When Kyle Glienke, MD, chose Ascension's St. Vincent Family Medicine in Indianapolis to complete his medical residency, little did he know the formation experience he would receive. Now, not only will Dr. Glienke and 20 fellow medical residents reach Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones as a result of the program, they also will learn valuable formation strategies and approaches that have been embedded into St. Vincent's Resident Formation Pilot Group curriculum.
The Resident Formation Pilot helps hospitals support residents in considering their calling, not just their career, helping residents find deeper meaning in their work, realize their gifts, and develop their skills in a way that serves human dignity and the common good.
As Dr. Glienke shared in a recent Catholic Health World article, the goal of the Resident Formation Pilot Group is to "help us find our connection to our meaning in medicine."
The idea of embedding formation practices into residency programs is gaining traction throughout Ascension. Pilot programs began in 2012 at St. Vincent as well as two Ascension health ministries in Michigan: St. John Providence in Detroit and Genesys Health System in Grand Blanc. The program also has expanded to Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, part of Saint Thomas Health. The group of program directors involved in the pilot has invited several other health ministries to incorporate formation in their Family Medicine Resident programs, and is reaching out to the directors of Internal Medicine Resident Programs as well.
Steven Minnick, MD, MBA, director of medical education at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, and Curt Ward, MD, MBA, physician formation leader for St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, worked with a group of Resident Program Directors to pilot formative experiences that include spiritual centeredness, attention to community benefit, and communication skills into Ascension residency programs in a way that perfectly aligns with the ACGME Milestones residents already have to achieve.
"The curriculum will open up the opportunity for all residents in an Ascension ministry to holistically become the physicians God has called them to be," Dr. Ward said. "We have started with a small group of family medicine residency programs with the expectation to make the curriculum available across all Ascension residency programs."
Ascension is hopeful this program will lead to another intended outcome: increased retention, engagement and positive practice experience for physicians.
"With the second largest resident program in the nation, we are educating and nurturing groups of highly qualified physicians," said Celeste Mueller, Vice President of Spiritual and Theological Formation, Ascension. "When residents experience our spiritually centered, holistic approach to healing, and the joy of their own calling to medicine, our hope is that we will attract and retain these men and women who are already grounded in our Mission."
Click here to read the Catholic Health World article featuring St. Vincent's residency program.
