News

TAGME Update

August 6th, 2007

As many of you are aware, the National Board for Certification of Training Administrators of Graduate Medical Education Programs (TAGME) was created to establish standards for our profession, to acknowledge the expertise needed to successfully manage graduate medical education programs and to recognize those training program administrators who have achieved competence in all fields related to our profession.

I am pleased to announce that seven ARCOS members recently received recognition from TAGME for their successful completion of requirements for the designation of certified residency coordinator: C-TAGME.

The first opportunity for orthopaedic surgery coordinators to apply for the TAGME certification process became available last fall. Upon successful completion of Parts I and II of the assessment process, the following coordinators were awarded TAGME certificates of certification:

Janice M. Brunks
Kansas City, KS 		University of Kansas Medical Center
Jane B. Dolph
Boston, MA 		Tufts-New England Medical Center
Carolyn S. Holtman
Kansas City, MO 		University of Missouri/Kansas City
Penny LaBate
Akron, OH 		Summa Health System
Patricia J. Rogers
Erie, PA 		Hamot Medical Center
Diane M. Sheehan
Boston, MA 		Harvard Combined Program
Chris Tutsch
Grand Rapids, MI 		Grand Rapids Medical Education & Research Center

The application for certification is located on the TAGME website (www.tagme.org) and the next application period for certification is September 1 - November 30, 2007. Eligibility requirements for certification include:

  • Three years on-the-job experience in orthopaedic surgery
  • Attendance at one national meeting that focuses on GME in the past three years
  • Participation in a site visit or internal review within the past three years
  • Personal professional development within the past three years, including presentations at national, state, institutional, or departmental level; poster presentations or manuscripts published.

A supportive verification form from the program director is also required: the application fee is $250.00.

The TAGME certification assessment consists of two parts. The first part is the Monitored Assessment, which includes a series of true/false, yes/no, or multiple-choice questions taken from the following ACGME guidelines and documents:

  • Institutional requirements
  • Common program requirements
  • Glossary
  • Orthopaedic Surgery program requirements
  • Competencies
  • Acronyms commonly used by Graduate Medical Education

The Monitored Assessment will be offered on March 4, 2008: the day before the 5th Annual ARCOS meeting begins. The ARCOS meeting is currently scheduled for March 5-8, 2008, in San Francisco, CA.

The second part of the certification process is termed the Work Effort Product. It is designed to assess the applicant's knowledge of the function of his/her program and determine their ability to access information and knowledge of orthopaedic-specific requirements. The Work Effort is basically a document that is e-mailed to the applicant and can be downloaded and completed in the comfort of one's own surroundings. The deadline for return of the Work Effort Product is March 4, 2008.

The schedule for your next opportunity to certify is:

  • Application period: September 1 - November 30, 2007.
  • Approved applicants will receive Work Effort Product by e-mail: December 3, 2007.
  • Monitored Assessment will take place March 4, 2008: San Francisco, CA.
  • Deadline for return of Work Effort Product: March 4, 2008.

Upon successful completion of both required parts of the process, the names of successful candidates will be recommended for certification to the TAGME Board of Directors and certification is then officially awarded.

This year, TAGME included an additional application period, and a number of "open-assessment" sites across the U.S. were identified where coordinators could take the Monitored Assessment on October 6, 2007. I am pleased that several orthopaedic surgery coordinators were approved to participate. As a result, we expect to soon add their names to the growing listing of certified program administrators!

For more information about TAGME and the certification process, please visit www.tagme.org.

Wishing you all the best!

Gail Driver, C-TAGME
University of South Alabama
Chair: ARCOS Task Force
for Certification of Program
Administrators in Orthopaedic Surgery

The above letter of correspondence may be downloaded here.