Resident, Faculty and Program Evaluation

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES 

Department of Neurological Surgery – Residency Program Policy

Policy: Resident, Faculty and Program Evaluation

Program Chair: Michael Rosner, MD

Last Revision: March 11, 2020

PURPOSE:

This policy is designed to establish a departmental policy for the evaluation of graduate medical education programs, residents, and faculty.

REQUIREMENTS:

RESIDENT EVALUATION:  

The Neurosurgery Clinical Competency Committee (CCC), appointed by the Program Director, will review all resident evaluations on a semi-annual basis (see Policy 8).  Resident Milestones progress and achievement of proscribed goals and objectives for each rotation will be reviewed by the CCC prior to the residents’ semi-annual evaluations.

Formative Evaluation:

The faculty must evaluate resident performance in a timely manner during each rotation or similar educational assignment and document this evaluation at completion of the assignment.

The program must:

  1. provide objective assessments of competence in patient care and procedural skills, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice based on the specialty-specific Milestones
  2. use multiple evaluators (e.g., faculty, peers, patients, self, and other professional staff)
  3. document progressive resident performance improvement in order for the CCC to synthesize information regarding the residents’ progress 

The program director will meet with each resident to provide documented semiannual evaluations of performance with feedback which includes progress regarding Milestones, development of individualized learning plans, and remediation plans for residents failing to progress, if necessary.  Of note, residents have unlimited access to their evaluations on request; the records are kept in a locked file by the Program Director to maintain confidentiality.  Problems with performance are discussed with individual residents as necessary, and all efforts are made to identify and resolve problems in a timely fashion.  The Graduate Medical Education (GME) office is notified of any resident performance issues, and presentations are made to the GME committee as appropriate. 

The Program Director, teaching staff, and Chief Resident, should constantly monitor resident stress, including mental or emotional conditions inhibiting performance or learning, and drug or alcohol related dysfunction.  Timely access to confidential counseling and psychological support services is provided to residents.  Training situations, which are found to consistently produce undesirable stress on the residents, are evaluated and modified

In addition to Milestone data, each resident is evaluated semiannually with respect to completion of stated goals and objectives of the relevant Neurosurgery rotation.  Input for these evaluations includes comments from Neurosurgery attendings, nurses and patients.  Surgical performance, clinical performance, and 360* evaluation comments are included.  The evaluations of resident performance must be accessible for review by residents on MedHub.

Summative Evaluation:

The program director must provide a summative evaluation for residents upon completion of each year of the program which describes the resident’s ability to progress to the subsequent program year.

In addition, the Program Director must provide a final evaluation of each resident upon residency completion. 

This evaluation must:

  1. Become part of the resident’s permanent record maintained by the institution, and must be accessible for review by the resident in accordance with institutional policy
  2. Utilize Milestone data, case logs, CCC recommendations, and annual review summaries
  3. Document the resident’s performance during the final period of education
  4. Verify that the resident has demonstrated sufficient competence to enter practice safely without direct supervision.

FACULTY EVALUATION:  

Neurosurgery faculty are reviewed as part of the conduct of the Program Evaluation Committee on an annual basis (See Policy 9). These evaluations should include a review of the faculty’s clinical teaching abilities, commitment to the educational program, clinical knowledge, professionalism, and scholarly activities.  The residents formally evaluate faculty members on a semi-annual basis using MedHub. The evaluations are anonymous and are summarized by the Program Director for review by the Chair of Neurosurgery.  The results are discussed with the respective Neurosurgery Faculty during their annual evaluation with the Chair, or on an as needed basis if concerns arise.  These results are also incorporated into the Neurosurgery program faculty development plans.  Evaluations related to the Chair of Neurosurgery will be reviewed by GWU GMEC Designated Institutional Official.

PROGRAM EVALUATION: 

The Program is reviewed annually by the Program Evaluation Committee (See Policy 9).  Residents provide rotation and program review anonymously through MedHub every six months.  An annual alumni survey is also utilized to solicit feedback on the professional quality of graduates.  The Program Evaluation Committee will thereby:

  1. advise the Program Director regarding the Neurosurgery Program’s progress toward meeting stated educational, development and oversight goals
  2. review the Neurosurgery department environment to identify relative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relative to the above goals
  3. evaluate the Neurosurgery training curriculum, well-being of faculty/residents, workforce diversity, quality improvement initiatives, scholarly activity, ACGME survey data, board exam certification rates, graduate performance, and written program evaluations 
  4. provide an annual review for distribution and discussion (by attendings and residents) regarding the Neurosurgery program’s missional achievement and deficiencies; this includes an action plan for ultimate submission to the GMEC Designated Institutional Official. 

Approved by GMEC: 4/20/2020