Study: Increased attending physician supervision doesn't reduce medical errors

The overall rate of medical errors made by residents did not differ significantly between groups with increased direct supervision by attending physicians and those with standard supervision, according to study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

From September 2015 to June 2016, researchers conducted a randomized trial in which 22 clinical teaching attending physicians provided increased supervision through participation on work rounds on previously admitted patients or the standard supervision in which they were available for residents but did not join work rounds for 12-week blocks.

At the end of the trial, researchers found that there was no significant difference in the overall rate of medical errors between the groups that had increased supervision and those that had standard supervision. According to the data, there were 91.1 errors per 1000 patient-days in the increased supervision group, while there were 107.6 errors per 1000 patient-days in the standard supervision group.

Source: Medscape