The READ-SG Study: Effect of Peer-Facilitated Small Group Discussions (READ-SG)

August 13, 2021 updated by: Columbia University

The Reflect, Empathize, Analyze, and Discuss in Small Groups Study: The Effect of Peer-facilitated Small Group Discussions on Burnout and Professional Development Among Physician Trainees

This study evaluates the effect of peer facilitated monthly small group topic-based small group discussions on various themes common to physician training that pertain to aspects of humanism on rates of burnout. Attendance to these sessions and completion of the surveys is voluntary.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It is widely known that physicians have rates of suicide that are far higher than in other professions: 70% higher for men and 250-400% higher for women. While the reasoning behind why this occurs has not been well elucidated, physicians do face some unique challenges including the responsibilities of the lives of others, a duty to always uphold the highest level of a moral and ethical standard, as well as being faced with both physical and emotional exhaustion. Trainees in particular seem at risk due to the rigors of the job in addition to the stress of the rapid expansion of the physical and emotional expectations put upon them.

To the investigator's knowledge, there has yet to be any study that has shown any beneficial outcomes regarding burnout using a small group curriculum among physician trainees that also encompasses analysis of the effect of an intervention on the emotional development of trainees. However, there has been a randomized trial on the effect of small groups for junior attendings that showed decreased rates of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and physician burnout in the intervention group. The implications of such programs on the trainee population could result in decreased levels of physician/ trainee burnout, depression, and potentially even suicide, aside from providing trainees with a sense of increased job satisfaction.

While many people in the scientific community judge the success of a physician by their medical achievements and diagnostic acumen, many patients judge the successes of their doctors based on empathy, communication, and bedside manner. While many resources exist to teach residents about the science of medicine, there does not exist to my knowledge a standardized curriculum to teach residents about the humanistic side of medicine and the importance of emotional development. Implementing such a curriculum could provide exactly what is missing from formal residency training as it stands now. Such a program that could be easily adapted to a large number of trainees would seem to be beneficial and also be in line with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)'s core competencies intended for residents to improve on patient care, professionalism, and interpersonal communication.

Peer support and teamwork seem like logical coping mechanisms for a vulnerable population that can feel isolated, such as physician trainees. The study aims to elucidate whether the peer-facilitated READ-SG method is effective at reducing burnout, as assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the gold standard in the field of assessing burnout, as well as to gauge the perceived effect of each session on participants' professional development and symptoms of burnout.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

137

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10032
        • Columbia University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Internal Medicine trainees in the PGY-1 through PGY-3 years at New York Presbyterian - Columbia University Medical Center.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Not open to anyone outside of the Internal Medicine trainees at New York Presbyterian - Columbia University Medical Center.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: OTHER
  • Allocation: NA
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: READ-SG Cohort
Each post-graduate year (PGY) will receive the intervention of a monthly peer-facilitated small group sessions (READ-SG Sessions) based on topics that are common to residency training and based on themes regarding humanism in medicine.
Behavioral: READ-SG Sessions
In the Internal Medicine residency program at Columbia University Medical Center, PGY-1 trainees receive an hour of protected time to attend a monthly peer-facilitated small group session, outlined above. PGY-2 and 3 trainees have a similar combined session separate from the PGY-1s. Facilitators are chosen by the READ-SG Committee, which is comprised of Mark P. Abrams (Director, Co-Investigator), Evelyn Granieri (Faculty Advisor, PI), a Chief Resident from the program (Program Liaison), and the facilitators.
Other Names:
  • READ-SG

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) Personal Accomplishment Score (section 1)
Time Frame: Baseline, 1 year
This is designed to prospectively measure whether the intervention affects and/or mitigates burnout rates over residency training. The survey has 3 sections.
Baseline, 1 year
Change in Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) Depersonalization Score (section 2)
Time Frame: Baseline, 1 year
This is designed to prospectively measure whether the intervention affects and/or mitigates burnout rates over residency training. The survey has 3 sections.
Baseline, 1 year
Change in Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) Emotional Exhaustion Score (section 3)
Time Frame: Baseline, 1 year
This is designed to prospectively measure whether the intervention affects and/or mitigates burnout rates over residency training. The survey has 3 sections.
Baseline, 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dose response relationship ratio
Time Frame: Up to 1 year
This is designed to evaluate whether there is a dose response relationship between the number of sessions attended and the effect of the sessions on burnout scores, measured by p-value.
Up to 1 year
Change in Likert-scale Score
Time Frame: Baseline, monthly for up to 1 year
This is designed to validate whether the READ-SG Study Survey correlate with the already validated single-question/abbreviated burnout questions.
Baseline, monthly for up to 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Columbia University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Mark P Abrams, MD, Postdoctoral Clinical Fellow in the Department of Medicine, Dept of Medicine Cardiology
  • Principal Investigator: Evelyn Granieri, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center, Dept of Medicine Geriatrics

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

June 1, 2016

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

July 1, 2018

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

July 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 19, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 19, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

May 23, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

August 17, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 13, 2021

Last Verified

August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AAAP0006

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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