Train New Trainers Primary Care Psychiatry Fellowship-Optimizing Delivery of Behavioral Health Care Through Training for Primary Care Providers.

OBJECTIVE: To expand and optimize the behavioral health workforce, it is necessary to improve primary care providers' (PCPs) overall knowledge and clinical skills in primary care-based psychiatry. Studies on the effects of postgraduate psychiatric education programs for PCPs on psychiatric knowledge are limited. METHODS: A total of 251 PCPs completed a 1-year fellowship. Data from program development and evaluation were analyzed for 4 fellowship years (2016-2019). Fellows were surveyed at baseline, midpoint, and postfellowship about mental health stigma, perceived competency, attitudes about psychiatry, satisfaction with current psychiatric knowledge, confidence and comfort to treat psychiatric illnesses, and program satisfaction. Psychiatric knowledge was evaluated at baseline, midpoint, and postfellowship. RESULTS: Large effects were noted on perceived competency/self-efficacy and confidence in the treatment of common psychiatric disorders encountered in primary care settings. Positive effects were observed on attitudes of mental health stigma, and even more robust effects were found with improvement in psychiatry clinical knowledge. Knowledge improved by 12% at postfellowship (P < .0001). Correlations of the degree of change in attitude with improved psychiatric literacy demonstrated significant relationships with reduction of stigma total score (r = -0.2133, P = .0043), increased willingness (r = 0.1941, P = .0096), and increased positive attitudes (r = 0.1894, P = .0111). CONCLUSION: Innovative initiatives to improve and expand psychiatric knowledge and clinical skills among those who provide the most behavioral health care (PCPs) can have marked impacts on attitudes toward mental health care delivery, stigma, and competency/self-efficacy. Future studies are necessary to consider the impact of this program on clinical practice pattern outcomes on a larger scale.

An Effective COVID-19 Medical Student Elective.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of teaching medical students pandemic preparedness and COVID-19 related clinical knowledge. To fill the gap of COVID-19 instruction backed by evaluation data, we present a comprehensive COVID-19 pilot curriculum with multiple levels of evaluation data. METHODS: In the spring of 2020, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine piloted a two-week, primarily asynchronous COVID-19 elective course for medical students. The goal of the course is to provide a foundation in clinical care for COVID-19 while introducing students to emerging issues of a modern pandemic. Objectives align with institutional objectives, and instruction is delivered in thematic modules. Our curriculum utilizes numerous instructional strategies effective in distance learning including independent learning modules (ILM), reading, video lectures, discussion board debates, simulation and evidence-based argument writing. We designed a three-level, blended evaluation plan grounded in the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick evaluation model that assessed student satisfaction, relevance, confidence, knowledge and behavior. RESULTS: Our end of course survey revealed that students had high levels of satisfaction with the curriculum, and felt the course was relevant to their clinical education. Various assessment tools showed excellent levels of knowledge attainment. All respondents rated themselves as highly confident with the use of personal protective equipment, though fewer were confident with ventilator management. CONCLUSION: Overall our pilot showed that we were able to deliver relevant, satisfying COVID-19 instruction while allowing students to demonstrate knowledge and desired behaviors in COVID-19 patient care.

#MDsToo: A student mistreatment prevention curriculum for faculty members and residents.

BACKGROUND: Medical student mistreatment has detrimental effects on student well-being and poses a patient safety risk, yet 40% of medical school graduates report being mistreated during their training. Unfortunately, this statistic has not changed significantly since 2013. The 'hidden curriculum' contributes to the pervasiveness of mistreatment in medical schools in the USA. The #MDsToo curriculum was developed to mitigate the effects of the hidden curriculum by sensitising faculty members and residents to mistreatment. METHODS: During the curriculum, participants are introduced to the KIND (knowledge-sharing, inclusive, non-discriminatory, developmentally appropriate) framework for modelling positive teacher-learner interactions and detecting mistreatment. Using KIND, faculty members and residents identify and categorise mistreatment in eight video cases depicting mistreatment, and reflect on their own experiences with mistreatment. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-eight participants responded to a course survey. Most had experienced mistreatment. After the training, almost half stated that there were situations in the past that they did not recognize as mistreatment that they would now classify as mistreatment, and most stated that they were likely to report mistreatment now. CONCLUSION: The #MDsToo curriculum may provide an effective design for mistreatment prevention training. Next steps include multi-institutional implementation and longitudinal outcome studies.

Impact of a teaching rotation on residents' attitudes toward teaching: a 5-year study.

BACKGROUND: Residents play a tremendous role in educating medical students and other residents during their training. Many residency programs have thus instituted formal instruction on teaching. This 5-year study was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the impact of a teaching rotation on residents' attitudes towards teaching. METHODS: Residents participated in a 1-month teaching rotation, which included didactic sessions as well as protected time to practice their teaching skills. Before and after the rotation, residents anonymously filled out surveys regarding their attitudes towards teaching. Data were collected from 73 residents from July 2004 to September 2009. The data were analyzed using a 2-tailed t-test with independent variables and a 1-way ANOVA followed by a posttest. RESULTS: Four categories showed significant improvement, including feeling prepared to teach (P < .0001), having confidence in their teaching ability (P < .0001), being aware of their expectations as a teacher (P < .0001), and feeling that their anxiety about teaching was at a healthy level (P = .0037). There was an increase in the level of enthusiasm, but the P value did not reach a significant range (P = .12). The level of enthusiasm started high and was significantly higher on the pretest than every other tested category (P < .0001). Footnote c to Table 2 should read: P value as calculated using the Mann-Whitney U test [corrected]. CONCLUSIONS: Residents are enthusiastic about teaching, and their level of enthusiasm remains high following a teaching rotation. Residents feel more prepared to teach, more confident in their teaching ability, more aware of their expectations as a teacher, and less anxious about teaching following a formal teaching rotation.