Feasibility of using a tablet computer survey for parental assessment of resident communication skills.
BACKGROUND
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recommends using patient surveys for assessing resident competency in interpersonal and communication skills. Despite the existence of several validated patient surveys for communication assessment, no system has been developed for their sustained use in resident assessment.


METHODS
We developed and pilot tested a system to collect surveys from parents of hospitalized children on the day of discharge. We used a 28-item, tablet computer-based survey that measures individual provider and team communication. The computer displays resident photographs to ensure accurate identification and offers the survey in multiple languages. We assessed parental acceptance of the system by analyzing response rate, as well as reasons for response and nonresponse.


RESULTS
Of the 98 eligible parents that were approached, 62 (63%) completed the survey. Only 2 (2%) of the eligible families refused to participate, and only 5 (5%) refused participation because of the survey not being available in a language they were familiar with.


CONCLUSIONS
Use of a tablet computer parent survey for resident assessment is feasible, with response rates comparable to those of mailed surveys. The low rate of parental refusal indicates our system could be used to attain sufficient numbers of survey responses to help validly measure resident communication skills.
Co
John Patrick T
JP
MGH Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA 02114, USA. jco@partners.org
Mohamed
Hodon
H
Kelleher
Mary Louise
ML
Edgman-Levitan
Susan
S
Perrin
James M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008404:Massachusetts; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D014584:User-Computer Interface