New publications as of February 2nd

2021-02-02

Major Contributions:

 Brief Reports:

 You Should Try This:

 Black Ice:

 Letters to the Editor:

 Images:

 Conferences:

 Works-in-Progress:

 

More information below

 

Major Contributions:

Improving the LGBTQ2S+ cultural competency of healthcare trainees: Advancing health professional education by Lee et al. assessed attitudes towards LGBTQ2S+ populations in healthcare settings through intervention training sessions led by LGBTQ2S+ experts. They found that the intervention group improved perceived knowledge, attitudes, and clinical behaviour towards LGBTQ2S+ populations.

Patients’ perspectives on the extent of resident participation in the operating room for total hip or knee arthroplasty by Jessica Bryce and co-authors assessed patients’ confidence in resident’s involvement in their surgery. Their results demonstrated that patients have low confidence in residents performing their surgery, even while supervised. Bryce’s study indicated that patients need help to better understand resident education and involvement in surgical care.

Feedback on feedback: A two-way street between residents and preceptors by Schultz and team identified both useful qualities of feedback for family medicine residents, and useful feedback giving skills for preceptors. They highlighted the importance of two-way feedback within a medical teaching environment.

Technology readiness of medical students and the association of technology readiness with specialty interest by MacNevin and co-authors examined the relationship between medical students’ inclination to utilize new technology and their association with specialty interest. They found that “technology ready” students were more interested in “technology-focused” specialties. They encouraged further research with increased sample sizes to obtain further information on the correlation between technology readiness and specialty interest.

A chance for reform: the environmental impact of travel for general surgery residency interviews by Fung et al. estimated the CO2 emissions associated with traveling for residency position interviews. Due to the high emissions levels (mean 1.82 tonnes per applicant), they called for the consideration of alternative options such as videoconference interviews.

Understanding community family medicine preceptors’ involvement in educational scholarship: perceptions, influencing factors and promising areas for action by Ward and team identified barriers, enablers, and opportunities to grow educational scholarship at community-based teaching sites. They discovered a growing interest in educational scholarship among community-based family medicine preceptors, and hope the identification of successful processes will be beneficial for other community-based Family Medicine preceptors.

Brief Reports:

Bridging the gap: Improving CASPer test confidence and competency for underrepresented minorities in medicine through interactive peer-assisted learning by Shipeolu and team studied the impact of a Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (CASPer) program adopted by medical schools to assess minority applicants’ interpersonal skills.  Their results showed that the program addressed barriers that minority applicants may face when applying to medical school.

Factors influencing rheumatology residents’ decision on future practice location by Barber et al. surveyed all Canadian rheumatology residents to identify postgraduate practice decisions. They found that the majority of respondents wanted to practice close to home. These results highlighted the need to address the maldistribution of rheumatologists.

Utilization of evidence-based tools and medical education literature by Canadian postgraduate program directors in the teaching and assessment of the CanMEDS roles by Doja and co-authors evaluated the extent to which program directors’ use evidence-based tools to teach and assess the CanMEDS competencies. They reported low utilization and awareness of the existing tools, and encouraged researchers to examine methods to improve this knowledge gap.

Investigating the importance of clinical topics for developing a curriculum on gastroenterology for pediatric residents by McNeil and Rashid identified what gastroenterology clinical topics are essential to understand as part of the general pediatric practice. Their study identified the importance of including a gastroenterology curriculum in pediatric residency training. It also identified gaps in the current objectives such as celiac disease and obesity.

In Dedicated Assessors: description of an innovative education intervention to facilitate direct observation in the clinical setting, Amy Acker and team described a project that allowed staff physicians to directly observe residents while not on duty so as to not disrupt the busy flow of a hospital. They reported an increase in quality of feedback with less disruption to patient care.

You Should Try This:

In Teaching mindfulness-based stress management techniques to medical learners through simulationby Stephanie Smith and team, the lead author developed The Simulated Training for Resilience in Various Environments (STRIVE) course to teach stress management techniques to medical students. Her aim was to equip medical students to cope with acute stress and recovery after traumatic events. They concluded that the framework could be adapted across other training contexts.

Engaging medical trainees in resource stewardship through resident-led teaching sessions: A choosing wisely educational initiative by Bal, Tesch and co-authors described the implementation of resident-led teaching sessions that aimed to help medical students minimize unnecessary testing.  Their positive feedback and results demonstrated the importance of near-peer resident-led teaching, and the value of resource stewardship.

Implementation and evaluation of “I-Guide,” a pilot near-peer Internal Medicine mentorship program by Mahmood et al. aimed to increase medical student interest in Internal Medicine through mentorship between residents and medical students. They found that their program successfully increased medical student interest in Internal Medicine, and they encouraged implementation across other Canadian institutions.

Development of a medical education podcast in obstetrics and gynecology by Black and team, describes how they responded to a gap in medical education by creating a podcast specific for Canadian medical students and residents that covers obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) content. They described the process for creating an accessible and high-quality resource with the hope that readers would be able to replicate it within their own specialty.

Teaching bone marrow procedures at pelvic and sternal sites: a high fidelity anatomy simulation by VanderMeulen and co-authors described a workshop that allowed students to practice hands-on procedures on cadavers. Their results showed an improved competence, comfort and knowledge of bone marrow procedures.

Black Ice:

Seven tips for clinical supervision in the time of COVID 19 by Schultz and co-authors provided a guide for the use of virtual care for family medicine residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their tips, such as obtaining patient consent for virtual care, can be adapted to other settings to help to all preceptors providing virtual supervision during the pandemic.

Seven ways to get a grip on facilitating bedside team rounding by Ibrahim and team aimed to guide physicians and institutions on effectively implementing and rejuvenating the practice of bedside rounding. They provided seven tips for facilitating effective team rounding including involving the patients in the discussion, and promoting teamwork.

Six ways to get a grip on teaching medical trainees on the convergence of Indigenous knowledges and biomedicine, within a culturally-safe Indigenous health curriculum by Sayal, Richardson, and Crawford provided practical recommendations for educators when teaching on this topic.  Their recommendations, such as inviting Indigenous community members to help facilitate and teach, aimed to successfully involve Indigenous knowledges with biomedicine in medical school curriculum.

Letters to the Editor:

Remote proctoring provides candidates a safe way to continue the path to licensure by Maureen Topps responded to Dr Mithani’s article, Rethinking licensing exams in the time of COVID-19 that expressed concern with the early roll-out of the remote proctoring system for the MCC Qualifying Examination Part I. Topps assured candidates that they had taken steps to improve the experience. She also confirmed that they found no relation between technical difficulties and candidate performance.

Images:

In Managing patients with substance use disorders: reflections of a medical trainee, Flora Jung related the difficulty of completing her embroidery artwork, “Discharged,” with her patient’s experience stitching their life back together. She described the struggles with her art as a simple act of solidarity with patients who are striving for sobriety.

Conferences:

“Peering into the looking glass": professionalism and professional identity formation in health professions education contains the abstracts for the upcoming medical education conference organized by the Educational Innovation Institute of the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University and hosted on Twitter #MCGConf2021PIF on February 25, 2021.

Works-in-Progress:

Exploring the perceived educational impact of COVID-19 on postgraduate training in oncology: impact of self-determination and resilience by Giuliani et al. described their study that will summarize how COVID-19 impacted trainees in radiation oncology. They hope their data will be useful in developing a recovery plan.