Hello ARAS Friends!
It’s been a hot second – apologies for that! There’s a lot of new everything in my neck of the woods both personally and professionally. But I have a great crew on this ARAS EC year this year and they have been rock stars. As I write this – they are hard at work while I listen in via zoom planning a fantastic 2023 meeting.

Things you need to know as we ramp up into recruitment (as in things we need to do that don’t involve recruitment!):

ABS Roster due October 24th!

• Please make sure you cross check to make sure there aren’t any errors
• Residents identified in wrong graduation years/left off accidentally/etc. can affect ABSITE enrollment, ABS qualifying exam packet receipt, and it makes a lot of extra work for both you and the board.
• New this year: you can sort by PGY level! ABS reached out and asked us what they could fix now to make this task easier for us to cross check and we all said “sort by PGY level” because that’s how an administrator thinks when checking and making sure everyone is accounted for.
  
  

Get planning for Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) meeting(s)!

• If you don’t have your dates on a calendar yet – start working with your CCC chair(s) to get meetings scheduled and identify what data, you want pulled for the committee to make the most objective assessment possible.
• Remember – subjective vs. objective assessments:
  • Subjective: with bias, own opinion/interpretation
  • Objective: deciding based solely on the data in front of you

ARAS 2023

• We will be soliciting information from you all on what you want to see at ARAS 2023 as well as presenters
• We want to see you presenting!
  • Nervous about presenting alone? We will find you a presentation buddy!
    I am always willing to be a buddy!
• We will have ARAS panel sessions this year!
  • If you see a topic you feel confident in talking about with peers – sign up!
  • Topics to be voted on/announced soon!
• But seriously. We want to see you on the stage!
  • My goal this year is to see as many non EC member (current, that is) presenters/panelists as possible.
  • Please – reach out to me or any of the EC members if you want to present but have concerns/nerves/etc.  Again - we want to help!

Next up on the blog this week - introducing new Ad-Hoc and At-Large Members!

​-B

​Please read the message below from the American Board of Surgery. 
The American Board of Surgery (ABS) announced in February 2022 the ABS Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) Project, launching in July 2023 for general surgery residency programs.

As the ABS moves forward with this EPA initiative, one thing has become abundantly apparent - the feedback that we receive from participants is invaluable. Without this feedback, we have no way to know what is or is not working, where information is unclear, or what can be improved. Additionally, local champions who serve as promoters and exemplars for the project will be critical to its success. That's where you come in!

We are looking for program director, administrator, faculty and resident volunteers from each general surgery residency program to become an EPA Program Champion, serving as a local leader and liaison between your program and the ABS. These individuals will be our direct line of contact with your program, and we will rely on them to provide feedback on how the implementation of EPAs is going.
 
Until the implementation process begins, these individuals will serve as a ‘reactor panel’ to the various training documents and related materials that are being developed for use by programs.
To volunteer to be an ABS EPA Program Champion, please complete this form. 
 
Please also consider forwarding this email to your faculty and trainees for their consideration and hopeful participation.
 
If you have any questions, please contact epas@absurgery.org. 
 
Thank you.