A Novel Pediatric Residency Coaching Program: Outcomes After One Year.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Residency Training
• Clinical Competency Assessment

Background:

• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandates specialty-specific milestone assessments for residents.
• Direct observation in clinical settings is the optimal method for assessing resident competence but presents implementation challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Stanford Pediatric Residency Coaching Program's impact on resident clinical skill development, reflective practice, feedback, and goal setting.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in improving learner assessment and faculty confidence in providing feedback.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a dedicated faculty coach for each resident, providing iterative coaching sessions.
• Each session included direct observation, facilitated reflection, coach feedback, and goal setting.
• Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed feedback quantity/quality and faculty confidence.

Main Results:

• All 82 residents received a minimum of 3 direct observations.
• Residents and faculty reported higher quality feedback and improved reflection/goal setting with coaches compared to non-coaches.
• Coaches showed increased confidence in feedback delivery; non-coach faculty reported sustained or increased feedback provision.

Conclusions:

• The coaching program effectively enhanced resident feedback, reflection, and goal setting.
• Dedicated faculty coaching improves the quality of learner assessment and faculty confidence.
• Further research is needed to explore patient-level outcomes and broader benefits/challenges of resident coaching.