An Innovative, No-cost, Evidence-Based Smartphone Platform for Resident Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Technology
• Surgical Training Assessment
• Physician Workflow Optimization

Background:

• Timely performance evaluation and feedback are essential for resident development.
• Current methods for resident evaluation often disrupt physician workflow, leading to low faculty participation.
• Integrating evaluations into daily processes is crucial for improving feedback frequency and quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a smartphone-based platform could increase faculty participation in resident evaluations.
• To assess the platform's ability to integrate regular evaluations into daily physician workflows.
• To evaluate the impact of the platform on the timeliness and frequency of resident feedback.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental study comparing two 4-month phases with and without a smartphone evaluation platform.
• The platform utilized Likert scale questions and the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition for technical and nontechnical skills.
• Data collected included faculty engagement, evaluation completion rates, resident level, and competency data; analyzed using Fisher exact and chi-square tests.

Main Results:

• Faculty engagement increased from 13% in Phase 1 to 53% in Phase 2 with the smartphone platform.
• Evaluation completion rates rose from 0.9% of cases in Phase 1 to 12% in Phase 2.
• The number of residents and core faculty remained constant, indicating the platform drove the increase in participation.

Conclusions:

• A cost-effective, adaptable smartphone platform can be developed using existing technology for real-time updates.
• The platform effectively assesses technical and nontechnical skills using validated scales, building a comprehensive learner portfolio.
• The smartphone platform successfully integrated into workflow patterns, significantly increasing faculty participation in resident evaluations.