Table 2 Themes in Qualitative Assessments about Residents from study of Gender and Thematic Differences in Narrative Comments of Internal Medicine Resident Performance
Theme & Subthemes | Illustrative Quotes about Women Residents | Illustrative Quotes about Men Residents |
|---|---|---|
Relationship Orientation | ||
Traits & Attributes | “Very warm and kind with patients.” Competency Specific Comment, Woman PGY1 intern | “They are enthusiastic, hard-working, warm and humble - which all allow them to function seamlessly in an intern role. They role-model their empathic approach to patients as well as highly developed exam and interview skills….” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Man PGY1 intern |
Communication & Interpersonal Skills | “(First Name) has outstanding communication with patients and families. They are a true patient advocate and have outstanding professionalism and empathy...” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Woman PGY3 resident “(First Name) is excellent at getting things done and communicating effectively with team members. They are able to communicate their ideas and change people's minds without forcing it upon then, which will serve them well as they work with larger teams and leads others. I think their communication is one of their greatest strengths…” Overall Comment, Woman PGY2 resident | “(First Name) is an effective communicator. They have a pleasant affable nature which enabled them to form a strong rapport with their patients and work well with their colleagues. Their documentation was additionally spot on.” Competency Specific Comment, Man PGY1 intern |
Support Role | “They are an effective team player, sharing the work, the learning and responsibility for the patients…” Overall Comment, Woman PGY1 intern | “They are also a great team member, and has stepped up multiple times (without complaint) to help other members of the team out…” Overall Comment, Man PGY1 intern |
“As far as leading the team I think, and more importantly their interns think, that they struck a fine balance between autonomy and supervision. Their interns felt that they were given space to think things through and advance their thoughts re a plan but that they were very supported and (First Name) was always aware of what was going on and available at a moment’s notice…” Overall Comment, Woman PGY2 resident “Their team members commented that they were very approachable and indeed multiple members of the team had approached them when there were issues in the team dynamics. (First Name) was effectively able to mitigate these situations and contribute to the personal growth of the members of their team...” Overall Comment, Woman PGY2 resident | “They encouraged autonomy in their interns but provided support for them in synthesizing the data they gathered into a thorough differential and thoughtful assessment and plan. They also role-modeled providing good patient care and solid communication skills.” Competency Specific Comment, Man PGY2 resident | |
Tone | “Wonderful attitude and sense of humor, a true joy to work with. Helps boost team morale...” Overall Comment, Woman PGY3 resident “The teams morale was incredibly high and this is largely due to their leadership and the tone they set…” Overall Comment, Woman PGY2 resident “They always maintained a calm demeanor, even in chaotic or stressful situations, which helped set a good tone for the team.” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Woman PGY2 resident “They are reserved by nature and this may at times make them seem less enthusiastic or confident than they truly are. I encourage them to work on projecting a more positive and enthusiastic demeanor, even if it feels like play-acting at first, as I believe it will greatly improve their therapeutic and professional relationships.” Overall Comment, Woman PGY3 resident | “Ensured the interns and students were given the mental learning space for team teaching in general. In terms of leadership, their calm demeanor and positive attitude set the tone for the team, which was an invaluable investment on their part….” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Man PGY2 resident |
Confidence and Autonomy | ||
“I encouraged them to more readily make commitments in their clinical decision making when discuss daily diagnostic and treatment plans for their patients.” Competency Specific Comment, Woman PGY1 intern “(First Name) is quiet but when spoken to or while participating in discussions they made valuable and relevant points. My suggestion to them was, you can and should speak up whether you agree or have an alternative view point. They did show they were indeed capable of good discussions and clearly this will impact their teaching skills positively.” Overall Comment, Woman PGY1 intern | “We discussed that they are a very strong intern with good medical knowledge and is great about always trying to enhance their medical knowledge. We discussed that they should continue to gain confidence with their assessments and plans and medical decision making.” Overall Comments, Man PGY1 interns | |
“…They suffer from a bit of a lack of confidence which - catch 22 - stops them from putting themself out there sometimes. When they did make a real effort to come up with some teaching points on cases…They need to be pushed a bit more to keep this up as I think they has more teachable topics than they give themself credit for and it forces them to think through the topics more when they do this.” Overall Comment, Women PGY2 resident “Would continue to grow confidence in overall skills, and particularly in owning your authority as the team leader. Would also continue to experiment with ways to manage rounding time and patient care efficiently.“ Strengths and Areas for Improvement, Woman PGY2 resident “My main feedback for (First Name) going into third year is to continue working on taking on more of a supervisory/leadership role. FName does an excellent job of being detail-oriented and helping the interns with their work load and overall development, and I think the next step is for them to spend more time searching the literature, teaching the interns/students, and directing the overall educational experience of the team (e.g. assigning subjects to look up/discuss as a team, sending relevant articles to the team, etc).” Competency Specific Comment, Woman PGY2 resident “Continue working on being a vocal team leader and directing the plans/presentations of junior team members – (First Name) has a soft-spoken approach, and they should be confident in presenting their plans and thoughts, as well as guiding how interns/students present their plans as well.” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Woman PGY2 resident | “Time management still have room to grow, as will their confidence about being more directive and authoritative at times.” Strengths and Areas for Improvement Comment, Man PGY2 resident “Has great knowledge and needs to have confidence with this.” Overall Comment, Man PGY3 resident | |