A Pilot QMR Consultation Service in an ICU.

Abstract Our work explored the educational utility of a pilot QMR® (Quick Medical Reference) consultation service in the Medical and Respiratory Intensive Care Units (MICU and RICU) at North Carolina Memorial Hospital. A consultation team made up of a senior medical resident and an internal medicine attending used QMR as a principal resource to develop consultation notes that addressed specific information needs of the patient care team in the units. Nine physicians (N=9) reviewed and rated eleven QMR consultations on their educational content as well as the consultations' effect on their clinical thinking. The participants rated the mean overall educational value of the diagnostic information in the consultations as 3.95 (sd 1.27) on a six-point scale. Two specific educational issues dealing with thinking about a patient in a “new way” and expanding a differential were consistently seen as positive effects of the consultations.