Developing a Good Orientation Experience for Your Incoming Learners

Program Coordinator Corner – May 2018

Dawne M. Vowler
Endocrinology & Metabolism Fellowship Coordinator
T32 Training Grant Manager
University of Michigan
dvowler@med.umich.edu

Orientation is one of the most anticipated, exciting, nerve wracking, and overwhelming experiences that your fellows will experience.  Much of the information that is shared in these day(s) will not be retained.  That’s right it will NOT be retained.  There is just too much going on for the new fellows to remember much of which you and the other sources are sharing with them during these sessions.  So, how can you make the most of the sessions and make them interesting and helpful?  What is important and what can be left for later?  How should you set up your sessions to improve retention of information?  Honestly, I do not have great answers because all of us are required and mandated to share certain information with our incoming fellows.  My orientation is going to look different than yours, based on the requirements of my institution.  However, over the years, I have come up with some tricks and tips that seem to have helped the Orientation Day process a little bit.  I invite feedback from you, so we can share ideas in upcoming newsletters.  For now, here is information from my process for my Endocrinology & Metabolism Orientation:

1. Never expect your incoming fellows to be alone moving from place to place.

i.e., the hospital has “onboarding stations” for ID badges, I-9’s etc.  From there, they need to go to Occupational Health.  From there, they go to get their pictures taken.  I make sure that one of my second years is available to move them from one place to another.  (Or I do it myself.)

2. Feed them!

I make sure that orientation day(s) include breakfasts and lunches and that they are accompanied by groups of people – second years, faculty, the PD or PC, etc. to discuss orientation issues during these meals.

3. Have a very comprehensive Orientation Manual.

I distribute mine to each new fellow in a 2-inch binder, and I also give it to them on a zip drive.  Just for good measure, I put the forms and basics on MedHub as well.  Knowing that much of this will be forgotten, having hard and electronic copies of the information for later are important.  Some of the information included is:

• The Orientation Schedule (copy – they will have received this well in advance)
• Yearly schedules (we devote an hour or more of orientation to going over schedules with them)
• Information about the administrative aspects of the program
• Program Policies, i.e., vacation, grievance, work hours, etc.
• Who, What Where, When of each of the rotations (the upper classmen discuss these rotations with them at lunch)
• Specific diagnostic guidelines for some of the sub subspecialty rotations
• Well Being Information
• Important Phone Numbers
• Maps

4. Take TIME to go over information.

Our Endo-Specific Orientation is about one and one half days.  This includes a significant amount of time to go over the orientation manual carefully.  It also includes time for the second- and third-year fellows to lunch with the incoming fellows in order to answer questions and discuss the basics of various rotations.  We build in time for the upperclassmen to take the incoming fellows on tours of the VA and University Hospitals and make sure they are acclimated to their areas that they will be working.

Additionally, we have other conference sessions that are also orientations to things such as Pump Starts, Billing Compliance, Endo-Specific EMR, etc.  By having these topics during conference time and spread out during the month of July, it increases the likelihood that the information will be absorbed and retained.

5. Get feedback to improve.

In the middle/end of every year, I ask my first years to give me feedback about what they wish they would have known or heard at orientation.  We have used a lot of this feedback to continuously improve our orientation process.  They are the ones that come in fresh and new, so they are our best resource for ways to improve our process.

Based on the requirements of your institution and the characteristics of your own program, your orientation will take on a flavor of its’ own.  I trust you and your incoming fellows will survive another successful orientation season.  Good luck!