Tools of the Trade: Mastering the Software to Survive Chief Year

According to matriculation data from AAMC, nearly half of new medical students begin directly after their undergraduate studies conclude. An additional group spend one to two years in research, volunteering, or clinical roles, without formal business exposure. Of those who become chief residents, few have knowledge of the software used to keep organizations running efficiently. Chief residents are expected to have fluency in these tools of the trade yet receive no formal training, which is especially challenging for software like Excel, which is powerful but requires intimate understanding of data structure and formulas to maximize its potential, and new open-access artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, which can automate some of the manual work of scheduling. This workshop will provide incoming chief residents with formal training in these tools of the trade, with particular emphasis of improving efficiency and ingenuity in tasks like scheduling, planning back-up call, and presenting at conferences. It will also discuss the use case for AI platforms like ChatGPT in these same essential tasks as well as their shortcomings. Participants will work in real-time on relevant example data sets in Excel to learn data integrity and data collection strategies as well as how to deploy useful formulae like vlookup, index/match, sumifs, and more. Participants will learn the principles of good slide building and maintaining audience engagement, with particular emphasis on the non-medical literature. Finally, they will test the power of open-access AI to assist with their day-to-day work.