Identifying the Challenges of "Small" Pathology Residency Programs and Creating Collaborative Solutions

Robin McGoey; Wesley Y Naritoku; Mary A Furlong

doi:10.1177/2374289516643541

Identifying the Challenges of "Small" Pathology Residency Programs and Creating Collaborative Solutions

Acad Pathol. 2016 Apr 26:3:2374289516643541. doi: 10.1177/2374289516643541. eCollection 2016 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Robin McGoey¹, Wesley Y Naritoku², Mary A Furlong³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, USA.
² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at USC, LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Pathology, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Medical Dental Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Abstract

The majority of pathology residency training programs in the United States are considered to be small training programs. Small training programs, regardless of specialty, encounter unique challenges that have been documented in the literature. With the implementation of the Next Accreditation System (NAS), and other Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Common Program Requirements, adequate personnel and other resources are necessary. An online survey was conducted on the pathology program directors' section listserv to help identify characteristics and challenges of small pathology residency training programs. A discussion group on small pathology residency programs was held at the 2015 Association of Pathology Chairs/Program Directors annual meeting, where the results of the survey were discussed and small breakout groups followed the discussion of the survey. The results of the online survey and discussion groups are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: board pass rate; challenges; small pathology residency programs; solutions.