A Night Team Curriculum for the Inpatient Service

Authors

Priti Bhansali, George Washington University
Christine Skurkis, University of Connecticut
Karin Gray, George Washington University
Aisha Davis, George Washington University
Edwin Zalneraitis, University of Connecticut

Document Type

Instructional Material

Publication Date

9-9-2011

Description

Due to ACGME work duty hour requirements, many residency programs have initiated a Night Team (NT) rotation. There may be limited direct contact with faculty overnight. The provision of an educational experience and ability to evaluate performance on the NT rotation are needed. This curriculum, originally developed at the University of Connecticut Pediatric Residency Program, may be adapted for other programs.

Goals for the rotation were developed with resident input and include:

1. Improving clinical reasoning and communication skills.
2. Increasing faculty feedback.
3. Providing appropriate patient surveillance.
4. Enhancing the teaching role of the senior resident.

Educational activities include:

1. Periodic structured audit of resident admit notes by on-service faculty to assess documentation of clinical reasoning.
   Completion of reflection logs related to systems issues affecting patient care.
2. Formal feedback targeting handoffs based on resident initiated calls to faculty.
3. Structured clinical observations of interns' patient interactions by senior residents.
4. Senior resident led teaching sessions covering clinical scenarios commonly encountered overnight.

In addition to faculty correspondence, evaluations for the NT residents may be augmented by input from patients and families, nurses, and peers to provide additional sources of feedback for patient care, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems based practice competency domains.

This curriculum was approved at the Residency Advisory Committee meeting at the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine Pediatric Residency Program in 2007 and fully implemented in 2008. Evaluations of this curriculum at the University of Connecticut Pediatric Residency Program from the most recent annual survey indicate that the curriculum has been accepted by the residents, with over 97% of both faculty and residents stating that the Night Team rotation either meets or exceeds expectations. This curriculum has been adapted for integration into the night team rotation at Children’s National Medical Center, approved by the Pediatric Residency Program’s Curriculum Committee, and successfully implemented during the 2010-2011 academic year. Faculty feedback from both institutions has been favorable noting that evaluations and feedback have been easily incorporated into faculty workflow and provide a formal opportunity to provide education to residents with whom there is limited direct contact overnight.

AAMC MedEdPORTAL publication ID 8511. Link to original

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Bhansali P, Skurkis C, Davis A, Gray K, Zalneraitis E. A night team curriculum for the inpatient service. MedEdPORTAL Publications. 2011;7:8511. http://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.8511