Effectiveness of a focused educational intervention on resident evaluations from faculty a randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
To improve the quality and specificity of written evaluations by faculty attendings of internal medicine residents during inpatient rotations.


METHODS
Prospective randomized controlled trial.


METHODS
Four hospitals: tertiary care university hospital, Veterans' Administration hospital, and two community hospitals.


METHODS
Eighty-eight faculty and 157 residents from categorical and primary-care internal medicine residency training programs rotating on inpatient general medicine teams.


METHODS
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.


RESULTS



METHODS
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.
Holmboe
E S
ES
Yale University Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, New Haven, CT 06510, USA. eholmboe@msn.com
Fiebach
N H
NH
Galaty
L A
LA
Huot
S
S
D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires