Practical Interventions to Enhance Resident Ownership of Patient Care

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry Training
• Physician Development

Background:

• Concerns exist regarding resident opportunities to develop patient care ownership.
• Ownership encompasses advocacy, autonomy, commitment, communication, and responsibility.
• Little guidance exists on fostering ownership during residency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore psychiatry resident and faculty perspectives on enhancing resident ownership in patient care.
• To identify factors influencing resident ownership during training.

Main Methods:

• Anonymous electronic survey distributed to psychiatry residents and faculty.
• 29 residents and 31 faculty provided narrative responses to open-ended questions.
• Thematic analysis guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Main Results:

• Four themes emerged: attending, resident, educational program, and environment.
• Proposed interventions include setting expectations, modeling, promoting autonomy, supervision, cultural change, and longer rotations.
• These interventions target attitudes, norms, and perceived control.

Conclusions:

• Interventions can influence patient care ownership by addressing individual and environmental factors.
• The Theory of Planned Behavior provides a framework for understanding and enhancing ownership.
• Future research should develop and test curricula for reinforcing physician ownership.