Grant: Fellowship - PA: Clinical Research

Increasing attention to patient safety, combined with higher level of patient acuity and complexity, is reshaping post-graduate medical training. Attending physicians supervising trainees' clinical activities are strongly encouraged to more closely oversee patient care. Direct supervisor involvement in care delivery could affect learning opportunities by changing the nature of trainees' participation in patient care and their interactions with the supervisors. The main objective of this program of research is to better understand how a closer level of supervision during acute resuscitation episodes affects trainees' learning. More specifically, we will observe the interactions between the physicians-in-training, their supervisors, and their clinical environment during acute resuscitation episodes encountered under different levels of clinical supervision. In addition, we will measure trainees' understanding of specific resuscitation episodes and their future ability to independently resuscitate critically ill patients. This program of research includes one systematic review of the literature on participation and learning and two observational studies. The first observational study will be completed in a simulated setting, whereas the second study will occur in real critical care environments. Our findings will allow us to identify factors related to the level of clinical supervision that can be targeted by educational interventions in order to optimize learning during postgraduate clinical training. Understanding how to best optimize learning opportunities while maintaining a safe clinical environment for the patients is essential to preserve the quality of medical training and patient care.