News from NADIO
Three months ago, there was no national organization of DIOs. Now, NADIO is a reality with almost 250 DIO members. There are 885 ACGME accredited Sponsoring Institutions (SI); 820 with at least on program. We hope many more DIOs will join but are ecstatic that so many have already joined. So what is NADIO? It truly is the first national organization entirely for the professional betterment of DIOs and the incredibly important work we all do. As our Mission Statement says, NADIO is here to advance GME at the institutional level and enhance the professional role of DIOs through knowledge sharing, peer-learning, and advocacy. NADIO is a community. We heard recently that someone thought NADIO was a union of DIOs. We are definitely not that! We are pretty sure that wouldn’t even be legal. We will advocate, which is very different from the negotiating a union does.
NADIO will host its first webinar April 22nd from noon-1 pm ET, entitled “Getting your New Program Directors Through Their First Year”. If you didn’t get an invitation to join this live program (it will be recorded), email info@nadiogme.org. We will also be hosting the first ever NADIO Annual Meeting, with the theme “DIOS: Leading GME Together” December 8-10, 2024 in St. Louis. Look for further information on that, but please hold the dates.
We hope that you have looked at the recently launched NADIO On-Line Communities. There is one for each Council based on SI size as well as a Special Interest Group for DIOs who are responsible for GME in pediatric hospitals. Over the next few weeks to months, you will be asked to vote on some proposed changes to our initial bylaws, mostly to clarify and expand upon emeritus status to allow NADIO to be more inclusive of those who recently left their DIO role but still want to join NADIO and contribute. We welcome these individuals and look forward to benefiting from their experience and expertise. Each NADIO Council Chair will be naming a Vice-Chair, a position not contemplated in our original bylaws.
We will also be seeking volunteers for some essential committees: Policy, Membership, ACGME Program Requirement Review, Education & Learning, and perhaps others. We hope you will contribute a little bit of your time and expertise to these important committees. Finally, we intend to launch a DIO Toolbox on our website in the near future, and have considered a DIO Journal Club. Your contributions to these efforts will help others in the DIO community. Let us know your thoughts about these initial plans and any other ideas for making NADIO as valuable as possible to you and all of our DIO colleagues.
Feel free to print out this newsletter and share with any DIO colleagues who have not joined NADIO. This QR code will take them directly to our membership page so they can join.
Jeff Berns and Cathy Kuhn, for the NADIO Executive Committee