Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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There is a recognized need to translate scientific discoveries to patient-oriented clinical research (POCR). Several obstacles interfere with the successful recruitment and retention of physicians for POCR careers. ⋯ Because mentorship is key to developing a successful career, the CRTI program is being modified to enhance longitudinal mentorship by CRTI faculty mentors and mentors at trainees' home institutions, as well as to encourage the establishment of collaborations and the potential for research project success. Efforts to make the CRTI experience available to more phy sicians, include more CRTI graduates as faculty, and increase participation by hematologists from backgrounds under represented in medicine are under way.
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Acquisition of competency in procedural skills is a fundamental goal of medical training. In this Perspective, the authors propose an evidence-based pedagogical framework for procedural skill training. The framework was developed based on a review of the literature using a critical synthesis approach and builds on earlier models of procedural skill training in medicine. ⋯ Evidence in support of each component of the framework is presented. Implementation of the proposed framework presents a paradigm shift in procedural skill training. However, the authors believe that adoption of the framework will improve procedural skill training and patient safety.
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Use of social networking programs like Facebook and Twitter, which enable the public sharing of diverse content over the Internet, has risen dramatically in recent years. Although health professionals have faced consequences for clearly unethical online behavior, a relatively unexamined practice among medical students is the disclosure of patient care stories on social media in a manner that is technically compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, yet is ethically questionable. ⋯ Consequences include the possibility of undermining public trust in the profession, inadvertently identifying patients, and violating expectations of privacy. The authors recommend that medical schools explicitly address these issues across the preclinical and clinical curricula and emphasize that patient-related postings on social media may carry inherent risks both to patients and to the profession.
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To understand the disciplinary contexts in which faculty work, the authors examined demographics, professional characteristics, research productivity, and advancement across seven clinical departments at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and nationally. ⋯ There were differences in demographics, professional characteristics, and advancement across clinical departments at HMS and nationally. The context in which faculty work, of which department is a proxy, should be accounted for in research on faculty career outcomes and diversity inclusion in academic medicine.