Faculty supervision of residents in an internal medicine practice

This study examines the supervision of residents by faculty members in an outpatient internal medicine practice. For the study, the investigators developed a methodology to analyze the cognitive content and the focus of residents' thoughts during conversations between faculty members and residents. The residents also identified characteristics of productive and less productive exchanges with the faculty. The study shows that both residents and faculty members use the majority of their part of conversations to present information. Residents in early training appear to be more challenged by diagnostic issues, while residents later in training are more concerned with therapy and management. The study results suggest that effective supervision may relate more to the ability of faculty members to display their reasoning as they present information to residents than to the quantity and types of questions they pose to residents.