Residents' transformational changes through self-regulated, experiential learning for professionalism.

Purpose: Postgraduate trainees ('residents") are required to convey professional behaviours as they navigate complex clinical environments. However, little is known about experiential learning for professionalism. Thus, we asked residents about professionalism challenges within the clinical learning environment: 1) how challenges were identified, 2) what supported successfully addressing challenges and 3) the impact of addressing challenges to further inform resident education. Method: From 2015-2016, twenty-five residents across specialties and multiple university affiliated teaching hospitals participated in appreciative inquiry informed audio-taped semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were categorized deductively for the 2015 CanMEDS Professional Role element addressed (commitment to patients, society, the profession, and physician health). A pragmatic research paradigm focussed descriptive data analysis on actions and outcomes. Results: Residents actively identify opportunities for experiential learning of professionalism within the clinical workplace- addressing conflicting priorities with interprofessional clinicians to ensure excellent patient care, providing informal feedback regarding peers' and other healthcare clinicians' professionalism lapses and by gaining self-awareness and maintaining wellness. There were no descriptions of commitment to society. Values, relationships, and reflection supported professional behaviours. Many described transformative personal and professional growth as an outcome of addressing professionalism challenges. Conclusions: Residents self-regulated experiential learning for professionalism often results in transformational changes personally and professionally. Elucidation of how residents successfully navigate power dynamics and conflict to provide excellent patient care and feedback for professional regulatory behaviour will support professionalism education. An interprofessional research lens will be valuable to explore how best to incorporate commitment to society within clinical environments.

Objectif: Il est attendu des stagiaires postdoctoraux (résidents) d'adopter des comportements professionnels dans les environnements cliniques complexes dans lesquels ils évoluent. Cependant, on sait peu de choses sur l'apprentissage expérientiel des comportements professionnels. Nous avons donc interrogé les résidents sur les défis qu'ils rencontrent en lien avec le professionnalisme dans leur environnement d'apprentissage clinique : 1) quels sont les problèmes qu'ils considèrent comme étant liés au professionnalisme, 2) qu'est-ce qui les a aidés à relever ces défis avec succès et 3) quels sont les effets de leur réaction à ces problématiques et quelles leçons peut-on tirer de ces résultats pour mieux adapter la formation des résidents. Méthode: Entre 2015 et 2016, 25 résidents de diverses spécialités et hôpitaux universitaires ont participé à des entretiens semi-structurés qui ont été menés selon une méthode d'interrogation appréciative et qui ont été enregistrés sur bande audio. Les transcriptions ont été catégorisées de manière déductive par rapport au rôle du professionnel du référentiel CanMEDS 2015 (engagement envers les patients, la société, la profession et la santé des médecins). Fondée sur un paradigme de recherche pragmatique, l'analyse des données descriptives ciblait les actions et les résultats. Résultats: Les résidents décèlent activement les occasions d'apprentissage expérientiel du professionnalisme dans le milieu de travail clinique et ils réagissent par exemple en abordant les priorités divergentes avec les cliniciens d'équipes interprofessionnelles de façon à assurer l'excellence des soins aux patients, en fournissant des commentaires informels à leurs pairs et à d'autres cliniciens sur les comportements non professionnels de ces derniers, en prenant conscience d'eux-mêmes et en privilégiant le bien-être. Ils n'ont pas proposé de description de l'engagement envers la société. Les valeurs, les relations et la réflexion sont les facteurs qui ont soutenu l'adoption de comportements professionnels. Un grand nombre de répondants ont déclaré avoir vécu une croissance personnelle et professionnelle transformatrice grâce à l'action qu'ils ont prise pour résoudre un problème de professionnalisme. Conclusions: L'apprentissage expérientiel autorégulé du professionnalisme par les résidents entraîne souvent des changements transformationnels pour eux sur les plans personnel et professionnel. Une compréhension approfondie de la gestion réussie des rapports de pouvoir et des conflits par les résidents leur permettant d'assurer la qualité des soins aux patients et de donner une rétroaction à leurs collègues sur la conformité de leur comportement professionnel contribuerait grandement à l'enseignement du professionnalisme. L'adoption d'une approche de recherche interprofessionnelle serait utile pour explorer la meilleure façon d'intégrer l'engagement envers la société dans l'environnement clinique.

Where do rural family medicine residents in Canada train?

OBJECTIVE: To report on contextual variance in the distributed rural family medicine residency programs of 3 Canadian medical schools. DESIGN: A constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed. SETTING: Rural and remote postgraduate family medicine programs at the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Calgary. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six family practice residents were interviewed, providing descriptions of 27 different rural sites and 10 regional sites. METHODS: Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed. MAIN FINDINGS: Participants differentiated between main campus academic health science centres; regional referral hub sites; and smaller, rural, and more remote community sites. Participants described major differences between sites in terms of patient, practice, educational, physical, institutional, and social factors. The differences between training sites included variations in learning opportunities; physical challenges related to weather, distance, and travel; and the social opportunities offered. There were also differences in how residents perceived their training sites, both in terms of what they noticed and how they interpreted their observations and experiences. Although there were contextual differences between regional sites, those differences were a lot less than between different smaller rural and remote sites. These differences shaped the learning opportunities available to residents and influenced their well-being. CONCLUSION: Although there may be some similarities between distributed training sites, each training context presents unique challenges and opportunities for the family medicine residents placed there. More attention to the specific affordances of different training contexts is required.

Contextual Competence: How residents develop competent performance in new settings.

INTRODUCTION: Medical education continues to diversify its settings. For postgraduate trainees, moving across diverse settings, especially community-based rotations, can be challenging personally and professionally. Competent performance is embedded in context; as a result, trainees who move to new contexts are challenged to use their knowledge, skills and experience to adjust. What trainees need to adapt to and what that requires of them are poorly understood. This research takes a capability approach to understand how trainees entering a new setting develop awareness of specific contextual changes that they need to navigate and learn from. METHODS: We used constructivist grounded theory with in-depth interviews. A total of 29 trainees and recent graduates from three internal medicine training programmes in Canada participated. All participants had completed at least one community-based rotation geographically far from their home training site. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and anonymised. The interview framework was adjusted several times following initial data analysis. RESULTS: Contextual competence results from trainees' ability to attend to five key stages. Participants had first to meet their physiological and practical needs, followed by developing a sense of belonging and legitimacy, which paved the way for a re-constitution of competence and appropriate autonomy. Trainee's attention to these stages of adaptation was facilitated by a process of continuously moving between using their knowledge and skill foundation and recognising where and when contextual differences required new learning and adaptations. DISCUSSION: An ability to recognise contextual change and adapt accordingly is part of Nussbaum and Sen's concept of capability development. We argue this key skill has not received the attention it deserves in current training models and in the support postgraduate trainees receive in practice. Recommendations include supporting residents in their capability development by debriefing their experiences of moving between settings and supporting clinical teachers as they actively coach residents through this process.

Facilitating Learner-Centered Transition to Residency: A Scoping Review of Programs Aimed at Intrinsic Competencies.

Phenomenon: There is currently a move to provide residency programs with accurate competency-based assessments of their candidates, yet there is a gap in knowledge regarding the role and effectiveness of interventions in easing the transition to residency. The impact of key stakeholder engagement, learner-centeredness, intrinsic competencies, and assessment on the efficacy of this process has not been examined. The objective of this scoping review was to explore the nature of the existing scholarship on programs that aim to facilitate the transition from medical school to residency. Approach: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE from inception to April 2020. Programs were included if they were aimed at medical students completing undergraduate medical training or first year residents and an evaluative component. Two authors independently screened all abstracts and full text articles in duplicate. Data were extracted and categorized by type of program, study design, learner-centeredness, key stakeholder engagement, the extent of information sharing about the learner to facilitate the transition to residency, and specific program elements including participants, and program outcomes. We also extracted data on intrinsic (non-Medical Expert) competencies, as defined by the CanMEDS competency framework. Findings: Of the 1,006 studies identified, 55 met the criteria for inclusion in this review. The majority of the articles that were eligible for inclusion were from the United States (n = 31, 57%). Most of the studies (n = 47, 85%) employed quantitative, or mixed method research designs. Positive outcomes that were commonly reported included increased self-confidence, competence in being prepared for residency, and satisfaction with the transition program. While a variety of learner-centered programs that focus on specific intrinsic competencies have been implemented, many (n = 29, 52%) did not report engaging learners as key stakeholders in program development. Insights: While programs that aim to ease the transition from medical school to residency can enhance both Medical Expert and other intrinsic competencies, there is much room for novel transition programs to define their goals more broadly and to incorporate multiple areas of professional development. The existing literature highlights various gaps in approaches to easing the transition from medical school to residency, particularly with respect to key stakeholder engagement, addressing intrinsic CanMEDS competencies, and focusing on individual learners' needs.

Key stakeholder opinions for a national learner education handover.

BACKGROUND: Sharing information about learners during training is seen as an important component supporting learner progression and relevant to patient safety. Shared information may cover topics from accommodation requirements to unprofessional behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine the views of key stakeholders on a proposed national information sharing process during the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate medical education in Canada, termed the Learner Education Handover (LEH). METHOD: Key stakeholder groups including medical students, resident physicians, residency program directors, medical regulatory authority representatives, undergraduate medical education deans, student affairs leaders, postgraduate medical education deans participated in focus groups conducted via teleconference. Data were transcribed and coded independently by two coders, then analyzed for themes informed by principles of constructivist grounded theory. RESULTS: Sixty participants (33 males and 27 females) from 16 focus groups representing key stakeholder groups participated. Most recognized value in a national LEH that would facilitate a smooth learner transition from medical school to residency. Potential risks and benefits of the LEH were identified. Themes significant to the content, process and format of the LEH also emerged. Guiding principles of the LEH process were determined to include that it be learner-centered while supporting patient safety, resident wellness and professional behavior. The learner and representatives from their undergraduate medical education environment would each contribute to the LEH. CONCLUSIONS: The LEH must advocate for the learner with respect for learner privacy, while promoting professionalism, patient safety and learner wellness.

Lessons Learned to Aid in Developing Fatigue Risk Management Plans for Resident Physicians.

Phenomenon: Fatigue is a significant risk factor for deterioration in performance, which may lead to medical errors and reduced well-being in resident physicians (residents). Sleep deprivation, which has been studied extensively, is only one contributor to fatigue. Given the complexity of fatigue and its relationship with resident performance, the National Steering Committee on Resident Duty Hours in Canada recommends that all residency education programs develop a fatigue risk management plan (FRMP) for their residents. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of residents' experiences of fatigue and the strategies they use to manage it. Approach: This single-site study investigated the perceptions of resident physicians. Residents were recruited through purposive sampling to ensure representation from a variety of programs, postgraduate year level, and gender. Recruitment was managed with support from the residency programs; however, data collection and analysis were conducted by the Office of Postgraduate Medical Education to ensure participant anonymity. Program directors and administrators assisted in relaying the information about the study to the residents; however, they were not made aware if their residents participated in the study. Interview and focus group data were collected all at once, then transcribed, and then subsequent thematic analysis of these data was conducted using a quasi-constant comparison approach until thematic saturation was reached. Two researchers coded the data using thematic content analysis. Findings: Fifty-seven residents participated in a focus group or interview. There was representation from more than half of the 58 residency programs and from 15 of 16 departments. Overall, there was consensus that fatigue impacts residents' physical, cognitive, and emotional states. These impacts were reported as influencing resident performance including those related to patient care. Residents reported that fatigue led them to be less productive in their personal and professional lives. Three major themes were identified for which strategies could be developed for fatigue risk management: self, program, and system. Together with self-, program-, and system-level strategies that complement and enhance each other, specific targeted FRMPs could be developed. Insights: Fatigue is a multifaceted phenomenon experienced by residents that requires management beyond extended duty hours and adequate amounts of sleep. FRMPs that encompass strategies used by the resident, the residency-training program, and the healthcare system in which they work could assist with managing fatigue in residents and support enhanced resident well-being and patient care.

Selection for family medicine residency training in Canada: How consistently are the same students ranked by different programs?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the consistency of the ranking of Canadian and US medical graduates who applied to Canadian family medicine (FM) residency programs between 2007 and 2013. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study. SETTING: Family medicine residency programs in Canada. PARTICIPANTS: All 17 Canadian medical schools allowed access to their anonymized program rank-order lists of students applying to FM residency programs submitted to the first iteration of the Canadian Resident Matching Service match from 2007 to 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The rank position of medical students who applied to more than 1 FM residency program on the rank-order lists submitted by the programs. Anonymized ranking data submitted to the Canadian Resident Matching Service from 2007 to 2013 by all 17 FM residency programs were used. Ranking data of eligible Canadian and US medical graduates were analyzed to assess the within-student and between-student variability in rank score. These covariance parameters were then used to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all programs. Program descriptions and selection criteria were also reviewed to identify sites with similar profiles for subset ICC analysis. RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2013, the consistency of ranking by all programs was fair at best (ICC = 0.34 to 0.39). The consistency of ranking by larger urban-based sites was weak to fair (ICC = 0.23 to 0.36), and the consistency of ranking by sites focusing on training for rural practice was weak to moderate (ICC = 0.16 to 0.55). CONCLUSION: In most cases, there is a low level of consistency of ranking of students applying for FM training in Canada. This raises concerns regarding fairness, particularly in relation to expectations around equity and distributive justice in selection processes.

Evolving concepts of assessment in a competency-based world.

Competency-based medical education (CBME) is an approach to the design of educational systems or curricula that focuses on graduate abilities or competencies. It has been adopted in many jurisdictions, and in recent years an explosion of publications has examined its implementation and provided a critique of the approach. Assessment in a CBME context is often based on observations or judgments about an individual's level of expertise; it emphasizes frequent, direct observation of performance along with constructive and timely feedback to ensure that learners, including clinicians, have the expertise they need to perform entrusted tasks. This paper explores recent developments since the publication in 2010 of Holmboe and colleagues' description of CBME assessment. Seven themes regarding assessment that arose at the second invitational summit on CBME, held in 2013, are described: competency frameworks, the reconceptualization of validity, qualitative methods, milestones, feedback, assessment processes, and assessment across the medical education continuum. Medical educators interested in CBME, or assessment more generally, should consider the implications for their practice of the review of these emerging concepts.

Patient safety principles in family medicine residency accreditation standards and curriculum objectives: Implications for primary care.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a thematic analysis of the College of Family Physicians of Canada's (CFPC's) Red Book accreditation standards and the Triple C Competency-based Curriculum objectives with respect to patient safety principles. DESIGN: Thematic content analysis of the CFPC's Red Book accreditation standards and the Triple C curriculum. SETTING: Canada. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Coding frequency of the patient safety principles (ie, patient engagement; respectful, transparent relationships; complex systems; a just and trusting culture; responsibility and accountability for actions; and continuous learning and improvement) found in the analyzed CFPC documents. RESULTS: Within the analyzed CFPC documents, the most commonly found patient safety principle was patient engagement (n = 51 coding references); the least commonly found patient safety principles were a just and trusting culture (n = 5 coding references) and complex systems (n = 5 coding references). Other patient safety principles that were uncommon included responsibility and accountability for actions (n = 7 coding references) and continuous learning and improvement (n = 12 coding references). CONCLUSION: Explicit inclusion of patient safety content such as the use of patient safety principles is needed for residency training programs across Canada to ensure the full spectrum of care is addressed, from community-based care to acute hospital-based care. This will ensure a patient safety culture can be cultivated from residency and sustained into primary care practice.

Where do physicians start and end?

Medical education is primarily about training physicians and maintaining their capabilities over time. Given that physicians are the primary focus of the field, there is a need for a clear idea of what physicians are or could be. This paper seeks to explore this issue by posing the simple question: ?Where do physicians start and end?' In doing so, the authors explore a series of different conceptual frames, including those of a physician's physical dimensions, their cellular boundaries, personal intentions and beliefs, professional identity, regulation, entrustability, professional performance, extended cognition, and disability. This existential look at the concept of a physician demonstrates the plurality of medical education scholarship and the implications of the many intersecting points of view in the field.

The Best of Both Worlds: Resident Experiences of Urban and Regional Contexts in a Hybrid Pediatrics Residency Program.

BACKGROUND: The context for specialty residency training in pediatrics has broadened in recent decades to include distributed community sites as well as academic health science centers. Rather than creating parallel, community-only programs, most programs have expanded to include both community and large urban tertiary health center experiences. Despite these changes, there has been relatively little research looking at residents' experiences in these distributed graduate medical education programs. OBJECTIVE: A longitudinal case study was undertaken to explore the experiences of residents in a Canadian pediatrics residency program that involved a combination of clinical placements in a large urban tertiary health center and in regional hospitals. METHODS: The study drew on 2 streams of primary data: 1-on-1 interviews with residents at the end of each block rotation and annual focus groups with residents. RESULTS: A thematic analysis (using grounded theory techniques) of transcripts of the interviews and focus groups identified 6 high-level themes: access to training, quality of learning, patient mix, continuity of care, learner roles, and residents as teachers. CONCLUSIONS: Rather than finding that certain training contexts were "better" than others when comparing residents' experiences of the various training contexts in this pediatrics residency, what emerged was an understanding that the different settings complemented each other. Residents were adamant that this was not a matter of superiority of one context over any other; their experiences in different contexts each made a valuable contribution to the quality of their training.

Exploring digital professionalism.

The widespread use of digital media (both computing devices and the services they access) has blurred the boundaries between our personal and professional lives. Contemporary students are the last to remember a time before the widespread use of the Internet and they will be the first to practice in a largely e-health environment. This article explores concepts of digital professionalism and their place in contemporary medical education, and proposes a series of principles of digital professionalism to guide teaching, learning and practice in the healthcare professions. Despite the many risks and fears surrounding their use, digital media are not an intrinsic threat to medical professionalism. Professionals should maintain the capacity for deliberate, ethical, and accountable practice when using digital media. The authors describe a digital professionalism framework structured around concepts of proficiency, reputation, and responsibility. Digital professionalism can be integrated into medical education using strategies based on awareness, alignment, assessment, and accountability. These principles of digital professionalism provide a way for medical students and medical practitioners to embrace the positive aspects of digital media use while being mindful and deliberate in its use to avoid or minimize any negative consequences.

When a community hospital becomes an academic health centre.

With the burgeoning role of distributed medical education and the increasing use of community hospitals for training purposes, challenges arise for undergraduate and postgraduate programs expanding beyond traditional tertiary care models. It is of vital importance to encourage community hospitals and clinical faculty to embrace their roles in medical education for the 21st century. With no university hospitals in northern Ontario, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and its educational partner hospitals identified questions of concern and collaborated to implement changes. Several themes emerged that are of relevance to any medical educational program expanding beyond its present location. Critical areas for attention include the institutional culture; human, physical and financial resources; and support for educational activities. It is important to establish and maintain the groundwork necessary for the development of thriving integrated community-engaged medical education. Done in tandem with advocacy for change in funding models, this will allow movement beyond the current educational environment. The ultimate goal is successful integration of university and accreditation ideals with practical hands-on medical care and education in new environments.

Canada's new medical school: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine: social accountability through distributed community engaged learning.

Like many rural regions around the world, Northern Ontario has a chronic shortage of doctors. Recognizing that medical graduates who have grown up in a rural area are more likely to practice in the rural setting, the Government of Ontario, Canada, decided in 2001 to establish a new medical school in the region with a social accountability mandate to contribute to improving the health of the people and communities of Northern Ontario. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is a joint initiative of Laurentian University and Lakehead University, which are located 700 miles apart. This paper outlines the development and implementation of NOSM, Canada's first new medical school in more than 30 years. NOSM is a rural distributed community-based medical school which actively seeks to recruit students into its MD program who come from Northern Ontario or from similar northern, rural, remote, Aboriginal, Francophone backgrounds. The holistic, cohesive curriculum for the MD program relies heavily on electronic communications to support distributed community engaged learning. In the classroom and in clinical settings, students explore cases from the perspective of physicians in Northern Ontario. Clinical education takes place in a wide range of community and health service settings, so that the students experience the diversity of communities and cultures in Northern Ontario. NOSM graduates will be skilled physicians ready and able to undertake postgraduate training anywhere, but with a special affinity for and comfort with pursuing postgraduate training and clinical practice in Northern Ontario.

Oral cholera vaccine--for whom, when, and why?

The search for a safe, effective, well tolerated, low cost vaccine against the ancient cholera enemy has been ongoing since the 19th century and has been revitalized in the past two decades since the advent of recombinant technology. Large-scale field trials have readily demonstrated the tolerability and safety of oral cholera vaccine in various forms. Variable levels of protection have been shown and one challenge has been to demonstrate whether this is a cost effective treatment in differing environments including its use in endemic and epidemic areas as well as for travelers. A review of recent literature was undertaken to assess the effectiveness and uses of currently available oral cholera vaccine. While the evidence does not support the creation of formal guidelines, some clear recommendations can be made. There is undoubtedly the potential to reduce the burden of illness both in endemic and epidemic situations. For travelers, certain higher risk groups may benefit from protection against cholera. More significantly, the short term cross-protection afforded by whole cell, B subunit (WC BS) oral cholera vaccine formulations against enterotoxigenic E. coli, (ETEC), the commonest causative agent of traveler's diarrhoea, may prove to be the most important raison d'être.