Increasing Physical Exam Teaching on Family-Centered Rounds Utilizing a Web-Based Tool.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Quality Improvement
• Digital Health Tools

Background:

• Millennial trainees desire innovative, multimodal education, especially for physical exam (PE) skills.
• Current family-centered rounds often fail to meet these educational needs.
• The PE Toolkit website was underutilized despite its potential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To increase the utilization of the PE Toolkit website from 2 to 5 page counts per week within 7 months.
• To enhance physical exam teaching during family-centered rounds.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project was implemented on a Hospital Medicine team at an academic center.
• Interventions included training senior residents and providing weekly team feedback on website usage.
• Progress was tracked using an annotated run chart; secondary measures included surveys of attendings and residents.

Main Results:

• Median website page counts increased to 5 per week within the 7-month period.
• Training senior residents and providing feedback were key successful interventions.
• Attendings with more PE Toolkit exposure reported improved self-perceived PE teaching skills (P=0.02).
• Residents in the intervention group reported increased video use (P<0.001) and frequency of PE teaching (P=0.02).

Conclusions:

• The study successfully increased PE Toolkit website use during family-centered rounds, enhancing PE teaching innovatively.
• Learner engagement, consistent feedback, and coaching are crucial for integrating educational technology effectively.