National Volunteer Week is just around the corner, and we are taking a closer look at the many different ways our members are giving back through their work on College committees. There is one committee in particular, the Fellows-in-Training Section’s Executive Committee, that we wanted to spotlight in this issue of Committee Insider. They have been working diligently behind the scenes to support physicians who are just beginning their careers in allergy/immunology. The importance of the Committee’s contributions – and all the time they give amid their busy schedules – cannot be overstated.
“The College gives us an opportunity to create a sense of community,” said Chris Foster, MD, chair of the FIT Committee and the Senior FIT Representative to the Board of Regents. “As a committee, we feel it’s important to be a source of support to each other. We’re always looking for ways to share information and develop resources to help other Fellows-in-Training as they begin their careers.”
The last two years have been particularly busy for the Committee as they took on new projects. Here are a few highlights…
FIT Board Review Corner – Preparing for the Boards is top of mind for FITs entering the specialty. The FIT Committee has been working on developing high-quality questions selected from allergy and immunology textbooks to help FITs prepare for the exam. Through their efforts, FIT members can now access an interactive quiz with more than 350 questions. New questions, developed in collaboration with our scientific committees, are being added every month. Plus, the Committee regularly reviews the question bank to ensure they are of high quality and relevance for Board preparedness.
FIT and New Allergist Toolkit – Several members of the FIT Committee, along with the Practice Management Committee, are developing a toolkit geared to FITs and New Allergists. It will be a one-stop shop filled with all the resources new allergists need to get started in practice. In addition to links to existing College toolkits like Allergen Extract Mixing, Coding, and Prior Authorization, the new toolkit will have resources on how to conduct a job search, how to negotiate an employment contract and how to choose the best practice type.
In addition, many members of the FIT Committee are lending their time to assist in the development of an educational needs assessment to determine and characterize the need for a standard infant/toddler food allergy curriculum for pediatric residents at a national level. The project is funded through The Allergists’ Foundation’s Community Grant Program. A total of 19 FITs from the College’s membership have stepped up to serve on a Delphi panel to determine the most important questions for the needs assessment.
