Scientific Abstract

Background: Several studies have demonstrated a high level of satisfaction from residents and medical students working with a senior teaching resident. While the literature has demonstrated the value in a senior teaching elective for the medical students, residents and senior rotating resident themselves, there is a lack of research evaluating the perceptions of the attending psychiatrists’ involved in a senior teaching elective.

Methods: A senior resident teaching elective was designed and implemented to enhance the educational experience of medical students and residents rotating on the psychiatric inpatient unit at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Surveys were designed based upon prior studies to elicit perspectives from medical students, residents, and attending physicians evaluating how this teaching elective benefited their academic development and feeling of support.

Results: A total of 10 survey responses were collected with only 2 responses returned from attending physicians, which were considered qualitatively. Qualitative data indicated that respondents expressed appreciation for the teaching resident centered around themes of an increased feeling of support, enhanced clinical knowledge, and improved coordination of care. Limited comments from attending providers suggested the teaching resident assisted trainees in adjusting to their duties.

Conclusions: The results demonstrated enhanced engagement and academic development for all trainees, as well as an improvement in the trainees’ feelings of support. The study also suggests that the rotation provided support to psychiatric attendings by helping trainees adjust to their clinical duties more quickly and providing additional supervision to trainees. Overall the preliminary results suggest a valuable and educational experience for both the trainees and attendings who were impacted by the presence of a senior teaching resident. The major limitation to this study was a lack of power secondary to a low response rate, and further studies should be conducted to fully evaluate the effect of the pilot rotation on academic development and the perceived feelings of support of trainees and attendings.