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Introduction: Hospital medicine is a growing field that focuses not only on expertise in inpatient medicine but also on knowledge of nonclinical health system topics. The traditional model for resident education does not lend itself to learning these topics. We developed a unique ward rotation with a dedicated curriculum called the Resident Inpatient Training Experience (RITE) to address this deficiency. Methods: The RITE rotation was initially implemented in the 2013-2014 academic year. The curriculum accompanying the rotation contained four case-based modules that included content on patient safety, quality improvement, cost-conscious care, hospital metrics/reimbursement, physician billing and coding, and transitions of care. Prior to RITE, residents received an email orientation to the service. To evaluate the rotation and curriculum, residents completed a pre-and postrotation online survey. Forty-six upper PGY 2 residents each rotated on the service for 1 month. An experienced hospitalist attended on the service and facilitated a weekly discussion on each module. This publication includes an updated version of the email orientation, the four modules, and the surveys. Results: There was a 72% response rate for completion of the pre-and postrotation survey. Confidence in managing hospitalized patients and knowledge of module content taught during the rotation improved. Discussion: We found that implementation of a hospital medicine rotation and curriculum improved resident independence and knowledge of the module topics and was a successful way to alleviate current deficiencies in resident education.

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Background The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Clinical Learning Environment Review program requires residents to receive training in handoffs, but there is limited information on best practices in implementing handoff training.Objective We hypothesized that a bundled, standardized approach to handoffs during intern orientation would increase trainee comfort, confidence, and knowledge.Methods All incoming internal medicine interns participated in a Care Transitions workshop during orientation that was divided into 3 sections: introduction and handoff videos using the I-PASS handoff tool, small group discussion of case scenarios, and a 1on-1 handoff simulation with an evaluator. Participants completed pre-and postworkshop surveys. We reviewed handoff documents to assess whether residents continued to report illness severity-a key component of I-PASS-after the intervention.Results Over 3 years, 225 of 229 (98%) interns completed the preworkshop survey, and 191 (83%) completed the postworkshop survey. Between 2014 and 2016, the number of incoming interns reporting prior training in handoffs during medical school increased from 45% to 63%. Interns' self-reported comfort with providing effective handoffs and self-reported confidence identifying factors essential to an effective verbal handoff (measured on a 5-point Likert scale) improved significantly after the intervention (P , .05 for all questions and years). During 1 year, written handoffs for 28 498 patients were analyzed, and I-PASS illness severity was documented 99.4% of the time. ConclusionsThe Care Transitions workshop consistently improved comfort, confidence, and knowledge of interns in performing handoffs and resulted in sustained change in handoff documentation.

Background Limits on resident duty hours instituted in 2003 and 2011 have compressed medical resident daily workload. Despite this compression, residents must gain competence to practice medicine without supervision. Objective We sought to determine whether moving the time our educational conference is scheduled affects the time when patient discharges are completed on an internal medicine teaching service. Methods The study was conducted at a county hospital within a large internal medicine residency program. During the 4-month study period, the morning report conference for internal medicine residents was shifted from 8:30 am to 2 pm. Patient discharge times, defined as the time the discharge order set was signed, were obtained for the service via the electronic health record. The outcomes measured were patient discharge time variation and internal medicine resident preference for conference time. Results Survey response rate was 82% (42 of 51). Of the residents who responded, 64% (27 of 42) preferred the 8:30 am report time, and 74% (31 of 42) felt the 8:30 am time was also better for education and timing of teaching rounds. There was no difference in discharge times for 2999 patients on the medicine teaching service, whether educational case conference morning report occurred at 8:30 am or at 2 pm. Conclusions Medical patient average discharge time was not influenced by time of educational conference. Factors other than the timing of educational conference appear to influence hospital discharge times on an inpatient internal medicine service.