title: Use of an automated case log to improve trainee evaluations on a pediatric emergency medicine rotation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Providing meaningful evaluation to trainees rotating through the pediatric emergency medicine is important yet challenging. Information systems can be used to autopopulate an electronic case log, which can be leveraged to assist in the evaluation process. The objective of this study was to determine if a novel educational initiative using an automated case log improved faculty evaluation of trainees.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study examined faculty completion rate, as well as the content of medical student evaluations over a 3-academic-year study period. Three phases of evaluation were utilized: written, electronic, and electronic enhanced with individualized case reports created with the automated case log. The primary outcome was faculty response rate. Secondary outcomes included word count and the number of themes identified following qualitative analysis of narrative responses. Logistic regression was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-one faculty members completed evaluations of 43 students. The rates of completion for the written, electronic, and automated case log phases were 18%, 16%, and 62%, respectively. Faculty in the automated case log phase were significantly more likely to complete evaluations compared with those in the written evaluation phase (odds ratio, 7.6; 95% confidence interval, 4.5-13.0). The median word counts across the 3 phases were 19, 36, and 43, respectively. The median numbers of themes identified during the 3 phases were 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The differences in the word count and median number of themes between the written and automated case log phases were significantly different (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The process of trainee evaluation can be improved by utilizing an automated case log to provide faculty members with individualized reports of shared patient encounters.
authors: Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. joshua.nagler@childrens.harvard.edu
authors: Joshua
authors: J
authors: Nagler
authors: Carina
authors: C
authors: Pina
authors: Debra L
authors: DL
authors: Weiner
authors: Alisa
authors: A
authors: Nagler
authors: Michael C
authors: MC
authors: Monuteaux
authors: Richard G
authors: RG
authors: Bachur
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D012189:Retrospective Studies