Advocacy skills in resident doctors

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Gynaecology
• Obstetrics

Background:

• Patient advocacy is a crucial systems-based practice skill for Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OBGYN) residents.
• Assessing the impact of targeted learning interventions on resident skill development is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if a standardized patient clinical encounter learning exercise enhances OBGYN residents' patient advocacy skills.
• To determine the effectiveness of simulation-based learning in improving systems-based practice competencies.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study design was employed, with each of the 12 OBGYN residents serving as their own control.
• Residents participated in a standardized patient clinical encounter exercise.
• Aggregate program data and 360° Assessment for Professional Behavior (APB) evaluations were analyzed.

Main Results:

• The standardized patient encounter led to a statistically significant improvement in overall patient advocacy scores, as measured by the APB 360° evaluation.
• Residents reported a statistically significant improvement in their self-identified capability to perform patient advocacy following the exercise.
• Analysis using the signed rank test confirmed the statistical significance of the observed improvements.

Conclusions:

• Standardized patient clinical encounters are an effective learning tool for improving resident physician advocacy skills.
• Simulation-based medical education can successfully enhance specific systems-based practice competencies in OBGYN residents.
• This intervention demonstrates a tangible method for improving patient advocacy training in OBGYN residency programs.