Family medicine
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Patient identifiers are used in the opening lines of case presentations and written documentation in health care and medical education settings. These identifiers can reflect physicians' implicit biases, which are known to impact patient care. Yet, no clear recommendations for the use of patient identifiers to reduce bias and stigma in patient care and medical education learning environments currently exist. We describe a process and outcomes for articulating such recommendations. ⋯ Our institution vetted these patient identifier recommendations via public comment and consensus methodology. Next steps include implementation across the undergraduate medical education program, including classroom and clinical settings. Other institutions could consider similar processes as key steps to reduce bias and stigma in their medical education programs.
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A majority of medical students believe that treating sexual concerns is important for their careers. However, a minority feel that they have received adequate instruction in medical school. This novel supplemental reproductive and sexual health curriculum at a large academic medical center aimed to address this gap and to improve attitudes, comfort, and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health topics among learners. ⋯ This course elaborated on topics to which medical students traditionally lack adequate exposure, with significant improvement in comfort counseling patients. A disparity between the classroom and virtual setting suggests limitations of online learning for these topics.