Abstract / Summary
Objective: Resident educational conferences (i.e., morning report and noon conference) serve to increase clinical knowledge and to shape educational culture within a program.During the COVID-19 pandemic, dwindling conference attendance, decreasing participation, and a perception that formal educational time was less protected were observed at our institution, highlighting a need for culture change around trainees' educational time.Our objective was to apply Kotter's eight-step Change Model (KCM) to increase attendance and improve residents' perception of the culture of educational conferences in their residency program.Methods: This was a mixed-methods study involving pediatric residents at a large, university-affiliated children's hospital in Palo Alto, California, United States from 2022 to 2023.A total of 113 residents were eligible to participate.We communicated the need and vision for change with stakeholders, recruited conference champions, and addressed resident-identified barriers to help facilitate attendance.Attendance was recorded daily, and residents were surveyed bi-monthly, evaluating their perception of culture using Likert scales and free-response questions.A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre-and postintervention weekly median conference attendance, and change in the Conference Culture Survey was assessed using ANOVA F-tests.Results: Weekly median conference attendance increased by 107% from 15 to 31 (p<0.001).Pre-intervention survey response rate was 41% (n=46), while post-intervention survey response rates were 42-67% (range, 47-76).Residents perceived meaningful improvements in conference culture (p<0.001), protection from clinical obligations (p<0.001), and board exam preparation (p<0.001).Conclusion: Over a 12-month period, attendance and perception of educational conference culture improved.KCM is a useful tool that can guide educators in intentionally addressing conference educational culture within their own contexts.