Chief residency in PM&R. A balance of education and administration.

The role of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) chief resident (CR) in physiatry residency education programs is the subject of annual deliberation in many academic centers. A national survey of PM&R programs was conducted to determine CR number, selection method, responsibilities, duration of service, and postresidency destiny. The questionnaire generated a response rate of 86% with 90% of programs reporting 1-3 CRs per year. A range of 1-11 CRs were selected annually per program. The most common methods of CR selection were faculty vote (45%), combined resident-faculty vote (22%), and other (33%). The prevalence of administrative responsibilities included orienting new residents (97%), formulating call schedules (92%), dispute mediation (88%), medical student-residency interviews (87%), rotation schedule configuration (64%), faculty meeting participation (61 %), social event promotion (59%), and elective and externship schedule development (31 %). Educational duties included teaching and organizing didactics (87%), organizing pharmaceutical and rehabilitation equipment inservices (77%), arranging didactics (77%), board review coordination (72%), arranging grand round speakers (66%), core curriculum lectures (61%), and facilitating resident research (37%). CR career goals included group practice (48%), academic faculty (29%), solo practice (5%), and fellowship (18%). Overall, PM&R CRs maintain considerable involvement in the educational aspects of residency training, although their clinical and administrative duties predominate. Although the PM&R CRs contribute significantly to the academic growth and development of their respective training programs, only a modest percentage (47%) of CRs choose to remain in academic physiatry via an attending (29%) or fellowship (18%) position.