Abstract
Purpose :
There is little research on how first year Ophthalmology residents are prepared for independent call in United States residencies. Our goals were to identify and describe first, how first year Ophthalmology residents are prepared for call; second, how first year call is structured; and lastly, evaluate the association, if any, between call structure, anxiety, and confidence levels across US ophthalmology residents.
Methods :
Data on call structure and preparation was collected by a national online survey of residency program directors (PDs) and first year residents. Anxiety and confidence were assessed using the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scale.
Results :
36 PDs and 127 residents completed the survey. 100% of PDs reported having a buddy call system. 73.2% of residents reported a preparatory course at the beginning of residency. There was no association between the presence of buddy call and resident anxiety (p= 0.60). A preparatory course was associated with lower anxiety score (p= 0.05) and cognitive worry score (p=0.02) in residents. There was no association between anxiety level and what month in residency that residents started taking independent primary call (p=0.85).
Conclusions :
While preparatory courses are associated with less anxiety amongst residents on call, there was no association between anxiety level and what month in residency that residents started independent primary call.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.