Cosimini Michael J, Mackintosh Liza, Chang Todd P
Division of General Paediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Med Educ. 2016 Dec;50(12):1204-1207. doi: 10.1111/medu.13080.
The didactic conference is a common part of the resident education curriculum. Given the demands of clinical responsibilities and restrictions on duty hours, maximising education is a challenge faced by all residency programmes. To date, little research exists with respect to how the provision of complimentary food affects physician and resident conference attendance. The objective of this study was to determine whether complimentary food improves resident arrival times and attendance at educational conferences and, furthermore, to test whether this provision is a potentially cost-effective tool for improving education. A retrospective review of 36 resident educational Friday noon conferences, including 1043 resident arrivals, was performed. Data were analysed for total attendance, arrival times, number needed to eat (NNE) and the percentage of residents arriving on time, and compared between days on which food was and was not provided. Median attendance was 3.7% higher (p = 0.04) on days on which food was provided, at a cost of US$46 for each additional resident in attendance. Arrival times were also statistically significantly improved when food was provided, with a median improvement of 0.7 minutes (p = 0.02) and an 11.0% increase in on-time arrivals (p < 0.001). The NNE was 10.6. Complimentary food improves both attendance and arrival times by a small, but statistically significant, degree. The provision of complimentary food can be considered as an incentive for attendance and on-time arrival at didactic educational sessions, although more cost-effective modalities may exist.
教学会议是住院医师教育课程的常见组成部分。鉴于临床职责的要求和值班时间的限制，最大限度地开展教育是所有住院医师培训项目面临的一项挑战。迄今为止，关于提供免费食物如何影响医生和住院医师参加会议的研究很少。本研究的目的是确定免费食物是否能改善住院医师参加教育会议的到达时间和出席率，此外，还要测试这种提供方式是否是一种潜在的提高教育效果的成本效益工具。对36次住院医师周五中午的教育会议进行了回顾性分析，包括1043名住院医师的到达情况。分析了总出席人数、到达时间、需要用餐的人数（NNE）以及按时到达的住院医师百分比的数据，并对提供食物和未提供食物的日子进行了比较。提供食物的日子里，中位数出席率高出3.7%（p = 0.04），每位额外出席的住院医师成本为46美元。提供食物时，到达时间也有统计学上的显著改善，中位数改善了0.7分钟（p = 0.02），按时到达的人数增加了11.0%（p < 0.001）。NNE为10.6。免费食物在一定程度上提高了出席率和到达时间，虽然幅度较小，但具有统计学意义。提供免费食物可被视为一种促使参加教学教育课程并按时到达的激励措施，不过可能存在更具成本效益的方式。
