Advances in medical education and practice
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Editorial
Cognitive bias in clinical practice - nurturing healthy skepticism among medical students.
Errors in clinical reasoning, known as cognitive biases, are implicated in a significant proportion of diagnostic errors. Despite this knowledge, little emphasis is currently placed on teaching cognitive psychology in the undergraduate medical curriculum. ⋯ Medical educators should nurture healthy skepticism among medical students by raising awareness of cognitive biases and equipping them with robust tools to circumvent such biases. This will enable tomorrow's doctors to improve the quality of care delivered, thus optimizing patient outcomes.
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Poor quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness affect cognitive ability and have a negative impact on the academic performance of medical students. This study aims to determine the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and psychological distress as well as assess their association with low academic performance in this population. ⋯ A poor sleep quality determined by PSQI ≥5 was related to poor academic achievement at the end of the study year in medical students.
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The use of an anesthesiology rotation in the realm of surgical education is not very well studied. Several studies show the importance of an anesthesiology rotation in the grand scheme of undergraduate medical education. However, its importance in perioperative medicine and surgical education is not very well understood. This study attempts to look at this relationship and determine whether or not a temporal relationship between this anesthesiology rotation and a surgical rotation is important. ⋯ The pairing of anesthesiology with a general surgery rotation does indeed improve the perioperative medicine education and knowledge of students. Students appreciate having a week of anesthesiology with the surgical rotation, and they note that it adds value to the general surgery rotation.
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In the UK, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be undertaken in the event of cardiac arrest unless a patient has a "Do Not Attempt CPR" document. Doctors have a legal duty to discuss CPR with patients or inform them that CPR would be futile. In this study, final-year medical students were interviewed about their experiences of resuscitation on the wards and of observing conversations about resuscitation status to explore whether they would be equipped to have an informed discussion about resuscitation in the future. ⋯ It is vital that doctors are comfortable talking to patients about resuscitation. Given the increasing importance of this aspect of communication, it should be considered for inclusion in the formal communication skills teaching during medical school.
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Non-medical knowledge-based sub-competencies (multitasking, professionalism, accountability, patient-centered communication, and team management) are challenging for a supervising emergency medicine (EM) physician to evaluate in real-time on shift while also managing a busy emergency department (ED). This study examines residents' perceptions of having a medical education specialist shadow and evaluate their nonmedical knowledge skills. ⋯ Medical education specialists who observe residents over the course of an entire shift and evaluate non-medical knowledge-based skills are perceived by EM residents to provide meaningful feedback and add valuable information for the biannual review process.