The attending round observation system.

Two separate reliability studies were conducted on an observational instrument derived from previous qualitative research and designed for collecting data on teaching behaviors demonstrated by attending physicians during attending rounds. The first study involved five observers coding 17 20-minute, videotaped segments of attending rounds. The second study involved two observers coding 27 two-hour attending round sessions as they occurred live on hospital wards. The reliability estimates from both studies were quite high, indicating that the instrument shows promise for use in both research and evaluation studies.