Abstract
Purpose :
Chief residents (CRs) must develop specific leadership competencies. A defined curriculum for this training has not yet been established. We developed an innovative training program for the incoming July 2020 CRs and performed a prospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum.
Methods :
Twenty incoming 2020-2021 CRs participated in a training program prepared and housed by the Department of Ophthalmology at Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx, NY, USA). Self-assessment surveys were distributed to the participants to evaluate their personal leadership qualities prior to, and six months following their participation in the training program. Additionally, Program Directors (PDs) evaluated the leadership competencies of their 2020-2021 CRs six months following their participation in the program, the results of which were compared to PD evaluations of the prior year’s CRs. All surveys were anonymous. Scores ranged from 1 (unsatisfactory) to 5 (mastery), and the statistical difference in average scores was examined using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test.
Results :
Participating specialties included Ophthalmology, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Nuclear Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pathology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Radiation Oncology, and Radiology. CRs felt that the program’s stated objectives were met with mean scores of 4.55/5. CR’s self-assessment scores showed improvement (p=.0004). While no statistically significant improvement was seen in the PD evaluations, the mean scores of several key questions were higher for the 2020-2021 residents than the 2019-2020 residents: addressing conflict diplomatically (4.17 vs. 4.12), maintaining one’s emotions (4.25 vs 4), and organizing well (4.42 vs. 4.06).
Conclusions :
This study confirms that the training program was beneficial, especially by self-report of the participants. Changes in PD evaluation scores were not statistically significant, but this may be due to the 2020-2021 participants having served six months as CR while the 2019-2020 comparative group was evaluated after a full year. A formal program including multiple specialities allows for ophthalmology CRs to learn from their colleagues and facilitates a more organized approach to the acquisition of leadership qualities.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.