1947. Educational Impact of a Hybrid Infectious Diseases Rotation for Internal Medicine Residents

Abstract

BackgroundTraditional infectious diseases (ID) rotations for internal medicine (IM) residents focus on inpatient consultation, potentially skewing trainees’ perspectives on ID. We report our experience with a hybrid inpatient–outpatient ID rotation which provides broader ID clinical exposure and an effective venue for educational innovation.MethodsWe included all IM residents completing an assigned ID rotation in the UT Southwestern IM residency since July 2013. From July 2013 to June 2017, a 4-week ambulatory ID (Amb ID) rotation, consisting of general and subspecialty ID clinics and weekly teaching sessions focused on ID board review, was offered in parallel to traditional inpatient ID consult rotations. From July 2017 to present, all assigned residents complete up to a 4-week ID hybrid rotation, consisting of 2 weeks of ambulatory ID and 2 weeks of inpatient ID consults, with all residents receiving weekly teaching sessions; in some cases, the 4 weeks were not completed sequentially. Data were collected on resident numbers and training level, quantitative and qualitative course evaluations, and program in-training examination scores in ID content areas.ResultsFrom July 2013 to June 2019, IM residents completed a total of 626 ID rotations, an average of 104 per year (Table 1). A sample ID hybrid schedule is shown in Table 2. Overall resident satisfaction with the ID hybrid rotation was 4.7 (std. dev. 0.7) on a 5-point Likert scale. This rotation has consistently been among the highest rated rotations by residents. In-training examination ID scores increased significantly with creation of the Amb ID rotation in 2013 and further increased since 2017 with creation of the ID hybrid, in which both inpatient and ambulatory residents receive the weekly teaching sessions (Figure 1). Pilot educational innovations through this rotation include an online web-based antibiotic stewardship curriculum (2014–2015) and a mobile app-based ID board review platform utilizing spaced interval learning (2018–2019).ConclusionA hybrid inpatient–outpatient ID rotation for IM residents has proven to be a highly effective platform for ID education and curriculum innovation at our institution. This concept could be exported to other institutions and increase IM resident interest and breadth of clinical exposure in ID. DisclosuresAnk E. Nijhawan, MD, MPH, Gilead Sciences, Inc.: Research Grant.