Evaluation of morning report in an emergency medicine department

Morning report is considered as an important educational tool in different branches of medicine. The purpose of the present study was to examine the method of case selection, the leadership, the participant's satisfaction and the educational value of morning report held in our centre.

In September 2007, a formal feedback about the morning report was provided by questionnaire surveys. The data on the method of case selection, the leadership, the participant's satisfaction and the educational value of the sessions were collected from the residents, medical students and the academic staff in emergency medicine department. Each questionnaire also contained an open-ended question, asking for the responders' suggestions for improving these sessions.

73.2% of the responders were satisfied with the current model of the conference hall. The data showed that 46.3% of the participants believed these sessions are held for giving the medical team the required information and 65.9% for solving the patient's problems. The data showed that the participants had evaluated the presentation strategy to be good; however, the presentation pattern was reported to be traditional and based on differential diagnosis in 53.7% of the cases and modern problem oriented in only 39%.

Most participants considered morning report sessions held in our hospital to be effective in the way it is; however, issues such as communication skill, emergency department management, critical thinking, ethics, professionalism and evidence-based medicine should also be added to the sessions.