Since the beginning of the pandemic, the ACR’s Committee on Training and Workforce (COTW) has been interested in better understanding how fellowship recruitment is affected by virtual recruitment from the perspectives of both program directors and trainees. This past year, the COTW conducted a survey study to gain the perspective of program directors.1 The Rheumatology…
I wouldn’t normally look to professional basketball as a model for healthcare, but sometimes answers come from unexpected places. The observation that elite athletes are not like you and me—medically speaking—is not new. In the second century AD, the pontifex maximus in Pergamum recognized this fact and appointed Claudius Galen physician to the gladiators, making…
The Washington Rheumatology Alliance is focused on creative ways to increase the rheumatology workforce to meet the demand for care, such as instituting clinical rotations in rheumatology for nurse practitioner programs and advocating for pediatric rheumatologist loan forgiveness.
The growing rheumatologist workforce shortage has loomed over the profession, threatening to undercut the delivery of care to the increasing number of patients with rheumatic conditions. “The workforce shortage is an existential threat to the field of rheumatology and to the care we deliver to our patients,” says ACR President Kenneth Saag, MD, who lauded…
At a recent ACR town hall, four rheumatologists shared strategies that have helped them recruit new physicians amid a significant nationwide rheumatology workforce shortage.
The ACR-supported Breen Act will provide resources for mental health services and programs for healthcare professionals to reduce burnout and prevent suicide.
Patients shouldn’t need to exercise patience when it comes to getting needed rheumatologic care. E-consults are an evolving telehealth modality with the potential to improve access to rheumatologic care in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are the focus of a new ACR/ARP subcommittee of the Collaborative Initiatives (COIN) Special Committee. The 13-member group will explore strategies to increase diversity in the rheumatology workforce pipeline and reduce implicit bias in such organizational processes as speaker recruitment and abstract review. “There is a new awareness at the…
TOWN HALL—When the COVID pandemic shifted meetings and other team functions in the working world to remote video encounters, team leaders were challenged to find new ways to build and support their teams. When the team could only come together remotely, the need for cohesion, morale building, recognition and common culture took on even greater…
The 2021–23 Washington budget enables consideration of pediatric rheumatologists for state loan forgiveness programs during the 2019–21 and 2021–23 cycles, making it the first state to include any rheumatologists in its loan forgiveness programs.