ABOS GME Chair Message
Welcome to the second issue of The Orthopaedic Resident E-newsletter. For about 20% of you, welcome to orthopaedic residency! I also want to give a special welcome to the residents of the 11 programs who recently started participating in the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Knowledge, Skills, and Behavior (ABOS KSB) Program, as well as the residents of 23 other programs that are continuing with the ABOS KSB Program.
Currently, 34 orthopaedic residency education programs are participating in the ABOS KSB Program. Either just before or just after a surgical case, residents can request that the faculty review their surgical skills. Faculty receive a brief evaluation through email or text (based on their contact preference). After they complete the evaluation, residents can review areas of strength and areas for improvement for that specific procedure. To get the most out of the program, the ABOS is suggesting that residents in PGY 2-5 make at least two requests per week.
We have heard from many residents that they find this immediate feedback valuable. Faculty have told us that the survey is easy to complete, and an overwhelming majority of faculty complete it quickly. Program Directors have found the feedback helpful as well in tracking the educational progress of orthopaedic surgery residents.
At the end of each rotation, residents request a professional behavior assessment from each faculty member with whom they have worked. It is similar to the surgical skills assessment but asks faculty questions concerning residents’ professional behavior. The tool measures behavior and professionalism based on five domains: ethics, communication, interaction, reliability, and self-assessment. Residency programs will also complete a 360-like evaluation of professional behavior from peers and colleagues that represent the resident’s work environment. Unlike surgical skills, the professional behavior assessment results are kept anonymous, and results are reported directly to the Program Director, who will then share this information with the resident at the end of the fiscal year.
Residents participating in the program will have access to their own ABOS Resident Dashboard that tracks their progress. They can see their scaled Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE) scores—the “Knowledge” in Knowledge, Skills, and Behavior. On the Dashboard, residents can view their overall competency level for specific procedures, as well as monitor their growth and progress over time. Instead of just measuring the time spent on a particular rotation, residents—and their Program Directors—can analyze the resident’s proficiency in dozens of different surgical procedures and track their professionalism as rated by faculty and others.
The ABOS KSB Program is open to all ACGME-accredited orthopaedic residency programs. All costs are borne by the ABOS so there is no expense to residency programs. Requesting and completing evaluations takes very little time for residents or faculty. We have heard positive feedback from everyone involved and believe it can ultimately help you—orthopaedic residents—become more competent surgeons. The mission of the ABOS’ is to protect the public, and we believe the ABOS KSB Program helps us to fulfill that mission.
For more information about the ABOS KSB Program, please contact Mona Saniei, MPH, at ksb@abos.org.
April Armstrong, MD
Chair, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Graduate Medical Education Committee
Executive Medical Director Report
The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) believes in the importance of effective communication with orthopaedic surgery residents. And we strongly believe that it is a two-way street.
Over the last year, we have made an effort to improve our communication with you. Earlier this year, we started this resident e-newsletter. We have added content for residents to our website, social media channels, podcasts, and more. We learned a lot from residents through online focus groups in 2020 and continue to learn with the inaugural ABOS Resident Advisory Panel.
As you will read in this issue, we have developed videos explaining who we are, and we have launched an Instagram account.
But we are not done. We want to continue to engage with you throughout your orthopaedic surgery journey. We want you to know who the ABOS is and what we stand for well before you start thinking about applying for the ABOS Part I Examination. I invite you to learn more about our mission, values, and guiding principles.
If you see an email from the ABOS, please open it. Except for this e-newsletter, we do not do mass mailings. All of our emails are targeted; therefore, if you receive an email from the ABOS, it impacts you. Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Listen to our podcast on most major podcast apps. There are many different orthopaedic surgery organizations, all doing important work. The ABOS is the Board for the certification of orthopaedic surgeons.
While we greatly value the feedback of the Resident Advisory Panel, we want to hear from you as well. If you have any comments on how we can better communicate with you, please send an email to residents@abos.org.
David F. Martin, MD
Executive Medical Director, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
Staff Spotlight
Mona Saniei, MPH
ABOS KSB Program Specialist
Our new American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) Knowledge, Skills, and Behavior (ABOS KSB) Program Specialist—who is responsible for many of the aspects of the ABOS KSB Program, resident/program support, and interactions—is Mona Saniei (pronounced San-Ee).
While Mona was born in Virginia, she is happy to call North Carolina home. Mona holds an MPH from Eastern Virginia Medical School/Old Dominion University and was a doctoral candidate in Health Services Research when she moved to North Carolina and started working with the University of North Carolina-Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Mona has worked through many research and administrative challenges that have helped her bring a unique perspective to her position at the ABOS. She has an unyielding personal respect for the orthopaedic profession.
When not in the office, she has diverse interests to keep her busy, including Pilates, playing and listening to classical/jazz music, building model trains with her son, and perusing international cookbooks.
Mona can answer your questions about the ABOS KSB Program and can be reached at msaniei@abos.org or 919-929-7103.
Welcome Mona!
ABOS Selects Four Outstanding Residents for Advisory Panel
The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) has selected four orthopaedic surgery residents to participate as the inaugural members of the new ABOS Resident Advisory Panel. More than 80 exceptional orthopaedic residents from across the country applied for two-year terms on the Panel.
The first group of orthopaedic residents to join the Panel consists of the following highly qualified individuals:
- Matthew Booth , MD, Washington University
- Erik Fritz, MD, University of Minnesota
- Alex Gu, MD, George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences
- Madeline Lyons, MD, Loyola University Medical Center
The ABOS Resident Advisory Panel will assist the ABOS by providing information that will be used to support orthopaedic residents across the country. They will work with the ABOS Graduate Medical Education (GME) Committee and the ABOS Communications Task Force.
All applicants submitted an application, curriculum vitae (CV), personal statement, and a letter of recommendation from their residency program director. These materials were carefully reviewed by members of the ABOS GME Committee.
“Orthopaedic surgery residency education standards are an important part of the ABOS’s mission to protect the public,” said ABOS Executive Medical Director David F. Martin, MD. “We are excited to work with orthopaedic surgery residents, as they help the Board in making decisions affecting residency education.”
If you have any comments or questions for the members of the Resident Advisory Panel, you can email them at residents@abos.org and messages will be forwarded to them.
