Analyzing the Feedback Trends and Perceived Benefits to Residents of an Ophthalmology Overnight Consultation Review System

Purpose To review all weeknight consults seen since the implementation of the review system to assess how often our night float (NF) residents are making appropriate clinical decisions and receiving educational points. Methods This was a retrospective, comparative chart review of all patients that received an ophthalmology consult resident on call from April 2022 to December 2022. The Experienced Group included 5 residents at the end of their PGY-2 year (April-July). The Inexperienced Group included 5 residents beginning their PGY-2 year (July-December). The spreadsheet of consults seen was reviewed for how often the plan was changed and how often educational points were made by the program director (PD). A survey was also conducted to determine how supported they felt and how beneficial they felt the review process was for patient care and resident education. Results A total of 586 consults were reviewed by the PD. As compared to the Experienced Group, the Inexperienced Group had a significantly higher rate of patient management plans changed (p=0.001) and a higher rate of changes to a plan a senior resident was involved in (p=0.001). The two groups had a similar frequency of learning opportunities: 45% of the cases in the Inexperienced Group and 32% in the Experienced Group (p=0.136). 60% of the residents in the participating class reported feeling much more supported and 75% of the responding residents felt it was very beneficial for patient care and their education. Conclusion The night float oversight system has increased the safety of patients, while also providing critical learning opportunities for PGY-2 residents. Other residency programs who use NF may find these results helpful in developing their own review systems.