Cultivating Agents of Change in Medical Students: Addressing the Overdose Epidemic in the United States Through Enhancing Knowledge of Multimodal Pain Medicine and Increasing Accessibility via Open-Access, Web-Based Medical Education and Technology.

Medical students of today will soon be physician leaders and teachers of tomorrow about important relevant topics including the overdose epidemic and its devastating impact on our society. In the United States, the overdose crisis, including drug opioid-related overdoses, the increasing prevalence of opioid use disorder along with the increasing number of patients with chronic pain are intensifying and call attention for nationwide action. A strong medical educational foundation of the understanding of the relationship between pain and substance use disorder, their treatment including opioid analgesic therapy, multimodal and interdisciplinary care, and long-term management is needed to help cultivate comprehensive knowledge and training to prepare the next generation's frontline practitioners to meet these needs. Yet, traditional educational curricula covering these topics are not standardized in medical schools across the nation in the United States. The advent of web-based medical education and the integration of this technology may offer potential solutions to these challenges. Often found equally effective as in-person learning, web-based medical education through open-access modules and other technologies can help increase accessibility, enhance knowledge of multimodal pain management, safe and effective use of opioid analgesics, and other related topics, and provide flexible and powerful teaching initiatives. Our viewpoint is thus that open-access modules and other technology-integrated teaching initiatives can help deliver excellence in pain education, preparing and empowering medical students-our future agents of change-who will be at the forefront of the overdose epidemic.

Review of The empathy exams: Essays.

Reviews the book The empathy exams: Essays. Empathy is a universally important aspect of both life and medicine that helps cultivate a therapeutic relationship between healthcare professionals and patients, family and loved ones, community members and friends, and beyond. As the times have evolved, empathy has become increasingly essential in not only elevating the quality of patient-centered care but also nurturing meaningful relationships and compassionate bonds among communities and families. Empathy encompasses an emotional understanding of another's pain and suffering and also invites self-reflection and humility. In The Empathy Exams, the author sheds light on the meaning of empathy through her memoir of experiences and perspectives as a nonhealthcare professional, community member, patient, family member, and friend. Even though the author herself does not practice in the medical setting, from the bond between the physician and patient to the empathetic connection between patients and families, The Empathy Exams explores a thematic and insightful discussion on empathy as a lifelong exploration through multidimensional angles from experiencing personal illness to caring for a loved one. Ultimately, The Empathy Exams encourages all-both medical professionals, nonhealthcare communities and families-to reflect and rethink about empathy in themselves, patients, and loved ones, transforming individual pain and suffering into communal hope and humanity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adapting Medical Education Initiatives Through Team-Based e-Learning, Telemedicine Objective Structured Clinical Exams, and Student-Led Community Outreach During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly prompted medical schools and students around the world to transition from their traditional classrooms to web-based learning, the global crisis has inspired the development of innovative e-learning solutions that use existing technology and other web-based tools to continue nurturing the education of medical students while ensuring the public health and safety of both students and faculty members alike. Through the perspective of medical students, we share how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and transformed small team-based learning in medical education; changed objective structured clinical exam evaluations and the practice of clinical skills through telemedicine; and nurtured nationwide, web-based, student-led initiatives for community outreach, telehealth, and medical services.

Bench Reflections on Healing and Patient Care.

Benches are a metaphor for a shared place of rest and reflection for patients and their loved ones as well as for physicians and other health care clinicians. The Healing Bench artwork thus represents the collective unity of communal decision making and reflections, as clinicians deliver compassionate patient care from bench to bedside.