Focus of Study is on Graduate Medical Education Supervision Clinical Trial
Official title:
The Effect of Intensive Inpatient Attending Supervision on Medical Errors, Patient Safety and Resident Education
Randomized cross over trial investigating the effect of intensive attending supervision of residents caring for inpatients on the medical service on both patient safety and educational outcomes. Hypothesis: increased attending supervision would improve patient safety and resident education.
Background While the relationship between resident work hours and patient safety has been
extensively studied, little research has evaluated the role of attending supervision on
patient safety and education.
Investigators conducted a 9-month randomized, cross-over trial on an inpatient medicine
teaching service where 22 faculty provided either: 1) direct supervision where attendings
joined work rounds on established (previously admitted) patients or 2) standard supervision
where attendings were available, but did not join work rounds. Each faculty member
participated in both arms in random order. The primary safety outcome was rate of medical
errors. Secondary safety outcomes included deaths and transfers to the intensive care unit.
Resident education was evaluated via a time motion study to assess resident participation on
rounds and surveys to measure resident and attending educational ratings.
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