Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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To systematically determine whether published quality improvement (QI) curricula for physician trainees adhere to QI guidelines and meet standards for study quality in medical education research. ⋯ Many QI curricula in this study inadequately addressed QI educational objectives and had relatively weak research quality. Educators seeking to improve QI curricula should use recommended curricular and reporting guidelines, stronger methodologic rigor through development and use of validated instruments, available QI resources already present in health care settings, and outside funding opportunities.
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Multicenter Study
Patient safety education at U.S. and Canadian medical schools: results from the 2006 Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine survey.
To describe current patient safety curricula at U.S. and Canadian medical schools and identify factors associated with adoption of these programs. ⋯ Despite calls from regulatory, medical, and educational organizations to increase patient safety training of medical students, internal medicine clerkship directors report that few schools in the United States and Canada have implemented specific patient safety curricula. Most existing patient safety curricula use lecture and small-group discussion as preferred methods of instruction.
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Effective communication is central to patient safety. There is abundant evidence of negative consequences of poor communication and inadequate handoffs. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic review of articles focused on physicians' handoffs, conduct a qualitative review of barriers and strategies, and identify features of structured handoffs that have been effective. ⋯ Despite the negative consequences of inadequate physicians' handoffs, very little research has been done to identify best practices. Many of the existing peer-reviewed studies had design or reporting flaws. There is remarkable consistency in the anecdotally suggested strategies; however, there remains a paucity of evidence to support these strategies. Overall, there is a great need for high-quality handoff outcomes studies focused on systems factors, human performance, and the effectiveness of structured protocols and interventions.
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Many of the quality measures for patients with heart failure (HF) or acute myocardial infarction (AMI) require the completion of comprehensive discharge instructions, including instructions about medications to be taken after discharge. To improve compliance in a tertiary care teaching hospital with these evidence-based quality measures, a clinical-decision-support system (CDSS) that uses an electronic checklist was developed. The CDSS prompts clinicians at every training level to consistently create comprehensive discharge instructions addressing quality measures. ⋯ Compliance with the remaining measures was higher before intervention, and, thus, the modest improvement in the postintervention period was not statistically significant (AMI patients: aspirin, 97.5% to 98.8%; P = .43; and beta-blocker, 97.9% to 98.7%; P = .78; HF patients: LVSF, 99.3% to 99.1%; P = .78). Implementation of a CDSS with computerized electronic prompts improved compliance with selected cardiac-care quality measures. The design of quality-improvement decision-support tools should incorporate educational missions in their message and design.
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To determine internal medicine (IM) residents' ability to disclose a medical error using standardized patients (SPs) and to survey residents' experiences of disclosure. ⋯ Disclosing medical error is now a standard practice. Experience with medical error begins early in training, and preparing trainees to discuss these errors is essential. Areas exist for improvement in residents' disclosure abilities, particularly regarding the prevention of future errors. Curricula to increase residents' skills and comfort in disclosure need to be implemented. Most residents would welcome further training.