HM20 Virtual session title
Call Me Maybe: Balancing Resident Autonomy with Sensible Supervision
Presenter
Daniel Steinberg, MD, SFHM, FACP
Session summary
Dr. Ann-Marie Tantoco
In this session, Dr. Steinberg, professor of medicine and medical education, associate chair for education, and residency program director in the department of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, presented key factors, techniques, and approaches to supervising residents. He discussed the important balance of resident autonomy and supervision, especially since attendings need to focus on learner education along with patient care and safety.
Dr. Steinberg stated that resident supervision is driven by three factors: what residents need, what residents want, and what the supervisor can provide. Although data is mixed on whether supervision improves patient outcomes, supervision is essential for patient care and resident education. Dr. Steinberg showcased several relevant medical education studies relating to supervision and focused on a key question: Do you trust the resident?
The review of medical education literature discussed the meaning and development of trust, oral case presentations to determine trust, and the influence of supervisor experience. One study looked at the attendings’ remote access of EMR, which allows for remote supervision as a great way to determine trust of the resident. Another study showed that attendings want more communication than what residents provide and that the saying “Page me if you need me” does not encourage communication from residents as much as attendings would desire.
Key takeaways
- Resident supervision is driven by what residents need, what residents want, and what the supervisor can provide.
- Trust can be determined from direct supervision, oral presentations, and remote access of EMR, but it is also influenced by attending experience and style.
- To increase resident communication with the attending, do not say “Page me if you need me.” Instead, an attending should specifically state when a call to an attending is required.
Dr. Tantoco is an academic med-peds hospitalist practicing at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She is an instructor of medicine (hospital medicine) and pediatrics at Northwestern University, also in Chicago.
