit length of stays, a shift toward ambulatory care, or a whole host of other issues," Burgener says. "And this group encompasses everything that is happening in GME today."

Chief among the GRA's activities are informational and professional development meetings and programs, headlined by the group's annual spring professional development meeting.

According to Yoder, this year's annual meeting, which was held in Miami in April, incorporated resident viewpoints to an unprecedented extent. Topics such as recognizing personal difficulties faced by residents, developing optimal support structures, and maintaining effective resident supervision were tackled by both GRA members and residents themselves.

Attendees also discussed in depth the implications of the recent National Labor Relations Board ruling allowing house staff to unionize and heard opposing viewpoints on the controversial subject.

The GRA's other professional development activities include a block of sessions within the AAMC's annual meeting. Special meetings and training seminars are also held for members as issues warrant. For example, an upcoming meeting will address the role of the ombudsman in GME.

But GRA members don't have to wait for a meeting to discuss pertinent issues: An Internet-based listserve permits members to exchange ideas and share best practices on a daily basis.

"We're focused on what needs to be done to create the ideal residency environment," Burgener stresses. - Barbara Gabriel

Information: Sunny Yoder, (202) 828-0497

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