General Fellowship InformationSchedulingThe Scheduling Coordinator is responsible for setting up the call and clinic schedules. When making the schedule the following items are taken into account: Residents’ call schedule for the year (this already has the R2 call schedules), R2 vacations (usually only 1 week during their 8 week OB rotation), TFM Family Practice clinic schedule (when the R1 and R2 are in clinic), Residents/Fellows day off post-call, schedule needs for OBAC, Colpo Clinic, Ultrasound Clinic, Procedure Clinic and Precepting TFM residents. The Fellowship Coordinator will provide a copy of the call schedule to all relevant parties. Faculty AdvisorsAll fellows will be assigned both a family practice and an obstetric advisor from Multicare Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates (MOGA). The family practice advisor’s role is one of support. They will act as a liaison with other faculty, community attendings and fellows. They can offer guidance with respect to:
All fellows are expected to meet their advisors quarterly. Evaluations will be reviewed and any other pertinent issues will be discussed. A report of this meeting will be placed in each fellow’s file and will remain confidential. Should a fellow and their advisor have an irresolvable conflict, the Fellowship Director will act as a liaison to address the issues at hand. If necessary, another advisor may be assigned. The MOGA advisor will provide feedback on development of operative and general obstetrics skills. Formal meetings will be arranged quarterly to review progress toward future practice goals and to make any needed training adjustments to achieve these goals. EvaluationsAll fellows will be evaluated on their performance on their rotations. Evaluation forms will be sent to all attendings with whom you worked. Your faculty advisor will meet with you on a quarterly basis to review your evaluations and general progress. Your evaluations will be kept in your personnel file and you are encouraged to review them. In turn, you will also be asked to evaluate your instructors, as this will be valuable information for future fellows. Your cooperation will certainly be appreciated! Hospital PrivilegesAll fellows will have active staff privileges at Tacoma General Hospital and will initially be placed on probationary status. Therefore, all fellows will have to be proctored by the TFM OB/Gyn Faculty and/or the Family Practice Faculty during the first month of their OB Rotation. Fellows will not be released to perform routine vaginal deliveries independently or supervise residents’ deliveries until each fellow has demonstrated their competency in the management and technical skills of the following:
At least two MOGA/TFM Faculty members or community OB’s are required to evaluate the fellow’s competency level. After the fellow has been proctored for a case, he/she will log the case in our computer logging system (New Innovations) and the faculty member who supervised them will sign off the procedure. The Fellowship Coordinator will then compile these for each fellow. The OB Curriculum Liaison will then review the compiled data. Once the criteria above have been met, each fellow will be reviewed at a monthly faculty meeting for release from proctoring. The Faculty will review each fellow’s file and will collectively decide if the fellow is ready to be released from proctoring and ready to precept the residents. The fellow’s past experiences will certainly be taken into account. The OB Curriculum Liaison will notify the fellow of the faculty’s decision. If it is decided that the Fellow requires further proctoring, the fellow will be made aware of those particular areas that the faculty require improvement. The OB Curriculum Liaison will follow the progress of the fellow and periodically report back to the faculty regarding the fellow’s status. Once the areas of concern have been corrected, the fellow will be eligible for a second review for release. Notification will be given to the community OB attendings and Labor and Delivery nurses and residents regarding the fellow’s proctoring status. The following procedures will require direct supervision by the MOGA/TFM Faculty (or the OB consultant) until privileges have been granted to the fellow in accordance with the “Policy on Independent Performance of Surgical Procedures by TFM fellows”.
The following procedures will still require “hands-on” supervision by the OB/Gyn Faculty, the Community Attending Physicians, or the Family Practice Faculty who are privileged in these areas:
Malpractice CoverageYour professional liability insurance carrier is Zurich. It will not cover moonlighting at other facilities. You will be responsible for obtaining your own malpractice coverage if you decide to work in other facilities. MoonlightingAll fellows are allowed to moonlight and opportunities are available in Pierce County. See Fellowship Director for more information regarding moonlighting opportunities. It is imperative that moonlighting is only done during off hours. Moonlighting is not allowed during the regular operating hours/call hours for the OB Rotation or during the regular hours of electives. Fellowship RetreatMidway through the year a fellowship retreat will be held for the fellows and their families along with the fellowship faculty away from the work environment. The purpose of this retreat is for each of the fellows to get away and gain a little "mental health" while strengthening relationships with each other. The residents will provide coverage for patient services. The retreat is planned for a weekend in February or March, and will begin on a Friday night and end the following Monday morning. All fellows are expected to attend. VacationThere are fifteen days of paid vacation per year for each fellow. Each fellow is also given one birthday holiday. A "Requisition Request Form" must be filled out, signed, dated, and given to the Fellowship Coordinator who will submit them to the Fellowship Director and TFM scheduler. Vacations must be scheduled at least two months in advance or request will be denied (unless there is an emergency). No vacation should be scheduled in: First two weeks of August, the last two weeks of July, and not during the OB rotation unless coverage is specifically arranged. Vacations will be scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Fellowship Director grants time-off based on when request is received and if there are any conflicts in clinic and/or call coverage. No more than 1 fellow will be allowed to be away from the program at any given time unless there are special circumstances (permission will have to be obtained from the Fellowship Director). Holidays The OB Access Clinic will not be open during the following holidays days. However, the fellows are still responsible for call coverage on Labor & Delivery.
Sick LeaveFellows have a total of 12 sick days. If the fellow exhausts his/her sick leave, the fellow can submit a request for unpaid leave of absence to the Fellowship Director for approval. Any unpaid leave in excess of standard sick leave will require like time be added to the fellows’ year in order to satisfy graduation requirements. For any questions regarding this policy, please see Fellowship Director. Continuing Medical EducationThere are five days of CME leave per year for each fellow to attend meetings or conferences elsewhere if desired. A “Requisition Request Form” must be filled out, signed, dated, and then given to the Fellowship Coordinator who will submit it to the Fellowship Director and the clinic scheduler for approval of any CME leave. The CME must be scheduled at least one month in advance or will otherwise be denied. No CME should be scheduled during the following times:
Reimbursement for CMEFellows receive $1500 for CME expenses. Fellows pay for their own CME expenses in advance and are then reimbursed by Multicare. Submit receipts with an Expense Report to the Fellowship Coordinator. You will not be reimbursed if you do not have receipts. Please give approximately two-weeks to receive your reimbursement check. Updates on available CME programs will be posted on the “CME” bulletin board in the fellows’ office. Your CME funds can also be used to purchase medical texts and/or pay for subscriptions to journals. CME funds can be used to purchase educational software for your computer, but cannot be used to purchase computer hardware. You are strongly encouraged to attend a regional or national conference on Rural Health. Notices of these conferences will be posted on the Rural Bulletin Board. Practice SearchFellows have up to five days of practice search available for seeking practice opportunities. Use the same time-off request procedures above. Practice search must be scheduled at least one month in advance or will otherwise be denied. Practice search can only be scheduled during your elective time. Fellowship GraduationIn July, there will be an opportunity for the fellows and their significant others to celebrate the end of a long year. The fellowship program offers each fellowship class one night to celebrate with resident in-house coverage. The tradition has been for the Fellowship Coordinator and the fellows to plan the events in the evening. All fellows are expected to participate. |
