AAAAI Modules

Resources Relevant to the Implementation
of Core ACGME-Required Competencies

Project overview


Introduction		Medical education is becoming increasingly complex as forces from without and within put pressure on the system. Technological, social, and organizational change all contribute to the demands being placed on academic medicine. Medical education in this century will be shaped by academic medicine’s responses to these pressures. Institutions of medical education will increasingly have to shift to becoming what Peter Senge describes as learning organizations. These are organizations where, “people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together” (Senge, P.M. The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. 1990, p. 3). The implications of such a shift are already being felt. While many of the time-tested goals of medical education remain unchanged, new goals, often expressed in new programs, experiences, or curricula, are being added at many institutions. The Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has responded to this shift with a new model of accreditation. These resource modules are designed to align with the ACGME model and to allow the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (AAAAI) to serve as an exemplar of implementation.
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		These resource modules are the result of a joint project between the AAAAI and the Center for Educational Outcomes at Dartmouth College (CEdO). The Center for Educational Outcomes applies the latest psychological and brain sciences findings to the design and evaluation of educational programs in countries throughout the world.
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Purpose of the modules		The modules created for this project are designed to provide training programs with curricular resources and assessment measures that may be used to help meet the new requirement for assessing competency in the six core areas: medical knowledge, patient care, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based learning. Programs vary in many ways, including size, closeness of current curriculum and assessment measures to meeting new requirements, cooperation across GME programs within the institution, and access to resources, for example; so no one curriculum and set of assessment measures will meet the needs of all training programs. Some programs have materials that are more than adequate to meet requirements and that may be used as models, while other programs do not yet have materials that will help them to meet minimal requirements. In the case of the former, the modules may be used to supplement materials. In the case of the latter, the modules may help to meet minimum requirements. The modules are designed to provide samples of materials and resources that can be used to help meet requirements, not to be exhaustive in depth or all-inclusive in breadth. Materials included in the modules were carefully chosen to meet the needs of A/I training programs. Those included are the products of reputable institutions, organizations, or individuals. They were selected with consideration given to ease of use and to budget constraints, and have been reviewed by the Center for Educational Outcomes for applicability to A/I needs . Resource materials present a starting point for training programs. To optimize results, they should be accompanied by discussion, reflection, assessment, and documentation.
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Using the modules
Navigating through the modules		The modules are arranged so that training program directors can easily locate resources and materials for use in their fellowship programs. The modules are written as a hypertext-linked document. Since the vast majority of the resources presented are available on the Web, we decided that this was the most useful and accessible format in which to present the material. Readers can also produce paper copies of any section of the modules, by using the PRINT command in their web browser. Creating the modules as a hypertext linked document was an education. Integrating the linked modules was dramatically different from producing the typical paper-based set of resources. The true value of hypertext is that one can follow whatever path one chooses through the document. One can burrow deep into one section or browse broadly across sections. However, that means that the writer must plan for many paths through the document. Because we used many different resources in creating the modules, we provide a large set of links between modules and sections of modules. You, as reader, can view a resource, find other resources that are related, check the assessment measures for this component of the competency, or pursue many other paths through the information. We believe this is of real value in optimizing use of the modules. Therefore, we have provided a number of aids for navigating the document. The Table of Contents can be accessed from anywhere in the modules. It provides the hierarchical overview of the document’s organization, and it allows you easily to access any part of the modules you wish to examine. Within each section of the modules you can click on "TOP" and return to the beginning of that section. At the end of each major section of the module there is a link to the next section one would want to read if one were going through the document in linear fashion. In addition, there are many links throughout the document to the relevant other parts of the modules. We hope this format for the modules is useful and provides the clearest view of the curricular resources and assessment measures that may be used to help meet the new requirement for assessing competency in the six core areas.
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Navigating within the modules		Information about where you are in the modules is presented at the top of each section in dark green. For example, the title of one module is Interpersonal & communication skills, shown at the top of each section of this module. Each module is subdivided into four main sections: overview, assessment tools, resources, and example, also shown at the top of each section in large font and in dark green. Within each main section, subsections are indicated in the left margin in smaller font and in dark green. For example, the overview section contains two subsections, Competency and Goals and objectives indicated in the left margin in dark green. Finally, specific information or resources are right justified in the left margin in dark green. For example, specific information in the subsection Using the module include Navigating through the module and Accessing the resources, right justified in the left margin in dark green.
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Accessing the resources		Each section of each module begins with an introduction. Then specific resources are introduced, each beginning with some information about the institution, organization, or individual responsible for the resource. Whenever possible, both information about the institution or organization and also the specific resource are provided as links. Please note that in some cases, specific information or materials referenced in the module can only be accessed through the responsible organization’s homepage. Most notably, this occurs with all ACGME information and references. In these instances, the link takes you to the organization’s homepage. Once there, you must navigate the organization’s site to locate the information or materials referenced. In some cases, resources are provided as PDF documents. In these cases, computers must be equipped with Acrobat Reader in order to access those documents. In a few cases, access to resources requires registration. In most instances, registration is open to all. In a very few instances, especially in the case of journal articles referenced, institutional access may be required. Most academic medical center libraries provide such access.
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WARNING		The set of materials contained in these modules was identified and compiled for use by allergy/immunology (A/I) training programs. It contains and/or refers to copyrighted materials. Under federal law, you may not modify, publish, transmit, display, create derivative works, or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part. No copying, redistribution, retransmission, or publication is permitted without the express written permission of the copyright owner. As of the date of delivery for each module, all links were live. No guarantee is given that such links will remain active in the future.
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