FAME Grant Announcement

Press Release

Two Million Dollar Grant Awarded to Create a Model Teaching Program for New Technologies

The Philadelphia Health Care Trust has awarded a two million-dollar Grant to the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Advanced Medical Education (FAME). FAME, a division of the American Medical Foundation for Peer Review and Education (AMF), will administer the Grant which will be used to design a model program for teaching physicians in the safe and effective use of new technology and procedures. FAME will work in collaboration with several specialty societies: the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons/Society of Thoracic Surgeons (AATS/STS), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), the American Association for Vascular Surgery (AAVS), and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI).  FAME Executive Director, Evelyn Baram-Clothier stated “This novel multi-Society cooperation plans to develop a method for improving the quality of care and reducing medical errors during the introduction of new procedures into practice”.

There is not at present a proven method of teaching practicing surgeons the best way to utilize the ever more valuable, but also more complex, new procedures in community practice following formal residency. “The Grant will develop a systematic method of teaching the use of novel operative techniques and technology…” according to AMF Chairman Dr. Richard S. Wilbur.

The acquisition of knowledge of new procedures and technology by physicians is neither organized nor well defined. The Grant would develop a method that would enable surgeons to acquire sufficient knowledge of specific operative techniques and technology in a systematic way. The Grant will support the development of model education programs promoting patient safety and an improved process. This innovative approach will combine an educational portion developed and produced by the professional societies with a practicum followed by on-site proctoring. Following observation of new procedures at designated teaching centers, a physician will then be supervised performing the new procedure in his or her own hospital and operating room team environment.

The American Medical Foundation for Peer Review and Education is the national leader in the independent review of physician and specialty services for over 1000 US hospitals. Its division, the Foundation for Advanced Medical Education (FAME), provides on-site physician education and offers post peer review, on-site monitoring and proctoring of clinical practice techniques and preceptor programs for new medical devices and procedures.

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is a scientific and educational association of 60,000 surgeons whose members span all specialty societies. It was founded in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice. It is the largest association of surgeons in the world. According to Dr. Sam Wells, Director, Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Medicine of the ACS, “This grant will allow us to develop an outstanding continuing medical education program for the Fellows of the College.”

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (STS/AATS) are the two primary thoracic surgical organizations in the United States. Thoracic surgeons treat diseases involving the heart, lungs, esophagus and chest wall. They replace and repair heart valves, perform coronary bypass surgery, transplant heart and lungs and remove of esophageal and pulmonary cancer. The two societies have a combined membership of approximately 3,500 members and are both international organizations working closely together. According to Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, Past President, American Association for Thoracic Surgery and Chairman of the combined societies New Technology Committee, “This unique grant from the Philadelphia Health Care Trust is a milestone and will enable societal, independent training of graduate surgeons in advanced new technology.”

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is a professional society of over 25,000 cardiovascular physicians and scientists from around the world. The mission of the College is to support, to foster optimal cardiovascular care and disease prevention through professional education, promotion of research, leadership in the development of standards and guidelines and the formulation of health care policy. According to ACC President, Dr. George Beller, “An important and emergent area of interest to the ACC is creating standards and a curriculum to assist our members in learning new procedures using existing technology and/or learning to use – safely and effectively – new technologies. We welcome the opportunity to work with the Foundation for Advanced Medical Education (FAME) in creating a demonstration program to achieve this common goal.”

The Society for Vascular Surgery and The American Association for Vascular Surgery (SVS/AAVS) are those professionals whose primary mission is the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease. The 1800 members are individuals who have made major contributions to the field of general vascular surgery in the clinical, educational, and research areas. According to Dr. Richard Green of the SVS, “The FAME grant affords a tremendous opportunity for the Society for Vascular Surgery to develop a program that provides training to physicians in new technologies. This is a huge problem that transcends any one specialty. We look forward to participating and expanding our relationship with the ACC, our partners in this venture.”

The Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) is a professional society of thousands invasive/interventional cardiologists and cath lab team members.  SCAI focus is to establish standards and guidelines for all aspects of cardiac catheterization and angiography, training, credentialing, safety, and quality assurance for cardiovascular procedure.

    1. Contact: Evelyn Baram-Clothier

 

    1. Executive Director: Foundation for Advanced Medical Education (FAME)

 

    1. American Medical Foundation for Peer Review and Education (AMF)

 

    1. tel:215-545-6363 | email:

EBC@medicalfoundation.org

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