Promoting patient-centred care through trainee feedback: assessing residents' C-I-CARE (ARC) program

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Communication
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Patient satisfaction is a core competency in residency training, mandated by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
• UCLA Health Systems developed the Assessing Residents' C-I-CARE (ARC) Program in 2006 to standardize patient feedback on resident physician communication.
• The program aimed to provide a structured method for assessing interpersonal and communication skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the ARC Program in collecting patient feedback on resident physician communication skills.
• To assess changes in resident and attending physician recognition over time.
• To determine if specialty type influences recognition rates.

Main Methods:

• A 17-item questionnaire was administered via facilitator-led interviews.
• The questionnaire included polar, Likert, and comment scale questions.
• Data was collected from 2006 to 2010.

Main Results:

• The ARC Program collected 5,634 surveys for 323 trainees across six clinical departments.
• Resident recognition and performance scores increased by an average of 22.5% from the first to the second year.
• Attending physician recognition scores decreased by 19% over the four-year period.
• Surgical specialty residents and attendings received higher recognition rates compared to non-surgical specialties.

Conclusions:

• The ARC Program provided a standardized tool for patient feedback, supporting residency training accreditation.
• The program offers valuable data for quality control in hospitals, health organizations, and medical schools.
• It also presents opportunities for student involvement in healthcare.