Teaching and learning in medicine
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The availability of less expensive and smaller ultrasound machines has enabled the use of ultrasound in virtually all major medical/surgical disciplines. Some medical schools have incorporated point-of-care ultrasound training into their undergraduate curriculum, whereas many postgraduate programs have made ultrasound training a standard. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has charged its Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care to spearhead the introduction of ultrasound into the final-year medical curriculum by introducing handheld transthoracic echocardiography as part of perioperative assessment. ⋯ We were able to execute a successful short training course on transthoracic echocardiography during the final-year medical degree anesthesia rotation. Our initiative may set an example for other clinical departments to design similar courses pertinent to their specialties and syllabuses.
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Recognition and management of acutely unwell surgical patients is an important skill to which medical students have little exposure. ⋯ Feedback from students was very positive and clearly demonstrated that a workshop taught by surgical trainees improved medical students' confidence, self-perceived competence, and knowledge in the assessment and management of acutely unwell surgical patients.
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PHENOMENON: Medical students receive much of their inpatient teaching from residents who now experience restructured teaching services to accommodate the 2011 duty-hour regulations (DHR). The effect of DHR on medical student educational experiences is unknown. We examined medical students' and clerkship directors' perceptions of the effects of the 2011 DHR on internal medicine clerkship students' experiences with teaching, feedback and evaluation, and patient care. ⋯ Survey response rates were 64% and 50% for clerkship students and 60% and 48% for subinterns in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and 82% (99/121) for clerkship directors. Post-DHR, more clerkship students agreed that attendings (p =.011) and interns (p =.044) provided effective teaching. Clerkship students (p =.013) and subinterns (p =.001) believed patient care became more fragmented. The percentage of holdover patients clerkship students (p =.001) and subinterns (p =.012) admitted increased. Clerkship directors perceived negative effects of DHR for students on all survey items. Most disagreed that interns (63.1%), residents (67.8%), or attendings (71.1%) had more time to teach. Most disagreed that students received more feedback from interns (56.0%) or residents (58.2%). Fifty-nine percent felt that students participated in more patient handoffs. INSIGHTS: Students perceive few adverse consequences of the 2011 DHR on their internal medicine experiences, whereas their clerkship director educators have negative perceptions. Future research should explore the impact of fragmented patient care on the student-patient relationship and students' clinical skills acquisition.
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CONSTRUCT: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of varying the relative weights of cognitive versus noncognitive admission criteria on the proportion of underrepresented minorities admitted to medical school. It answers the question, "Can medical schools increase the admission rates of underrepresented minority (URM) students by balancing cognitive criteria with the experiences, attributes, and metrics of noncognitive data in the admission process?" ⋯ Admission rates of URM students can be increased by weighting noncognitive higher relative to cognitive criteria without compromising admission standards. Challenging conventional practice in the admissions process may improve health disparities and diversify the physician workforce.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Use of a checklist during observation of a simulated cardiac arrest scenario does not improve time to CPR and defibrillation over observation alone for subsequent scenarios.
Immersive simulation is a common mode of education for medical students. Observation of clinical simulations prior to participation is believed to be beneficial, though this is often a passive process. Active observation may be more beneficial. ⋯ Observation alone leads to improved performance in the management of a simulated cardiac arrest. The active use of a simple skills-based checklist during observation did not appear to improve performance over passive observation alone.