Michelle Mourad

Supervising the Supervisors—Procedural Training and Supervision in Internal Medicine Residency

BACKGROUNDAt teaching hospitals, bedside procedures (paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, arthrocentesis and central venous catheter insertion) are performed by junior residents and supervised by senior peers. Residents’ perceptions about supervision or how often peer supervision produces unsafe clinical situations are unknown.OBJECTIVETo examine the experience and practice patterns of residents performing bedside procedures.DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTSCross-sectional e-mail survey of 653 internal medicine (IM) residents at seven California teaching hospitals.MEASUREMENTSSurveys asked questions in three areas: (1) resident experience performing procedures: numbers of procedures performed and whether they received other (e.g., simulator) training; (2) resident comfort performing and supervising procedures; (3) resident reports of their current level of supervision doing procedures, experience with complications as well as perceptions of factors that may have contributed to complications.RESULTSThree hundred sixty-seven (56%) of the residents responded. Most PGY1 residents had performed fewer than five of any of the procedures, but most PGY-3 residents had performed at least ten by the end of their training. Resident comfort for each procedure increased with the number of procedures performed (p < 0.001). Although residents reported that peer supervision happened often, they also reported high rates of supervising a procedure before feeling comfortable with proper technique. The majority of residents (64%) reported at least one complication and did not feel supervision would have prevented complications, even though many reported complications represented technique- or preparation-related problems.CONCLUSIONSResidents report low levels of comfort and experience with procedures, and frequently report supervising prior to feeling comfortable. Our findings suggest a need to examine best practices for procedural supervision of trainees.

The Housestaff Incentive Program: improving the timeliness and quality of discharge summaries by engaging residents in quality improvement

Background Quality improvement has become increasingly important in the practice of medicine; however, engaging residents in meaningful projects within the demanding training environment remains challenging. Methods We conducted a year-long quality improvement project involving internal medicine residents at an academic medical centre. Resident champions designed and implemented a discharge summary improvement bundle, which employed an educational curriculum, an electronic discharge summary template, regular data feedback and a financial incentive. The timeliness and quality of discharge summaries were measured before and after the intervention. Residents and faculty were surveyed about their perceptions of the project; primary care providers were surveyed about their satisfaction with hospital provider communication. Results With implementation of the bundle, the average time from patient discharge to completion of the discharge summary fell from 3.5 to 0.61 days (p<0.001). The percentage of summaries completed on the day of discharge rose from 38% to 83% (p<0.001) and this improvement was sustained for 6 months following the end of the project. The percentage of summaries that included all recommended elements increased from 5% to 88% (p<0.001). Primary care providers reported a lower likelihood of discharge summaries being unavailable at the time of outpatient follow-up (38% to 4%, p<0.001). Residents reported that the systems changes, more than the financial incentive, accounted for their behaviour change. Conclusions Our discharge summary improvement project provides an instructive example of how residents can lead clinically meaningful quality improvement projects.

Shifting indirect patient care duties to after hours in the era of work hours restrictions.

Purpose Few data describe how often residents defer indirect patient care tasks to after hours or show whether residents report this time in duty hours logs. Thus, the authors examined how often residents perform one such task, discharge dictation, outside scheduled hours. Method The authors tracked all discharge summaries dictated by internal medicine residents at a single teaching hospital from January to June 2009. They determined the length and timing of discharge dictations by querying the hospital voice-dictation system. Definite work hours violations occurred when residents completed dictations on the postcall day after reaching mandated duty hours limits or on scheduled days off. Potential work hours violations arose when residents dictated after 6 pm or during the month subsequent to their rotation. The authors compared the number of residents they determined to have incurred duty hours violations with the number self-reporting violations. Results The authors obtained data on 1,152 dictations performed by 39 residents. Residents spent a mean 6.5 hours dictating per month, averaging 13 minutes per dictation. Using objective criteria, the authors determined that the majority of residents (32; 82%) incurred definite duty hours violations. Far fewer (2; 5%) self-reported violations. Team census, total time spent dictating, and dictation length were associated with dictating during restricted hours. Conclusions Indirect patient care tasks, such as dictating discharge summaries, may contribute substantially to unrecognized duty hours violations. Accurate and objective ways to assess resident workflow can help create effective solutions for resident efficiency and inform changes to resident schedules.

We need to talk: Primary care provider communication at discharge in the era of a shared electronic medical record.

BACKGROUND Poor communication between hospitalists and outpatient physicians can contribute to adverse events after discharge. Electronic medical records (EMRs) shared by inpatient and outpatient clinicians offer primary care providers (PCPs) better access to information surrounding a patients hospitalization. However, the PCP experience and subsequent expectations for discharge communication within a shared EMR are unknown. METHODS We surveyed PCPs 1 year after a shared EMR was implemented at our institution to assess PCP satisfaction with current discharge communication practices and identify areas for improvement. RESULTS Seventy-five of 124 (60%) clinicians completed the survey. Although most PCPs reported receiving automated discharge notifications (71%), only 39% felt that notifications plus discharge summaries were adequate for safe transitions of care. PCPs expressed that complex hospitalizations necessitated additional communication via e-mail or telephone; only 31% reported receiving such communication. The content most important in additional communication included medication changes, follow-up actions, and active medical issues. CONCLUSIONS Despite optimized access to information provided by a shared EMR, only 52% of PCPs were satisfied with current discharge communication. PCPs express a continued need for high-touch communication for safe transitions of care. Further standardization of discharge communication practices is necessary.

Understanding self-assessment as an informed process: residents’ use of external information for self-assessment of performance in simulated resuscitations

Self-directed learning requires self-assessment of learning needs and performance, a complex process that requires collecting and interpreting data from various sources. Learners’ approaches to self-assessment likely vary depending on the learner and the context. The aim of this study was to gain insight into how learners process external information and apply their interpretation of this information to their self-assessment and learning during a structured educational activity. The study combined quantitative performance data with qualitative interview data. Pediatric residents led video-recorded simulated resuscitations and rated their crisis resource management skills on a validated 6-item instrument. Three independent observers rated the videos using the same instrument. During semi-structured interviews, each resident reviewed the video, rerated performance, discussed the self-assessment process, and interpreted feedback and observer scores. Transcripts were analyzed for themes. Sixteen residents participated. Residents’ self-assessed scores ranged widely but usually fell within two points of the observers. They almost universally lowered their scores when self-assessing after the video review. Five major themes emerged from qualitative analysis of their interviews: (1) residents found self-assessment important and useful in certain contexts and conditions; (2) residents varied in their self-directed learning behaviors after the simulated resuscitation; (3) quantitative observer assessment had limited usefulness; (4) video review was difficult but useful; and (5) residents focused on their weaknesses and felt a need for constructive feedback to enhance learning. The residents in our study almost uniformly embraced the importance of self-assessment for all medical professionals. Even though video review had a negative impact on their self-assessment scores and was perceived as painful, residents saw this as the most useful aspect of the study exercises residents. They were less accepting of the quantitative assessment by observers. Residents explained their tendency to focus on weaknesses as a way to create an incentive for learning, demonstrating that self-assessment is closely linked to self-directed learning. How learners can use video review and external assessment most effectively to guide their self-directed learning deserves further study.

Development of a hospital‐based program focused on improving healthcare value

BACKGROUND Frontline physicians face increasing pressure to improve the quality of care they deliver while simultaneously decreasing healthcare costs. Although hospitals and physicians are beginning to implement initiatives targeting this new goal of healthcare value, few of them have a well-developed infrastructure to support this work. METHODS In March 2012, we launched a high-value care (HVC) program within the Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The HVC program is co-led by a physician and the divisions administrator, and includes other hospitalists, resident physicians, pharmacists, and administrators. The program aims to (1) use financial and clinical data to identify areas with clear evidence of waste in the hospital, (2) promote evidence-based interventions that improve both quality of care and value, and (3) pair interventions with evidence-based cost awareness education to drive culture change. RESULTS We identified 6 ongoing projects during our first year. Preliminary data for our inaugural projects are encouraging. One initiative, which targeted decreasing nebulizer use on a high-acuity medical floor (often using metered-dose inhalers instead) led to a decrease in rates of more than 50%. CONCLUSIONS The HVC program is proving to be a successful mechanism to promote improved healthcare value and clinician engagement.

The Effect of a Resident-Led Quality Improvement Project on Improving Communication Between Hospital-Based and Outpatient Physicians

This article reports on a resident-led quality improvement program to improve communication between inpatient internal medicine residents and their patients’ primary care physicians (PCPs). The program included education on care transitions, standardization of documentation, audit and feedback of documented PCP communication rates with public reporting of performance, rapid-cycle data analysis and improvement projects, and a financial incentive. At baseline, PCP communication was documented in 55% of patients; after implementation of the intervention, communication was documented in 89.3% (2477 of 2772) of discharges during the program period. The program was associated with a significant increase in referring PCP satisfaction with communication at hospital admission (baseline, 27.7% “satisfied” or “very satisfied”; postintervention, 58.2%; P < .01) but not at discharge (baseline, 14.9%; postintervention, 21.8%; P = .41). Residents cited the importance of PCP communication for patient care and audit and feedback of their performance as the principal drivers of their engagement in the project.

Nebs no more after 24: a pilot program to improve the use of appropriate respiratory therapies.

“Nebs No More After 24”: A Pilot Program to Improve the Use of Appropriate Respiratory Therapies Nebulized bronchodilator therapies (“nebs”) are commonly used in the inpatient setting for the treatment of obstructive pulmonary symptoms. Nebs have equal efficacy when compared with metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) for patients with obstructive pulmonary symptoms1-3 but are significantly more costly because they need to be directly administered by a respiratory therapist (RT). Unnecessary neb administration in the hospital also represents a missed opportunity to educate inpatients on proper use of their MDIs. Press et al4 found that while 86% of patients incorrectly administered their prescribed MDI, all were able to achieve mastery following instruction. We created a program to decrease inappropriate neb administration, improve inpatient MDI teaching, and increase resident physician knowledge of appropriate respiratory therapies.

Addressing the Business of Discharge: Building a Case for an Electronic Discharge Summary

Hospitalists are increasingly involved in implementing quality improvement initiatives around patient safety, clinical informatics, and transitions of care, but may lack expertise in promoting these important interventions. Developing a sound business case is essential to garnering support and resources for any quality improvement initiative. We present a framework for developing a business case using a structured approach to exploring qualitative and quantitative costs and benefits and describe its application in the experience of developing an electronic discharge summary at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). At our institution, we found that the primary financial benefits are the cost reductions in eliminating transcription needs and decreasing billing delays, as well as reducing the cost of tracking completion of and dissemination of discharge summaries. Costs incurred from a new information technology (IT) infrastructure, programmer time, maintenance and training must also be accounted for. While benefits may be apparent to front line providers (improved communication, efficiency of data transfer, and increased referring physician satisfaction), implementing and sustaining such an innovation depends on articulating a sound business case with a detailed cost-benefit analysis to institutional decision making.

Incentivizing Residents to Document Inpatient Advance Care Planning

develops web-based decision support for radiology test ordering. He serves on the board for SEA Medical Systems, which makes intravenous pump technology. He serves as an advisor to Calgary Scientific, which makes technologies that enable mobility within EHRs. He is on the clinical advisory board for Zynx Inc, which develops evidence-based algorithms, and Patient Safety Systems, which provides a set of approaches to help hospitals improve safety. He is a consultant for EarlySense, which makes patient safety monitoring systems.