Out-of-Hospital Birth in Medical Education: A Thematic Analysis of Question Banks for Medical Licensing Examinations in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the content of US Medical Licensing Examination question banks with regard to out-of-hospital births and whether the questions aligned with current evidence. METHODS: Three question banks were searched for key words regarding out-of-hospital births. A thematic analysis was then utilized to analyze the results. RESULTS: Forty-seven questions were identified, and of these, 55% indicated a lack of inadequate, limited, or irregular prenatal care in the question stem. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic studies comparing prenatal care in out-of-hospital births versus hospital births are nonexistent, leading to the potential for bias and adverse outcomes. Adjustments to question stems that accurately portray current evidence are recommended.

Evaluating competency-based medical education: a systematized review of current practices.

BACKGROUND: Few published articles provide a comprehensive overview of the available evidence on the topic of evaluating competency-based medical education (CBME) curricula. The purpose of this review is therefore to synthesize the available evidence on the evaluation practices for competency-based curricula employed in schools and programs for undergraduate and postgraduate health professionals. METHOD: This systematized review was conducted following the systematic reviews approach with minor modifications to synthesize the findings of published studies that examined the evaluation of CBME undergraduate and postgraduate programs for health professionals. RESULTS: Thirty-eight articles met the inclusion criteria and reported evaluation practices in CBME curricula from various countries and regions worldwide, such as Canada, China, Turkey, and West Africa. 57% of the evaluated programs were at the postgraduate level, and 71% were in the field of medicine. The results revealed variation in reporting evaluation practices, with numerous studies failing to clarify evaluations' objectives, approaches, tools, and standards as well as how evaluations were reported and communicated. It was noted that questionnaires were the primary tool employed for evaluating programs, often combined with interviews or focus groups. Furthermore, the utilized evaluation standards considered the well-known competencies framework, specialized association guidelines, and accreditation criteria. CONCLUSION: This review calls attention to the importance of ensuring that reports of evaluation experiences include certain essential elements of evaluation to better inform theory and practice.

Historical Inequities in Medical Education - Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity, and Equity at the University of Hawai'i School of Medicine.

Medical education in the US has contributed to institutionalized racism through historically exclusionary practices, which has led to health disparities and inequities in health care today. The 1910 Flexner report, which favored schools with greater resources, led to the closure of nearly half of medical schools in the Us, which were mostly small schools located in rural communities that served economically disadvantaged, ethnic minority, and female populations. Closing these schools ultimately limited the availability of physicians willing to serve disadvantaged and minority populations in impoverished and underserved communities. In order to transform medical education to be more equitable, medical schools must be proactive in opportunity, diversity, and equity efforts. This not only includes efforts in admissions and faculty hiring, but also curricula related to social and health disparities, interracial interactions between students and faculty, and service learning activities that engage and work with marginalized communities. The University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine has a longstanding commitment to diversity, which is integral to the school's mission. Providing opportunities to underserved populations has been a priority since establishment of the school. As one of the most diverse univeristies in the US, the school of medicine continues to focus on opportunity, diversity, and equity priorities in both its strategic planning and overall mission.

Optimizing Family Presence through Medical Education.

AbstractMany family members are wary of asking whether they can be present in the intensive care unit (ICU) while patients are receiving care. However, the opportunity to be present can be profoundly beneficial, especially to family members as they approach the grieving process. In the long run, this may decrease emotional complications such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex grief. Family presence may also be profoundly important to patients, who may find comfort in the presence of their loved ones. Optimizing the needs of distressed families remains a controversial topic because it may distract physicians from providing needed medical care. Both parties may benefit maximally, however, through proactive training and early education during medical school, as this article will outline. Family members who may want to visit but are unable to be present in person may also benefit through virtual telehealth visits. Finally, we acknowledge specific cases that may pose ethically difficult dilemmas for ICU providers. Solutions that may be optimal in these situations will be suggested.

[ChatGPT for use in technology-enhanced learning in anesthesiology and emergency medicine and potential clinical application of AI language models : Between hype and reality around artificial intelligence in medical use]. / ChatGPT im Einsatz für "technology-enhanced learning" in Anästhesiologie und Notfallmedizin und potenzielle klinische Anwendung von KI­Sprachmodellen : Zwischen Hype und Wirklichkeit um künstliche Intelligenz im medizinischen Einsatz.

BACKGROUND: The utilization of AI language models in education and academia is currently a subject of research, and applications in clinical settings are also being tested. Studies conducted by various research groups have demonstrated that language models can answer questions related to medical board examinations, and there are potential applications of these models in medical education as well. RESEARCH QUESTION: This study aims to investigate the extent to which current version language models prove effective for addressing medical inquiries, their potential utility in medical education, and the challenges that still exist in the functioning of AI language models. METHOD: The program ChatGPT, based on GPT 3.5, had to answer 1025 questions from the second part (M2) of the medical board examination. The study examined whether any errors and what types of errors occurred. Additionally, the language model was asked to generate essays on the learning objectives outlined in the standard curriculum for specialist training in anesthesiology and the supplementary qualification in emergency medicine. These essays were analyzed afterwards and checked for errors and anomalies. RESULTS: The findings indicated that ChatGPT was able to correctly answer the questions with an accuracy rate exceeding 69%, even when the questions included references to visual aids. This represented an improvement in the accuracy of answering board examination questions compared to a study conducted in March; however, when it came to generating essays a high error rate was observed. DISCUSSION: Considering the current pace of ongoing improvements in AI language models, widespread clinical implementation, especially in emergency departments as well as emergency and intensive care medicine with the assistance of medical trainees, is a plausible scenario. These models can provide insights to support medical professionals in their work, without relying solely on the language model. Although the use of these models in education holds promise, it currently requires a significant amount of supervision. Due to hallucinations caused by inadequate training environments for the language model, the generated texts might deviate from the current state of scientific knowledge. Direct deployment in patient care settings without permanent physician supervision does not yet appear to be achievable at present.

Trainee advocacy for medical education on the care of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities: a sequential mixed methods analysis.

BACKGROUND: Medical trainees (medical students, residents, and fellows) are playing an active role in the development of new curricular initiatives; however, examinations of their advocacy efforts are rarely reported. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of trainees advocating for improved medical education on the care of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. METHODS: In 2022-23, the authors conducted an explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study using a constructivist paradigm to analyze the experiences of trainee advocates. They used descriptive statistics to analyze quantitative data collected through surveys. Participant interviews then yielded qualitative data that they examined using team-based deductive and inductive thematic analysis. The authors applied Kern's six-step approach to curriculum development as a framework for analyzing and reporting results. RESULTS: A total of 24 participants completed the surveys, of whom 12 volunteered to be interviewed. Most survey participants were medical students who reported successful advocacy efforts despite administrative challenges. Several themes were identified that mapped to Steps 2, 4, and 5 of the Kern framework: "Utilizing Trainee Feedback" related to Needs Assessment of Targeted Learners (Kern Step 2); "Inclusion" related to Educational Strategies (Kern Step 4); and "Obstacles", "Catalysts", and "Sustainability" related to Curriculum Implementation (Kern Step 5). CONCLUSIONS: Trainee advocates are influencing the development and implementation of medical education related to the care of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Their successes are influenced by engaged mentors, patient partners, and receptive institutions and their experiences provide a novel insight into the process of trainee-driven curriculum advocacy.

Teaching prudent antibiotic use on the go: a descriptive report on development, utilization and listener satisfaction of an educational podcast format for medical students and young professionals.

BACKGROUND: An important component in fostering the responsible use of antibiotics is training of new and future prescribers in this interdisciplinary topic. Because podcasts are playing an increasing role in medical education, we aimed to develop and evaluate a podcast format with practice and guideline-oriented learning content on antibiotic therapy for medical students and young medical professionals. METHODS: We developed the concept for the podcast with the direct involvement of medical students and medical experts with teaching experience. We used video conferencing when recording the episodes in order to have quick, easy, and nationwide access to the experts involved. We released an episode every 2 to 4 weeks on the popular podcast platforms. The podcast was promoted through mailing lists, social and print media, and at conferences. The evaluation of episodes was based on user data provided by the platforms and an anonymous feedback questionnaire linked to each episode in the podcast notes. RESULTS: Between December 2021 and December 2022 19 episodes of InfectEd: der Antibiotika-Podcast were released. The mean duration of an episode was 91 min. By March 9, 2023, a total of 38,829 downloads and streams had been recorded. The majority of users listened to the podcast on a mobile device. The average playing time per episode was 65%. The feedback questionnaire was completed 135 times. 60.7% of respondents were female, 38.5% male. The majority of respondents were in their twenties and thirties (66.7%). 31.1% were medical students, 25.9% were residents, and 25.2% were specialists. Listeners were asked to rate episodes on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 was "very good" and 6 was "insufficient." Ratings did not differ significantly between female and male respondents or between medical students and others. 118 respondents (87.4%) reported an increase in knowledge. Free-text feedback frequently emphasized clinical and also exam relevance. CONCLUSION: Our podcast format, developed with a user-centered approach, was broadly distributed and has been well accepted by both medical students and physicians alike. It provides a large number of learners with low-threshold access to current, guideline-orientated content and could be a useful supplement to conventional teaching formats.

Using Qualitative Questionnaires in Medical Education Research.

Most students in Health Profession Education courses are new to the world of qualitative research. Faced with the challenge of designing a research project, they are often drawn towards using the questionnaire as a data collection method, commonly assuming that utilising open-ended questions alone constitutes qualitative research design. Designing questionnaires that meet the standards of rigour is challenging, and this common assumption reflects inexperience with and misunderstandings of qualitative ontology, as well as the lack of methodological literature on designing and developing qualitative questionnaires. This paper is written with research supervisors as well as students in mind, as it is aimed to help elucidate the decision-making process and the justification for using a qualitative questionnaire. Drawing upon examples of research conducted by our students, and the wider literature, we demonstrate how qualitative questionnaires can produce rich and meaningful findings when they (1) prioritise qualitative research values, and (2) follow a rigorous design process when the questionnaire is developed. We conclude by offering a simple framework for developing rigorous qualitative questionnaires to those who may consider using this approach.

Contribution of ethical reasoning learning sessions on medical training.

INTRODUCTION: Ethical reasoning is an important skill for all physicians who often face complex ethical dilemmas in their daily practice. Therefore, medical training should include methods for learning ethical theories and concepts, as well as how to apply them in practical situations. AIM: Assess the contribution of an Ethical Reasoning Learning session to fifth medical students' training through a comparison of results of the same objective and structured clinical examination (OSCE) in the form of simulated interview before and after sessions. METHODS: Four 45- minutes' sessions of Ethical Reasoning Learning (ERL) were implemented during a psychiatry internship for four groups of 5th-year students of the faculty of medicine of Monastir (Tunisia). Each session was divided into 7 parts: introduction, reading of a clinical vignette, brainstorming concerning the problems posed by this clinical situation, classification of the problems, identification of the principles of medical ethics, construction of the ethical matrix, and a conclusion. RESULTS: Fifty-seven students participated in the study divided into 4 groups. We found a significant difference in the means of the OSCE scores before and after the ERL session and a significant difference between the probability of respecting medical secrecy during pre and post-ethical reasoning learning sessions (p <0.001). We have found an effect of ERL sessions on the acquisition of this ethical competence by medical students. CONCLUSION: We learned that an ERL session has improved medical training in ethics applied to psychiatry. Other sessions dealing with other ethical skills are necessary to confirm these results.

Evaluating the Integration of Patient Safety in Medical Training in Spain.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the degree of integration of patient safety in the training of medical faculties at universities in Spain. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. An assessment was made of the curse syllabi of Spanish medical schools, summarizing the proportion of faculties that present each of the topics recommended in the WHO's curriculum guide. Results: Of the 49 faculties, access to the curse syllabus of the subjects for the academic year 2023-2024 was obtained from 38 (78%). Although 82% of the faculties integrated some patient safety topic, only 56% included between 1 and 3 of the 11 topics recommended by WHO. The maximum number of integrated topics was 7, and this was only achieved by 1 faculty. Conclusion: There is progress in the incorporation of fundamental concepts in patient safety, but the comprehensive implementation of all topics recommended by the WHO in Spanish medical schools is insufficient.

[THE UNIMAGINABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN JEWISH DOCTORS AND THE GERMAN MEDICAL TRAINING SYSTEM DURING THE NAZI REGIME].

INTRODUCTION: In his important article, Prof. G. Eshel describes the story of three Jewish physicians who returned to Nazi Germany to complete their MD thesis despite laws prohibiting Jewish students from German Universities. The three physicians completed their MD thesis examination with the help of three German Professors who supported them regardless of the laws banning Jewish students. The three physicians risked their lives by returning to Nazi Germany, as did the three professors who supported them. The three physicians returned to Palestine upon completion of the requirement for their medical licensing and continued to contribute to the medical system for many years in the State of Israel. The determination of the three Jewish physicians and their courage teaches us an important lesson on the motivation of young doctors to complete their education and practice medicine. The support of the German professors created some lights in the great darkness of the Nazi regime. Generations of physicians took a stand on non-medical issues and contributed to social justice and the wellbeing of individuals beyond medical care. We should all continue this legacy.