Open AccessEffectiveness of a Focused Educational Intervention on Resident Evaluations from Faculty
Author(s) -
Holmboe Eric S.,
Fiebach Nicholas H.,
Galaty Leslie A.,
Huot Stephen
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016007427.x
Subject(s) - medicine , competence (human resources) , likert scale , randomized controlled trial , intervention (counseling) , hospital medicine , family medicine , faculty development , medline , veterans affairs , community hospital , medical education , nursing , professional development , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , political science , law
OBJECTIVE: To improve the quality and specificity of written evaluations by faculty attendings of internal medicine residents during inpatient rotations. DESIGN: Prospective randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Four hospitals: tertiary care university hospital, Veterans' Administration hospital, and two community hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty‐eight faculty and 157 residents from categorical and primary‐care internal medicine residency training programs rotating on inpatient general medicine teams. INTERVENTION: Focused 20‐minute educational session on evaluation and feedback, accompanied by 3 by 5 reminder card and diary, given to faculty at the start of their attending month. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Primary outcomes: 1) number of written comments from faculty specific to unique, preselected dimensions of competence; 2) number of written comments from faculty describing a specific resident behavior or providing a recommendation; and 3) resident Likert‐scale ratings of the quantity and effect of feedback received from faculty. Faculty in the intervention group provided more written comments specific to defined dimensions of competence, a median of three comments per evaluation form versus two in the control group, but when adjusted for clustering by faculty, the difference was not statistically significant ( P = .09). Regarding feedback, residents in the intervention group rated the quantity significantly higher ( P = .04) and were significantly more likely to make changes in clinical management of patients than residents in the control group ( P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: A brief, focused educational intervention delivered to faculty prior to the start of a ward rotation appears to have a modest effect on faculty behavior for written evaluations and promoted higher quality feedback given to house staff.