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About TAGME

Mission

Promoting excellence in management of graduate medical education training programs through certification.

Vision

To ensure a comprehensive level of services, training, knowledge, and leadership through certification for the administration of Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs for physicians-in-training.

Piter Bowman
Director
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Objectives of TAGME

  • Promote the use of effective measurement tools to assess the competency of GME training administrators
  • Share knowledge, encourage educational opportunities, and personal and professional growth through continued advancements in the profession
  • Promote ethical principles and professional behavior in support of GME training programs for physicians-in-training
  • Uphold and support national educational standards for GME administration
  • Promote continuing development by providing a mechanism of recertification to individuals who continue to demonstrate their qualifications beyond the initial certification

2024-2025 Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Gretchen Lynch

President (C-TAGME)

Donna Guidroz

Vice President/President-Elect (C-TAGME)

Linda Shaffer

Past President (C-TAGME)

Deb Barrand

Secretary (C-TAGME)
tagme certified

Committee Chairs

Marketing: Rachel Bills
Examinations: Cynthia Lawhorn
Initial Certification / Applications: Bethany Brown
Outcomes: Jamie Shomette
MOC Applications: Kellie Devney

Past Presidents

Linda Shaffer
Annette Lemire
Karen Mulcahy
Christine Tutsch
Laura Gibson
Theresa Hill
Elizabeth Sauve
Ava Fulbright
Marie Wegemann-Ray
Linda Gacioch
Jeri Whitten
Ruth Nawatniak
(Founding president)

Get Involved

Are you interested in becoming more involved in TAGME? Applications for open committee positions are available in September each year. Please check back!

History

2024

On-Site Certification goes live

 

Certification; the action or process of providing someone or something with an official document attesting to a status or level of achievement.

Candidates asked for a remote-live-proctor and on-site testing centers throughout the United States for the TAGME assessment. The Board of Directors voted and agreed that TAGME will continue its partnership with Meazure Learning to offer both requests by the candidates. The remote assessment is offered 24/7 (except for holidays that are noted) by a live proctor. The Meazure Learning on-site testing center locations are offered across the United States, and a list is provided for the candidate to choose the site most convenient. Candidates will receive a pass/fail result at the end of the assessment. The certificate is accessible immediately by PDF from the Meazure Badge-cert link. 

The MOC x2 is now in place and will continue to offer certification. Candidates will not be required to sit for the TAGME Assessment but must meet the Educational Credits requirements. TAGME is confident that the updates in the assessment process for the candidates will provide professional growth. 

 

2021

Certification goes online.

 

As the interest and recognition of achieving the TAGME credential continued to flourish, so did the need to have an up-to-date assessment. Creating, distributing, and ultimately hand scoring hundreds of assessments annually was a monumental task. Changes in ACGME program requirements necessitated the need for a more streamlined experience. TAGME contracted with Survey Monkey Apply for a seamless application experience. Applications are quickly reviewed and candidates now receive approvals within 3-5 days. The assessment is offered 24/7 with a live-proctor through Scantron and receive pass/fail results at the end of their assessments. Certificates are also going online and will be mailed within weeks of certification beginning in 2021.

 
 

2015

Adopts global certification.

 
Taking all this under great consideration, and within the context of providing superior services to potential and current members, the 2015 TAGME Board of Directors voted to restructure both the leadership framework and the certification tools, provide remote completion of assessment documents, and offer credentialing to all accredited GME medical specialties through global certification. TAGME is confident that these changes will keep the organization on a strong growth track for the future and ensuring that certification will continue to be available to training program professionals in all graduate medical education disciplines.
 
 

2012

Expansion

 
As the interest and recognition of achieving the TAGME credential continued to flourish, so too did the responsibilities and duties of the organization’s volunteer members. Concurrently, the ACGME announced the major initiative of The Next Accreditation System (NAS) which once again would significantly alter the depth and scope of knowledge and skills for all training program administrators and coordinators. Also, TAGME was now receiving a significant amount of requests for certification in GME specialties (and sub-specialties) that had not yet developed specialty-specific assessment tools.
 
 

2006

Certification Process

 
By 2006, TAGME had created a robust certification process that set a national standard to assess the knowledge, skills and abilities of training administrators of graduate medical education programs. Within the next few years, certification assessments tools were developed for over 30 medical specialties (and associated sub-specialties) resulting in more than 750 TAGME-certified professionals nationwide.
 
 

2004

Open Forum

 
An Open Forum was held prior to the 2004 Spring ACGME meeting at which 45 people participated from 15 clinical specialties, GME personnel and representatives from the AMA and AAMC. At this Forum, the concept of certification, the mission and vision statements and goals and objectives, the criteria for certification, and the timeline for development were all open to discussion and scrutiny. From that a formal working board was established including representatives and fact finders from 9 clinical specialties: Diagnostic Radiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Practice, Internal Medicine, OBGYN, Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and General Surgery.
 
 

2003

Genesis

 

In 2003, after a year of research and review, the Association of Residency Coordinators in Surgery (ARCS) unanimously voted to pursue certification for general surgery residency coordinators. At the same time, question posed in the AMA/GME newsletter from a coordinator asking if anyone had considered certification for coordinators. That email was answered in subsequent edition with information regarding the ongoing efforts of the surgical coordinators. As a result, several hundred responses were received, all indicating a high level of interest from program coordinators across the nation and in many clinical specialties.

Four representatives from three clinical specialties, Diagnostic Radiology, General Surgery and OBGYN, met in Baltimore to discuss this grassroots interest in certification and to see if there was some commonality that could be used as a basis for setting standards. An on-line job analysis tool was developed and distributed by word of mouth. Over 450 responses were received in the next several months from program coordinators, GME personnel, and training program staff across many clinical specialties nationwide. During this time, the TAGME name was established and the mission and vision statements developed by the surgical coordinators were adopted. TAGME researched other certification bodies and developed their goals and objectives, and criteria for certification.

 
 

2002

ACGME Outcomes Project

 

The evolution of certification for program coordinators dates back to 2002, near the same time the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) instituted the Outcome Project and core competencies. This resulted in profound changes in graduate medical education that increased the scope and depth of the functions of both the program director and program coordinator and resulted in a substantial change in expectations. The responsibilities of the program coordinator increased bringing about the need for a higher level of skills, ability and knowledge that elevated the program coordinator from a clerical/secretarial position to the professional position of manager/administrator. This culminated in the formation of the National Board for Certification for Training Administrators of Graduate Medical Education Programs (TAGME).