Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
-
Handoffs are an integral component of patient care, and the number of handoffs has increased as a result of duty hours restrictions for resident physicians. A structured handoff curriculum improves accuracy and has been shown to decrease medical errors. A standardized approach across all specialties is lacking in the published literature. The authors discuss the development and implementation of an institution-wide handoff curriculum for incoming first-year residents. ⋯ Both undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula need to develop formalized training and methods to assess competencies in handoffs. Training incoming residents is a logical starting place, but programs should be systematically disseminated across all specialties, from residents to faculty, in order to be effectively integrated into the culture of an institution.
-
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recently announced its Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) program, which is designed to catalyze and promote the engagement of physician trainees in health care quality and patient safety activities that are essential to the delivery of high-quality patient care in U. S. teaching hospitals. In this Commentary, the authors argue that a strong organizational culture in quality improvement and patient safety is a necessary foundation for resident engagement in these areas. ⋯ The authors suggest that the CLER program provides an opportunity for health care and graduate medical education leaders to closely examine organizational quality and safety culture and the degree to which their residents are integrated in these efforts. They highlight the importance of developing collaborative interprofessional strategies to reach common goals to improve patient care. By sharpening the focus on patient safety, supervision, professionalism, patient care transitions, and the overall quality of health care delivery in the clinical learning environment during residents' formative training years, the hope is that the CLER program will inspire a new generation of physicians who possess and value these skills.