Fewer than 4 in 10 pediatric residents were deemed ready to independently perform all core professional activities by the time they graduated, according to a study published April 9 in Pediatrics.
A team led by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center analyzed data from clinical competency committees across the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years. They evaluated entrustment-supervision levels for more than 2,400 graduating residents — 2,276 from pediatrics programs and 168 from combined medicine/pediatrics tracks.
Three findings:
1. Just 31.3% of residents with evaluations for all 17 entrustable professional activities were deemed ready to practice unsupervised.
2. While readiness improved over time — increasing from 18% to 38.5% across the three academic years — no single entrustable professional activity saw more than 89% of residents rated as fully ready.
3. Graduates from medicine/pediatrics programs were significantly more likely to be assessed as ready for all entrustable professional activities compared to their peers in general pediatrics.
“While there are reasons beyond actual resident readiness that may contribute, this study highlights a gap in readiness for unsupervised practice at the time of graduation,” researchers concluded.
