Divide and conquer: Evaluation of a redesign of a pediatric teaching service

Increasing census and work compression on the pediatric inpatient hematologic malignancy (IHM) service yielded resident dissatisfaction, impaired learning, and decreased perceived quality of patient care. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a service redesign on resident perceptions of (a) the educational value of the rotation and (b) the safety of patient care. As a secondary objective, we evaluated the impact on the time of day of patient discharge.

A bundled intervention on the IHM service was instituted, including decreased patient volumes, intentional patient assignment, intentional faculty selection, and increased weekend staffing. We distributed an annual survey to end-of-the-year junior residents. We compared responses from residents who experienced the redesign (2017) with residents whose experience predated the redesign (2016). We compared the time of day of patient discharge before and after the redesign.

Survey completion rates were 70% (28/40) in 2016 and 57% (29/51) in 2017. Redesign residents rated their educational experience and perceived ability to care for patients on the nights and weekends significantly higher than previous residents. Redesign residents reported that their clinical education was compromised by excessive service less frequently than previous residents (24% vs 82%, P < 0.001). The time of day of patient discharge after the redesign was 35 minutes earlier than before the redesign (4:06 pm vs 4:41 pm, P = 0.01, 95% CI = -63, -6).

A redesign initiative of an oncology service led to improved resident perceptions of the educational value of the rotation and ability to provide safe care to patients, along with earlier discharge times.