How does one go about starting a fellowship?

[Acebecker]

I am interested in creating a formalized training program for our new hires.  In order to make it attractive, I would like it to be formal to the extent that we document hours of didactics, supervised clinic hours and Pt contacts, procedures logged, and have rotations through other departments in our system (specifically the ED), and at the end of the 6 month training program our folks will graduate with a fellowship status in urgent care medicine.  I have seen some curricula for this and have an idea of what to teach, just not how to make it formalized to the point where the participant gets something out of it besides "Good job, now go keep doing the thing you did before."

Andrew

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Right click on the image, save as to desktop, open, click file tab, click print.

 

To be serious, are you in an academic institution? Honestly I think pretty much can make a certificate, especially while accreditation for residencies/fellowships are on hold. The certificate is only as good as what it certifies you achieved. You are putting a stamp on it saying they are ready for solo urgent care practice? That they can perform at a higher level with broader procedural and complexity level?

What’s the driving force behind wanting to create a fellowship in urgent care?

[SHU-CH]

ARC-PA's last newsletter came out this week, and if I recall correctly they said they are restarting the process for accrediting postgrad PA programs (residencies and fellowships). You might look on their website for their accreditation standards for these programs as a starting point. 

[Acebecker]

I read the ARC-PA stuff last night. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.  

My goals are several fold.  First I want to address training gaps - some people (NPs specifically) come out of training with little procedural experience - some have never sutured.  Some have never excised a lesion.  Toenails, joint injections, trigger point injections, etc.  I want to foster a training environment that is heavy in these areas to get my people up to speed.  Second I want to improve PA and NP function within systems that are fragmented - we are multiple separate entities: Hospital (and all of their various subunits), private practices (surgeons, ENT, ortho, peds - all are under separate umbrellas) and helping people learn how to make those referrals/facilitate transfer of care can improve patient flow and outcomes. Third I want to create a workforce flow - our urgent care (and many urgent cares) tends to attract new grads who go on to other gigs within 1-2 years.  I’m looking to keep that up and create a core of good people who may stick around longer than that.  

I had great preceptors, I had great rotations.  Not every PA that I’ve trained or worked with had the same level as I got, some even had better.  So I want to figure out a way for my people to all be at about the same level of comfort with UC practice.  Not to mention that I want to improve the reputation of PAs in our area.  I would like for everyone to be able to see a PA or NP and say, “I know what that person is capable of.”  Right now, it’s variable - “So and so is a great PA” vs. “John Smith, PA-C is not someone I would recommend.”  

Long post - hope that clarifies.