Utilizing a Quality Improvement Strategy to Increase Faculty Engagement With Resident Learning Goals.

BACKGROUND: Establishing and achieving learning goals (LGs) are important lifelong learning skills for residents. Faculty are critical in facilitation and achievement of residents' LGs, yet many have difficulty with this role in the busy inpatient setting. OBJECTIVES: Our primary aim was to improve faculty engagement in resident LGs, targeting ≥80% of faculty achieving a mean score ≥goal, over a period of 1 year by setting prerotation expectations and stressing team-based faculty accountability during the rotation in the current inpatient learning environment. METHODS: We identified key barriers to addressing LGs on an inpatient subspecialty service. Key interventions included 1) introducing LGs to faculty, 2) establishing a communication/handover process among faculty, 3) LGs development, and 4) tracking accountability. Baseline mean faculty milestone scores were determined from the prior year. Over 1 year, we developed and refined a system for residents to create and document LGs with faculty oversight and review. We reviewed faculty evaluations quarterly to measure progress and reviewed rotation evaluations. RESULTS: Faculty engagement with LGs improved through the course of the academic year. All but one faculty member had improved LGs scores during the intervention year. Most residents were very satisfied with the intervention and gave unprompted favorable feedback on rotation evaluations. The majority of submitted LGs were either partially or completely addressed. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that a quality improvement approach to a faculty educational skill is feasible and effective. Our intervention related to LGs may be modified for any medical learner in any inpatient or outpatient setting.

A Novel Case of Concurrent T-cell and Early T-cell Precursor Lymphoblastic Lymphoma in an Adolescent Female.

In the context of an evolving understanding of early T-cell precursor (ETP) lymphoma and leukemia, we present a case of concurrent T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma and ETP lymphoma in an adolescent female. To our knowledge, this represents the first reported case of both lymphoblastic lymphoma and ETP lymphoma as distinct and conjoined components of the same neoplasm. As an exception to current literature, our patient had a strictly lymphomatous ETP component with no leukemic manifestation. Her ETP component remained viable following induction, supporting ETP resistance to chemotherapy. The patient remains in remission 4 years postallogeneic matched sibling donor bone marrow transplant.

Acute acalculous cholecystitis in the critically ill: risk factors and surgical strategies.

PURPOSE: Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) is characterized by severe gallbladder inflammation without cystic duct obstruction. Critical illness and neurological deficits are often associated with AAC, and early radiologic imaging is necessary for the detection and timely treatment of AAC. In critically ill patients, effective surgical management is difficult. This review examines the three common surgical treatments for AAC (open cholecystectomy (OC), laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), or percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC)), their prevalence in current literature, and the perioperative outcomes of these different approaches using a large retrospective database. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review examined literature gathered from PubMed and Google Scholar to select more than 50 sources with data pertinent to AAC; of which 20 are described in a summary table. Outcomes from our previous research and several updated results were obtained from the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) database. RESULTS: LC has proven effective in treating AAC when the risks of general anesthesia and the chance for conversion to OC are low. In critically ill patients with multiple comorbidities, PC or OC may be the only available options. Data in the literature and an examination of outcomes within a national database indicate that for severely ill patients, PC may be safer and met with better outcomes than OC for the healthier set of AAC patients. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest a three-pronged approach to surgical resolution of AAC. Patients that are healthy enough to tolerate LC should undergo LC early in the course of the disease. In critically ill patients, patients with multiple comorbidities, a high conversion risk, or who are poor surgical candidates, PC may be the safest and most successful intervention.