Evaluating the Impact of Coaching Through the Transition to Residency

• Published in: Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM 2024-06
• Main Authors: Winkel, Abigail Ford, Porter, Barbara, Scheer, Magdalena Robak, Triola, Marc, Pecoriello, Jillian, Cheloff, Abraham Zachary, Gillespie, Colleen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0884-8734; 1525-1497; 1525-1497
• DOI: 10.1007/s11606-024-08865-w

Coaching has been proposed to support the transition to residency. Clarifying its impact will help define its value and best use. To explore the experiences of residents working with coaches through the residency transition. A cohort comparison survey compared experiences of a coached resident cohort with coaches to the prior, uncoached cohort. Post-graduate year (PGY)-2 residents in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, and pathology at a single academic center. Faculty trained as coaches had semi-structured meetings with graduating medical students and residents throughout the PGY-1 year. An online anonymous survey assessed effects of coaching on measures of self-directed learning, professional development, program support and impact of coaching using existing scales (2-item Maslach Burnout Inventory, Brief Resilient Coping Scale, 2-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Stanford Professional Fulfillment Inventory), and novel measures adapted for this survey. Bivariate analyses (t-tests and chi-square tests) compared cohort responses. MANOVA assessed the effects of coaching, burnout and their interactions on the survey domains. Of 156 PGY2 residents, 86 (55%) completed the survey. More residents in the "un-coached" cohort reported burnout (69%) than the "coached" cohort (51%). Burnout was significantly and negatively associated (F = 3.97 (df 7, 75); p