Fellowship Coordinator Guide

ACGME - Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

ABIM - American Board of Internal Medicine

AMA - American Medical Association

APE - Annual Program Evaluation

CCC - Clinical Competency Committee

Clinical Postdoc - research track fellows with clinical privileges

CME - Continuing Medical Education

CML - California Medical License

COMLEX - The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) is a three-level, national standardized licensure examination designed for licensure for the practice of osteopathic medicine. The COMLEX-USA Examination Series is designed to assess osteopathic medical knowledge, knowledge fluency, clinical skills, and other competencies essential for practice as an osteopathic generalist physician. It is also a graduation requirement for attaining a DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) degree from colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States, and for entry into and promotion within graduate medical education (residency) training programs.

DEA - Drug Enforcement Administration (US DOJ). All health professionals licensed to dispense, administer, or prescribe narcotics, depressants, and stimulants must register with the DEA.

DIO - Designated Institutional Official - Responsible for ensuring all ACGME institutional requirements are being met and responsible for all accredited programs sponsored in an institution (Ann Dohn is the DIO for SHC)

D.O. - A doctor of osteopathic (D.O.) medicine is a fully trained and licensed doctor who has attended and graduated from a U.S. osteopathic medical school

ECFMG - Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates - The ECFMG assesses the readiness of international medical graduates to enter ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship programs in the US

EPIC - an electronic health records system for hospitals and large practices

ERAS - Electronic Residency Application Service – ERAS is most commonly used by medical graduates or medical students in their final year of medical college to apply for specialized graduate training in ACGME-accredited residency programs in the US. Many residency and fellowship programs now require applicants to apply through ERAS. ERAS was developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). It transmits residency applications, letters of recommendation, dean's letters, transcripts, and other supporting documents to residency program directors via the Internet. ERAS also is available to international medical students and graduates through the ECFMG.

Fellow - trainees PGY IV and higher in a subspecialty training program (can be PGY III if short-tracking)

Fellowship - Additional subspecialty training for physicians who have completed their specialty training (residency).

FREIDA - FREIDA – Fellowship Residency Electronic Interactive Database – The Graduate Medical Education Directory (also called the Green Book) and FREIDA online are resources created by the American Medical Association (AMA) to assist in finding a residency program. FREIDA Online is a database with over 7,800 graduate medical education programs accredited by the ACGME as well as over 200 combined specialty programs.

GME - Graduate Medical Education

HIPAA - The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) - HIPAA is composed of several rules. The Privacy Rule protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information. The Security Rule sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information.

Housestaff - The resident physicians of a hospital who care for patients under the direction of the attending staff

IMG – International Medical Graduate (used to be called FMG or Foreign Medical Graduate)

ITE - In Training Exam

Match Day - the day on which the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) releases the eagerly awaited results of all the applicants who have applied for residency or fellowship training positions in the U.S

MD - Doctor of Medicine – terminal degree for allopathic medical students

Milestones - evaluations for trainee progress/Meaningful, measurable markers of progression of competence (subcompetencies)

Moonlighting - working as an independent physician, outside of the scope of your residency/fellowship training program. For ACGME-accredited programs, the combined hours of residency/fellowship education and internal moonlighting must comply with the 80-hour limit. It must not interfere with the ability of the resident/fellow to achieve the goals and objectives of the educational program. PGY-1s (interns) are not permitted to moonlight.

NRMP - National Resident Matching Program – The NRMP is a private, not-for-profit corporation established in 1952. The NRMP, also known as the Match, uses a computer algorithm to match applicants to residency programs. Recent and former graduates of US allopathic and osteopathic medical schools; Canadian medical schools; and foreign medical schools may participate in the NRMP or Match.

PEC - The program director must appoint the Program Evaluation Committee to conduct and document the Annual Program Evaluation as part of the program’s continuous improvement process. The Program Evaluation Committee must be composed of at least two program faculty members, at least one of whom is a core faculty member, and at least one fellow. 

PGY – Postgraduate Year

PHI – Protected Health Information - individually identifiable health information.

Postdoc

QI – Quality Improvement – Efforts to improve health care services and increases desired health care outcomes

Resident - trainees PGY I-III in a residency training program. *Note: some resident verbiage is used to mean all trainees applicable to your program (residents and fellows)

Short-track - a pathway for residents who wish to pursue careers in basic science or translational research (physician scientists). They substitute a year of clinical training for another year in a lab (can begin fellowship as a PGY3).

Step 1 is usually taken at the end of the second year of medical school. The USMLE Step 1 is a 280-question exam divided into 7 blocks of 40 questions each with 1 hour allotted for each block.

Step 2 is usually taken prior to graduation from US medical schools. The USMLE Step 2 has two parts: a clinical knowledge (CK) exam and a clinical skills assessment (CSA or CS).

Step 3 is usually taken during or after the first year of residency training. This USMLE step assesses whether you can apply medical knowledge and understanding of biomedical and clinical science essential for the unsupervised practice.

USMLE - United States Medical Licensing Exam – USMLE is a three-part licensing exam taken by allopathic medical students and residents. Between 1992 and 1994, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) phased in a new licensing exam, called the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). Prior to this the allopathic licensing exam had been called the Federation Licensing Examination (FLEX). Each part of USMLE is called a Step.

UIM - Underrepresented in Medicine. The AAMC defines it HERE.

VA – Department of Veteran’s Affairs – Established in 1811 to provide federal support and benefits to American veterans

WebADS - a web-based software system that contains critical accreditation data for all Sponsoring Institutions and programs