How Well Do Core Faculty Understand The Emergency Medicine Milestones?

Abstract

Introduction: It is unclear how emergency medicine (EM) programs educate core faculty about the use of milestones in competency-based evaluations. We conducted a national survey to profile how programs educate core faculty regarding their use and to assess core faculty’s understanding of the milestones. Methods: Our survey tool was distributed over six months in 2017 via the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) listserv. Responses, which were de-identified, were solicited from program directors (PDs), assistant/associate program directors (APDs), and core faculty. A single response from a program was considered sufficient. Results: Our survey had a 69.7% response rate (n=140/201). 62.9% of programs reported educating core faculty about the EM Milestones via the distribution of physical or electronic media. Although 82.6% of respondents indicated that it was important for core faculty to understand how the EM Milestones are used in competency-based evaluations, respondents estimated that 48.6% of core faculty possess “fair or poor” understanding of the milestones. Furthermore, only 50.7% of respondents felt that the EM Milestones were a valuable tool. Conclusion: These data suggest there is sub-optimal understanding of the EM Milestones among core faculty and disagreement as to whether the milestones are a valuable tool.