Practices and Perspectives on Anesthesiology Milestones: A Mixed-Methods Study of ACGME-Accredited Residency Programs

• In Event: Defining Competence: Milestones and Skills Assessment

Abstract

Understanding how the ACGME milestone evaluations are understood and implemented in anesthesiology residency programs is important because these evaluations were designed to move medical specialties towards competency-based medical education. This mixed-methods study looks quantitatively at milestone ratings within and across anesthesiology programs using Milestone 1.0 rating data and qualitatively at focus group transcripts of interviews with program directors using the Milestone 2.0 evaluations. The results of this study suggest significant variations across programs’ ratings which are echoed in the focus group responses describing a variety of effective practices and challenges for implementation. These results highlight the need for continued work on the milestones, as well highlight potential practices that could be adopted nationally to help standardize practices.

Authors

• Emily Toutkoushian, The American Board of Anesthesiology

• Tianpeng Ye, American Board of Anesthesiology

• Ni Bei, The American Board of Anesthesiology 

• Huaping Sun, The American Board of Anesthesiology