"Leading Curricular Change—Skills and Strategies for Success" is the theme of Tufts Health Care Institute's eighth national conference, to take place Sept. 9-10, 2004 in Cambridge, MA.

Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs are now required to integrate the teaching of general competencies into residency training programs in order to maintain accreditation. The mandate for curricular change is clear, but for many GME programs, moving from plan to action is proving more difficult than originally anticipated.

To help program directors and faculty address the ACGME competency requirements, THCI's annual national conference will focus on skills and approaches to implement curricular change.

For an overview of the ACGME implementation guideline schedule, click here.

This year's conference will highlight:
• Strategies to engage faculty to embrace new curricula
• Ways to identify and overcome roadblocks to effective implementation
• Recent experience: what works and what doesn't
• Success skills for program directors

Conference Collaborators
• American College of Physicians (ACP)
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors

Conference Sponsors
Merck & Co., Inc.
Procter & Gamble

Conference Exhibitors
Advanced Informatics
Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc.
InfoPOEMs
Limbs & Things
MD Consult

Faculty
Plenary Sessions
• Jeanne K. Heard, MD, PhD, the ACGME's newly appointed Director of Residency Review Committee Activities
• Robert Kegan, PhD, The William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development Educational Chair, Institute for Management and Leadership in Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Michael E. Whitcomb, MD, Senior Vice President, Division of Medical Education, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Editor-in-Chief of Academic Medicine
• Leonard Marcus, PhD, Lecturer on Public Health Practice, Department of Health Policy and Management, at Harvard School of Public Health
• Cynthia G. Silber, MD, Associate Dean for GME, Jefferson Medical College
• Greg Ogrinc, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Community and Family Medicine; Research Director for the Office of Community-Based Education and Research, Dartmouth Medical School; Assistant Fellowship Director, White River Junction VA Hospital National Quality Scholars Program

Workshop Leaders
• Stewart Babbott, MD, Director, Faculty and Resident Development, Baystate Medical Center
• Robert Englander, MD, MPH, Director, Inpatient Management & Services, Connecticut Children's Medical Center
• Carol Carraccio, MD, Associate Chair for Education, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland Medical Center

Who should attend
• Residency Program Directors in all specialties
• Designated Institutional Officials
• GME Committee Members and Chairs
• GME Faculty
• Residency Program Administrators and Coordinators
• Faculty Development and Faculty Affairs Professionals
• Chief Residents

Accreditation
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, ACCME, through the joint sponsorship of The Beam Institute and Tufts Health Care Institute. The Beam Institute is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Beam Institute designates this educational activity for a maximum of 13 category 1 credits toward the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that he/she actually spent in the activity.

The American Medical Association has determined that physicians not licensed in the US who participate in this CME activity are eligible for AMA PRA category 1 credit.

Financial Disclosure
Faculty members are required to report any existing , significant interest in, or other relationship(s) with the manufacturer(s) of commercial product(s) of this activity. This information will be available at the activity.

Special Needs Statement
The Beam Institute fully complies with the legal requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act rules and regulations. If any participant attending this conference is in need of special accommodations, please contact THCI at least 2 weeks prior to the activity at 617-636-1000.

Registration Information
Register by August 20, 2004 and pay only $525! Otherwise, the conference fee is $595. Partial sponsorship has allowed us to extend the early registration deadline.

The conference fee includes:
• All workshops and sessions
• Networking cocktail reception on Sept. 9
• Continental breakfast and lunch on Sept. 9 and 10
• Conference course book

Click here to register online.
Or, for more information, please send an e-mail to thci@thci.org, or you may reach THCI by phone at 617-636-1000.

Hotel Information
Please call The Charles Hotel directly at 1-800-882-1818 or 617-864-1200 and mention THCI to reserve your hotel room. See The Charles Hotel at http://www.charleshotel.com.

THCI's 2003 National Conference
THCI's 2003 national conference focused on assessing competencies in connection with ACGME Outcome Project. Click here for 2003 Conference Highlights.

What attendees said about last year's THCI National Conference on the new ACGME competency mandates:

"I gained concrete ideas for implementing competencies into my curriculum."

"I learned how to organize a curriculum around the competencies and how to incorporate new assessment tools."

"The conference provided ways to easily incorporate Practice-Based Learning and Improvement and Systems-Based Practice into teaching."

"My attitude shifted from regarding competency assessment as a regulatory necessity to an opportunity to improve care."

"It increased my comfort level in dealing with the competencies and their assessment. I look at the competencies with more optimism now."

"It made me realize I am not alone. Everyone is struggling with the same issues."