Hiding in Plain Sight: Resident Remediation in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Residents who are in need of remediation are prevalent across residency programs and often tend to be deficient in multiple competencies that the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has established. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of residents requiring remediation, understand the scope of the challenges in resident remediation, and assess what resources were used to aid in remediation in obstetrics and gynecology programs.

An anonymous survey was emailed to obstetrics and gynecology program directors. Survey responses were summarized through descriptive statistics.

Obstetrics and gynecology residency program directors were invited to respond to this survey.

Thirty-nine respondents out of 241 residency training programs responded (16%).

The majority (84.6%) of programs had placed a resident on remediation. The most common area requiring remediation was professionalism (75.8%), followed by medical knowledge (72.7%), interpersonal communication (60.6%), laparoscopic technical skills (54.6%), and inpatient care (42.4%). Residents who required remediation were identified in a number of ways, most commonly through feedback from the Clinical Competency Committee (87.8%) and faculty feedback (84.8%). Program directors utilized a variety of resources, most commonly prior remediation plans from the program, to create remediation plans. Sixty percent of programs had residents who failed remediation.

This study highlighted the prevalence of resident remediation in obstetrics and gynecology training programs and the importance of faculty in identifying residents in need of remediation, evaluating residents, and mentoring residents.