A Day in the Life

Morning Report

Key Takeaways

• For many residency programs, morning report is the first formal activity of the day. Residents, whether completing an overnight shift or just coming on duty, assemble with one or more faculty in a designated conference room.
• Attendees commonly bring coffee or other beverages and make small talk before the conference begins.
• A faculty physician or chief resident begins the morning report with some brief comments or information important to the residents.
• The precise design and order of the morning report will vary from program to program.
• The core of most morning reports is the presentation of one or more patient cases. The resident caring for the patient presents the case following a standard format.
• The essential elements of the case are shown for all to see and a discussion follows.
• The questioning and answering is relatively informal, and attempts are made to involve as many residents as possible. Residents are also encouraged to pose their own questions.
• The purpose of questioning is to provide education on significant clinical issues.
• Faculty or residents who do not know the case may interject questions and request clarifications.
• The faculty or chief resident may query residents not involved with the patient regarding how they would have proceeded with respect to further testing and/or treatment.
• In the course of morning report, individual residents are sometimes asked to research a particular question and present it the following day.
• Laboratory results, images, cardiograms, and other studies are presented and displayed at appropriate points during the presentation.
• The residents presenting cases are also encouraged to elicit teaching points related to the case at the end of the presentation.

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