Session Design Submission Review

No

Yes

Surgical education spans medical school, residency, and fellowship—but too often, each phase operates in isolation. The result is fragmented learner transitions, inconsistent expectations, and duplicated effort across departments. At the same time, institutions face growing external pressures: LCME reviews, ACGME site visits, medical school expansion, and tighter budgets. Meeting these challenges requires more than program-level excellence—it demands cross-continuum communication and collaboration among faculty, coordinators, and administrative leaders.

This interactive session offers a practical roadmap for surgical education leaders to break down silos and build integrated systems across UME, GME, and fellowship. Presenters will include a Vice Chair of Education, a Clerkship Director, a Program Director, an Education Coordinator, and a Department Business Manager. Together, they will share real-world strategies that strengthen collaboration across educational roles while addressing institutional challenges with shared solutions.

The session will begin by identifying common gaps in communication, learner support, and system design—such as inconsistent professionalism expectations, feedback breakdowns, and onboarding redundancies. Faculty and coordinators will then co-present case examples of how collaboration across programs has improved outcomes during LCME and ACGME visits, enhanced compliance, and smoothed learner transitions. The session will also elevate the unique perspective of education coordinators, who often serve as institutional memory and operational glue between training levels.

New in this session is the deliberate inclusion of a Business Manager, who will outline the financial and operational advantages of integrated education planning. Participants will explore how shared onboarding processes, centralized tracking systems, and coordinated faculty development can reduce duplication, streamline accreditation prep, and improve return on investment across the department.

Throughout the session, attendees will receive practical tools they can take back to their home institutions, including:

• Templates for cross-level planning and communication (e.g., shared onboarding checklists, joint accreditation timelines)
• Strategies for including coordinators and business leaders in education planning
• Models for mentorship ladders and professionalism curricula that span training levels
• Financial and administrative considerations for resource-sharing across UME/GME/fellowship

This session is designed for surgical educators at all levels, including faculty, program directors, clerkship leaders, coordinators, and departmental business or administrative officers. Whether you’re preparing for a site visit, managing rapid growth, or seeking to improve the learner experience, this workshop offers actionable steps toward more unified, efficient, and resilient surgical education programs.

90-minute workshop

Yes

Yes

1. Identify barriers to collaboration across the surgical education continuum.

2. Implement strategies to align expectations, communication, and systems across training levels.

3. Engage coordinators and business managers as equal partners in education planning.

4. Apply shared tools to meet institutional challenges more effectively.