NEW! Back to Bedside Funding is Now Available!

The ACGME is proud to continue supporting residents’ and fellows’ efforts to increase connection with their patients through the Back to Bedside initiative. The ACGME is currently accepting proposals for the next round of Back to Bedside projects.

Back to Bedside is designed to empower residents and fellows to develop transformative projects that foster meaning and joy in work and allow them to engage on a deeper level with what is at the heart of medicine: their patients. Supported by the ACGME, Back to Bedside provides a competitive funding opportunity for resident- and/or fellow-led teams to innovate. The initiative is also intended to create a learning collaborative of resident-/fellow-led research teams.

The fourth cycle of Back to Bedside has two options for applicants to consider: Open Innovation proposals and Focused Innovation proposals.

Open Innovation Proposals - Proposals Due: April 22, 2024

The ACGME seeks proposals for resident- and fellow-developed and -led, innovative, grassroots strategies to improve, foster, or cultivate meaning in clinical learning environments by increasing opportunities to build connections with patients and improving the physician-patient relationship. The Open Innovation option is intended to provide flexibility for novel proposals.

APPLY HERE!
(PDF) Request for Proposals (Open Innovation) - For Reference Only
(PDF) Frequently Asked Questions
(PDF) Informational Flyer

Project in a Box - Focused Innovation Proposals – Proposals Due: April 22, 2024

NEW! The Project in a Box - Focused Innovation option offers residents and fellows from all specialties a successful project example to use as inspiration for further innovation. The ACGME is soliciting project proposals that innovate based on the successful Cycle 1 project, “Resident Trading Card Program.”

Through three cycles of the Back to Bedside initiative, common challenges were identified. The Project in a Box option aims to reduce the barriers to project success by providing:

1. The project framework from a successful prior Back to Bedside project
2. An approved Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol to participate in a cooperative quantitative and qualitative research study through the ACGME (awardees may still need IRB approval at their home sites)
3. Learning Collaborative meetings for project and Resident/Fellow Project Lead development

Projects should be interventions designed for the resident’s/fellow’s specialty, practice location, patient population, etc. Successful project proposals will include a tangible item delivered to the patient, such as a memento, token, or any imaginative artifact that aims to foster connection between the resident/fellow and patient.

APPLY HERE!
(PDF) Request for Proposals (Project in a Box - Focused Innovation) - For Reference Only
(PDF) Frequently Asked Questions
(PDF) Informational Flyer

Since the inception of the Back to Bedside initiative, the ACGME has funded more than 80 projects, engaging more than 200 residents and fellows in innovative projects to enhance their clinical experience and connect more fully with their patients and colleagues.

Learn a bit more about the Back to Bedside experience:

Questions?
Email backtobedside@acgme.org.