Military medicine
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Operation Bushmaster is a high-fidelity simulation held for fourth-year medical students at the Uniformed Services University. No past research has examined this multi-day simulation's ability to prepare military medical students for the complexities of their first deployment. This qualitative study, therefore, explored Operation Bushmaster's impact on military medical student deployment readiness. ⋯ Operation Bushmaster immerses students in a realistic, stressful operational environment, challenging them to develop an adaptive mindset and efficacious leadership skills that they will utilize during future deployments.
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As gatekeepers to the medical profession, admissions committees make important decisions through the analysis of quantitative (e.g. test scores and grade point averages) and qualitative (e.g. letters of recommendation and personal statements) data. One area of the application that deserves additional study is the Work and Activities section, where students describe their extracurricular experiences. Previous research has found different themes that sometimes overlap in the applications of exceptional performing and low performing medical students, but it is unclear if these themes are present in the applications of standard performers. ⋯ This study suggests that the diversity and frequency of exceptional performing themes in a medical school application may be useful in distinguishing between exceptional performers and other performers, though the small sample size limits quantitative conclusions. Low performing themes may be specific to low performers and thus could be useful to admissions committees. Future studies should include a larger sample size and could assess for predictive validity evidence of these exceptional performing and low performing themes through a blinded protocol.
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Physical and psychological well-being play a critical role in the academic and professional development of medical students and can alter the trajectory of a student's quality of personal and professional life. Military medical students, given their dual role as officer and student, experience unique stressors and issues that may play a role in their future intentions to continue military service, as well as practice medicine. As such, this study explores well-being across the 4 years of medical school at Uniformed Services University (USU) and how well-being relates to a student's likelihood to continue serving in the military and practicing medicine. ⋯ The present study found that the overall state of well-being in USU medical students is satisfactory, but opportunities for improvement exist. Medical student well-being seemed to have a stronger association with medicine-oriented likelihood items than with military-oriented likelihood items. To obtain and refine best practices for strengthening engagement and commitment, future research should examine if and how military and medical contexts converge and diverge throughout training. This may enhance the medical school and training experience and, ultimately, reinforce, or strengthen, the desire and commitment to practice and serve in military medicine.
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The Uniformed Services University (USU) implemented the Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program (EMDP2) with the goal of enhancing the diversity of the military physician corps. Programs like EMDP2 can assist students in making the social and intellectual transition from undergraduate studies to medical school and beyond. These types of programs are also opportunities to reduce health disparities and prepare students to work in multicultural settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there was any significant difference in performance between USU medical students who had attended the EMDP2 and those who had not. ⋯ EMDP2 graduates performed on a par with their medical school peers, and EMDP2 status does not appear to influence NBME or USMLE performance. EMDP2 provides a focused curriculum and addresses the mandate to make medical education opportunities available to a more diverse population.
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We compared core pediatric clerkship student assessments across 11 geographically distinct learning environments following a major curriculum change. We sought to determine if intersite consistency existed, which can be used as a marker of program evaluation success. ⋯ Over the ensuing 5-year period after a curriculum overhaul to an 18-month, integrated module pre-clerkship curriculum, we found that student pediatric clerkship performance in clinical knowledge and skills did not differ significantly across 11 varied geographic teaching sites when controlling for students' pre-clerkship achievement. Specialty-specific curriculum resources, faculty development tools, and assessment of learning objectives may provide a framework for maintaining intersite consistency when faced with an expanding network of teaching facilities and faculty.