As a fellowship program director for the past 18 years, I marvel at the changes that have been introduced into the training environment. From managing mandated reductions in duty hours of fellows to documentation of competency measures, it seems those of us in the educational space have not had a moment’s rest!
I’m proud of the Society’s long history of partnering with medical educators in hematology to advance scholarship in our subspecialty by tackling head-on the challenges we’ve all had to face. From practical approaches such as training guidelines, to advocating for evidence-based medical education, to creation of tools for educators, to awarding of grants to trainees, ASH has stood by those of us on the front lines of our medical schools and teaching hospitals. Several new initiatives aim to continue this tradition:
1. As has been reported in this publication, in ASH NewsLink, and on the ASH website, the Committee on Training, chaired by Gary Schiller, MD, is interested in developing an ASH Medical Educators Institute. This program, modeled on ASH’s Clinical Research Training Institute, will provide guidance to dedicated hematology educators who are aiming both to improve individual teaching skills and to enhance learning opportunities at their home institution. The committee and I would be interested in your thoughts on crafting this program and count on your enthusiastic volunteerism in making this new initiative a success.
2. A working group, organized by the Committee on Training and led by Elaine Muchmore, MD, is in the process of developing milestones for fellows in hematology training programs. Creation of these milestones is a critical element necessary to meet the requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Next Accreditation System (ACGME NAS). For those of you who have yet to hear of this sweeping new program, NAS began phase implementation in July 2013 and represents the culmination of a multi-year process of restructuring ACGME’s accreditation system based on educational outcomes in clinical competency.
3. The Teaching Cases Subcommittee, which has responsibility for developing and maintaining the ever-popular medical student cases on the ASH website, has been diligently developing new cases and researching new approaches to make the cases more interactive and engaging. This program is strongly supported by the Society as evidence by its prominent place on the agenda of the upcoming ASH Executive Committee meeting.
4. Last spring, the Society launched the Fundamentals for Hematology Fellows Program that provides a bundle of ASH resources to fellows in hematology-related training programs. This initiative has exceeded our expectations by adding more than 1,000 additional fellows to our Associate member category. The program not only provides a connection from ASH to the trainee, but also makes participants eligible for ASH programs such as the Clinical Research Training Institute.
These new efforts join a panoply of continuing programs, including the Research Training Award for Fellows, annual meeting events such as the Hematology Course Directors’ Workshop, and services such as the Hematology In-Service Examination, designed to address hematology training from the perspective of the learner, the educator, and the training environment. I hope every educator in hematology knows about these programs and uses them to their best advantage. Please contact training@hematology.org with any questions about ASH’s educational programs.
Our goal at ASH is to enthusiastically support medical educators in hematology and, together with this dedicated group, to continue improving training in our subspecialty by developing new initiatives and sustaining ongoing programs that focus on the needs of faculty and fellows.
