Psychological Safety and Support: Assessing Resident Perceptions of the Clinical Learning Environment

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Graduate Medical Training
• Clinical Learning Environment Assessment

Background:

• Effective assessment of clinical learning environments is vital for timely interventions in graduate medical education.
• Currently, validated measurement tools for this purpose are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the concurrent validity of two instruments measuring cultural aspects of the clinical learning environment.
• To correlate these instrument's findings with external program evaluation data.

Main Methods:

• In 2017, residents from 19 programs completed the Short Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS) and the Psychological Safety Scale (PSS).
• Resident survey data were aggregated at the program level.
• Data were correlated with results from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Resident Survey.

Main Results:

• Perceived organizational support (SPOS) positively correlated with overall program evaluation, faculty, evaluation, educational content, and resources domains.
• Psychological safety (PSS) positively correlated with overall program evaluation, faculty, and evaluation domains.
• Both instruments demonstrated significant correlations with key ACGME Resident Survey metrics.

Conclusions:

• The SPOS and PSS are valid instruments for assessing cultural facets of the clinical learning environment.
• Programs with higher perceived organizational support and psychological safety among residents tend to receive more positive evaluation ratings.
• Internal assessments using these tools can help teaching institutions monitor and enhance their learning environments.