1. Welcome by Dr. Varma.

2. Nomination for Regional Chair was requested by Dr. Varma. Dr. Gonzalez nominated Dr. Varma. It was seconded by Dr. Edwards. No other nominations were received. Dr. Varma was elected regional chair for one year term by voice vote.

3. For the Regional Residency Coordinator Melodie Parker nominated Judy Behnke. Angie Martinez seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations. Ms. Behnke was elected by voice vote also.

4. Discussion to set up fall meeting for Southwestern region. Suggested time and location is the TPS meeting in Galveston that begins September 29th. Dr. Varma has a list serve that he will update. Coordinators and chief residents should attend in addition to program directors. We may need some type of funding for this. Should there be modest regional annual dues?
Topics for meeting

• Recruitment
• Cultural Diversity
• Competencies

5. Recruitment discussion – how can we work together? Possibilities –

• No negative remarks from one program about another
• At the time interview is set up ask if candidate interviewing somewhere in the region which may make interview trail easier and cost effective.
• Melodie suggested that we need to sell the state and cities – can we work together to get people from out of state?
• Important for applicants to meet with residents night before interview.
• Out of state Residency Fairs – not sure if the cost involved justifies them.
• Are there resources within the TPS, AAP, APPD?
• Word of mouth is good – Grand Rounds speakers, students and residents who do away electives at your institution or residents who go to other institutions. Dr. Gonzalez expressed difficulty in being able to have his residents to do away elective.
• How can websites help?
• Direct communications with communities in other parts of the state.
• Through registrar – student rotations
• Dr. Kimbrough suggested it would be good to know more about other programs’ strengths. Dr. Varma suggested that PD’s might want to visit each others’ programs. He also suggested that each program provide a paragraph description about themselves to be distributed through the list serve.

5. International Graduates – virtually all programs have IMG’s. Can we share information to help the candidate through the licensing/visa issues so that resident can start residency on time. Thoughts –

• Choice of attorneys can be a major factor – someone who knows what he/she is doing and can navigate through the visa process.
• TSBME can be a very slow process for IMG’s as compared to AMG’s.
• UT Southwestern has an international office who helps.
• Dr. Varma suggests that candidates bring pertinent documents to interview.
• Dr. Varma also suggested writing to your senator regarding the hardship to both the program and applicant if there is a delay in start time.

6. Scramble – If a student or program does not match programs could go through the list serve, but it was suggested that PD’s talking one to one would be more efficient.

7. Residents who may have drug dependency problems. Melodie Parker said that all new hires are subject to both a background check and drug screening. There seemed to be consensus that many institutions are doing the same thing. For current residents – UT Southwestern has an Impairment Committee that is affiliated with Parkland Hospital and not the university. It works well. A major stipulation is that if a resident fails a drug test, he/she is out of the program. It was noted that a PD can lose his/her license if drug problems are not reported. Although drug testing can be expensive ($1,600 for one resident to take eight random drug tests), it is advised that the program not offer to pay for the testing.

8. Length of time between RRC site review and accreditation decision. With only two meetings a year the RRC is behind schedule. The length between a site visit and presentation at committee meeting can be almost a year. It was suggested that the APPD advocate for a faster decision if a program is on probation or to advocate for an interim meeting devoted to programs with adverse actions.

Meeting ended with Dr. Varma and Dr. Gonzales agreeing to work on planning of regional meeting. This could be in conjunction with annual Texas Pediatric Society meeting.