Twelve Tips for Fostering Trainees' Ownership of Patient Care

Abstract

Background: The ability of trainees to assume ownership of patient care is essential for the maintenance of trainees’ high degree of investment in their education as well as for a healthy progression towards independence after licensure. Numerous factors, including strict duty hours and new attention to quality and safety, interfere with trainees’ assumption of such responsibility.

Aims: We aim to provide recommendations on how to foster trainees’ ownership of patient care in today’s clinical setting. Methods: We conducted a PubMed search using phrases such as “patient responsibility,” “patient ownership,” and “patient accountability” to become well versed with the evidence and dissected and reflected on our own experiences with this issue.

Conclusions: We recommend reclaiming the term “ownership” (our first tip) and then present eleven tips in the following three domains: the learning environment, trainee attributes and skills, and capabilities of the supervisor, which we believe can successfully be applied to address this important challenge.