Novel Integration of Systems-Based Practice Into Internal Medicine Residency Programs: The Interactive Cost-Awareness Resident Exercise (I-CARE)

Abstract

Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and American Board of Internal Medicine have identified cost-awareness as an important component to residency training. Cost-awareness is generally not emphasized in current, traditional residency curricula despite the recognized importance of this topic. Description: Using a traditional Morning Report structure and actual charge data from our institution, the charges associated with trainee-directed workup of clinical cases are compared in a friendly competition among medical students, interns, residents, and faculty. Evaluation: Anonymous, voluntary survey of all participants and comparison of expenditures by training level were used to assess this pilot program. The educational quality of the I-CARE was rated higher than the prior format of Morning Report by participants (10-point Likert scale; 8.57, 6.81 respectively; p