New publications as of September 17th

2021-09-17

This week the CMEJ published a new issue. The latest issue, 12.4, features 24 articles including the Editorial, Overcrowded curriculum is an impediment to change (Part A) by Slavin and D’Eon. This first of a two-part series discussed the implications of overcrowding in medical school curricula. They highlighted the need to mitigate the distress for preclerkship students by reducing and managing the load of content that is taught.

In addition, there are several new articles available In Press:

Major Contributions:

Brief Reports:

Canadiana

You Should Try This:

Letters to the Editor:

Read more below.

Major Contributions:

Shaken and stirred: emotional state, cognitive load, and performance of junior residents in simulated resuscitation by Shayan Van Heer et al. used simulated resuscitation scenarios to examine the relationship between pre-scenario emotional components, cognitive load, and performance scores of junior residents. They found that pre-scenario agitation was associated with lower performance scores. They concluded that residency program curriculums should aim to reduce residents’ cognitive burden to improve performance.

Teresa Chan and team in their work, Systems to support scholarly social media: a qualitative exploration of enablers and barriers to new scholarship in academic medicine, identified barriers and enablers that fostered the growth of academia through the use of social media. They hope results will be helpful to understand why other new forms of study thrive in academic medicine.

Exploring the nature and focus of feedback when using video playback in gynecology laparoscopy training by Hall and Pyper compared dialogue between residents and supervising surgeons when using video playback and intraoperatively. They identified a clear difference between interactions in the OR and interactions during video playback. In the OR, there was a strong emphasis on instrumental interactions and surgical technique. During video playback, the emphasis shifted towards teaching and professional improvement.

Brief Reports:

Level of patients’ knowledge, confidence, and acceptance regarding the role of residents in a family medicine teaching clinic by Lise Babin et al. studied the interrelationship between patients’ knowledge about the role of medical residents, their confidence in residents’ abilities, and their acceptance in receiving care from residents at a teaching clinic. Their results showed that acceptance of receiving care from residents was greater among patients if they had higher confidence in residents’ abilities. They concluded that schools should develop strategies to promote patient confidence in residents’ skills.

Towards a better understanding of medical students’ mentorship needs: a self-determination theory perspective by Neufeld and team assessed the extent that meeting the three psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, in a near-peer mentoring program, impacted learners’ and mentors’ competence in learning and teaching clinical knowledge. They found that the program highly supported learners’ basic psychological needs, and may promote perceived competence in both learning and teaching clinical skills.

In their report, Black students applying and admitted to medicine in the province of Quebec, Canada: what do we know so far? Leduc and co-authors addressed the underrepresentation of Black students in medical schools in Canada and identified barriers in selection processes. Their results suggested that Black students applying to medical school are more often rejected at the first step compared to non-Black students. They encouraged further studies to identify the factors contributing to this underrepresentation to improve the equity of the selection processes.

Does the format residents use to give and receive feedback about teaching affect the usefulness of the feedback? by Okpalauwekwe and team compared the quality of resident feedback when residents commented on either some areas of teaching or all areas of teaching on a feedback form. Their results favoured using the some areas condition. They recommend that other teaching workshops consider using this condition.

Canadiana

In To lead or to influence? By Do and team, the authors suggested reframing and renaming the CanMEDS Leader role to Influencer. They proposed that Influencer better reflects the scope, applicability, and potential of the role as one who influences team members, patients, the health system, and society as a whole.

You Should Try This:

Virtual breakout rooms: an effective approach to offer guidance to medical students on residency applications by Tali Filler and team created a virtual space for medical students and residents to discuss the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) process. They reported that the participants had a better understanding of the match process and reduced anxiety through the use of these spaces. Their virtual framework can be adapted for other mentorship opportunities.

Letters to the Editor:

In her letter, Equity, diversity and inclusion and the CanMEDS framework, Edsel Ing contended that the CanMEDS framework necessitates revisions to better embrace the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Ing wrote that further integration of EDI directives into the CanMEDS roles is required to advance patient care and medical education.