First match day!

 

From Furniture Piles to Foundational Support: A Historic Match Day at ThedaCare

Today isn’t just Match Day for the thousands of medical students across the country—it’s a career-defining milestone for our team at ThedaCare. This year, we are celebrating the very first Match for our brand-new Internal Medicine Residency Program, and the energy is electric.

As we prepare to welcome our inaugural class of 15 residents this July, I’ve been reflecting on what it actually takes to build a GME program from a library perspective.

Starting from Scratch (Literally)

Two years ago, I joined ThedaCare as part of a three-person "pioneer" team: myself and the first two GME administrators. My position was refilled after a significant gap in librarian coverage, specifically to provide the research and evidence-based practice (EBP) backbone this program required.

For any of you who have ever stepped into a "dormant" library, you know the scene. When I started, my primary greeting wasn't a collection of residents—it was a pile of miscellaneous furniture living in the space outside the library doors.

Building the Library

In the absence of a librarian, the decision was made to turn the library to a digital only future, so I was greeted with a beautiful library resembling a conference room. It is one of the best features of the GME space and a source of envy among many staff. Over the last 24 months, we’ve moved from clearing out that hallway to:

• Re-establishing Clinical Search Services: Promoting the library to the current ThedaCare physicians, practitioners, nurses, and anyone else interested in evidence-based practice has been a great precursor to the incoming residents. 

• Curating the Core Collection: Year one was spent rebuilding the previous library collection and year two looking towards the future of GME with the library's resources. 

• Integrating into the GME Workflow: I've been blessed with full integration into the GME department to establish the library as a strategic partner in physician recruitment and retention.

To the Class of 2029: We’re Ready

As a librarian, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing a "quiet" space transform into a hub of clinical inquiry. The furniture is in the right place, the resources are live, and I can't wait to see residents in the library this July.