Resident perceptions of the educational value of night float rotations.
BACKGROUND
Night float rotations are being increasingly used in the era of resident physician work-hour regulations, but their impact on resident education is not clear.


OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to clarify resident perceptions of the educational aspects of night float rotations.


METHODS
An anonymous survey of internal medicine residents at a university-based residency program was completed.


RESULTS
Responses were received from 116 of 163 surveyed residents (71%). Residents attended less residents' report (0.10 +/- .43 vs. 2.70 + 0.93 sessions/week, p< .001) and fewer grand rounds sessions (0.14 +/- 0.25 vs. 0.43 +/- 0.28 sessions/week, p< .001) and spent less time reading, (2.63 +/- 2.0 vs. 3.33 +/- 1.6 hr/week, p< .001) interacting with attending physicians (0.57 +/- 1.1 vs. 2.97 +/- 1.5 hr/week, p< .001) and sleeping at home (6.3 +/- 1.2 vs. 7.10 +/- 0.9 hr/day, p< .001) on night float rotations than on non-night float rotations. Residents had strongly negative opinions about the educational value of night float, sleep cycle adjustment issues, and impact on their personal lives, which correlated with resident evaluations from the regular program evaluation process. In free responses, residents commented that they liked the autonomy and opportunity to improve triage skills on these rotations and confirmed their negative opinions about the sleep-wake cycle and interference with personal lives.


CONCLUSIONS
Internal medicine residents at a university-based program have negative opinions regarding the educational value of night float rotations. Further work is necessary to determine whether problems exist across programs and specialties.
Luks
Andrew M
AM
Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Smith
C Scott
CS
Robins
Lynne
L
Wipf
Joyce E
JE
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003625:Data Collection; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010465:Perception; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology