Analyzing Expert Criteria for Authentic Resident Communication Skills.

Phenomenon: Training and assessing communication skills requires flexible and holistic approaches, including feedback practices. Historically, assessing communication skills has predominantly relied on itemized scoring, which is less useful for providing meaningful feedback to learners. Even more troublesome, theoretical scoring criteria tend to become a refractive lens allowing observation of only the conduct that aligns with the theory. Few skills assessment efforts have embraced a holistic understanding of how physician-patient communication skills are enacted in real patient care. Therefore, this study focused on what experts refer to when they speak about physicians' communication skills and what they treat as important when evaluating these skills enacted during real patient encounters.Approach: This qualitative study was based on observations and grounded theory. Residents' encounters with real patients were recorded as part of a formative communication skills assessment program from July 2015 to June 2016. Evaluation panels with diverse backgrounds (e.g., medicine, education, communication, conversation analysis, and layperson) listened to these recordings and jointly developed feedback comments for the resident from January 2016 to July 2017. For this study, we recorded forty-one panel discussions to observe their consensus evaluation. We conducted open and axial coding using a constant comparison approach to generate themes from the data.Findings: Elements of communication skills were connected and interdependent around the concepts of thoroughness and natural flow, which were not addressed by formative assessment criteria. Themes included (1) thoroughness within a boundary via agenda-setting; (2) natural yet, controlled flow: authentic conversation by active listening and questioning; (3) making agenda setting explicit to all parties in the beginning; (4) designing questions using both open-ended and closed questions; (5) pre-/post-conditions for patient education: patient contextual factors and teach-back; (6) preconditions for shared decision-making: patient education and patient contextual factors; and (7) multifaceted empathy demonstrated in multiple ways.Insights: The main message of the study findings is that communication skills criteria should be treated as organically interrelated and connected in assessing physicians' communication skills. Current communication skills assessment practice should be revisited as it itemizes physicians' communication skills as distinct and separate constructs rather than mutually affecting dynamics. Rather than imposing a theoretical rubric, assessment criteria should evolve through naturalistic observations of physician-patient communication.

Safety and efficacy of radial versus femoral access for rotational Atherectomy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Over the recent years, there has been increased interest in the use of transradial (TR) access for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including rotational atherectomy (RA). However, a large proportion of operators seem to be reluctant to use TR access for complex PCI including rotational atherectomy for heavily calcified coronary lesions. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Library for studies comparing radial versus femoral access in patients undergoing RA. Studies were included if they reported at least one of the following outcomes in each group separately: major adverse cardiac events (MACE), major bleeding, stent thrombosis, myocardial infarction (MI), hospital length of stay, radiation exposure, procedure time, procedure success and all-cause mortality. Odds ratio (OR) or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated and a p-value of <0.05 was considered as a level of significance. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included 5 retrospective studies with 3315 patients undergoing RA via radial access and 5838 patients via femoral access. Radial access was associated with lower major access site bleeding (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.31-0.67, p < 0.001), and radiation exposure (MD: -16.1, 95%CI: -25.4--6.7 Gy cm2, p = 0.0007). There were no significant differences observed in all-cause in-hospital mortality (OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.69-1.23, p = 0.58); MACE (OR: 0.80, CI: 0.63, 1.02, p = 0.08), stent thrombosis (OR: 0.28, 95%CI: 0.06-1.33 p = 0.11); and MI (OR: 0.43, 95%CI: 0.15-1.24, p = 0.12). There were no significant differences in hospital stay, procedure time or procedure success between the two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis of 9153 patients from observational studies demonstrates similar all-cause mortality, MACE, procedural success and procedural time during RA performed using TR access and TF access. However, TR access was associated with decreased access site bleeding and radiation exposure. Given the observational nature of these findings, a randomized controlled trial is warranted for further evidence.

New Algorithm for the Prediction of Cardiovascular Risk in Symptomatic Adults with Stable Chest Pain.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review the landmark studies in predicting obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in symptomatic patients with stable chest pain and identify better prediction tools and propose a simplified algorithm to guide the health care providers in identifying low risk patients to defer further testing. RECENT FINDINGS: There are a few risk prediction models described for stable chest pain patients including Diamond-Forrester (DF), Duke Clinical Score (DCS), CAD Consortium Basic, Clinical, and Extended models. The CAD Consortium models demonstrated that DF and DCS models overestimate the probability of CAD. All CAD Consortium models performed well in the contemporary population. PROMISE trial secondary data results showed that a clinical tool using readily available ten very low-risk pre-test variables could discriminate low-risk patients to defer further testing safely. In the contemporary population, CAD Consortium Basic or Clinical model could be used with more confidence. Our proposed simple algorithm would guide the physicians in selecting low risk patients who can be managed conservatively with deferred testing strategy. Future research is needed to validate our proposed algorithm to identify the low-risk patients with stable chest pain for whom further testing may not be warranted.

The Most Common Feedback Themes in Communication Skills Training in an Internal Medicine Residency Program: Lessons from the Resident Audio-Recording Project.

Individualized structured feedback is an integral part of a resident's learning in communication skills. However, it is not clear what feedback residents receive for their communication skills development in real patient care. We will identify the most common feedback topics given to residents regarding communication skills during Internal Medicine residency training. We analyzed Resident Audio-recording Project feedback data from 2008 to 2013 by using a content analysis approach. Using open coding and an iterative categorization process, we identified 15 emerging themes for both positive and negative feedback. The most recurrent feedback topics were Patient education, Thoroughness, Organization, Questioning strategy, and Management. The residents were guided to improve their communication skills regarding Patient education, Thoroughness, Management, and Holistic exploration of patient's problem. Thoroughness and Communication intelligibility were newly identified themes that were rarely discussed in existing frameworks. Assessment rubrics serve as a lens through which we assess the adequacy of the residents' communication skills. Rather than sticking to a specific rubric, we chose to let the rubric evolve through our experience.

Deglutition Syncope: Two Case Reports Attributed to Vagal Hyperactivity.

Deglutition syncope is a relatively rare cause of syncope that belongs to the category of neurally mediated reflex syncopal syndromes. The phenomenon is related to vagal reflex in context to deglutition causing atrioventricular block and acute reduction in cardiac output leading to dizziness or syncope. We present case series of two cases of deglutition syncope, of which first was managed medically and second with pacemaker implantation.

Evaluating YouTube as a Source of Patient Education on the Role of the Hospitalist: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital medicine is a relatively new specialty field, dedicated to the delivery of comprehensive medical care to hospitalized patients. YouTube is one of the most frequently used websites, offering access to a gamut of videos from self-produced to professionally made. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to determine the adequacy of YouTube as an effective means to define and depict the role of hospitalists. METHODS: YouTube was searched on November 17, 2014, using the following search words: "hospitalist," "hospitalist definition," "what is the role of a hospitalist," "define hospitalist," and "who is a hospitalist." Videos found only in the first 10 pages of each search were included. Non-English, noneducational, and nonrelevant videos were excluded. A novel 7-point scoring tool was created by the authors based on the definition of a hospitalist adopted by the Society of Hospital Medicine. Three independent reviewers evaluated, scored, and classified the videos into high, intermediate, and low quality based on the average score. RESULTS: A total of 102 videos out of 855 were identified as relevant and included in the analysis. Videos uploaded by academic institutions had the highest mean score. Only 6 videos were classified as high quality, 53 as intermediate quality, and 42 as low quality, with 82.4% (84/102) of the videos scoring an average of 4 or less. CONCLUSIONS: Most videos found in the search of a hospitalist definition are inadequate. Leading medical organizations and academic institutions should consider producing and uploading quality videos to YouTube to help patients and their families better understand the roles and definition of the hospitalist.

A Case Report Describing a Rare Presentation of Simultaneous Occurrence of MPO-ANCA-Associated Vasculitis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background. Renal-limited myeloperoxidase vasculitis with simultaneous rheumatoid arthritis is reported as a rare occurrence. Review of literature suggests that most patients had a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis for several years prior to presenting with renal failure from myeloperoxidase vasculitis. Case Presentation. A 58-year-old Caucasian male presented to the hospital experiencing malaise, fevers, decreased oral intake, nausea, and vomiting for one week duration. His past medical history consisted of newly diagnosed but untreated rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. He was found to have acute renal failure, proteinuria, and hypoglycemia. Standard therapy, including intravenous fluids, did not improve his acute renal failure. A vasculitis workup resulted in a positive myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA). Renal biopsy revealed crescentic glomerulonephritis (GN) pauci-immune type, suggestive of MPO-ANCA-associated vasculitis (MPO-AAV). Treatment consisted of prednisone, cyclophosphamide, and seven cycles of plasmapheresis, in addition to hemodialysis for uremia. Upon discharge, he received hemodialysis for another week and continued treatment with cyclophosphamide and prednisone. Conclusion. Patients with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis may develop renal failure due to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication use and AA type amyloidosis; however, necrotizing glomerulonephritis with crescent formation has been rarely reported. This stresses the importance of early recognition and swift initiation of treatment.

Recurrent spontaneous coronary artery dissection: First case report in men with three episodes of spontaneous coronary dissection in separate vascular territories.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome. In the literature, more than 1,200 cases of SCAD have been reported, with a low rate of recurrent spontaneous coronary artery dissection (r-SCAD) described in only 63 cases. Among these patients with r-SCAD, just three cases had three separate episodes of dissection and all were in women. We report the first case of r-SCAD in men, with three episodes of dissection in different coronary arteries and review the published literature on predisposing factors for r-SCAD and its management.