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Gauge residents’ skills on day one

Residency Program Alert, April 1, 2009

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Residency Program Alert.

Just how much do you know about your residents when they show up for orientation?

Sure, you have the information from their applications, but that only covers the basics. Program directors have few practical data on whether incoming residents have the basic clinical skills they need to care for patients. Yet, we expect them to see patients on day one.

It might take program directors months to determine what each resident’s deficiencies are, and during that time, patient care may suffer, says Gordon J. Green, MD, medical education consultant at Charleston (WV) Area Medical Center (CAMC).

The key to improving new residents’ patient care encounters is to evaluate their competency levels before their first patient assignment.

CAMC requires all incoming residents to participate in a series of simulation-based objective structured clinical exams (OSCE) during orientation. The evaluation-based orientation OSCE helps program directors:
•    Establish a baseline for resident and program assessment
•    Tailor the curriculum to residents’ unique learning needs
•    Improve patient care in the first few days residents are on the floor

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Residency Program Alert.

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