Orientation beneficial to first year residents

First-year CORE residents began their programs this year with a newly developed orientation to CORE and its resources.

Orientation to the CORE previously was provided as part of each hospital’s orientation, said Deborah Woods, Residency Program Advisory Committee (RPAC) director.

“CORE orientations have been delivered in various formats over the years,” she explained. “We’ve tried live, video-conference and video taped segments that were used as a part of the individual hospital orientation. We knew we needed something better to connect our residents to the many resources available to them.” This led to the development of the two orientation sessions, held live at locations in both central and northeastern Ohio, Woods said.

The day-long orientation included four speakers from the CORE. Peter Bell, D.O., Assistant Dean for CORE Graduate Medical Education, gave an overview of the CORE and the role of the Osteopathic Residency Advisory Committee’s (ORAC).  He also explained the history of OU-COM and the CORE as well as the names of the faculty and staff members the residents will have contact with throughout their training. 

Bell noted that everyone involved with the CORE have different viewpoints and perspectives, yet “the CORE system is so much more.”

Bell stressed the common heritage among members of CORE, that all those who came before help make the practice of osteopathic medicine possible today. He also reminded the residents that they are to play an important function for osteopathic medicine and CORE. “Our future is totally dependent on them. The students/residents are the future. The viability of our profession depends on them,” he said.

Grace Brannan, Ph.D., CORE Research Director, offered residents information on the resources available for research and the CORE Research Office’s current projects. 

The last two sessions were presented by CORE Faculty Development Assistant Directors Olivia Ojana-Sheehan, Ph.D., and Robbin Kirkland. Ph.D. Ojano-Sheehan walked the residents through steps in creating a portfolio, and Kirkland instructed them assessing their own learning and performance needs.

“The orientation was mostly well-received by the residents,” Ojana-Sheehan said. 

Woods said that she received positive feedback about the orientation. “The participants left with a sense that there are many individuals involved in their education at both the hospital and the state levels.” 

The Residency Program Advisory Committee will review the evaluations from this orientation and create a needs assessment as this academic year progresses, allowing them to adjust the presentations to better suit the needs of the incoming residents/interns in 2010-2011, Woods said.

Bell noted that many of the participants urged that future orientations be held early in the summer when they first begin their residencies, which is under consideration. “All big organizations do an orientation that sets up expectations and defines opportunities for new-bees. We should be no different,” he said.