Quality in-training evaluation reports--does feedback drive faculty performance?

Purpose: Clinical faculty often complete in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) poorly. Faculty development (FD) strategies should address this problem. An FD workshop was shown to improve ITER quality, but few physicians attend traditional FD workshops.

Quality evaluation reports: Can a faculty development program make a difference?

Background: The quality of medical student and resident clinical evaluation reports submitted by rotation supervisors is a concern. The effectiveness of faculty development (FD) interventions in changing report quality is uncertain.

Aims: This study assessed whether faculty could be trained to complete higher quality reports.

Assessing change in clinical teaching skills: are we up for the challenge?

Background: The faculty development community has been challenged to more rigorously assess program impact and move beyond traditional outcomes of knowledge tests and self ratings.

Purpose: The purpose was to (a) assess our ability to measure supervisors' feedback skills as demonstrated in a clinical setting and (b) compare the results with traditional outcome measures of faculty development interventions.

Methods: A pre-post study design was used.

Ambulation monitoring of transtibial amputation subjects with patient activity monitor versus pedometer.

Our study aimed to compare the accuracy of step count and ambulation distance determined with the Yamax Digi-Walker SW-700 pedometer (DW) and the Ossur patient activity monitor (PAM) in 20 transtibial amputation subjects who were functioning at the K3 Medicare Functional Classification Level. Subjects completed four simulated household tasks in an apartment setup and a gymnasium walking course designed to simulate outdoor walking without the presence of environmental barriers or varied terrain. The mean step count accuracy of the DW and the PAM was equivalent for both the household activity (75.

Assessing the quality of supervisors' completed clinical evaluation reports.

Context: Although concern has been raised about the value of clinical evaluation reports for discriminating among trainees, there have been few efforts to formalise the dimensions and qualities that distinguish effective versus less useful styles of form completion.

Methods: Using brainstorming and a modified Delphi technique, a focus group determined the key features of high-quality completed evaluation reports. These features were used to create a rating scale to evaluate the quality of completed reports.

Skin problems in an amputee clinic.

Objective: To document the type and frequency of individual residual limb skin problems among patients using a lower extremity prosthesis, including the suggested etiology and management of each type of skin problem.

Design: This is a 6-yr retrospective chart review of skin lesions diagnosed in patients examined in an outpatient amputee clinic at a regional, referral rehabilitation hospital in Ottawa, Canada. Skin lesions were included if they were on a lower extremity residual limb for a patient who functionally used a prosthesis.

Failure to fail: the perspectives of clinical supervisors.

Background: Clinical supervisors often do not fail students and residents even though they have judged their performance to be unsatisfactory. This study explored the factors identified by supervisors that affect their willingness to report poor clinical performance when completing In-Training Evaluation Reports (ITERs).

Method: Semistructured interviews with 21 clinical supervisors at the University of Ottawa were conducted and qualitatively analyzed.

Dermatologic conditions associated with use of a lower-extremity prosthesis.

Objectives: To document the frequency of skin problems among lower-limb prosthesis users and to assess for factors associated with skin problems among patients using a prosthesis.

Design: Six-year retrospective chart review.

Setting: An outpatient amputee clinic at a regional, referral rehabilitation hospital in Canada.

Bone overgrowth in the adult traumatic amputee.

Bone overgrowth of the residual limb after an amputation is a well documented complication in the pediatric amputee population. Bone overgrowth can cause pain, problems with skin breakdown, and poor prosthetic fit. There have been few reports of bone overgrowth in the adult amputee.