The Fellows Track Symposium hosted 150 fellows at ATS 2014.

The ATS Resident Boot Camp hosted 70 matched residents in adult and pediatric medicine on Friday and Saturday to prepare them with the baseline skills and knowledge needed to flourish during their fellowship years.

“The boot camp is a good stepping stone from going from residency into fellowship because we’re pretty much going in blind,” says Amit Tandon, MD, a fourth-year resident at MetroHealth Medical Center, which is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. “You don’t know what to expect, and I think it’s great just to get a little bit of hands-on experience.”

Indeed, matched residents gained an in-depth tutorial in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep procedures, clinical scenarios, and topics. The boot camp also provided information about career paths and choosing a mentor, hands-on training via simulators, didactic lessons, and small group discussions.

“This is a big conference, and having us come out here and providing the boot camp for free is amazing. It’s taken a lot of hard work, but I think they’ve done a great job,” Dr. Tandon says.

Course Chair Laura E. Crotty Alexander, MD, vice chair of the ATS Training Committee that coordinated the boot camp, notes that in recent years the significant decrease in the total number of work hours completed by graduating residents has left many unprepared for day one of a fellowship.

“I’ve been really excited by the level of interest from the residents and that 47 faculty came to share their knowledge,” Dr. Crotty Alexander says.

Dr. Crotty adds that she is especially grateful to the Fellows Track Symposium planners for partnering with the boot camp.

“That allowed boot camp attendees to not only interact with each other, but interact with the fellows and see their role models in action,” she says.

The 2014 Fellows Track Symposium allowed 150 fellows enrolled in ACGME-accredited training programs from 22 states to attend the Friday and Saturday course covering cutting-edge topics in respiratory medicine. Throughout the FTS, fellows have the chance to network with each other as well as with experts.

“I enjoyed meeting with the other pulmonary and critical care fellows from across the country and getting to know some of the things that they do in their programs and their practice experiences,” says Isaretta Riley, MD, a third-year fellow in pulmonary and critical care at Duke University, Durham, NC. “The symposium is a good review of the broad content that I will be studying in preparation for my pulmonary boards in November, so I think this is really good review for that.”

Forty medical students throughout California are attending the conference free of charge for an in-depth introduction to pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine through the ATS 2014 Medical Student Scholars program. Initiated at ATS 2013 in Philadelphia, the program connects students with mentors who give them a glimpse into challenging and rewarding world of respiratory research and clinical practice.

The effort is spearheaded by ATS Vice President Atul Malhotra, MD, and the Members in Transition and Training Committee. This year, Dr. Malhotra enlisted Jess Mandel, MD, to coordinate the program.

“We think the pipeline of young people coming into our field is a critical issue,” Dr. Malhotra says. “By exposing young people to the excitement of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine, more will be encouraged to pursue training in our field. We plan to track the careers of our scholars to determine the impact of our program in the long term.”

The ATS Resident Boot Camp Program is supported by an educational grant from Olympus Corporation of the Americas. In-Kind Support has generously been provided by Bryan Corporation; CareFusion Corporation; CONMED; FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc.; ndd Medical Technologies, Inc.; Olympus Corporation of the Americas; Philips Respironics; ResMed; and Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corp.

The FTS is supported by educational grants from Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc.; AstraZeneca LP; Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Genentech; and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In-Kind Support has generously been provided by FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc.