Setting Clear Expectations for Chief (or senior) Residents to Prepare them for Unsupervised Practice, Graduation, and Board Certification

Many specialties have the concept of chief (or senior) resident in their culture. The operationalization of this concept varies widely across specialties. For example, OB-GYN, General Surgery, and other specialties have the concept of “chief resident” written into eligibility criteria for initial certification as well as ACGME Program Requirements. In this workshop, we consider the concept of chief (or senior) resident as it applies to every resident in the program and tacitly conveys near-autonomy, ownership, and leadership. It is such a longstanding concept, that the specific expectations of this role have not been clearly defined. The use of the word “chief” that we will consider differs from an administrative (or other focused role) “chief” that is selected by a program either as part of training or added as an additional year.

We propose that explicitly defining the concept of the chief (or senior) resident could be very helpful to standardize the expectations for and operationalization of this concept with the aim of more consistent preparation for unsupervised practice. As all specialties move toward a more competency-based approach to training and certification, clearly defining expectations for this role and its importance for successful transition to practice and board certification is essential.

The session will be a brief didactic followed by small group discussion and report out.
1. Discuss the concepts of chief (or senior) resident in multiple specialties
2. Iterate on how to define chief (or senior) resident to optimally prepare learners for practice and certification
3. Brainstorm how CBME being used or discussed in your specialty can be applied to prepare learners for practice and certification.