Hey Lynne,

I keep everything electronic that way I don’t have to purge.  It’s been good when a grad will contact me years later for some obscure thing that I have pack-ratted away in their folder.  And I KEEP EVERYTHING :-).  I have a Resident folder for every academic year where I can keep items that pertain to that year (all residents) and then each current resident has a sub-folder with their sub-folders just about them.  The graduating residents’ folders then go into the academic year folder.  What I like about this is that I can search easily to find information and if I have my laptop (and using the VPN – nothing is stored on my hard drive) it is at my fingertips.

When I had my site visit I had everything organized in an electronic ACGME Site Visit Folder.  I contacted the site visitor and asked her if this would be acceptable to provide her with the information as we met in an electronic format.  She said that would be fine as long as I was able to print if she wanted a hard copy.  She only asked me to print my block diagram.  I think if we have a virtual site visit, this will quickly become the norm.

I think whatever makes sense to you is the best way to keep your electronic folders.  I have major folders like “Graduation,” “Orientation,” “OITE,” “Schedules,” and then sub-folders for Academic Years.  It seems easier for me to do everything by Academic Year.  I also name resident files leading with their name:  Smith – OITE 2020;  Smith – ATLS exp 7.2023; Smith – LOR DiPasquale; Smith – CV 2019.

More tips:  check to make sure your scanner can scan in color.  Get Adobe Acrobat – its a super time saver and organizational tool for me.  I scan and then drop paper in the shredder.

I hope this helps!

~Laurel