At Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, the residents, Chief Residents, Program Directors, faculty and nursing leadership work collaboratively to assure that the residency experience is always of the highest quality. Residents have the opportunity to contribute in real time to on-going program improvement in a variety of ways, including:
Residency Advisory Committee (RAC):
Made
up of elected representatives from each class, Chief Residents and the
Program Directors, this group meets every month to discuss resident
concerns and to generate solutions to any residency issues. This group
has been very successful in instituting important curricular and
lifestyle changes in the residency program.
Examples of
these changes include improving the educational content and staffing of
the General Pediatrics in-patient team by dividing the service into two
teams (
Big Blue and Junior Blue)
for the winter, changing the NICU call schedule to provide better
weekend coverage and a revamping of the winter holiday schedule so that
every resident to continues to have 5 days of vacation at either
Christmas or New Year’s.
Association of Resident of Fellows:
The mission of the Association of Residents and Fellows (ARF) is to represent and advocate the interests of all the residents and fellows at University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC) as well as to positively promote a working environment favorable for optimal medical training and patient care. In recent years, ARF has been responsible for drastically upgrading the resident lounge and increasing resident salaries.
MD-to-RN Committee:
Residents and Chief Residents meet monthly with nursing leadership to address patient care issues on the inpatient wards, resident-nursing relations and the maintenance of a collaborative working environment.
Quality Improvement Committee:
Resident representatives and Chief Residents sit on the Rainbow Quality Improvement Committee. This committee works to identify system-based solutions that will ensure the delivery of the highest quality patient care
Education Committee:
Resident representatives and Chief Residents participate in this Committee with faculty education leaders to develop educational innovations, improve existing curricula and maintain the integrity of the educational program
Housestaff Meetings:
Once a month the Chief Residents chair these meetings which serve to update residents on new developments in the program and hospital as well as provide a forum for residents to bring up new issues for discussion.
Town Hall Meetings:
On a quarterly basis, the Program Directors hold an open meeting without an agenda for residents to ask questions, raise concerns and offer suggestions for improvements
Rotation Reviews:
After every rotation, the residents have the opportunity to anonymously assess the strengths and potential areas for improvement of each rotation using an on-line system.