Geriatrics

Education & Training – Interns and Residents

Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT)

This year's retreat will be held at the Salem Waterfront Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts on June 1-2, 2013. We invite Chief Residents and their Program Directors from all departments to attend this unique training program.

Register Now for the Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) Program

The overall goal of CRIT is to foster collaboration among disciplines in the management of complex older patients.

The secondary goals are:

• To incorporate geriatric principles into teaching and administrative roles as Chief Residents
  
  
• To develop leadership/teaching skills around the care of complex older patients
  
  
• To enhance leadership/teaching skills required in the Chief Resident role
  
  
• To be able to collaborate with other disciplines in the management of the complex older patient
  
  
• To develop an achievable project to be carried out during the Chief Residency year
  
  
• To have fun and foster collegiality
  
  

The CRIT Program takes place over the course of two days and focuses on an unfolding interactive surgical case divided into three modules following a geriatric patient from presentation to the emergency department to hospital discharge. Each module includes evidence-based mini-lectures on topics in geriatrics, small group interactive exercises, and seminars designed to enhance teaching and leadership skills. Chief Residents and Program Directors also attend two or three consultation sessions to develop an action plan for a project to be carried out through the Chief Residency year.

Now entering its 9th consecutive year, over 140 chief residents and 40 faculty mentors have participated in the Boston Medical Center (BMC) CRIT program, representing 17 medical and surgical disciplines. Participating specialties have included Internal Medicine, Otolaryngology, Anesthesiology, Rehabilitation Medicine, Family Medicine, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Podiatry, Psychiatry, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Urology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Dermatology and Pathology.

CRIT has consistently provided an effective immediate forum for raising Chief Resident awareness of and interest in geriatrics issues, increasing knowledge about specific syndromes and practices related to geriatrics medicine, enhancing leadership and teaching skills while building confidence for work as a Chief Resident, and reinforcing the importance of multidisciplinary approaches in the care of older patients.  It has also provided the opportunity for Chief Residents, Program Directors, and geriatrics faculty to network with each other and lay the groundwork for multi- and interdisciplinary connections.

National Dissemination

To date, the CRIT program has been conducted a total of 44 times at 16 institutions nationwide, including BMC. BMC began development of the CRIT program in 2003, with funding from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. In 2007, The John A. Hartford Foundation provided funding for the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) and BMC to undertake a national demonstration of the CRIT program. Due to the success of this demonstration, The Hearst Foundations and The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation have provided funds to continue the successful national dissemination of CRIT.

For more information on the National Demonstration of CRIT see: (http://www.americangeriatrics.org/adgap/crit/default.asp).

Please contact 617.638.6112, for more information about the 2013 CRIT program.