Minding the gap: towards a shared clinical reasoning lexicon across the pre-clerkship/clerkship transition.

Teaching and learning of clinical reasoning are core principles of medical education. However, little guidance exists for faculty leaders to navigate curricular transitions between pre-clerkship and clerkship curricular phases. This study compares how educational leaders in these two phases understand clinical reasoning instruction. Previously reported cross-sectional surveys of pre-clerkship clinical skills course directors, and clerkship leaders were compared. Comparisons focused on perceived importance of a number of core clinical reasoning concepts, barriers to clinical reasoning instruction, level of familiarity across the undergraduate medical curriculum, and inclusion of clinical reasoning instruction in each area of the curriculum. Analyses were performed using the Mann Whitney U test. Both sets of leaders rated lack of curricular time as the largest barrier to teaching clinical reasoning. Clerkship leaders also noted a lack of faculty with skills to teach clinical reasoning concepts as a significant barrier (p < 0.02), while pre-clerkship leaders were more likely to perceive that these concepts were too advanced for their students (p < 0.001). Pre-clerkship leaders reported a higher level of familiarity with the clerkship curriculum than clerkship leaders reported of the pre-clerkship curriculum (p < 0.001). As faculty transition students from the pre-clerkship to the clerkship phase, a shared understanding of what is taught and when, accompanied by successful faculty development, may aid the development of longitudinal, milestone-based clinical reasoning instruction.

Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound (P.O.C.U.S.) Utilization for Hospitalists in the Assessment of Patients with Cardiac Complaints: An Educational Overview.

The use of cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (P.O.C.U.S.) is underutilized in the field of internal medicine for the assessment of patients with cardiac complaints. Numerous studies in emergency medicine, anesthesia, and critical care have demonstrated the successful application of cardiac P.O.C.U.S. in resident and attending physicians with limited prior exposure. This article review overviews the practical implementation of cardiac P.O.C.U.S. for hospitalists by discussing proper technique and assessment for common pathology seen in the medical ward setting. We describe how to assess for left ventricular (LV) systolic function, right ventricular (RV) systolic function, suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS), post-myocardial infarction (MI) complications, suspected pulmonary embolus, and assessment of intravascular volume status. In each section, we overview the pertinent literature to show how cardiac P.O.C.U.S. has been used to directly impact patient care.

Specialty-Specific Entrustable Professional Activities: A Bridge to Internship.

Background Undergraduate medical education aims to prepare learners to become capable residents. New interns are expected to perform clinical tasks with distant supervision reliant on having acquired a medical degree. However, there is limited data to discuss what entrustment residency programs grant versus what the medical schools believe they have trained their graduates to perform. At our institution, we sought to foster an alliance between undergraduate medical education (UME) and graduate medical education (GME) toward specialty-specific entrustable professional activities (SSEPAs). These SSEPAs create a bridge to residency and help students structure the final year of medical school while striving for entrustability for day one of residency. This paper describes the SSEPA curriculum development process and student self-assessment of competence. Methodology We piloted an SSEPA program with the departments of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology. Utilizing Kern's curriculum development framework, each specialty designed a longitudinal curriculum with a post-match capstone course. Students participated in pre-course and post-course self-assessments utilizing the Chen scale for each entrustable professional activity (EPA). Results A total of 42 students successfully completed the SSEPA curriculum in these four specialties. Students' self-assessed competence levels rose from 2.61 to 3.65 in Internal Medicine; 3.23 to 4.12 in Obstetrics and Gynecology; 3.62 to 4.13 in Neurology; and 3.65 to 3.79 in Family Medicine. Students across all specialties noted an increase in confidence from 3.45 to 4.38 in Internal Medicine; 3.3 to 4.6 in Obstetrics and Gynecology; 3.25 to 4.25 in Neurology; and 4.33 to 4.67 in Family Medicine. Conclusions A specialty-specific curriculum utilizing a competency-based framework for learners traversing the UME to GME journey in the final year of medical school improves learner confidence in their clinical abilities and may lead to an improved educational handoff between UME and GME.

A Case for Case Reports: How to Write One and Promote Mentorship, Scholarship and Faculty Development.

Introduction Case reports form the base layer of the evidence pyramid, describing new or emerging diseases, side effects to treatments, common presentations of rare diseases, or rare presentations of common diseases. An important scholarly pursuit, writing case reports can be hindered by lack of time, training, and mentorship. Here, we describe a workshop incorporating case writing skills with mentorship opportunities to engage faculty and learners. Methods We designed and implemented a virtual, synchronous workshop addressing knowledge and attitudes on case reports for trainees and academic faculty at distributed sites. Participants discussed the contributions of case reports to the medical literature, key features of successful cases, approaches to writing learning objectives, and how to develop interesting cases into dynamic case reports. Case reports were discussed as a way to mentor learners to disseminate interesting cases as a source of clinical experience and academic productivity. A retrospective pre-post survey was collected two months after the workshop to evaluate its utility. Results Fifteen out of 42 participants responded to the survey. As a result of the workshop, respondents noted improvement in confidence in identifying and writing case reports and identifying and working with mentors or mentees, regardless of level of training or specialty. At the follow-up, seven (47%) respondents had identified a case and 10 (67%) had identified a mentor/mentee to write a case report with. Discussion This workshop, successfully delivered virtually, demonstrates the utility of a brief educational intervention in improving participant confidence in identifying and writing case reports with mentorship.

Faculty Development Advancements-Lessons Learned in a Time of Change.

Faculty development (FD) activities at colleges of medicine shifted to virtual in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic limited in-person engagement. Medical schools delivered quality virtual faculty development (VFD) through accessing national and international experts virtually, improving faculty access to FD through recorded sessions, collaborating across institutions, and building on previous success as comfort with virtual platforms grew. Disruptive innovation and Keller's ARCS model, highlighting motivational concepts of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, guided nine faculty developers' reflections towards continuous quality improvement of VFD offerings. The convenience and low-cost availability of virtual activities mean this format will likely persist.

Promoting Transfer of Learning to Practice in Online Continuing Professional Development.

ABSTRACT: Leveraging online learning tools and encouraging transfer of learning to practice remains a critical challenge to successful continuing professional development (CPD) offerings. Four sets of factors are essential to the transfer of learning from CPD into practice: learner characteristics, instructional design, content, and environment. Through incorporating elements of educational theories/frameworks into the planning of online CPD activities, educators can maximize opportunities for learning transfer. In this article, we highlight four educational theories/frameworks that provide useful insight to tackle these interrelated factors in online CPD: Self-Determination Theory considers the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of participants, which can be encouraged through flexibility, customization, and choices available in online formats. Practical Inquiry Model encourages intentionally planning and embedding opportunities for reflection and dialogue in online activities to enhance knowledge application. Virtual Communities of Practice can be used to transcend spatial and temporal boundaries, promoting interactions and relationships where participants learn from peers. Finally, Professional Learning Networks can be fostered through developing interpersonal connections and sharing resources for informal and flexible learning. Online CPD is likely to increase in the future, and educators should consider elements of these educational theories/frameworks in the design and delivery of CPD to support participants' application of newly acquired knowledge.

Perspectives on the current state of pre-clerkship clinical reasoning instruction in United States medical schools: a survey of clinical skills course directors.

OBJECTIVES: Clinical reasoning skills are essential for sound medical decision-making. Though many have suggested that clinical reasoning instruction should begin in pre-clerkship curricula, neither pre-clerkship clinical skills director perspectives nor extent of instruction is known. This survey study serves as part of a needs assessment for United States medical school pre-clerkship clinical reasoning curricula. METHODS: United States medical school pre-clerkship clinical skills course directors were surveyed about perceived importance of formal instruction on clinical reasoning concepts, inclusion of these concepts in the curricula, barriers to instruction, and familiarity with clerkship curricula. Results were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics. Narrative comments were analyzed qualitatively for themes. RESULTS: Of 148 directors surveyed, 102 (69%) participated and 89 (60%) completed all closed-ended items. Each clinical reasoning concept was identified as somewhat to extremely important to include in pre-clerkship curricula by 90-99% of respondents. Pre-clerkship curricula included variable degrees of formal instruction for concepts, though most respondents rated their inclusion as moderate or extensive. Perceived importance of teaching most concepts moderately correlated with the degree of inclusion in the curriculum (Spearman's rho 0.39-0.44). Curricular time constraints and lack of faculty with skills to teach these concepts were the most frequently cited barriers to instruction. Respondents indicated being somewhat 57% (n=54) to extremely 29% (n=27) familiar with clerkship curricula at their institutions. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to examine pre-clerkship clinical skills course director perspectives about clinical reasoning instruction and extent of its inclusion in their curricula.

Preliminary Validity Evidence for a Milestones-Based Rating Scale for Chart-Stimulated Recall.

BACKGROUND: Minimally anchored Standard Rating Scales (SRSs), which are widely used in medical education, are hampered by suboptimal interrater reliability. Expert-derived frameworks, such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones, may be helpful in defining level-specific anchors to use on rating scales. OBJECTIVE: We examined validity evidence for a Milestones-Based Rating Scale (MBRS) for scoring chart-stimulated recall (CSR). METHODS: Two 11-item scoring forms with either an MBRS or SRS were developed. Items and anchors for the MBRS were adapted from the ACGME Internal Medicine Milestones. Six CSR standardized videos were developed. Clinical faculty scored videos using either the MBRS or SRS and following a randomized crossover design. Reliability of the MBRS versus the SRS was compared using intraclass correlation. RESULTS: Twenty-two faculty were recruited for instrument testing. Some participants did not complete scoring, leaving a response rate of 15 faculty (7 in the MBRS group and 8 in the SRS group). A total of 529 ratings (number of items × number of scores) using SRSs and 540 using MBRSs were available. Percent agreement was higher for MBRSs for only 2 of 11 items-use of consultants (92 versus 75, P = .019) and unique characteristics of patients (96 versus 79, P = .011)-and the overall score (89 versus 82, P < .001). Interrater agreement was 0.61 for MBRSs and 0.51 for SRSs. CONCLUSIONS: Adding milestones to our rating form resulted in significant, but not substantial, improvement in intraclass correlation coefficient. Improvement was inconsistent across items.

Diagnosing and Remediating Clinical Reasoning Difficulties: A Faculty Development Workshop.

Introduction: Clinical reasoning is a complex cognitive process that involves multiple steps. Diagnosing and remediating clinical reasoning difficulties requires faculty to have an understanding of the cognitive theory behind clinical reasoning, familiarity with terminology, and a framework to identify different domains of struggle in their learners. Published resources on faculty development to diagnose and remediate clinical reasoning difficulties are limited. We created and implemented a workshop to assist faculty in developing these skills based on the five-domain framework described by Audétat, Laurin, and Sanche. This workshop provides all the materials needed to replicate this training with faculty at other institutions. Methods: The workshop consists of a didactic component and case-based active learning in small groups. Each case focuses on different domains of clinical reasoning difficulties and targets different learner levels (preclinical medical students through residents). The workshop was given in multiple venues in 2016 and 2017. Results: Participants reported the session was valuable (4.71/5.0), the facilitators were effective (4.5/5.0), and the objectives were met (4.28/5.0). They highlighted the strengths of the interactive format, the framework to diagnose and remediate clinical reasoning difficulties, and the excellent take-home resources. They suggested more time for the workshop, revision of cases to better highlight difficulties, and refinement of instructions to approach the cases. These suggestions were incorporated into the current iteration of the workshop. Discussion: We successfully implemented a workshop for diagnosing and remediating clinical reasoning difficulties in multiple venues. The sessions were diverse in terms of faculty participants and learner groups addressed.

Dissemination of a simulation-based mastery learning intervention reduces central line-associated bloodstream infections.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 41,000 central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) occur annually in US hospitals. We previously developed a simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) curriculum in central venous catheter (CVC) insertion that significantly reduced CLABSI rates. In this study, we evaluated the effect of dissemination of the SBML curriculum on trainee skills and CLABSI rates at a community hospital. METHODS: The authors performed a cohort study of residents who rotated in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center from September 2010 to May 2012. Residents underwent an SBML CVC insertion curriculum and were required to meet or exceed a minimum passing score on a simulated internal jugular (IJ) and subclavian (SC) CVC insertion before ICU patient care. Infection control personnel measured CLABSI rates in the ICU before and after the educational intervention. RESULTS: Residents scored a mean IJ pretest of 35.5% (10.29/29, SD=8.30) compared with a post-test mean of 93.0% (26.96/29, SD=1.50; p<0.001). Their mean SC pretest score was 23.0% (6.68/29; SD=9.58) and increased to 96.1% (27.88/29, SD=1.41) at post-test (p<0.001). Patients experienced 3.82 infections per 1000 catheter-days (20 infections in 5235 catheter-days) in the ICU in the 23 months before the educational intervention. During the 21 months after the intervention, there were 1.29 infections per 1000 catheter-days (six infections in 4670 catheter-days (p=0.019)). The incidence rate ratio derived from the Poisson regression was 0.26 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.74) after controlling for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score indicating that there was a 74% reduction in the incidence of CLABSI in the medical ICU after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates successful dissemination and implementation of a CVC SBML curriculum and shows that rigorous medical education is a powerful quality improvement tool.

Sustainability and effectiveness of a quality improvement project to improve handoffs to night float residents in an internal medicine residency program.

BACKGROUND: Handoff is the process in which patient care is transitioned from one provider to another. In teaching hospitals, handoffs are frequent, and resident duty hour restrictions have increased the use of night float staff. To date, few studies have focused on long-term sustainability and effectiveness of a handoff quality improvement project. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our resident-driven quality improvement project was to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of a standardized template for handoff quality in a community hospital internal medicine program. METHODS: We used a multistep continuous quality improvement approach. Problems in the handoff process were identified through process mapping and anonymous needs assessment of the residents. A group of residents and faculty identified problems during biweekly discussions, created a standardized template, and adopted a new handoff process. We audited handoffs and surveyed residents at 3 and 9 months after implementation to assess effectiveness and sustainability. RESULTS: Before the intervention, only 40% of residents reported regular morning handoff. Using the standardized template, statistically significant, sustained improvements were seen in morning handoff frequency (59% preintervention, 90% at 3 months, 89% at 9 months), along with decreases in unreported overnight events (84% preintervention, 58% at 3 months, 50% at 9 months) and uncertainty about decisions because of poor handoffs (72% preintervention, 49% at 3 months, 37% at 9 months). Statistically significant decreases in missed content (69%-46%) and copy-and-paste behavior (78%-38%) at 3 months were not sustained. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated sustained improvements in unreported events and uncertainty caused by poor handoffs. Initial improvements in missed content and copy-and-paste behavior that were not sustained suggest a need for ongoing reinforcement and monitoring of handoff quality.