The power of interdependence: Linking health systems, communities, and health professions educational programs to better meet the needs of patients and populations.

Promoting optimal health outcomes for diverse patients and populations requires the acknowledgement and strengthening of interdependent relationships between health professions education programs, health systems, and the communities they serve. Educational programs must recognize their role as integral components of a larger system. Educators must strive to break down silos and synergize efforts to foster a health care workforce positioned for collaborative, equitable, community-oriented practice. Sharing interprofessional and interinstitutional strategies can foster wide propagation of educational innovation while accommodating local contexts. This paper outlines how member schools of the American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium leveraged interdependence to accomplish transformative innovations catalyzed by systems thinking and a community of innovation.

Development of Learning Objectives to Guide Enhancement of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Curricula in Undergraduate Medical Education.

Phenomenon: Chronic disease is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. With an increase in the demand for healthcare and rising costs related to chronic care, physicians need to be better trained to address chronic disease at various stages of illness in a collaborative and cost-effective manner. Specific and measurable learning objectives are key to the design and evaluation of effective training, but there has been no consensus on chronic disease learning objectives appropriate to medical student education. Approach: Wagner's Chronic Care Model (CCM) was selected as a theoretical framework to guide development of an enhanced chronic disease prevention and management (CDPM) curriculum. Findings of a literature review of CDPM competencies, objectives, and topical statements were mapped to each of the six domains of the CCM to understand the breadth of existing learning topics within each domain. At an in-person meeting, medical educators prepared a survey for the modified Delphi approach. Attendees identified 51 possible learning objectives from the literature review mapping, rephrased the CCM domains as competencies, constructed possible CDPM learning objectives for each competency with the goal of reaching multi-institutional consensus on a limited number of CDPM learning objectives that would be feasible for institutions to use to guide enhancement of medical student curricula related to CDPM. After the meeting, the group developed a survey which included 39 learning objectives. In the study phase of the modified Delphi approach, 32 physician CDPM experts and educators completed an online survey to prioritize the top 20 objectives. The next step occurred at a CDPM interest group in-person meeting with the goal of identifying the top 10 objectives. Findings: The CCM domains were reframed as the following competencies for medical student education: patient self-care management, decision support, clinical information systems, community resources, delivery systems and teams, and health system practice and improvement. Eleven CDPM learning objectives were identified within the six competencies that were most important in developing curriculum for medical students. Insights: These learning objectives cut across education on the prevention and management of individual chronic diseases and frame chronic disease care as requiring the health system science competencies identified in the CCM. They are intended to be used in combination with traditional disease-specific pathophysiology and treatment objectives. Additional efforts are needed to identify specific curricular strategies and assessment tools for each learning objective.

Trauma Consults by Geriatricians: Looking Into the Black Box.

The conceptual framework, targeting of older adults, and content of a targeted geriatric trauma consult (GTC) performed by geriatricians at a Level 1 trauma center are highlighted. The GTC is designed to optimize patient care through comprehensive assessment and to interrupt the disablement process. In a performance improvement study, fellowship-trained and certified geriatricians conducted the GTC in 98 patients ranging in age from 68 to 100 years. Most common recommendations by the geriatricians were for transitions of care (e.g., home health, skilled nursing facility, hospice), changes in medications (e.g., antihypertensives, antidepressants/antipsychotics), advanced care planning, and specialist referral. Targeted GTC performed by a geriatrician is an efficient approach to comanagement of complex older trauma patients, in contrast to mandated geriatric team consultation. In settings of value-based care, GTC by a geriatrician has potential to reduce patient disability and health care costs compared with usual care of older trauma patients.

"It Feels Like Being a Real Doctor:" The Virtual Family Approach in Medical Education.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The majority of health outcomes are determined by social determinants of health (SDOH) while medical care is responsible for as little as 20% of health outcomes. This article is an introduction to the Virtual Family (VF) approach to case based instruction; a novel strategy for addressing SDOH in medical school. The VF theoretical framework is presented and practical considerations and challenges for implementation of the VF approach at three different medical schools are offered. VFs are defined as representations of families or social groups that are not real. "Virtual," in this instance, refers to people or things that do not physically exist. The VF approach allows students and educators to adjust the "lens" of a case's focus to view the relevant determinants. The VF approach is presented as an extension of the virtual patient approach. Theoretical support for the VF approach is argued drawing on principles from modeling and simulation, effective story design, establishing a sense of human presence, serious gaming, visual design, identity leveraging, and flow theory. Challenges and benefits of the approach are described. Measures of efficacy designed to match learning goals are proposed. The VF approach is presented as practical, accessible, economical, and potentially powerful.

Longitudinal functional recovery after geriatric cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Impaired functional and cognitive status is an important outcome for older adults undergoing major cardiac surgery. We conducted this pilot study to gauge feasibility of assessing these outcomes longitudinally, from preoperatively up to two time points postoperatively to assess for recovery. METHODS: We interviewed patients aged ≥ 65 y preoperatively and repeated functional and cognitive assessments at 4-6 wk and 4-6 mo postoperatively. Simple unadjusted linear regression was used to test whether baseline measures changed at each follow-up time point. Then we used a longitudinal model to predict postoperative recovery overall, adjusting for comorbidity. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients (age 74.7 ± 5.9) underwent scheduled cardiac surgery. Preoperative activities of daily living (ADL) impairment was associated with poorer functional recovery at 4-6 wk postoperatively with each baseline ADL impairment conferring recovery of 0.5 fewer ADLs (P < 0.05). By 4-6 mo, we could no longer detect a difference in recovery. Preoperative cognition and physical activity were not associated with postoperative changes in these domains. CONCLUSIONS: A preoperative and postoperative evaluation of function and cognition was integrated into the surgical care of older patients. Preoperative impairments in ADLs may be a means to identify patients who might benefit from careful postoperative planning, especially in terms of assistance with self-care during the first 4-6 wk after cardiac surgery.