Position Description for GME Non-Physician Trainees

Definition: Graduate Medical GME Non-Physician Trainees

A practitioner who participates in an approved graduate medical education (GME) program and eligible to be Associate Members of the Duke University Hospital Medical Staff.  The term interns, residents, fellows, and non-physician trainees in GME programs approved by the Duke Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

The primary responsibilities of graduate medical non-physician trainees are to:

  • Participate in ethical, safe, high quality, competent, cost effective, and compassionate patient care under supervision, commensurate with their demonstrated competence, level of advancement and responsibilities.
  • Meet the educational goals of their specific training program.
  • Develop skills to be effective life-long learners including developing a personal program of self-study and professional growth with guidance from the faculty.
  • Demonstrate competency in patient care, medical knowledge, and practice based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems based practice.
  • Participate fully in the educational and scholarly activities of their program and required institutional orientation and self-instructional curriculum.
  • Assume responsibility for teaching and supervising and mentoring other graduate medical trainees and students, as skills and competencies progress.
  • Be diligent in their privilege to write medical orders for the patients under their assigned care and be aware of limitations of order writing as specified by existing or future hospital policies, i.e. chemotherapy orders, do not resuscitate orders, etc.
  • Comply with Graduate Medical Education Agreement of Appointment and Duke Health Confidentiality Agreement regarding Program, Departmental and Hospital policies and requirements.
  • Participate in institutional, departmental, and program activities involving performance improvement and patient care review.
  • Recognize the need for protection of human subjects when conducting research through compliance with IRB policies, procedures, and education.
  • Comply with Professional Expectations for Graduate Medical Trainees.
  • Participate in the evaluation of faculty, didactics, program, and program director as stipulated by the program requirements.
  • Respect patient’s rights.
  • Participate in duty hour monitoring accurately.
  • Participate and cooperate in and with the Graduate Medical Education office and the Duke Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) to enhance the medical educational experience. Specific Program requirements for each ACGME program can be accessed through the website www.acgme.org.  Program directors should share specialty specific expectations for graduate medical education with the trainees and relevant faculty.

Graduate medical trainees will be formally evaluated at least twice yearly by the program director or his/her representative.  This summative evaluation will summarize all formative evaluation information regarding the trainee such as, but not limited to, faculty and peer evaluations, simulations, manifestations, feedback from specific rotations or core educational activities. Trainees will advance in their respective programs and be promoted to levels of increasing responsibility based upon demonstration of successful progress.  At the conclusion of training, the final assessment will include the trainee’s capacity for independent practice. Specific information regarding individual trainee responsibility and independence can be obtained from their program directors who are listed on the Office of Graduate Medical Education website:  gme.duke.edu

Institutional Responsibilities

Each participating training site must:

  • Ensure that the clerical, nursing, laboratory, pharmacy, and patient support services staffing is such that graduate medical trainees are not routinely required to perform tasks that are the primary responsibility of other members of the health care team.
  • Monitor the educational experience through internal program audits.
  • Monitor duty hour experience, resident well-being, fatigue and impairment.
  • Provide supervision according to policies of Duke University Hospital.
  • Commit to excellence, innovation, and leadership in meeting the health care needs of the people we serve, improving community health and fostering the very best medical education and biomedical research.
  • Strive to provide the most advanced and comprehensive education possible, preparing our trainees for lifetimes of learning and careers as leaders, clinicians, teachers, and researchers.
  • Maintain a community of mutual respect and professionalism.