Changing morning report: evaluation of a transition to an interactive mixed-learner format in an internal medicine...

Morning report is an important conference for medical education, but direct comparisons of approaches to morning report have only rarely been reported.

During the 2003 to 2004 academic year, we conducted both our traditional single-learner-level morning report and a new highly interactive multiple-learner-level format. Attendees were rotating students, residents, and faculty on the inpatient general medicine services.

We conducted anonymous surveys of participants to record their evaluations of the morning report formats. We received evaluations from 293 (60%) of 490 students, residents, and faculty. Students, 1st-year residents, and faculty preferred the mixed-learner model significantly more than did senior residents. Overall, more than 80% of participants rated the interactive multilevel format as good or very good when asked about content, discussion quality, level, and usefulness.

An interactive morning report involving learners across multiple levels was well-received and has several educational benefits, with a greater emphasis on collaborative case discussion and active learning. Education leaders should remain open to experimenting with even the most well-established institutional traditions as they continuously reevaluate the effectiveness of teaching conferences.