ACGME President and CEO Dr. Nasca kicked off his Saturday morning session at the Annual Educational Conference with some “non-rhetorical” questions: Can anyone predict what the health care system will look like in 2035? Can anyone predict how long your residents will practice? 40 years?

After stumping the room, he went on to explain that it is our job is to prepare residents to practice in the future—not to arm them with practices, skills, and knowledge of the present. We want our residents to be prepared not just for 2018 but for 2035—and beyond.

Jamie Dow, EdM, is assistant director for resident education and training at the University of Florida. Her poster, Mindfulness in Neurosurgery: Improving Neurosurgeon Wellness in Training and Beyond (with co-authors W. Christopher Fox, MD, Associate Program Director, University of Florida, and Gregory Murad, MD, Program Director, University of Florida), looked at wellness in neurosurgery, which Dow says “has traditionally been considered an oxymoron.” However, as priorities among neurological surgery residents evolve and the effects of physician burnout are increasingly recognized across specialties, life balance and overall well-being have become areas of emphasis and an opportunity for program improvement.

For the first time since 2012, the ACGME today presented the John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award to Timothy C. Flynn, MD, FACS. The award is named for Dr. John Gienapp, who was the ACGME’s Executive Director for 19 years. Dr. Gienapp made several important contributions to GME and ACGME accreditation, and when he retired this award was established in his honor to recognize those who, like himself, dedicated themselves to a career in graduate medical education and made outstanding contributions to residency education and ACGME activities in a variety of ways.

The next post in the Partnerships to Establish and Sustain Rural GME series looks at the University of Minnesota General Surgery Rural Track.

The next post in the Partnerships to Establish and Sustain Rural GME series looks at the Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency Program.

This week's edition of the e-Communication includes information on the 2023 Annual Educational Conference, opportunities to volunteer for Review Committees, Case Log updates, and more.

The creation of ACGME Global Services demonstrates the two-pronged approach in fulfilling the ACGME Mission across borders, separating accreditation (ACGME-I) from advisory services (Global Services) to protect against any actual or apparent conflicts of interest.

To further explore glocalization in the health care space, ACGME Global Services spoke with the senior director of National University of Singapore School of Medicine Centre for Medical Education and senior consultant of the Ministry of Health Singapore.

New for 2023, Full-Day Courses on topics of interest to specific audiences (previously called "pre-conferences") are included in the conference registration fee!

This week's e-Communication includes a list of actions taken at the September 2022 ACGME Board of Directors meeting, information about the Annual Educational Conference, and more.