People Profile – Liz Joseph

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Liz Joseph, Senior Director, HR Lead

Most residents and fellows know Liz (Senior Director, HR Lead) as the primary contact for HR, benefits, and payroll questions, as well as for the GME Parental, Caregiver, and Medical Leave program. She is often recognized for sending timely reminder emails about important deadlines.

Liz has lived in Alexandria, Virginia for more than 20 years, up the east coast from Miami where she spent most of her early years.

Her path into healthcare began unexpectedly after meeting someone from MGUH at a wedding. With a background in advertising, the world of GME was new to her, but she embraced it, starting as a GME Coordinator at MGUH and working her way up to Senior Director. Liz is passionate about supporting residents and fellows at this exciting stage of their careers.

“I love working with residents and fellows,” she says. “It is such an exciting time in their career. I hope that the GME leadership team helps them feel comfortable and at ease as they embark on their career journey.

One of the most rewarding aspects of her work is onboarding interns. While it’s a busy time of year, it’s also one of the most exciting. Meeting the interns in person at orientation, after months of preparation, and seeing their enthusiasm as they begin their training is what makes the effort truly worthwhile.

Liz knows HR plays an important role in a thriving GME program. Her team oversees the entire employment lifecycle for residents and fellows, from hiring to graduation. They begin the onboarding process several months before the start date, ensuring smooth transitions into training programs without delay. This includes conducting background checks, drug screenings, visa processing, and handling payroll, benefits, and wellness support.

Her success at MedStar Health is largely attributed to the collaborative and experienced GME team, many of whom have been with the department for more than 15 years. This collective expertise and teamwork ensure that goals are met, and the department functions smoothly.

Her perseverance is evident outside of work, too. Liz has completed three marathons: Marine Corps, Chicago, and the Nashville Rock and Roll Marathon.

 

Medical Educator Minute – Best practices for simulation in medical education

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Medical education has learned from other professions that have established uses of simulation in training, such as aviation and the military. With limitations on duty hours potentially restricting patient encounters, and a growing emphasis on patient safety, simulation increased steadily across healthcare education. Simulation is traditionally used for learning or practicing low-frequency, high-stakes patient encounters or for procedural skills. However, more recently, simulation is being used in health profession education to practice complex communication scenarios (e.g., delivering bad news) or situations that may be emotionally charged and require an environment of psychological safety to practice (e.g., responding to microaggressions). Beyond traditional simulation, new and innovative ways of using simulation are emerging in medical education, including rapid cycle deliberate practice, ‘just in time’ simulation, and group simulation (stay tuned for future MEMs to learn more about these!).

Features of high-fidelity simulation that lead to effective learning:

Curriculum Integration

The simulation experience must be planned, scheduled, implemented, and evaluated in the context of a broader medical curriculum.

Feedback

A critical component of learning, use the three Ps for simulation: Plan, Pre-brief/Prepare, and Provide feedback/debrief

Deliberate Practice

Involves repetitive performance of cognitive or psychomotor skills with specific and rigorous skills assessment; must have multiple SIM experiences that are not exactly the same

Mastery Learning

The goal of mastery learning is to ensure that all learners achieve the objective level of mastery performance, a higher level than competence alone – some learners may require more time/practice than others

Range of Difficulty

Learning is most effective when trainees begin at an appropriate level for them, demonstrate performance mastery at that level, then advance through increasing levels of difficulty

Capturing Clinical Variation

Simulations that encompass a variety of patient presentations are far more effective for learning than those having a single case, presentation, or scenario

Individualized Learning

It’s not only about learning at one’s own level, but also about the learner being an active participant, continuously shaping and adapting the learning experience to meet their specific needs

To learn more, check out AMEE Guide #82 – Best Practices for Simulation in Healthcare Education