New publications as of September 28th

2020-09-28

Major Contributions:

Developing a dashboard to meet the needs of residents in a competency-based training program: A design-based research project” by Carey et al sought to determine how to present residents’ assessment data in order to best support their learning.

Residents’ perspectives: Does the Saudi general surgery residency training program apply CanMEDS competencies and prepare future leaders?” by Hadedey and team investigated leadership competences at medical schools in Saudi Arabia.

Brief Reports:

Medical Assistance in Dying in health sciences curricula: A qualitative exploratory study” by Brown et al reviewed the required resources for teaching MAID.

Works-in-Progress:

Development and use of a Virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination” by Silverman and Foulds proposed that in light of COVID-19, certain parts of clinical examinations for post-graduate medical trainees could be done using online systems. They will be studying this initiative.

Personal protective equipment coaching in the pediatric and adult emergency departments: A pilot project for health sciences students during COVID-19” by McKague and team designed and will study a project in which students volunteered as coaches to ensure appropriate PPE procedures in order to reduce COVID-19 transmission.

A critical discourse analysis of face masks and its association with health construction in medical education” by Huo and Martimianakis will describe how face masks are viewed by both medical schools and the broader media.

You Should Try This:

Peers United in Leadership & Skills Enhancement (PULSE): A near-peer mentoring program for medical students” by Neufeld et al. created a mentorship program to connect first year and second year students in a learning environment.

Mental health night: A peer-led initiative” by Hannah Kearney and team described a workshop aimed at engaging medical learners in mental health discussions.

Commentary and Opinions:

Resident physicians’ mental health during COVID-19: Advocating for supports during and post pandemic” by Emma Gregory commented on the increased risk for mental health distress for front line workers during the pandemic.

COVID 19 pandemic: An opportunity to investigate medical professionalism” by Agarwal and Gupta observed that the current pandemic is an occasion for medical professionals to demonstrate the exemplary values of the profession.

COVID-19, curtailed clerkships, and competency: Making graduation decisions in the midst of a global pandemic” by McLaughlin and team discussed the challenges of making graduation decisions with incomplete information due to the pandemic.

Canadiana:

Caring for refugees and asylum seekers in Canada: Early experiences and comprehensive global health training for medical students” by Merritt and Pottie outlined the success of the Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health online Global Health Training Modules.

 

Read more about these publications below:

Major Contributions:

Carey et al in “Developing a dashboard to meet the needs of residents in a competency-based training program: A design-based research project” determined how to present residents’ assessment data in order to best support their learning. In turn, they developed CBME dashboard elements to meet these needs. 

In her article “Residents’ perspectives: Does the Saudi general surgery residency training program apply CanMEDS competencies and prepare future leaders?” Hadedey and her team reviewed clinical leadership and CanMEDS competencies at schools in Saudi Arabia. Their results showed satisfactory self-assessed skills and positive competencies. It shows they schools have embraced the CanMEDS framework.

Brief Reports:

Medical Assistance in Dying in health sciences curricula: A qualitative exploratory study” by Brown et al reviewed the forces involved in the inclusion of MAID, and the required resources for teaching MAID in medical education. They concluded that specific course objectives would assist the consistency of MAID inclusion.

Works-in-Progress:

Development and use of a Virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination” by Silverman and Foulds. They proposed that in light of COVID-19, certain parts of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for post-graduate medical trainees could be done using videoconference systems (VOSCE). They hypothesize that certain skills such as taking patient history, clinical reasoning, and communication with patients and families could be successfully replicated using online systems

Personal protective equipment coaching in the pediatric and adult emergency departments: A pilot project for health sciences students during COVID-19” by McKague and team designed a project in which students volunteered as PPE coaches. The study aimed to both allow students to help teach appropriate PPE procedures, and to continue learning.

A critical discourse analysis of face masks and its association with health construction in medical education” by Huo and Martimianakis describes discourse on how face masks are viewed by both medical schools and the broader media. They found several key themes emerge from their discourse including protection for self and others, and the implication on anonymity.

 You Should Try This:

Neufeld et al. wrote “Peers United in Leadership & Skills Enhancement (PULSE): A near-peer mentoring program for medical students.” They described their mentorship program that connected first year “learner-mentees” and second year “instructor-mentors.” They found that it not only encouraged collaboration, it also gave the second year students valuable teaching experience.

Mental health night: A peer-led initiative” by Hannah Kearney and team described a mental health workshop aimed at engaging medical learners in these discussions. They concluded that peer-led workshops of this nature may help with future mental health difficulties and burnout.

Commentary and Opinions:

In “Resident physicians’ mental health during COVID-19: Advocating for supports during and post pandemic” by Emma Gregory, she commented on the risk for mental health distress for physicians during the pandemic. She observed several stressors including increased work, unsafe work conditions, and cancelled leaves.  She advocated for prioritizing physician well-being.

Agarwal and Gupta, in “COVID 19 pandemic: An opportunity to investigate medical professionalism” observed that the COVID-19 pandemic is a chance for medical professionals to define, learn, and demonstrate the values of the profession. They commented on the professionalism that has been on display by the medical community, and encouraged it to be a teaching opportunity for future medical students.

COVID-19, curtailed clerkships, and competency: Making graduation decisions in the midst of a global pandemic” by McLaughlin and team argued that despite the curtailment of clerkship training and missing data for assessment, it is better to graduate students when there is confirmation of readiness for reactive supervision when performing the core Entrustable Professional Activities of graduating medical students.

Canadiana:

Caring for refugees and asylum seekers in Canada: Early experiences and comprehensive global health training for medical students” by Merritt and Pottie described the successful Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health online Global Health Training Modules. They concluded that this training is important for improving the comfort levels of medical students when working with refugees and asylum seekers in Canada.