Housestaff Training at Stanford

Dr. Skeff and residents reviewing videotape at a teaching improvement seminar.

Members of the Stanford housestaff form a highly motivated, cohesive group with a high level of both quality and camaraderie. Our housestaff come from diverse institutions and have a variety of long-term goals, with an emphasis on academic medicine. Our goal is to have housestaff who are dedicated to excellent patient care, enjoy their professional and personal relationships with their peers, and are successfully prepared for their future careers. Housestaff work side-by-side with academic and practicing physicians, and they are involved in research with faculty during residency. Thus, they are exposed to a broad range of role models and possible mentors. A structured mentoring program is in place to connect housestaff with faculty advisors for future careers, including meetings with the Chair and the Associate Program Directors who represent all aspects of Academic Medicine. Division chiefs, fellowship program directors, and other faculty are also actively involved in Residents' and Interns' Reports and all clinical rotations, so residents and faculty are well-known to each other when it is time for advice regarding clinical research or applying for fellowships.

At Stanford, residents are an important part of the teaching program. The Department emphasizes teaching, and Dr. Skeff is a widely respected expert in the field. PGY-2 residents participate in a 2-day teaching improvement program for the housestaff early in their second year.Teaching is an important and cherished responsibility for Stanford Residents. At all three medical centers, housestaff have the opportunity to work with and teach medical students.

ACP/ASIM poster session

The program emphasizes future academic careers. Residents join faculty in research projects and present abstracts and poster sessions on their own. Educational programs covering abstract writing and preparation of poster presentations are provided to ensure the academic skill requisite. Stanford residents have been major contributors to the regional and national meetings of the ACP/ASIM. At the 2003 regional ACP/ASIM meeting, Stanford residents presented 17 posters and won the Research Poster Award.

We believe that residency programs must constantly evolve in order to address the changing needs of medicine, society and housestaff, and residents contribute to this. To this end, we have established a permanent Committee on Residency Training and Clinical Services (CRTCS) to examine and refine the training program. Housestaff form a vital part of this committee which also includes members of the university and community attending staff. In addition, housestaff attend a yearly retreat during which they review the program and make recommendations for improvement. As a direct result of housestaff input to CRTCS, significant changes have been made in the housestaff program, including expansion of ambulatory experiences in both general medicine and subspecialties, greater integration of experience in the county hospital setting, new subspecialty teaching programs as part of the ward rotations, an interns' retreat and a faculty teaching awards banquet. Housestaff input and participation have been essential to Stanford's program adaptation to the new ACGME hours regulations.

The Housestaff site maintained by the Office of Graduate Medical Education may also be of interest.

2002-03 Residents