Understanding the Impact of Residents' Interpersonal Relationships During Emergency Department Referrals and Consultations

Abstract Background Communicating with colleagues is a key physician competency. Yet few studies have sought to uncover the complex nature of relationships between referring and consulting physicians, which may be affected by the inherent relationships between the participants. Objective Our study examines themes identified from discussions about communications and the role of relationships during the referral-consultation process. Methods From March to September 2010, 30 residents (10 emergency medicine, 10 general surgery, 10 internal medicine) were interviewed using a semistructured focus group protocol. Two investigators independently reviewed the transcripts using inductive methods and grounded theory to generate themes (using codes for ease of analysis) until saturation was reached. Disagreements were resolved by consensus, yielding an inventory of themes and subthemes. Measures for ensuring trustworthiness of the analysis included generating an audit trail and external auditing of the material by i...