The fall meeting of the Society for Education (SEA) in Anesthesiology in Chicago, IL on November 7th, 2024 was titled “The Year of the Educator.” The theme was chosen to highlight the need for and support of development and growth of members as educators. The SEA fall meeting took place the day before the Society of Academic Associations of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine to allow residency and fellowship program leadership the opportunity to extend and expand their learning at both meetings.
The meeting opened with breakfast roundtable committee meetings. This time to network and meet other educators is a highlight of every SEA meeting, with committees being open to any interested new members. This year, the start time was slightly delayed to 8 AM to accommodate those who arrived in Chicago late the evening prior and those from western time zones. Please let us know if you liked that change!
We were thrilled to have Bill Cutrer, MD, MEd as the McLeskey lecturer. Each year, the McLeskey lectureship is an honor bestowed upon an individual who has demonstrated substantial contributions to medical education and leadership. Dr. Cutrer is a Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology at the Vanderbilt University, and a practicing critical care physician. He is also the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, and the Associate Vice President for Educational Affairs at Vanderbilt University. He co-led the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Master Adaptive Learning work group and was on the Vanderbilt team for the AAMC pilot project Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) for Entering Residency. His lecture titled “Targeting Adaptive Expertise: Practical Strategies for Lifelong Learning” highlighted the theory of Master Adaptive Learner (MAL) in the context of a developing physician and the role of EPAs, specifically highlighting the work done to design anesthesiology resident milestones. He also discussed MAL as it relates to a developing educator and the role of milestones, such as the Clinician Educator Milestones.
The Duke/SEA Awardee for this year was Glenn Woodworth, MD. Dr. Woodworth was selected for this award because of his major achievements in anesthesiology education. His incredible accomplishments include his leadership in the development of the Anesthesia Toolbox, first at Oregon Health & Science University and now run by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, as well as his work determining EPAs for anesthesiology residents, as well as a way of assessing them through a now widely adopted app (myTIPreport). Dr. Woodworth highlighted key points in his career and gave an inspiring message to continue to follow your dreams.
The afternoon keynote speaker was Laura Edgar, EdD, CAE, who is the Senior Vice President, Competencies, Milestones, and Faculty Development for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She provides leadership for the oversight, development, innovation, and maintenance of domestic and international competencies, the Milestones, and faculty development. She serves as an ACGME ambassador to and collaborator with stakeholders both internal (ACGME International, ACGME Global Services, Department of Education, Review Committees) and external (program director groups, certification boards, medical specialty groups) to advance the implementation of competencies, Milestones, faculty development, and other ACGME strategic initiatives. Her talk, “Charting your Journey to Excellence Using the Clinician Educator Milestones” encouraged all of us to reflect on our strengths and areas for growth as educators and set goals for ourselves to intentionally create a plan for development.
Additionally, there were morning and afternoon workshops that gave hands on practice with education principles. These included presenters from across the country and topics including the Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Teaching, How to Coach your Trainees, Guided Practice in Advising Medical Students and many more. One new session was the Bite-Sized Development session in which five mini-presentations of approximately 12 minutes gave highlights of different topics.
We had a wonderful time planning the meeting and are very thankful to the SEA Meeting Planning Committee, and Dr. Kristin Ondecko-Ligda and Mr. Andrew Bronson for their help. Looking forward to seeing you in Austin, TX for the Spring 2025 meeting!
