VA Chief Resident in Quality and Patient Safety Program

The Veteran Affairs Boston Healthcare System, our affiliate teaching institution, offers residents a post-doctoral position as Surgical Chief Resident in the Quality and Patient Safety (CRQS) Program. This program is a one-year training opportunity for surgical residents who have completed at least two years of clinical training.

During this year, the resident will focus on learning and teaching quality improvement initiatives and patient safety principles while also engaging in various improvement projects throughout the institution. Each resident is required to participate in a national curriculum led by the VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) which consists of a week-long “boot camp” focusing on high-yield topics as well as monthly lectures and small group discussions intended to better grasp core concepts and to receive guidance on ongoing improvement projects.

As the Surgical CRQS, the resident will work closely with the Chief of Surgery (Dr. Kamal Itani), the Associate Chief of Surgery for Quality and Safety (ACSQS) (Dr James McPhee), and the patient safety manager (Pamela Bellino) to identify issues, adverse events and near-misses within the hospital that require further review. The resident will be responsible for investigating surgery-related incident reports and devising system-based solutions for those incidents when possible. The Surgical CRQS will also meet weekly with the medical CRQS and quality improvement/patient safety faculty to review adverse events that arise within the medical service, acting as an advisor and surgical liaison. The resident stipend provided will be based on PGY level indexed to the local affiliate hospital.

Ultimately, the CRQS is expected to engage in teaching quality and safety measures to colleagues and will receive a National VA certificate of completion at the end of the program. For additional information regarding this position, please contact: James McPhee, MD