Northwestern GME Enjoys National Acclaim

Northwestern Missions

The national reputation of Northwestern’s graduate medical education programs continues to draw highly qualified candidates from around the country. Almost half of the 248 residents who started their specialty training at the *Big Program—Residents have impressive credentialsNorthwestern McGaw Center for Graduate Medical Education in 2007 hold MD degrees from one of the top 25 schools ranked by U.S. News & World Report. One out of every four new residents has achieved Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership—the “Phi Beta Kappaâ€� distinction for medical schools. On average Northwestern residents received scores substantially above the national mean for Step 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination.

Feinberg School graduates accounted for 20 percent of Northwestern McGaw’s newest crop of residents. Says Sharon L. Dooley, MD, GME ’77, MPH, senior associate dean for graduate medical education, “Some of the best new residents continue to come from our own medical school. We are attracting more and more who are AOA graduates in our training programs.�

Attracted to 74 residency programs and fellowships, medical school graduates benefit from programs that fare well against Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) standards. Eighty-nine percent of Northwestern McGaw training programs have four- or five-year accreditation cycles. The ACGME reviews programs every one to five years with longer cycles reserved for the strongest programs.

Increasing diversity; Key goal nationally and at Northwestern.

“We are so fortunate that we have such dedicated program directors who are committed to advancing educational pedagogy,� remarks Dr. Dooley. “We have several individuals involved in defining and measuring core competencies, who are bringing national recognition to our institution with their accomplishments.�

Emphasis on simulation helps make sure physicians in training get it right. See also page XX.

Department of Medicine residency program director Diane Bronstein Wayne, MD ’91, for example, has won accolades for her research documenting the use of simulation-based training to improve the clinical skills of medicine residents. For a paper she wrote in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team from the Departments of Medicine and Anesthesiology and Office of Medical Education and Faculty Development, Dr. Wayne recently received the Thomas Hale Ham Award for New Investigators from the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Research in Medical Education Committee. She was honored at the organization’s annual meeting held in Washington in November.