Simple Frameworks for Daily Work: Innovative Strategies to Coach Residents Struggling With Time Management,...

Organization and efficiency are central to success on busy inpatient services and may be relevant to demonstrating certain milestones. Most residents adopt these skills by observing supervisors and peers. For some, this method of emulation and adaptation does not occur, with the potential for a negative effect on patient care and team morale. Information on effective strategies for remediating organization and efficiency deficits is lacking.

We explored the major themes of organization and efficiency referred to the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medicine Early Intervention and Remediation Committee (EIRC), and developed tools for their remediation.

Assessments of residents and fellows referred to the EIRC between July 2014 and October 2016 were reviewed for organization and efficiency deficits. Common areas were identified, and an iterative process of learner observations and expert input was used to develop remediation tools.

Over a 2-year period, the EIRC developed remediation plans for 4% of residents (13 of 342 total residents), and for 1 internal medicine subspecialty fellow. Organization and efficiency was the primary or secondary deficit in more than half of those assessed. Most common deficiencies involved admitting a patient efficiently, performing effective prerounding, and composing daily progress notes/presentations. Remediation tools that provided deconstruction of tasks to their most granular and reproducible components were effective in improving performance.

Deficits in organization and efficiency can disproportionately affect resident performance and delay milestone achievement. Many residents would benefit from detailed frameworks and assistance with new approaches to basic elements of daily work.