The "zing factor"-how do faculty describe the best pediatrics residents?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Graduate Medical Training
• Resident Assessment

Background:

• Faculty assessment of residents lacks uniform standards, impacting evaluation consistency.
• Current evaluation forms do not always align with faculty-defined resident standards.
• Establishing consensus on desirable resident traits is vital for assessment improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and categorize the specific traits and behaviors faculty associate with the "best" residents.
• To explore faculty perspectives on resident quality in graduate medical education.
• To inform the development of more consistent and effective resident evaluation tools.

Main Methods:

• Conducted semistructured interviews with faculty from two pediatrics residency programs.
• Utilized an iterative, inductive approach for coding and theme identification.
• Achieved content saturation through 23 faculty interviews.

Main Results:

• Identified 7 thematic categories of resident traits: personality, energy, professionalism, team behaviors, self-improvement, patient interaction, and medical knowledge/skills.
• Faculty frequently cited passion, enthusiasm, maturity, and reliability as key resident qualities.
• Academic scores and intelligence were mentioned less often than personality and professionalism traits.

Conclusions:

• Faculty perceive a broad range of traits in high-performing residents.
• Identified themes show limited alignment with existing frameworks like Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and CanMEDS competencies.
• Findings suggest a need to revise assessment strategies and may influence the ACGME Milestone Project.