Teaching and learning in medicine
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PHENOMENON: Previous studies have not explored factors associated with decisions among neurology residents to pursue subspecialty training within neurology. Understanding career choices among neurology residents, particularly decisions regarding subspecialty training, is critical, as neurologists with specialized knowledge can help meet the needs of patients with specific disease conditions. This study addresses the knowledge gap about subspecialty training decisions by examining factors associated with neurology residents' interest in pursuing subspecialty training and the types of subspecialty training neurology residents consider. ⋯ The majority (approximately 81%) of residents expressed interest in subspecialty training. Resident demographic characteristics and educational debt did not influence interest in pursuing subspecialty training. Residents were more likely to express interest in subspecialty training when they participated in any neurology research (odds ratio [OR] = 2.39), 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.13, 5.07], p = .02, and indicated more interest in careers involving teaching (OR = 8.33), 95% CI [1.64, 42.19], p = .01. Considering the "medical content of subspecialty" as a more important factor approached but did not reach statistical significance (OR = 3.12), 95% CI [0.97, 10.06], p = .06. Insights: Participation in any neurology research and interest in careers involving teaching are associated with interest in subspecialty training among neurology residents. Further research is needed to determine whether exposure to research and teaching stimulates interest in subspecialty training and whether residents believe that subspecialty training is instrumental in pursuing an academic career.
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Increasing student body diversity is a priority for national health education and professional organizations and for many medical schools. However, national rankings of medical schools, such as those published by U.S. News & World Report, place a heavy emphasis on grade point average (GPA) and Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) scores, without considering student body diversity. These rankings affect organizational reputation and admissions outcomes, even though there is considerable controversy surrounding the predictive value of GPA and MCAT scores. ⋯ Our findings suggest that efforts to increase the diversity of medical school student bodies may be complicated by a desire to maintain high average GPA and MCAT scores. We propose that U.S. News revise its ranking methodology by incorporating a new diversity score into its student selectivity score and by reducing the weight placed on GPA and MCAT scores.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Impact of acute stress on resident performance during simulated resuscitation episodes: a prospective randomized cross-over study.
Medical trainees have identified stress as an important contributor to their medical errors in acute care environments. ⋯ Residents exposed to simulated resuscitation scenarios experienced significant stress responses irrespective of the presence of acute stressors during these scenarios. This anticipatory stressful response could impact on resident learning and performance and should be further explored.
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A battery of various psychometric assessments has been conducted on script concordance tests (SCTs) that are purported to measure data interpretation, an essential component of clinical reasoning. Although the breadth of published SCT research is broad, best practice controversies and evidentiary gaps remain. ⋯ Of the 6 scoring methods, 5-point scoring solutions generated more reliable measures of data interpretation than 3-point scoring methods. Data interpretation abilities were a function of experience at every level of item difficulty. Items categorized by type exhibited discriminatory power providing modest evidence toward the construct validity of SCTs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effectiveness of basic life support instruction in physical education students--a pilot study.
According to the literature, 40% of injuries affecting school-age children are sports related. The role of physical education students, as future teachers, seems to be of high importance in terms of protecting children's safety during sports classes. ⋯ Students of both intervention groups improved their BLS knowledge after the training. Teaching methods used in the current study seemed to be ineffective in terms of practical CPR skills. Access to greater number of modern manikins should improve the BLS training in physical education students. Moreover, permanent consultation on instructional methods with emergency medicine experts is recommended for university teachers.