1998 SDRME Meeting Minutes New Orleans, Louisiana November 2, 1998 Executive Meeting General Meeting Presidents Report Membership Survey History of the SDRME Web Report Summer Meeting Treasurers Report  Plans for AAMC  Involvement with RIME FMER Money

Present: Shatzer, Camp, Cook, Krackov, Nowacek

Applications for membership were received from Amy Blue (Medical University of South Carolina), Elaine Dannefer (University of Rochester) and Jamie Shumway (University of West Virginia). It was proposed by Shatzer, seconded by Cook, that these applications for membership be approved. The motion was carried unanimously

Present: Kristi Ferguson, Hilary Schmidt, Sharon Krackov, Elaine Dannefer, George Nowacek, Frank Schimpfhauser, Jon Veloski, John Shatzer, Gordon Page, Richard Reznik, David Irby, Deb Simpson, Diane Heestand, John Littlefield, Ted Whitley (East Carolina), Mark Albanese, Jenny Blake, Bill Anderson, Amy Blue, Bill Weaver(Alabama) Jorgen Nystrup (Copenhagen), John Bligh (Liverpool UK), Gwendie Camp, Jamie Shumway, Carol Tresolini, Christine Vu (University of Geneva), Boyd Richards, Les Sandlow, Deb Kuhar, LuAnn Wilkerson, and Jack Nolte

1. Gwendie Camp welcomed the group and mentioned that the future of the SDRME meeting at AAMC was an item for discussion.

John Shatzer introduced the three new members. Each member then gave a short outline of the recent developments at their schools. During Ted and Diane's presentations, the room spontaneously rearranged itself from classroom seating into a circle.

1. SDRME co-operates with AAMC to give a workshop on curriculum management, which this year will be held in Charleston, SC.

2. Athol Kent welcomes us to Capetown for the next Ottawa Conference in the Year 2000, and wants to involve SDRME in that meeting, as a satellite meeting and/or a lunch or breakfast.

This is a biennial event, and the next one will be 16 months away. Most of the results are published on the SDRME web site, but the survey includes salary information which is not published on the web, but can be obtained via e-mail from Mark. Please make an effort to complete the survey - the return was about 61% and it would be more useful if the return were increased. Jon Veloski expressed particular concern about the poor response. Hilary Schmidt mentioned that the problem may lie with the financial content which may be classified information. Gwendie Camp suggested that this issue might be added to the agenda for the summer meeting.

John Schatzer has sent out copies of the history of the Society to all the members, and it is also available on the web.

Please communicate with Diane if there are any corrections to the data about you or your School which are published on the SDRME site. Also, it would be helpful if you could provide Diane with any appropriate links to your own offices. SDRME will undoubtedly make increasing use of electronic communications.

"The Springs" in Wisconsin is a pleasant environment with a wonderful golf course, plenty of Frank Lloyd Wright memorabilia, and plenty to do. Its about 35 miles from Madison. Access via Madison, Milwaukee or Chicago (about 190 miles). Dates are July 11th-14th. The meeting will resume the traditional format rather than the more condensed program which we experienced in Philadelphia. The 2000 meeting will be at Whistler, British Columbia, and is being organized by Gordon Page. Karen Mann has agreed to host the 2001 meeting in Nova Scotia.

The current balance is about $22,000, of which $16,000 is on deposit and the remainder available for deposits for meetings.

We should meet at AAMC, but the conflict with RIME needs to be resolved. An evening meeting, involving a communal dinner seemed to be a popular suggestion, possibly outside the conference hotel in a private room. The executive will explore this possibility.

The suggestion was made that we discuss the matter with RIME, and consider the possibility of a formal interaction. There was some support for having the President or some representative of RIME and SDRME sit on each executive committee. The alternative suggestion was that the membership join RIME individually. This matter sparked a more general and wide-ranging discussion. The mission statement of the SDRME was raised in this connection arising from the comment from Mark Albanese that SDRME was formed when there was no central organization for Medical Education research. Now that RIME exists, it might be useful to examine our own mission, particularly since nearly every office does a number of other things than medical education research. Richard Reznick made the point that the research mission of our offices should still be the dominant feature of the Society, but the extent of our other activities suggested to LuAnn Wilkerson that we needed to pay attention to our other roles as well. Les Sandlow suggested this might even extend to interactions with UGME, GME, and CME, as well as with RIME. This issue prompted an extended discussion about the relative roles of research and office administration. There was a strong feeling that we need to address both research, mentoring for research, using research to inform office decisions, and endeavours and issues such as application, curriculum development, and so on. While no conclusion was reached, there seemed to be some support for re-evaluating our mission statement so that other aspects of our role should be included. It was suggested that the executive should develop this idea and submit a draft statement to the membership for consideration. The mission statement should lead naturally to development of a strategic plan for SDRME.

Individual mentors may be confused about the mentor role for FMER students, as well as the approach to the whole program. LuAnn Wilkerson reported that 10-12 people per year were sponsored by the GEA, with support from the Dean in the medical school at which the FMER fellow holds the award. SDRME provides a source of the mentors. This program is being reconsidered by the GEA for financial reasons. The trainees may not be quite clear how their research fits into an overall picture, and they need assistance about research design and also about their career paths. Often the program becomes "soft" and individuals may not even finish their studies. There needs to be an outcome study looking at the long-term impact of the program. A further problem is that when the FMER fellow returns to their "home" university there may not be any resources to help them to continue their research. The FMER Fellows have a wide range of backgrounds in research when they enter the program, and thus work conducted needs to be tied to the expectations of that fellow and the environment in which they find themselves. The question is should SDRME be more active and supportive? This should probably be decided when we know whether it works. A small group was formed to look at whether we should really get behind this project or not. Volunteers were George Nowacek, Bill Anderson, and Deb Simpson.

The use of the unexpended balance in the account should be congruent with the strategic plan. There was a general feeling that we should invest this money and use it for specific purposes. The suggestion was made that there should be a reserve fund sufficient to cover the costs of a very unsuccessful meeting. We have also committed $5,000 for development of a handbook on research in medical education to be developed by Gordon Page, Geoff Norman and Sheila Chauvin in consultation with Brownie Anderson, since the cost was to be split with AAMC. The future of this project needs to be determined. Overall, although the amount seems to be substantial, the balance is not growing but seems to be stable, and the implications are that a wise investment strategy should be adopted, but we should not be trying to spend down the balance.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm and was followed by a reception.

Last updates/revisions: 11/25/02