"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
You may have heard me use this same quote as a metaphor for transparency. We talk much about transparency in our lives. My view is that many times it is false transparency - practically opaque. The World Wide Web has only heightened this illusion. Just because something is posted on the web doesn't mean that those who need to see it have seen it, or digested it or understood what they saw. This is part of the theory behind the "seven times...seven ways" marketing strategy. Humans need to see things multiple times and in multiple forums before the light bulb "turns on." Telling a trainee once to give ACE inhibitors to patients with CHF will not encourage them to do this all the time. Nor will giving them a textbook, or showing them a web site or listening to a lecture. But doing all of these over and over will embed the knowledge and the process.
So, in search of transparency, we bring you the following facts and opinions...
If you follow the AOA Daily Report Blog, you may have noted last night that the resolutions for the AOA's Annual Business meeting are up on their site. They can be found HERE.
A quick review of the Board of Trustees resolutions relevant to OGME:
B-7 - Resolves to increase the size of the PTRC to include all subspeciaties that are both permanent and rotating members as permanent members. (FYI, I personally support this)
B-12 - Resolves to amend the requirements for program directors. This comes from the Bureau of OGME Development - on which I and several other AODME members participate. This resolution would allow acceptance both AOA and ABMS certification for DOs who are program directors. It would also codify the needed mentorship for MDs to be program directors. Several important points: it does not effect the DME role, in fact, it should help DMEs recruit well suited program directors and it does not make it easier to have MDs as program directors. It does standardize practices across disciplines. I support the language and the intent of this resolution. It will make enhance DMEs ability to recruit willing, able and qualified program directors.
B-13, B14 and B-49 all address Resolution 29. They are resolutions from POMA, OOA and the AODME respectively. The AODME resolution has also been forwarded through the Bureau of Osteopathic Education (BOE).
B-15 and B-16 are from the ACOFP. They deal with independent inspectors and the AOA's proposed post-doc fee schedule respectively. I have several earlier posts on the latter topic.
B-21 - Resolves to allow Category I-A CME credit for the AODME Convention. It should be obvious that I support this. Having chaired this meeting for two years, it is gratifying to see the level of quality education continually improve.
B-22 through B-43 are revisions to specialty standards. These have been approved by Specialty College Evaluating Committees (SPECs), the Council on Postdoctoral Training (COPT) and the BOE.
B-45 address sponsorship of OGME programs. This specifically moves to have OPTIs become the academic sponsors of programs. Right now, either HFAP accredited hospitals or Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (COMs) can sponsor programs. In addition, all programs must be associated with an OPTI. The goal of this resolution was to streamline the process and only mandate the OPTI association -- call it academic sponsorship. It has been construed by some that this language lessens HFAP accreditation. While I respect that argument, pragmatically, HFAP accreditation is not required now to sponsor OGME. In addition, those COMs that do oversee sponsorship well do this through their OPTI. Finally, requiring both COM sponsorship and OPTI affiliation for almost 2/3 of our programs is redundant and not helpful. (I will concede that one rebuttal is to not require OPTI affilation - this is a thought, but not an option with legs...)
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