AACOM Collaborates with ACGME, Medical Organizations to Update Transition to Residency Toolkit

Published April 20, 2022


As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, it continues to pose challenges to medical school graduates as they transition from medical school to residency. For example, COVID-19’s disruptions to the clinical environment may have caused medical students to shift their focus to COVID-19-related priorities or to have fewer opportunities to perform procedures in which they would otherwise participate. To help address these challenges, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), along with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates | Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, collaborated with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) on updating its 2021 toolkit issuing guidance on the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education. The updated toolkit, Transition in a Time of Disruption: Practical Guidance to Support Learners in the Transition to Graduate Medical Education, Updated April 2022, provides resources to assist incoming residents, as well as programs and faculty members, in supporting medical school graduates as they transition to their first year of residency. 

In addition to updating last year’s toolkit, the ACGME also published two new toolkits supporting the transition to fellowship and practice. 

These toolkits are designed to assess and address medical students, residents and fellows’ levels of expertise, identifying where they may need more oversight, assistance, coaching or mentorship, depending on the extent of their clinical settings’ disruptions over the course of the pandemic, along with helping to identify and foster any new areas of strength acquired. 

The toolkits are intended to be used as voluntary resources. They include review questions and recommended activities and cover topics such as well-being, assessment, future planning and more. 

Read the ACGME’s publication announcement for more information, and view the toolkits on the Transitions in Medical Education page on the ACGME website or through the links below: