Three-Year Look at Resident Readiness Survey Results

The School of Medicine is committed to training skilled, compassionate, considerate, and competent physicians who provide the highest quality health care to all residents of the state of Mississippi. We seek to facilitate their readiness to practice medicine through a strong, foundational undergraduate medical education. In fact, our 10-year average Match rate of 98.4% demonstrates that our undergraduate medical education program is strong. The Match rate average for the last three years is 99.6%.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Resident Program Directors Survey provides additional data for us to examine the strength of the program and to help identify areas for improvement. The AAMC Resident Readiness Survey was first piloted in 2020-21, and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine has been a participant since its inception. The survey is designed to (1) assist medical schools continuous quality improvement efforts, (2) assist medical schools in assessing their effectiveness in preparing students for residency, and (3) reduce staff time by eliminating the need for school-initiated surveys.

The findings highlighted here are from the 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 Resident Readiness Surveys. The survey is administered across residency programs and includes MD and DO graduates from up to 185 medical schools. The program directors’ coverage rate of our PGY-1s was 47.7% for 2022-23, 68.9% for 2023-24, and 52.4% for 2024-25 for an average response rate of 56.3%. The survey consisted of 19 items and assessed PGY-1s’ performance over their first six months. The coverage rate is calculated by dividing the number of eligible residents by the number of residents for whom a survey was received.

Highlights of results from our graduates from the last three years are provided here. Overall, during the transition to GME (0-6 months of PGY-1 year), 95.7% of our graduates met or exceeded expectations during for this three-year period with a range of 92% - 98%.

Two items addressed the demonstration of professionalism, and our residents’ average was 96.7% for meeting or exceeding expectations with no more than 4% not meeting expectations. The two items were: (i) demonstrated professionalism when interacting with healthcare professionals and staff and (ii) demonstrated professionalism when interacting with patients and family members. With respect to consideration of religious, ethnic, gender, or educational and other differences in interacting with patients or other members of the health care team, 94.3% of residents met or exceeded expectations. Approximately, 96% met or exceeded expectations for admitting to their errors and accepting responsibility for personal and professional development, and about 95% performed overall tasks and responsibilities in an organized and timely manner with appropriate attention to detail across this three-year period.

An additional 12 metrics examined clinical skills, and all but two had an average of 93% or greater for residents meeting or exceeding expectations. The two metrics with an average less than 93 % were: (a) Performed expected procedures of an entry resident, including obtaining consent for those procedures and (b) Identified and reported system failures, patient safety concerns in a timely manner. The remaining 10 metrics are:

• Demonstrated patient-centered interview skills.
• Performed a clinically relevant and appropriately thorough physical exam pertinent to the setting and purpose of the visit.
• Prioritized a differential diagnosis.
• Recognized a patient requiring urgent or emergent care and initiated evaluation and management.
• Interpreted results of basic studies and understood the implications and urgency of the results.
• Demonstrated how to access and use available evidence and incorporate patient preferences and values into delivery of care.
• Documented encounters in patient record.
• Entered and discussed orders and prescriptions.
• Provided oral presentation of clinical encounter.
• Used communication strategies for safe and effective transitions of care and handoffs.

There were five metrics that fell below 90% for one of the three years. No metric fell below 90% for more than one year. Those were:

• Admitted one’s own errors and accepted responsibility for personal and professional development.
• Performed expected procedures of an entry resident, including obtaining consent for those procedures.
• Prioritized a differential diagnosis.
• Interpreted results of basic studies and understood the implications and urgency of the results.
• Identified and reported system failures, patient safety concerns in a timely manner.

There was no metric for which 10% of our graduates did not meet expectations. The greatest percentage was 8% which only occurred twice. Those metrics were (1) Prioritized a differential diagnosis and (2) Interpreted results of basic studies and understood the implications and urgency of the results.

The Resident Readiness Survey provides additional data for us to examine the strength of the medical education program and inform our continuous quality improvement efforts. These findings been shared with the SOM Curriculum Committee, the Program Evaluation Subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee, and SOM administration.