figure 1 displays residents' responses to the question regarding how often they had worked without adequate supervision. Nearly one-third (31.2%) of the residents stated that they had never felt that they were without adequate supervision, whereas another third (32.3%) said that they had experienced inadequate supervision less than once a month. Of the remaining respondents, 15.7% said they had experienced inadequate supervision at least once a month, 9.8% at least once a week, 6.6% more than once a week, and 4.5% almost daily. For the analyses that follow, responses were scaled from 1 (never) to 6 (almost daily).
Figure 1.
Distribution of Residents' Responses to the Question: “During this Year, How Often, If ever, Did You Care for Patients WITHOUT What You Considered to Be Adequate Supervision From an Attending Physician?”
figure 2 shows the relationship between reports of working without adequate supervision and residents' reports of the average time they spent each week with attending physicians. Residents reporting more time each week with an attending physician were less likely to say that they had worked without adequate supervision than were residents who reported fewer weekly hours with an attending physician (P < .001). figure 3 shows that reports of working without adequate supervision were also strongly related to residents' ratings of satisfaction with their overall residency experience. Those reporting more time working without adequate supervision gave noticeably lower ratings to the overall residency experience (r = −0.37; P < .001).
Residents in the specialties of ophthalmology, neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry were most likely to report having cared for patients without adequate
This figure 1 and accompanying text originally appeared on page 39 in Baldwin DC, Daugherty SR, Ryan PM. How residents view their clinical supervision. J Grad Med Educ. 2010;2(1):37–45.
The changes are as follows:
1. The y-axis labels were changed from “At least twice a week” to “At least once a week” and from “At least twice a month” to “At least once a month.” These changes also are reflected in the text.
2. Percents listed in the text were changed to reflect the percents listed in Figure 1, eg, 31% was changed to 31.2%.