LACRE 2019: sharing new ideas, challenges and experiences
Over 400 residents and medical educators from 15 Latin American countries attended the 2019 Latin American Conference on Residency Education (LACRE) in Santiago, Chile, from May 28–31.
LACRE is a forum that encourages the Latin American community to share new ideas, challenges and experiences with a goal of improving residency education. It has established itself as one of the largest residency education conferences in Latin America and is a significant output from the Royal College’s longstanding partnership with the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUCC).
“As an Argentinian from Buenos Aires, to experience LACRE’s growth over the years and to see the positive influence the Royal College has in Latin American residency education is rewarding,” says Oscar Casiró, MD, FRCPC, regional director for Latin America, Royal College International. “Contributing to the development of LACRE has given me the opportunity to give back to the community I come from.”
Oscar Casiró, MD, FRCPC
A focus on innovative solutions in residency education
This year’s conference – themed “Innovative solutions for better practice in residency education” – had a number of key takeaways for local medical educators and residents. These included
- implementing standards (e.g. national standards set by accreditation) will ensure the quality of residency programs;
- maturing competency-based skills — many of which are based on the Royal College’s CanMEDS Competency Framework — will contribute to the overall improvement of residency programs;
- skills in coaching, assessment and self-assessment will help facilitate the process of receiving and providing feedback in a learning environment for both educators and learners; and
- developing a resident and physician wellness program will ensure a positive learning environment and mental health, which in turn will improve patient care.
Royal College President M. Ian Bowmer, MDCM, FRCPC, at LACRE
LACRE’s evolution and growing community
In the past, workshops at LACRE were primarily led and presented by visiting Royal College faculty, then progressively incorporated local faculty from PUCC. For the first time, this year, medical educators and residents from all over Latin America had the opportunity to submit and present their own workshops. This gave conference attendees valuable context and insight into residency education in the region.
Medical educators and residents from Latin American universities also contributed 75 poster and paper presentations, sharing their research on innovation in residency education and gaining feedback and perspectives from their colleagues.
Participants at LACRE 2019
About the Latin American Conference on Residency Education
LACRE is a bi-annual learning event that was created and held for the first time six years ago. It is presented in partnership by the Royal College and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUCC) and is modeled after the Royal College’s International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE). Like ICRE, LACRE aims to promote high standards of postgraduate medical education in the region. The four-day conference in 2019 featured 25 interactive workshops presented by Royal College faculty, co-facilitators from PUCC, and local medical educators and residents.
