Understanding resident wellness: A path analysis of the clinical learning environment at three institutions.

PURPOSE: The clinical learning environment (CLE) affects resident physician well-being. This study assessed how aspects of the learning environment affected the level of resident job stress and burnout. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three institutions surveyed residents assessing aspects of the CLE and well-being via anonymous survey in fall of 2020 during COVID. Psychological safety (PS) and perceived organizational support (POS) were used to capture the CLE, and the Mini-Z Scale was used to assess resident job stress and burnout. A total of 2,196 residents received a survey link; 889 responded (40% response rate). Path analysis explored both direct and indirect relationships between PS, POS, resident stress, and resident burnout. RESULTS: Both POS and PS had significant negative relationships with experiencing a great deal of job stress; the relationship between PS and stress was noticeably stronger than POS and stress (POS: B= -0.12, p=.025; PS: B= -0.37, p<.001). The relationship between stress and residents' level of burnout was also significant (B = 0.38, p<.001). The overall model explained 25% of the variance in resident burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Organizational support and psychological safety of the learning environment is associated with resident burnout. It is important for educational leaders to recognize and mitigate these factors.

Duty Hours Tracking - Is There an App for That?

BACKGROUND: To monitor duty hour compliance residency programs have used self-report methods which can be skewed by recall bias and data falsification. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of and resident attitudes towards two duty hours tracking tools within our Orthopedic residency. We compared our institution's current self-report method of duty hours tracking via New Innovations (NI) with an automated method utilizing Hours Tracker (HT), a smartphone application which automatically logs work hours via GPS coordinates. The primary outcome measures were number of duty hour violations and survey results on resident perceptions. METHODS: The participants were 22 residents of our 25 resident Orthopedic program. Over four weeks, residents tracked duty hours through the standard, selfreport method (NI) and simultaneously through the automated app (HT). Residents also completed an anonymous survey at the end of the study related to perceptions of the methods. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in overall number of violations between NI and HT. HT detected more violations of the 8 hours off requirement (12 vs. 5, p = 0.03). Survey data revealed residents found HT significantly easier to use (p = .004) and less burdensome (p < .001) but in greater violation of privacy (p = .001). Residents reported they were more likely to falsify their hours when using NI (p = .002) and that the results of NI would be more likely used against them (p = .042). When analyzing by training year, junior residents indicated HT was overall easier to use than senior residents (p = .048). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed NI and HT are at least equivalent in accuracy with the app being overall better received, particularly by junior level residents. Until we begin accurately tracking duty hours and engaging residents with an easy to use, well-received interface to which report hours, effective developmental program changes will be difficult to achieve. An app-based approach is a starting point for re-thinking duty hours tracking within this digital age.

Sleeping Safely! A Quality Improvement Project to Minimize Nighttime Interruptions without Compromising Patient Care.

Sleep is crucial for patients' health but is often disrupted, slowing recovery and resulting in adverse health effects. This study identified whether passive vital sign checks (heart rate, respiratory rate, and pulse oximetry) and delayed routine morning laboratories in clinically stable pediatric patients minimized nighttime interruptions without compromising patient safety. METHODS: After developing the inclusion criteria using the Pediatric Early Warning Score, we enrolled eligible patients for the intervention. We assessed physician compliance through order entry and nursing compliance through recorded vital signs and timing of blood draws. Eligible patients received passive vital sign checks at 4 am with routine morning laboratories drawn at midnight or 6 am, instead of 4 am, to minimize patients' nighttime interruptions. All other nursing duties continued with the institution's patient care policies. Finally, retrospective chart reviews were performed to determine whether the intervention resulted in the escalation of care, our primary outcome. RESULTS: We collected 2,138 individual data points, which represented approximately 420 patients. Over the intervention period, high compliance rates with physician order placement, nurse performing passive vital signs, and delayed blood draws were maintained. On eligible patients, there was no escalation of care or rapid response team involvement. CONCLUSIONS: The use of passive vital sign checks on eligible pediatric patients was generally well-received and had high compliance during the intervention period. There were no negative patient care consequences, supporting the feasibility of this program. Further studies are needed to determine sleep quality and patient satisfaction.

When Safety Event Reporting Is Seen as Punitive: "I've Been PSN-ed!"

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Reporting systems are designed to identify patient care issues so changes can be made to improve safety. However, a culture of blame discourages event reporting, and reporting seen as punitive can inhibit individual and system performance in patient safety. This study aimed to determine the frequency and factors related to punitive patient safety event report submissions, referred to as Patient Safety Net reports, or PSNs. METHODS: Three subject matter experts reviewed 513 PSNs submitted between January and June 2019. If the PSN was perceived as blaming an individual, it was coded as punitive. The experts had high agreement (κ=0.84 to 0.92), and identified relationships between PSN characteristics and punitive reporting were described. RESULTS: A total of 25% of PSNs were punitive, 7% were unclear, and 68% were designated nonpunitive. Punitive (vs nonpunitive) PSNs more likely focused on communication (41% vs 13%), employee behavior (38% vs 2%), and patient assessment issues (17% vs 4%). Nonpunitive (vs punitive) PSNs were more likely for equipment (19% vs 4%) and patient or family behavior issues (8% vs 2%). Punitive (vs nonpunitive) PSNs were more common with adverse reactions or complications (21% vs 10%), communication failures (25% vs 16%), and noncategorized events (19% vs 8%), and nonpunitive (vs punitive) PSNs were more frequent in falls (5% vs 0%) and radiology or laboratory events (17% vs 7%). CONCLUSION: Punitive reports have important implications for reporting systems because they may reflect a culture of blame and a failure to recognize system influences on behaviors. Nonpunitive wording better identifies factors contributing to safety concerns. Reporting systems should focus on patient outcomes and learning from systems issues, not blaming individuals.

Patient Safety Event Reporting and Opportunities for Emergency Medicine Resident Education.

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare systems often expose patients to significant, preventable harm causing an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 deaths or more annually. This has propelled patient safety to the forefront, with reporting systems allowing for the review of local events to determine their root causes. As residents engage in a substantial amount of patient care in academic emergency departments, it is critical to use these safety event reports for resident-focused interventions and educational initiatives. This study analyzes reports from the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System to understand how the reports are categorized and how it relates to opportunities for resident education. METHODS: Identifying categories from the literature, three subject matter experts (attending physician, nursing director, registered nurse) categorized an initial 20 reports to resolve category gaps and then 100 reports to determine inter-rater reliability. Given sufficient agreement, the remaining 400 reports were coded individually for type of event and education among other categories. RESULTS: After reviewing 513 events, we found that the most common event types were issues related to staff and resident training (25%) and communication (18%), with 31% requiring no education, 46% requiring directed educational feedback to an individual or group, 20% requiring education through monthly safety updates or meetings, 3% requiring urgent communication by email or in-person, and <1% requiring simulation. CONCLUSION: Twenty years after the publication of To Err is Human, gains have been made integrating quality assurance and patient safety within medical education and hospital systems, but there remains extensive work to be done. Through a review and analysis of our patient safety event reporting system, we were able to gain a better understanding of the events that are submitted, including the types of events and their severity, and how these relate to the types of educational interventions provided (eg, feedback, simulation). We also determined that these events can help inform resident education and learning using various types of education. Additionally, incorporating residents in the review process, such as through root cause analyses, can provide residents with high-quality, engaging learning opportunities and useful, lifelong skills, which is invaluable to our learners and future physicians.