Facing the challenges of chief resident year: A standardized experiential simulation leadership curriculum
Elina Zakin1, Nada Abou-Fayssal1, Aaron Lord1, Aaron Nelson1, Sara Rostanski1, Cen Zhang1, Sondra Zabar2, Steven Galetta1, Arielle Kurzweil1
1Department of Neurology, 2Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Objective:
Design, implement and evaluate a case-based, experiential curriculum focused on development of key skills necessary for successful execution of the chief resident role.
Background:
A chief resident’s role incorporates administrative, academic and social responsibilities essential to the conduct of a successful residency program. However, rising chief residents receive little formal exposure to leadership training.
Design/Methods:
We developed a one-day curriculum combining didactics and simulation activities for rising chief residents (n=16) from three training programs at NYU Langone (Neurology, Double Board, and Child Neurology), administered six weeks before the first day of chief year. We discussed key topics in leadership and reviewed a psychometric evaluation tool (Insights Discovery) prior to the curriculum day. The simulation activity consisted of three group objective structured clinical examinations scenarios (G-OSCEs) in our simulation center with a focus on: 1) Providing a struggling junior trainee with feedback; 2) Debriefing a bad clinical outcome as team leader; 3) Navigating a challenging situation with a junior faculty member. Learners completed a pre-intervention questionnaire before the curriculum regarding their levels of familiarity and preparedness for their chief year. Learners were surveyed about their overall experience at the completion of the day. Post-intervention questionnaire data was collected in September 2022 (n=9).
Results:
Comparison of pre and post intervention data suggests improvements in familiarity across the key domains of communication skills, feedback, leadership development, organizational culture, cultural competency, and wellness. All participants demonstrated improved comfort in regards to the simulated scenario situations, most notably with debriefing a bad outcome. Learners reported satisfaction with all elements of the leadership development day, and in particular, noted the experience with the psychometric evaluation debrief as the highlight of the curriculum.
Conclusions:
A one-day leadership development curriculum combining didactics and simulation is an effective means of preparing rising chief residents to succeed in their transition to this leadership role.