Military medicine
-
Previous studies have shown that medical students experience a great level of burnout and poor well-being during their clinical training periods. In this study, we sought to understand how military medical students cope with stress to prevent burnout and support their well-being. We also investigated if these coping strategies are associated with military medical students' self-reported well-being, burnout, and depression levels. The findings could help inform programming, resources, and educational strategies to better support students to thrive in their careers long term. ⋯ The findings demonstrate that certain coping strategies are more positively associated with a good state of well-being and less burnout, and that utilization of multiple types of coping strategies is more supportive. This study amplifies the voice of military medical students concerning the importance of prioritizing self-care and available resources given the unique pressures and demands of their dual military medical curriculum.
-
To determine whether medical school curricular change impacted the assessment of graduates in their first year of postgraduate training. ⋯ Ratings by PGY-1 program directors of USU graduates over time demonstrated a very small decline soon after curriculum reform but later showed a large improvement in domains reflecting areas of emphasis in the curriculum. In the eyes of a key stakeholder, the USU curriculum reform did no harm and led to improved PGY-1 assessments.
-
Well-being concerns among medical students are more prevalent than their age-matched peers in the United States. It remains unknown, however, if individual differences in well-being exist among U.S. medical students serving in the military. In this study, we sought to identify profiles (i.e., subgroups) of well-being in military medical students and examine the associations between these well-being profiles and burnout, depression, and intended retention in military and medical fields. ⋯ These subgroups may be clinically important as burnout, depression, and intention to leave medical field and/or military service occurred with varying likelihoods among medical students across the different well-being subgroups. Military medical institutions may consider improving recruitment tools to identify the best alignment between students' career goals and the military setting. Besides, it is crucial for the institution to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues that may lead to alienation, anxiety, and a sense of wanting to leave the military community.
-
The current study reports career accomplishments of Uniformed Services University (USU) graduates in four areas: (1) positions held over the course of their entire career, (2) military awards, decorations, and rank, (3) first residency completed, and (4) academic achievements. ⋯ USU graduates continue to make significant contributions to military medicine. USU graduates' medical specialty preferences are similar to the past, which calls for further investigation to identify driving factors on such preference.
-
In order to evaluate the outcomes of a USU School of Medicine (SOM) education, a program director (PD) evaluation survey was developed in 2005 and is completed annually by PDs regarding trainees who graduated from USU and are in their first post-graduate training year (PGY-1) and their third post-graduate training year (PGY-3). The survey was last reviewed and revised in 2010 to better align with the competencies established by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education but has not been further evaluated or revised. The objective of the study was to utilize 12 years of aggregated data to improve the psychometric properties of the survey, with an emphasis on shortening the survey. A secondary objective was to refine the verbiage of the existing questions and add new items to assess health systems science competencies. ⋯ The USU SOM has benefited from over 15 years of results from the PD surveys. We identified those questions that performed well, and these were refined and augmented in order to optimize the performance of the survey and fill gaps in our knowledge of graduates' performance. To determine how well the revised set of questions performs, efforts will be made to increase the response rate and completion of 100% of items on the survey, and the EFA should be repeated after about 2-4 years. Furthermore, the USU graduates should continue to be tracked longitudinally past residency to determine if PGY-1 and PGY-3 survey measures predict long-term performance and patient outcomes.