Abstract
Objective
The impact of trainees on inpatient patient care is incompletely understood. This
study sought to discern the impact of trainees on patient outcomes and costs at a
children's hospital in the community. We hypothesized that there would be no differences
in patient outcomes and costs on an inpatient teaching service compared to a nonteaching
service. As a secondary goal, we analyzed trainee evaluations.
Methods
The authors conducted a cohort study of patients hospitalized from October 1, 2016
to September 30, 2017 on an acute care unit in a children's hospital in the community.
Using t test or Fisher exact test, the authors compared patient outcomes between teaching
and nonteaching services including, length of stay, discharge times, readmission rates,
rapid response team (RRT) calls, pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) transfers, hospital
transfers, and costs.
Results
During the study period, there were 1066 patients admitted and discharged from the
teaching service and 1038 from the nonteaching service. There were no statistically
significant differences in patient demographics or patient complexity. Similarly,
there were no differences in length of stay, discharge times, readmission rates, RRT
calls, PICU transfers, hospital transfers or patient costs between services. Trainee
evaluations of the inpatient experience were overwhelmingly positive.
Conclusions
In a children's hospital in the community, there were no significant differences in
patient outcomes and costs on a teaching service compared to a nonteaching service.
Furthermore, trainee evaluations suggested a favorable learning experience, illustrating
the feasibility of incorporating trainees into inpatient care in a nontraditional
learner setting.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: July 09, 2021
Accepted:
July 3,
2021
Received:
March 11,
2021
Footnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 by Academic Pediatric Association
