Morning reports in training hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2006

Although morning report is a well-known term in medical education and one of the most practical clinical training methods, there is not still consensus among experts on its standards. Nonetheless, it seems that the first step for improving the quality of this training method is to obtain a comprehensive picture of its current statue. to assess the characteristics of morning reports (such as their durations, participants and their responsibilities, management of these sessions and….) in training hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2006 In this cross-sectional study, 36 morning report sessions held in all of the training wards were observed over one week. Data were gathered by direct observation. The observer attended the sessions as an ordinary participant and it was tried to use complete observer method. among 36 assessed morning reports, the maximum sessions were held in major wards (each one held 5 sessions). The duration of the longest and shortest ones was 90 and 35 minutes respectively. In 30 sessions the academic staff played the main role of managing discussions, while in 5 sessions they were only asking questions, and in one session staff presented a lecture. In 13 sessions interns did not have any role in presenting patients; the corresponding numbers for residents and students were 16 and 0 respectively. In overall the number of participants in the beginning and at the end of sessions was more or less equal, while around 14% of participants were not present during the whole period of the session. Considerable variations were found among the training wards in running morning report sessions. There were some weak points in running these sessions such as the frequency and duration of sessions, low rate of participation by students and interns and reporting outpatient cases, but most of the wards apply the training method more or less effectively.