OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of a medicolegal lecture on risk-reduction documentation by residents in a pediatric emergency department. DESIGN/ METHODS:Pediatric residents at an academic children's hospital were offered a 1-hour lecture on reducing medicolegal risks. Residents in attendance made up the intervention group (IG) and nonattendants were the control group (CG). The primary outcome was risk-reduction documentation (RRD) using patients with chief complaints of abdominal pain, extremity fractures, and lacerations with potential foreign body. RESULTS: For abdominal pain patients, RRD by IG improved 6.1% compared with 15.1% for the CG. For fracture patients, RRD by IG improved 20% compared with 26.5% decrease by CG. For laceration patients, RRD by IG decreased 20.8% compared with 30.6% decrease by CG. Although none reached statistical significance, the postintervention IG rates were greater. CONCLUSIONS: We showed a trend toward improvement in the rate of risk-reduction medical record documentation.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of a medicolegal lecture on risk-reduction documentation by residents in a pediatric emergency department. DESIGN/ METHODS: Pediatric residents at an academic children's hospital were offered a 1-hour lecture on reducing medicolegal risks. Residents in attendance made up the intervention group (IG) and nonattendants were the control group (CG). The primary outcome was risk-reduction documentation (RRD) using patients with chief complaints of abdominal pain, extremity fractures, and lacerations with potential foreign body. RESULTS: For abdominal painpatients, RRD by IG improved 6.1% compared with 15.1% for the CG. For fracturepatients, RRD by IG improved 20% compared with 26.5% decrease by CG. For laceration patients, RRD by IG decreased 20.8% compared with 30.6% decrease by CG. Although none reached statistical significance, the postintervention IG rates were greater. CONCLUSIONS: We showed a trend toward improvement in the rate of risk-reduction medical record documentation.