Disclosures: Kelsey Albert, DO: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: To determine if having Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residents rotating on an inpatient rehabilitation unit (IRU) improved patient and staff satisfaction.
Design: Quality Improvement
Setting : Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital, a 115-bed free standing IRU.
Participants : Patients that were admitted and staff that worked on Sunnyview’s spinal cord and stroke services between April 2019 and January 2020.
Interventions: Two PM&R residents were assigned to the stroke and spinal cord services starting in September of 2019. Prior to September these units did not have PM&R residents and were instead run by attendings, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
Main Outcome Measures: Patient satisfaction surveys for patients that were admitted during a 5-month period prior to the residents arrival, and patients that were admitted for a 5-month period after the residents had started. In addition, a staff communication and satisfaction survey was administered to staff members that frequently interact with providers on the floor. Respondents provided numerical rating on a scale from one, (strongly disagree), to five, (strongly agree), in addition to answering yes or no questions.
Results: 189 patients completed a survey during the 10 month period. Of those, 101 patients were discharged prior to the residents start and 88 patients were discharged after residents were rotating. There was no significant change in patient satisfaction with their physician before or after the residents had started. Surveys from 19 staff members showed that they strongly agree that having residents improved communication(4.8), improved provider accessibility(4.6) and 94% perceived patient outcomes as improving as a result of residents participating in patient care. Conclusions: Having resident physicians on an IRU had no effect on patient satisfaction regarding their doctor or rehabilitation stay. However, communication, responsiveness of providers, and staffs perceived outcomes of patients improved with resident participation.
Level of Evidence: Level V
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Albert K, Albataineh Y, Sonagere MB. Impact of Adding Physiatry Residents to Care Team on Patient and Staff Satisfaction Scores on an Acute Rehabilitation Unit: A Quality Improvement Project [abstract]. PM R. 2020; 12(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-adding-physiatry-residents-to-care-team-on-patient-and-staff-satisfaction-scores-on-an-acute-rehabilitation-unit-a-quality-improvement-project/. Accessed May 8, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2020
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-adding-physiatry-residents-to-care-team-on-patient-and-staff-satisfaction-scores-on-an-acute-rehabilitation-unit-a-quality-improvement-project/