Fig. 1
Screenshot of the GME|com intranet site
Fig. 2
Screenshot of GME|com Headlines, a bimonthly electronic newsletter; the headlines contain ‘teasers’ that hotlink to full content regarding the issue
Table 1
Survey results for GME|com
|
Recall/usage |
>75 % have visited site |
|
Of those, >90 % report site as being at least somewhat useful | |
|
Most useful features (in decreasing order of priority) |
Centralized source for GME information |
|
Relevant news/headlines | |
|
Events/calendar | |
|
Direct access to resources | |
|
Contact information | |
|
Least useful feature |
Feedback button |
|
Suggested improvements |
Adding board review practice questions |
|
Adding quick clinical practice tips | |
|
Forum to chat/share ideas with other trainees | |
|
Posting GME staff contact information in easy-to-find place | |
|
Designating site as the home page when trainees log-in |
Table 2
Survey results of outside GME programmes: pros and cons of communication strategies
|
Communications |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Trainees use email daily so they are likely to receive the message Sending messages via email is easy. Most programmes have an email list of trainees to use |
Trainees receive a large volume of email and likely miss important information because of email fatigue Not all messages may be deemed important by trainees and they may ignore them Keeping the list of email addresses updated can be challenging for programmes with several locations and systems; email addresses change when trainees change locations |
|
Cascading communication |
Trainees are more likely to pay attention to messages that are sent by someone familiar |
There can be uncertainty as to whether messages are being cascaded to trainees Leadership may be too busy to, forget to, or, for various reasons, may not be motivated to cascade the message |
Fig. 3
Google Analytics analysis of utilization of GME|com from 1 February 2011 to 31 January 2012
Fig. 4
Google Analytics analysis of frequency of visits to GME|com from 1 February 2011 to 31 January 2012
Box 1
Methods of communicating with GME trainees reported by GME programme directors
|
• Mass emails (varying degrees of frequency) |
|
• Cascading communication |
|
• Intranet (mainly as repository for policy documents and forms) |
|
• Electronic newsletters |
|
• Grand rounds/town hall meetings |
|
• Residency management site (e.g., MedHub) |