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Resident, Fellow Orientation Goes Successfully Virtual
When residents and fellows join a hospital system, it’s important they become acquainted with their city and feel like they belong with their team.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, that was a challenging task to complete, but the College of Medicine Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME) went above and beyond to ensure its incoming physicians and trainees received a proper welcome. A major part of that was creating an engaging virtual orientation.
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“We had to shift what we normally did for orientation because we have nearly 200 people together in one place, but that obviously was a big no-go last year,” Amy DiLorenzo, PhD, assistant dean for educational innovation and scholarship in GME, said. “So we had to get creative and do some things a little differently.” The orientation developed into a hybrid of in-person and online activities. Zoom played a major role as a platform for lecture-based material and didactics. GME also received assistance from the college’s senior communications director Lauren Greathouse to produce detailed videos that showcased Lexington and UK’s GME programs.
While GME was unable to host its annual in-person welcome dinner, the team discovered a new orientation feature it plans to use in future years. Whoova, a phone application, allowed learners to interact with one another before orientation. They could share interests, meet their team members, and ask questions before even coming to UK.
For the events that had to be on campus, such as employee health and electronic medical record trainings, GME mitigated potential spread of
COVID-19 by separating incoming residents and fellows into multiple groups to ensure safe distances.
“I really think we were just pleased that we were able to pivot, both for orientation and for support of all the programs in their resident and fellows recruitment. Our role was to support and guide the programs to create a good virtual recruitment experience during these unusual times,” Dr. DiLorenzo said. n
