What the ACGME’s Next Accreditation System Means to You

CORR ® Curriculum — Orthopaedic Education: Operative Assessment and the ACGME Milestones: Time for Change

“…We have discussed the new AC-GME changes in this space before [4,5]. How effective have these changes been for both improving patient safety and resident education?…”

“…The ACGME's Milestones program, defined by the ACGME as ''competency-based developmental outcomes (eg, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and performance) that can be demonstrated progressively by residents and fellows from the beginning of their education through graduation to the unsupervised practice of their specialties'', is not without its detractors [1,4]. Opponents believe the increased oversight and regulations leads to poorer preparation for independent practice and decreased surgical skill level at graduation demanding additional years in training [3].…”

“…Are the 16 chosen milestones [4] representative of the core orthopaedic knowledge base? Some of the milestones procedures may need to be modified.…”

ACGME and ABOS Changes for the Orthopaedic Surgery PGY-1 (Intern) Year

“…Significant faculty investment will be required to implement these changes. Programs will need to provide faculty development to ensure understanding of the new requirements, protected time for faculty assistance in conducting intern modules, and increased resident assessment with both the Next Accreditation System ''Milestones'' Reviews [3] and the intern surgical skills curriculum. These efforts will require more faculty teaching time and increased burden for documentation of resident evaluation.…”

Editorial: Transition from Training to Practice—Is there a Better Way?

“…Good-faith efforts are being made to evaluate the preparedness of our residents [2], but high-quality data will never be available owing to the scarcity of objective standards defining when a surgeon is ''ready'' to practice. Astute observers have asked good questions about how well trained our graduates are, both in the United States [1] and in the United Kingdom [3].…”