title: The impact of feedback to medical housestaff on chart documentation and quality of care in the outpatient setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether feedback from attending physicians to residents about outpatient medical records improves chart documentation and quality of care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study with repeated measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary care internal medicine clinic at a metropolitan community hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen interns and 20 residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Attending physicians reviewed at least two charts for each resident on three occasions about 4 months apart and then discussed their findings with the residents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Explicit criteria defined the extent of chart documentation and the comprehensiveness of care delivery. Attending physicians also made a subjective assessment of the overall quality of care. All results were converted to 0-to-1 scales. From the first to the third period, chart documentation increased from 0.60 to 0.86 (p < .001), but there were no significant changes in the delivery of care or in the subjective assessments of the overall quality of care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both review of residents' outpatient medical records and periodic feedback from attending physicians improve how well medical housestaff document care in the chart.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Ariz 85013, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Opila
mesh_terms: D001130:Arizona; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005246:Feedback; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008499:Medical Records; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D011787:Quality of Health Care