Residents Medical Group has made many significant contributions to the medical and healthcare sector in the U.S. and elsewhere; it was founded to provide an effective and sustainable answer to the long-standing residency bottleneck issue.
Dr. Michael Everest, Chairman of Residents Medical Group, knows that most medical graduates suffer from a lack of research opportunities during their post-graduate studies.
So, even when they are well-trained and possess sound theoretical knowledge in their respective area of specialties, their lack of relevant research experience is a frustrating handicap for finding a good residency program aligned with their skills and ambitions.
Few medical school graduates have the opportunity or experience to conduct research before residency placement. This, in turn, inhibits growth in medical research and innovation and gets in the way of a well-rounded development for the nation’s future doctors.
Now, The Everest Foundation is trying to improve the situation through its numerous commitments to research initiatives in top medical schools and teaching hospitals in the country. Dr. Michael Everest and his wife, Agata Everest, CEO of The Everest Foundation, know it will take time to change.
In the meantime, Residents Medical Group is doing a commendable job in complementing the efforts of The Everest Foundation by providing valuable and extensive training to residency applicants.
This kind of training enables the applicants to learn valuable skills that would improve their CVs and help them find good residency placements.
Residents Medical Group’s Guiding Principles
The first thing that Residents Medical believes is that the gap in relevant research experience of medical graduates can be partially filled up by efficient clinical training and other core skills required by truly competent physicians.
As such, the group has earmarked six core competency areas and believes that candidates with the requisite skills, capabilities, and aptitude in these areas stand a great chance of getting accepted into the residencies of their choice.
These six core competency areas are:
- Soft Skills
- Ability to Learn and Function in a Variety of Settings
- Empathy for Others
- Emotional Stability and Maturity
- Ability to Make Sound Judgments
- Physical & Mental Stamina
Why Residents Medical Group Emphasize These Core Competency Areas
For the same reason, medical students are sent on clinical rotations at medical school. Clinical knowledge or skills alone never makes a good physician. Physicians must possess many skills and competencies to correctly and efficiently serve those under their care correctly and efficiently.
For example, one needs to possess soft skills that include creative thinking, proper time management, conflict resolution, problem-solving abilities, good communication skills, the ability to adapt to different situations, and a positive attitude no matter the circumstances.
Emotional stability and maturity refer to one’s ability to control impulses and maintain a steady disposition to handle even delicate situations in a competent, mature, and objective manner.
Emotional maturity and objectivity also help budding physicians to learn from many different situations, be friendly towards their peers and patients, and function competently even when working in a high-stress environment.
The last is also proof of a physician’s physical stamina and mental fortitude.
A doctor should always lead a balanced lifestyle and care for his well-being. Otherwise, operating efficiently in a characteristically high-stress medical environment can be difficult.
Similarly, good physical and mental stamina help doctors make sound judgments and evaluate, analyze and adequately act upon many different situations in various settings with accountability, objectivity, and open-mindedness.
Finally, having empathy for others is an excellent asset for any physician. Appropriate bedside manners and the ability to appropriately interact and communicate with patients and their family members are special skills for a doctor.
How Residents Medical Group Prepare the Candidates to Master These Skills
Although clinical rotations are meant to prepare the students to possess these skills, one hardly needs to mention that the short time a student spends on rotational routines is barely adequate for mastering this broad spectrum of skills.
For most students, rotation can only give them an idea of the necessity of having those skills and nothing more. On the other hand, extensive training provided through the pathways of Residents Medical Group aims to make the candidates achieve enough competency in all those areas mentioned above.
The Process
At Residents Medical Group, evaluating and preparing candidates for residency matches, begins with a rigorous assessment routine by the Residents Medical Acceptance Committee.
According to the committee’s evaluation, the candidates are divided and grouped for different pathways and programs. The highest-ranked candidates, for example, are considered eligible for the clinical to residency pathway.
Applicants selected for this pathway find immediate tenure at esteemed PM&R programs at the country’s top schools of medicine.
The subsequent batches of candidates are either put in the ‘Extended Medical Externship to Residency’ pathway or the ‘Unaccredited PGY-1 to Residency’ pathway.
This latter, created by the Residents Medical Group Committee itself, integrates the candidates in the residency program of a university-based teaching hospital, where they gain valuable clinical experience and learn to master the skills and competencies mentioned above under the direct mentorship of the Program Director.
On the other hand, the externship-to-residency pathway prepares the candidates in pretty much the same manner, the only difference being that the applicants chosen for that particular pathway get to work with the residency decision-makers and train directly under them for 9-12 months.
Eventually, the goal of Residents Medical Group is to train and prepare every applicant in the best possible manner so that they can be integrated into a fellowship or residency at an ACGME Accredited training program that will sit perfectly with the candidate and will facilitate the process of growth and change for them.
Discussion about this post