Dear Fellow Chair,

At the request of the RRC, SAAC Council has approved the establishment of the SAAC Residency Program Review Group (RPRG) to be coordinated by a committee of 3 SAAC Council members. Currently, the RPRG Committee consists of Jim Zaidan, Jeff Kirsch and myself.  The committee who oversees the RPRG would be charged with oversight, coordination, and providing a summary of the program to Council at each Council Meeting. This program will tentatively begin May 1.

This communication is to ask you to provide self nominations and/or nominations of your faculty to serve as a reviewer for this program.
RPRG Application Form
RPRG Reviewer Application

The Residency Program Review Group
Would constitute +/- 10 volunteers having at least one of the following qualifications:

• DIO in Institution with 3 years experience
• RRC member in last 5 years
• Chairs who have experienced at least two successful ACGME Reviews.
• Program Directors who have experienced at least two successful ACGME Reviews

Mechanism

• Residency programs would request review through the SAAC Committee for RPRG and
• Provide their most recent RRC review and PIF
• Provide most recent Institutional Residency Review Information
• Provide access to and reassurance that the DIO of the institution is supportive of this review request.
• Recognize that the RPRG review will be in good faith but that the RPRG can not be held liable for actions or outcomes flowing from the review.
• Provide travel costs and accommodations for two reviewers for 2 days, as well as a daily honorarium of $2,000 and overhead costs of $2,000.00.

All moneys will be paid directly to SAAC/AAPD and the honoraria reimbursed from SAAC to the reviewers.
The Program will be coordinated through staff at the SAAC/AAPD office, including required legal documents (Consultation agreements, HIPPA Business Associate Agreements) provided through our office.

Review Process

• Two volunteers would be identified (on a rolling basis) from the list
• The site visitors would together coordinate and visit the site together to review and advise the Residency Program, this arrangement would be coordinated through the SAAC/AAPD office
• SAAC will not be prescriptive as to how the review is to be conducted.
• A written and verbal report should be provided to the residency program directly and a copy, with a short summary of the visit submitted to the Chair of the RPRG Committee.  The RPRG Committee would audit the reviews and the RRC would monitor outcome for the residency programs in question.

The establishment of the Residency Program Review Group has as its goal the improvement of the standard of residency training in Anesthesiology through collegial, respectful supportive engagement by knowledgeable experienced academic anesthesiologists.

 

I thank you for your support of this endeavor through helping to nominate suitable individuals that can serve on the RPRG. Please respond by completing (or having your nominee complete) the attached form and emailing this to N.Bradle@ASAhq.org.