Chairperson's Message
A Message from the Chair of CTYPD
As Chair of the Council of Transitional Year Program Directors, I get a chance to work with TY Residency programs from all areas of the country; from community-based to major university to military programs; and from smaller programs with as few as four residents to large programs with as many as 20+ residents. Although we may direct very different types of TY residency programs, we all share the common goal of wanting to recruit and train the very best students, and to provide them a solid clinical foundation year on which to build their subsequent careers.
The Council has several very important goals that we constantly strive to achieve:
1. To serve as a resource for medical students. We want students to understand the purpose and unique features of transitional year residency training and to help them learn more about specific TY residency programs that they may wish to consider.
2. To serve as a resource for transitional year residency program directors. We want all TY program directors to join AHME and to take advantage of the outstanding networking and educational opportunities offered by CTYPD.
3. To serve as liason between transitional year residency programs and the ACGME, the Transitional Year Review Committee, and the associations of specialty program directors with whom we partner.
For students, I hope you will explore the resources available on this website that will help you better understand the many benefits of transitional year residency training and the broad-based, well-balanced clinical training provided during this training. You can also access more specific information about the size and unique features of the 122 TY residency programs currently accredited by the ACGME.
For Transitional Year Program Directors, I hope you will join AHME and become active in CTYPD. I want to highlight a few of the specific benefits of membership that are of greatest importance to TY program directors.
First, there is the online Guide to Medical Education in the Teaching Hospital. The 3rd edition of this outstanding resource has just been completed and will be available on-line by the summer of 2009. It is maintained as an on-line full text resource available free on this website to AHME members. By keeping it on-line, each of the chapters is able to be regularly updated.
Second, AHME members have access to a members-only message board that allows easy e-mail access to all other members of AHME. Messages can be targeted specifically to transitional year program directors, if desired.
Third, at the annual spring AHME educational and business meeting, CTYPD sponsors a one-day program specific to transitional year program directors. The one-day CTYPD program is always fantastic and covers topics of general interest, such as: an update on the ACGME and TY RRC, a topic-based TY discussion covering topics submitted by CTYPD members for input and assistance from other program directors, a panel discussion with representatives from key categorical programs that TY graduates enter, a session on the TY site-visit from the eyes of a field staff member who conducts these visits, and a TY best practices session with current program directors discussing new practices that they have initiated.
Thanks again for visiting the CTYPD area of the Association for Hospital Medical Education website. I hope you will feel free to contact me personally if you have questions or if you have any suggestions on how we can further improve the information provided on this site.
Steve Craig, MD
Chair, CTYPD and
Director of the Transitional Year Residency at Iowa Methodist Medical Center
1415 Woodland Avenue, Suite 130, Des Moines, IA 50309
