Morning Report Improves Residents’ Diagnostic Competence & Clinical Problem-Solving Ability

Introduction Morning report (MR) is an educational activity that uses inpatient case-based teaching. Given the rapid changes taking place in medical practice, it is important to assess the residents’ perspective regarding this teaching method. Objective To establish the perspective of residents in internal medicine on various aspects of MR and propose a format based on our observations. Study Design Observational cross-sectional study. Place & Duration of Study Data was collected from groups of residents in the Department of Medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital, from July 2002 to August 2007. Methodology An observational cross-sectional survey on MR was conducted among the residents of the Department of Medicine at Aga Khan University. A 22-item questionnaire was distributed among the residents based on the purpose, format, and contents of the morning report, as well as the most appropriate person to present and conduct it, and how frequently they should be carried out. Analyses were carried out using the statistical software ‘Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ (SPSS) Results 92% of residents believed MR to be an effective teaching activity with 65% of them choosing ‘Improvement in clinical problem-solving ability’ as the primary purpose of MR followed by ‘improving presentation skills’ (62%) and ‘conveying medical knowledge to the residents’ (58%). 79 residents (87%) believed that the junior resident should present the case history. 75 residents (83%) thought that faculty on call at time of patient’s admission should conduct MR. Residents wanted to discuss diagnostic work-up (90%) and management (89%) of specific interesting cases (79%) in MR. Conclusion MR is an effective educational activity and should be an essential component of any post-graduate residency program within the country and outside. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The authors received no specific funding for this work. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The study was exempted from Ethical Review Committee approval by the Institutional Review Board at the Aga Khan University and the data obtained were analyzed anonymously. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The data underlying the results presented in the study are available from the Aga Khan University on reasonable request.