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Three tips to navigate the ACGME Web site

Residency Program Connection, November 10, 2009

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The ACGME’s Web site is full of helpful information—if you know where to look for it. The following tips are a road map for getting the most out of the site and boosting your productivity. Check the following areas of the Web site frequently for the most up-to-date information.

Note: The phrase “center menu bar” will refer to the red menu that spans the top of the ACGME Web site. The term “left menu bar” will refer to the gold menu that runs along the left side of the screen.

Review and comment. Find out about changes to specialty requirements in this section. To get there, hover your mouse over the “Review and Comment” tab in the left menu bar and then click “Program Requirements.”

In this section, the ACGME posts specialty requirements under revision so you can view proposed changes. Check this area frequently, so you’ll always know when changes are coming down the pipeline.

Approved but not in effect. The ACGME posts new versions of requirements in your specialty’s section. To get to this section, click on the “Review Committees” tab on the left menu bar and pick your specialty.

Click on “Program Requirements.” At first, everything may seem status quo, but you’re not in the clear yet. Scroll down to the “Approved but Not in Effect” section.

As its name implies, this is where the ACGME posts approved requirements that have not yet taken effect. If this section does not appear on the Web site, there are no new requirements.

If your site visit is close to the date in which the new requirements take effect, call the RRC and ask on which version it will base your review. Additionally, new requirements often mean a new PIF, so check to see whether the RRC updated that document as well.

Learning portfolios. On the left menu bar, click on the “ACGME Learning Portfolio” tab. On this page, find updates about the online portfolio tool the ACGME is developing.

Although this tool won’t be ready for several years, coordinators can see the ACGME’s portfolio expectations by following its development. Review the FAQs, portfolio demonstration, and principles and policies links.

This week’s tip is adapted from Residency Program Alert, published by HCPro Inc.

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