Barriers to workplace-based learning in the intensive care unit: A qualitative description of internal medicine residents' and intensivists' perspectives

Workplace affordances and learning engagement in a Thai paediatric intensive care unit

BACKGROUND

Workplace learning in critical care settings is complex and challenging. Research has explored learner-, teacher-, and context-related factors that influence medical residents' engagement in critical care workplaces in Western but not in non-Western cultures. This limits our understanding of workplace learning globally and how we can better support resident learning in diverse cultures.

OBJECTIVE

To explore how paediatric residents engage in workplace learning in a Thai Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and how this culturally situated workplace shapes their learning.

METHODS

In this qualitative study, we recruited paediatric residents (n = 16) from a tertiary care hospital in Thailand for semi-structured interviews. We used reflexive thematic analysis to describe, analyse and interpret residents' experiences of workplace learning, and to capitalise on our own experience as an analytic resource.

RESULTS

We constructed three themes to represent participants' narratives: PICU cases and context as dynamic affordances; impact of psychological safety; and the role of attending physicians. While Thai PICU cases and context could afford participation and thus learning, Thailand's collectivist culture, which prioritises group needs over individual needs, contributed to a sense of psychological safety within culturally-endorsed, professional and social hierarchies, and set the stage for workplace learning. Despite their higher status in these hierarchies, attending physicians facilitated resident learning by fostering open dialogue, joint problem-solving and a low-stress atmosphere.

CONCLUSIONS

Workplace learning in a Thai PICU while challenging, is uniquely facilitated by Thailand's collectivist culture that fosters psychological safety and attending physicians' invitation in, and learn from, the workplace optimises learning.

Structured Debriefing to Assess Performance of Entrustable Professional Activities

Background The medical workplace presents challenges for workplace-based learning. Structured debriefing of shared clinical experiences has been proposed as a way to take advantage of workplace-based learning in a setting that facilitates deep learning conversations. Objective To investigate faculty and learner acceptance of private, face-to-face, structured debriefing of performance of entrustable professional activities (EPAs). Methods During the 2020-2021 academic year, faculty at the University of Colorado (CU) and the University of Utah (UU) debriefed fellow performance of jointly selected EPAs in neonatal-perinatal medicine pertinent to shared 1- to 3-week clinical rotations. Private face-to-face debriefing was structured by a comprehensive EPA-specific list of behavioral anchors describing 3 levels of entrustment/accomplishment. Sessions ended with joint decisions as to level of entrustment/accomplishment and goals for improvement. We used thematic analysis of semistructured fellow interviews and faculty focus groups to identify themes illustrated with representative quotations. Results We interviewed 17 fellows and 18 faculty. CU participants debriefed after clinical rotations; UU usually debriefed during rotations. Debriefing sessions for 1 to 2 EPAs lasted 20 to 40 minutes. Themes represented in fellow interviews and faculty focus groups suggested that debriefing facilitated formative feedback along with shared understanding of clinical performance and assessment criteria. The standardized format and private conversations supported assessment of aspects of performance for which review might otherwise have been overlooked or avoided. The conversations also provided valuable opportunities for formative discussion of other matters of importance to fellows. Conclusions Structured debriefing of recently shared clinical experiences fostered formative assessment viewed positively by teachers and learners.

Trainee-supervisor collaboration, progress-visualisation, and coaching: a survey on challenges in assessment of ICU trainees

BACKGROUND

Assessing trainees is crucial for development of their competence, yet it remains a challenging endeavour. Identifying contributing and influencing factors affecting this process is imperative for improvement.

METHODS

We surveyed residents, fellows, and intensivists working in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a large non-university hospital in Switzerland to investigate the challenges in assessing ICU trainees. Thematic analysis revealed three major themes.

RESULTS

Among 45 physicians, 37(82%) responded. The first theme identified is trainee-intensivist collaboration discontinuity. The limited duration of trainees' ICU rotations, large team size operating in a discordant three-shift system, and busy and unpredictable day-planning hinder sustained collaboration. Potential solutions include a concise pre-collaboration briefing, shared bedside care, and post-collaboration debriefing involving formative assessment and reflection on collaboration. The second theme is the lack of trainees' progress visualisation, which is caused by unsatisfactory familiarisation with the trainees' development. The lack of an overview of a trainee's previous achievements, activities, strengths, weaknesses, and goals may result in inappropriate assessments. Participants suggested implementing digital assessment tools, a competence committee, and dashboards to facilitate progress visualisation. The third theme we identified is insufficient coaching and feedback. Factors like personality traits, hierarchy, and competing interests can impede coaching, while high-quality feedback is essential for correct assessment. Skilled coaches can define short-term goals and may optimise trainee assessment by seeking feedback from multiple supervisors and assisting in both formative and summative assessment. Based on these three themes and the suggested solutions, we developed the acronym "ICU-STAR" representing a potentially powerful framework to enhance short-term trainee-supervisor collaboration in the workplace and to co-scaffold the principles of adequate assessment.

CONCLUSIONS

According to ICU physicians, trainee-supervisor collaboration discontinuity, the lack of visualisation of trainee's development, and insufficient coaching and feedback skills of supervisors are the major factors hampering trainees' assessment in the workplace. Based on suggestions by the survey participants, we propose the acronym "ICU-STAR" as a framework including briefing, shared bedside care, and debriefing of the trainee-supervisor collaboration at the workplace as its core components. With the attending intensivists acting as coaches, progress visualisation can be enhanced by actively collecting more data points.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

N/A.

The Resident Learning Journey in the Medical Intensive Care Unit

Background

The medical intensive care unit (MICU) offers rich resident learning opportunities, but traditional teaching strategies can be difficult to employ in this fast-paced, high-acuity environment. Resident perspectives of learning within this environment may improve our understanding of the common challenges residents face and inform novel approaches to transform the MICU educational experience.

Objective

We conducted a qualitative study of internal medicine residents to better understand their approach to learning the critical care activities that they are entrusted to perform in the MICU.

Methods

Using a thematic analysis approach, we conducted six focus group interviews with 15 internal medicine residents, separated by postgraduate year. A trained investigator led each interview, which was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Our diverse research team, representing different career stages across the continuum of learning to minimize interpretive bias, identified codes and subsequent themes inductively. We refined these themes through group discussion and sensitizing social learning theory concepts using Wenger's community of practice and organized them to create learner archetypes and a conceptual framework of resident learning in the MICU.

Results

We identified three thematic resident learning categories: learning goals and motivation, clinical engagement, and interprofessional collaboration. We distinguished three learner archetypes, the novice, experiential learner, and practicing member, to describe progressive resident development within the interprofessional MICU team, the challenges they frequently encounter, and potential teaching strategies to facilitate learning.

Conclusion

We developed a conceptual framework that describes the resident's journey to becoming a trusted, collaborating member of the interprofessional MICU team. We identified common developmental challenges residents face and offer educational strategies that may support their progress. These findings should inform future efforts to develop novel teaching strategies to promote resident learning in the MICU.