Assessing the impact of an orientation week on acclimation to radiology residency

Acclimating residents to radiology residency requires attention to new responsibilities, educational material, and social cohesion. To this end, we instituted a structured orientation week for incoming residents and assessed its impact.

During the first weeks of July 2016 and 2017, first year residents attended a five day orientation free of clinical duties, consisting of didactics, hands-on training sessions, and social events. After two orientation cohorts, residents who completed orientation week, and two cohorts who had not, were given a voluntary, anonymous survey using Likert scale questions (1 [worst] to 5 [best]) regarding preparedness for responsibilities, learning, and social cohesion. Residents were asked which components were or would have been helpful. Independent samples t-tests were performed to evaluate differences between the two groups (two-tailed p < 0.05).

21/37 (57%) residents participated. Higher percentages of residents who participated in the orientation week gave scores ≥4 when asked about preparedness for rotations (70% vs. 36%), learning new material (80% vs. 36%), and class cohesiveness (90% vs. 70%). Mean scores on these questions were also higher for these residents with regards to: preparedness for new responsibilities (3.7 vs. 2.9), learning new material (3.8 vs. 2.9), and class cohesiveness (4.5 vs. 3.8), with differences approaching significance (p = 0.09-0.15). Individual components receiving most votes of ≥4 were social outings, resident lunches, didactic lectures, and PACS training.

A weeklong orientation program free of clinical duties was valued by residents and contributed to acclimation to new responsibilities, education, and social cohesion.