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Frequently Asked Questions Obstetrics & Gynecology Resident Case Log System Should procedure data for residents who transferred to my program be included? Yes, even though these data were not included on the "Annual Report" previously. In the online system, we will be able to electronically transfer the data when a resident moves from one program to another. Are we required to track obstetric management patients? No, the RRC is no longer requiring programs to submit data for obstetric management. If appropriate, patients that would have counted for obstetric management may be counted in the ambulatory and (diabetes for example) area. What types of amniocentesis data are being collected? The RRC wants all amniocentesis data entered into the system. It is not necessary to distinguish between genetic and non-genetic, but the Resident Case Log System allows the programs to track this distinction if they desire. Can procedures be entered other than what the RRC is collecting? Yes, all valid CPT codes are available in the system. If a CPT code is selected that does not count in one of the RRC categories, it will accumulate in the miscellaneous category. Do program directors/coordinators have the capability to view and/or edit data for residents? Yes, at any time a program director can view any of the data entered by their residents. If they wish to modify or add patient encounter data, they need to create an administrator ID and password. Once data is entered into the online system, can it be modified? Yes, residents may edit their own data at any time. The program director/coordinator can also have the capability to edit resident data. Only after a resident completes the program will the data be archived and unavailable for modification. Can one PC be used for all residents to synchronize their PDAs to the online system? Yes, it is possible to setup one computer and have it available for use as the place for residents to synchronize their PDAs to the web system. Does the PDA software download to the PC used for synchronization? No, the application itself does not download to the PC. The Scout software does reside on the PC and each individual who will use that particular PC to synchronize his or her data needs to have an account, within the Scout software, on that PC. Is there a PDA version for program directors/coordinators? No, the PDA version of the software is simply a data entry tool for residents to use. The data should still be on the web-based system and all reports are generated from the web application. What is the difference between surgeon and assistant, and can two residents take credit as surgeon? Only one resident can take credit as the surgeon. The definition for surgeon and assistant follow. Surgeon should be indicated when the resident sees the patient preoperatively, writes orders, discusses care with an attending physician, performs more than 50% of the surgical procedure, if one is performed, and cares for the patient postoperatively under supervision. Also, inc lude cases where the resident has little involvement in the pre and/or postoperative care of the patient but performs more than 50% of the surgical operation under supervision. Assistant should be used when a resident serves as assistant at surgery, performing less than 50% of the surgical procedure. Also, include cases where a resident (OBG-3 or OBG-4 level) is scrubbed on a surgical procedure to supervise, teach, and assist a more junior resident in performing a case for which the junior resident will claim "surgeon" responsibility. Will there be an "Annual Report" in the future? No, there will no longer be an "Annual Report" that must be filled out and submitted via diskette. Instead, we will ask the programs to generate a hard-copy summary report for each resident. Graduating resident(s) and their program director will sign the report and send it to the ACGME. We will be able to access these data from the online application and prepare program and RRC reports for annual data analysis. When do I get my username and password? If you convert your existing data before July 1st, you will receive your ID and password after submitting the data to the ACGME. We will e- mail the ID and password back to you once the data are converted to the online system. For those programs that are converting their existing data after July 1st, your username and password will be mailed to you shortly before then. Who assigns the Username and password for residents? The program is responsible to assign a username and password for each resident. The program director or administrator username and password allows you to assign or change the resident username and/or password. What is the "Case ID" on the Procedure Entry Screen? Is its use, HIPAA compliant? The "Case ID" is an optional field available for entering unique record identifiers. It is all right to use the hospital patient ID, but do not use social security numbers. The ACGME is entering into business associate agreements with each institution, so its use is HIPPA compliant. Is entering the name of the attending physician mandatory? No, the attending physician is not mandatory. In fact, there is an attending for each program called "not applicable" that is the default value. If you wish, you can add the actual attending physicians for your program and have the residents track who the attending was for each procedure. Is there a way to "log off" the Case Log System, short of just closing the browser? Yes, if you click on "Login" it will take you to the screen to log into the application. This logs the current user out of the application. If I send my data in for conversion after July 1, 2003, should the 2003 graduates be included? Yes, since there is no longer an "Annual Report" these residents will have their data loaded into the Resident Case Log System and reports generated from there. For the conversion, if our program is submitting a text file where do I find the ambulatory codes? They are available on the ACGME's website. Simply click on "Resident Case Log System" and then "CPT Codes". There is a link for the ambulatory care codes on this page. For the conversion, how do I enter more residents in the "Annual Report" software? On the program information sheet, put the total number of residents you are including data for as the answer to the question on how many graduating residents are included in the report. The response is the maximum number of residents you can enter data for in the "Annual Report" software. For the conversion, do I need to submit data for all my residents or just the 4th year residents? Data for all the residents needs to be sent in for conversion. Once the data have been converted to the online system, data will be entered in an ongoing basis in the online application. Also, data for every year in the program should be included for each resident. The conversion is designed to ensure summary data is accurate for what each resident has done up to that point. After conversion of data can residents enter any data missed? Will there be a time limit on how far back this experience may date? Yes, residents may go back and enter any data that was not loaded into the system, and there is no time limit on this. Residents may back-enter or edit data at any time before it is archived from the system. After conversion can resident data still be transferred to you in ASCII format? No, the submission of a text file was done to ease the transition to the online system. Programs are expected to use the Resident Case Log System to enter and submit their operative experience. After conversion the date that appears in the data on the detailed report is 6/30/2002. The data submitted was for a time period beyond that date. Is this a problem, and do we need to change the dates? No, the 6/30/2002 date was used to enable programs to easily identify their data submitted before the transition to the new system. My Residents are editing their cases and the CPT code for the procedure is not what they did on the patient. Was the conversion wrong? No, the data were sent to us in aggregate form and we had to assign a CPT code that counted in the category. The summary reports for your program match what was reported for the conversion. Over time, as the residents enter their data in the online system they will have an accurate accounting of the individual procedures they did while in training. The RRC is aware of this fact and will only be looking at the summary data when they evaluate programs. |
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