AAIM Perspectives

Usefulness of the ACGME Resident Survey: A View from Internal Medicine Program Directors

Methods

The Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) Survey Committee conducts an annual survey of member programs of APDIM to explore the characteristics of programs and opinions of program directors about issues important to internal medicine and residency training. Three hundred seventy programs/program directors were sent a link to the survey in August 2012, representing 95.6% of all 387 accredited US training programs. The 2012 survey included 13 questions asking program

Results

Two hundred seventy-two of 370 (73.5%) program directors responded to the survey. The characteristics of the programs that responded compared with nonresponders are outlined in Table 1. University-based, larger-sized programs were more likely to respond. There were no regional differences in response rates, nor were American Board of Internal Medicine pass rates or program director tenure different for responder programs versus nonresponders.

One hundred eighty-one program directors (67%) did

Discussion

Our study demonstrated a significant level of concern by program directors about the new format of the ACGME resident survey. Most program directors disagreed with the changes in the resident survey, did not believe there was sufficient transparency in its use, and believe they should receive aggregate responses from their residents for each specific question, particularly if the goal is to use survey results to stimulate ongoing program improvement.

The most common negative responses by program

Acknowledgment

We are grateful for the support of the Association of program directors in Internal Medicine, members of the Survey Committee, and to the residency program directors that completed this survey. This study was supported in part by the Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Office of Educational Innovations as part of the ACGME Educational Innovations Project. The Mayo Clinic Survey Research Center provided assistance with the survey design and data collection.