Development and Implementation of a Nonclinical Professional Development Rotation

Residency programs often struggle with strategies to formally teach leadership and communications skills. To provide a catalyst for professional development, Vanderbilt University Medical Center implemented a curriculum aimed at addressing this gap. Starting in 2014, the authors implemented a 2-week professional development rotation for first-year anesthesiology residents. Experts provided a series of didactic and experiential sessions focused on various professional development topics. Outcomes were assessed using pre- and postrotation surveys. Sixty-nine residents completed the rotation over a 4-year period, and 82% (54 of 66) strongly agreed that nonclinical professional development should be a component of training.