MEMBER FEEDBACK

Daryl Phillips, DPM
Robert.Phillips2@med.va.gov
Residency Director
DVA - Coatesville

We have been very enthusiastic about the Rumble.  We understand some of the learning curve you've been on, and realize that sometimes things happen, unforeseen and unplanned, which may have made it a little bit more Rocky than you had anticipated.  But overall, I have to give you guys an "A".

Yes, we're very interested in the Podiatry Today participation, and we accept your invitation to develop the questions.  I have already talked to one of my residents and also Dr. Joseph, and the other residents will be talked to tomorrow, but you may Count Us IN.

Thank you again,
Daryl Phillips, DPM

Louis R. Lapow, DPM
CLLLRL@aol.com
Residency Director
St. Joseph’s Hospital - Bluemound

We certainly enjoyed the challenge so far.  Our hospital administration is well aware of how far we have progressed and they are talking about some local press coverage here in Milwaukee.  Our entry into the final round will certainly aid us as we approach the new season of residency interviews and selection. 

Dr. Amiot, our Chief Resident, would be happy to provide Podiatry Today with details of how we handled the weekly questions.  Suffice it to say that it was a group effort of our residents and a core group of our attending podiatric staff.  Their knowledge and coordination in answering the questions in unbelievable time amazed me. 

We think that future challenges would serve to stimulate the programs in the future.  If we can be of assistance, we are certainly open to discuss that.  Again, thank you for this wonderful idea and the superb work you and your staff are doing to further the education of podiatrists around the world.

Sam Mendicino, DPM
drsmendo@aol.com
Residency Director
Greater Texas Education Foundation

I think the rumble was great.  To bring the spirit of competition into learning adds to the learning process.  Our team consisted of all of the residents who were not on an outside rotation or in surgery.  No faculty or attending help was permitted.  They would assemble in the library with a designated resident to type in the answer.

One suggestion is to provide the score to the director and the residents the next day.  This would allow them to see why they won or lost and help them modify their strategy.  For example, on the round in which we were eliminated, the residents claim they answered all of the questions correctly in under 3 minutes.  Obviously they were shocked they lost.  I would like to see if that was true.  If they were shown the score, number of correct answers and the time, if they were close on time and won they could focus on speed.  If they missed a question and won they could focus on accuracy.

If you need someone to be interviewed we would be pleased to help.

Thank you,
Sam Mendicino, DPM

RESPONSE FROM PRESENT:

We welcome programs to print the response screen before hitting the SUBMIT button, in order to have a record of your response.  You would then be able to compare your responses to the correct responses, which we have been publishing a few days later.  Since the Rumble is a timed event and speed often determined the winner, it's expected that some responses contained spelling or other careless errors...in most cases, we didn't penalize for spelling, unless it changed the meaning of the response.  Rushing also resulted in incorrect answers, or answers that were not intended.  Printing your response would allow you to check your answers after they are submitted.

Overall, the The Rumble is not intended to be a serious competency test, like a board certification exam. It's an academic contest, intended to be entertaining and educational.  It doesn't determine licensure or a doctor's right to treat patients and earn a living.  It's Jeopardy, not an exam.  So we really don't want to get into reporting scores, or exact times.  Frankly, we have delayed releasing the accepted answers a few times because we received unique responses that we didn't expect.  We had to consult some peers and research the issues, and some turned out to be correct.  We, of course, accepted them.  We've tried very hard to ask questions that are legitimate items in the podiatric knowledge base, and not just "trivia". We've also tried to ask questions that involve "judgment", as they are hard to grade.   It turns out that our residents have a very good handle on the knowledge base.  Before the next edition of The Rumble, we're going to be consulting other educators, to see if we can come up with more difficult questions that we can fairly grade, without having to deal with controversies of treatment or standards that may vary in centers around the country.

Stephen Stern, DPM  
vpod@cox.net
Director, Inova Fairfax Hospital Podiatric Residency Program

Our program would be more than happy to be interviewed and prepare questions. Our residents really enjoyed getting together Tuesday PM to participate in the Rumble. The problem we faced is that the computers at the hospital are not always reliable and when we were down to the final 8, the residents couldn't download the questions. They then had to contact another resident outside the hospital who had a non-cable internet connection. They, therefore, were quite upset in that they couldn't get the questions submitted until 9:09PM. As a result we were eliminated.

I would propose in the future that a different method of timing be instituted whereby you could be certain that all participants were successfully online or as my residents suggested make the questions more difficult so time wouldn't play as much a role.

RESPONSE FROM PRESENT:

We're looking into other ways of delivering the questions in a fair way at the same time around the country.  We started this first edition of The Rumble with 76 programs.  It's quite a challenge to deliver questions to all of them at the exact same time in such a way that we know that no one receives the questions early.  We don't have a "proctor" at each location, like when we took the MCATs.   Opening a web page that we update at exactly 9AM worked pretty well and would be fair IF each program had a totally dependable Internet connection.  Unfortunately, that doesn't exist.  We can understand your resident's frustration when it took a few minutes for the question page to load.  We will be working on making the questions harder, so that time isn't the deciding factor.

Chris Corwin, DPM
ccorwin22@yahoo.com
Resident
Community Medical Center
Guido LaPorta, Director

We can submit questions if you need them.  Let us know.

Michael Difrancesca,DPM
mdifrancesca@partners.org
Resident
Massachusetts General Hospital

I would be happy to help Residency Recourses any way I can.  I really appreciate all the time and effort it takes to have the residency challenge and having new lectures of us to view.  Just let me know how I can help and when.

Steve Goldman, DPM
SteveGoldman@att.net
Director
DVA - New York Harbor Healthcare

We would like to  submit questions.

Renae Witt, DPM
renae@witt.net
2nd yr Surgical Resident
HealthSouth Saddleback Valley Outpatient Center

Would like to submit questions for Winter Challenge, &/or participate in interview process if needed.  Thanks for the continuing education!
 

Hengelberth Montufar, DPM
hengelberthm@hotmail.com
Resident
Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital

Yes, I would like to participate in the interviews for Podiatry Today.  I'm not clear on what the details of submitting questions for the Challenges, but it is something that our program would be interested in.  I can tell you that my co-residents and I enjoyed the Rumble very much.  Unfortunately we only made it to the second week.  We followed the rest of the Rumble.  We got together in the medical education conference room, which is conveniently located next to the medical library, which was what we used as our source.  This included McGlamry's, Dockery's, Joseph's, and Gerbert's, among others.

Rose Toussaint, DPM
rtoussaint@hotmail.com
Resident
Doctors Hospital New Boston

Our experience with The Rumble was very positive.

Angela Cheny, DPM
angfootdoc@hotmail.com
Resident
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center 

I'd be interested in submitting questions for the next Rumble.  I enjoyed this one.  Too bad our program was the first to lose.  Oh well.  Now we'll be motivated more to do better next time.

Jennifer Mullendore, DPM
kookwoman@hotmail.com
Resident
Crozer - Keystone - Springfield Division

We would love to give you an interview on the Rumble, it has been a great experience for us as a group and have loved participating.  We would be happy to make up questions as well for future rounds.  Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Mark Snyder, DPM
hallux56@comcast.net
Resident
Crozer - Keystone - Springfield Division

In response to your email, I have no problems answering any questions that are needed by Podiatry Today.  The residency rumble is a great way for our residents to get together and work as a team.  We meet every Tuesday night at our office and wait for the questions to pop up on the web site.  Most of the answers, I honestly can say that we know off the top of our heads.  Occasionally we will look one up to check spelling and reassurance that we were correct.  We would use Pocket Podiatric, McGlamry’s as references. 

I don’t have a problem and don’t think any of my co residents would mind submitting questions in the future.  If you would like us to be interviewed feel free to contact me

RESPONSE FROM PRESENT:

Spoken like a contest finalist...which, of course, your program was !  Congratulations on a great performance in Rumble 1, Dr. Snyder

Russell Caprioli, DPM
Drcap1@aol.com
Residency Director
Long Island Jewish Medical Center

I think overall we are a little disappointed with PRESENT. The residents were initially extremely enthusiastic. The variety and quantity of the lectures needs improvement. We also need to structure a required # of lectures and perhaps making some lectures required viewing in order to increase utilization. A step by step curriculum for 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd or advanced level. More structure and substance.

RESPONSE FROM PRESENT STAFF:

Dr. Caprioli,

We am sorry to hear that you and your residents are disappointed with PRESENT. We would like to take this opportunity to help lay your concerns to rest.  In response to your request for more substance, we currently have approximately 98 lectures completed and available to our subscribers.  We have a further approximate 33 lectures under development that will become available to our subscribers in the near future.  PRESENT now provides a comprehensive lecture sequence that takes residents from fundamentals, to basics, to advanced surgical techniques.

As for your concern over structure, our website includes a curriculum which shows all PRESENT lectures divided into three major categories:  Fundamentals, The Basics (pathology, trauma, surgery), and Advanced surgical techniques (rearfoot and ankle surgery).  There is a small fourth category including practice management lectures.  The sole intent of the PRESENT Curriculum is to help residents and residency directors follow a defined and logical path (fundamentals through advanced techniques) through our courseware during the course of a residency program.  PRESENT Curriculum provides that sequence, which Residency Programs are invited to start on July 1st of each new residency year.

We hope that as we continue to augment our courseware, you are increasingly impressed and satisfied with the content we have to offer.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Staff
PRESENT Courseware
954-975-2007

Eugene Goldman, DPM
Eugene.Goldman@med.va.gov
Residency Director
DVA - Central Alabama Healthcare System

We would be interested in participating. Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance for what is a truly revolutionary tool in podiatric medical education!

Jules Fraser, DPM
jcf827@yahoo.com
Resident
Crozer - Keystone - Springfield Division

I'd love to let the magazine know what I think of the set-up...and would love to talk about the Rumble...and the whole thing!

Let me know what I can do to help out and we at Crozer have really enjoyed the "challenge" component of the program.  Let me know the specifics and who I can talk to and I’d be happy to volunteer my time and opinions/feedback.

Also...our program (I’m sure I can speak on behalf of my co-residents) would be honored to submit questions for future rumbles!!!

Rob Amiot, DPM
raamiot@yahoo.com
Chief Resident
St. Joseph Regional Medical Center

Myself and Dr. Lapow would be happy to be interviewed about the Residency Rumble.  Regardless of tomorrow's outcome of the challenge.  You are most welcome to contact us at any time.

Travis Montgomery, DPM
TMontgum@aol.com
Resident
Washington Hospital Center

Sure, we'd love to be interviewed. We really enjoyed the Rumble!!