Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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To quantify the number of required hours of nutrition education at U.S. medical schools and the types of courses in which the instruction was offered, and to compare these results with results from previous surveys. ⋯ The amount of nutrition education that medical students receive continues to be inadequate.
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Patient-care responsibilities stimulate trainee learning but training may compromise patient safety. The authors investigated factors guiding clinical supervisors' decisions to trust residents with critical patient-care tasks. ⋯ Residents' and attendings' opinions and impressions differ regarding what is expected from residents, what residents actually do, and what residents think they can do safely. The authors list factors affecting why and when supervisors trust residents to proceed without supervision. Future studies should address drivers behind entrustment decisions, correlations with patient outcomes, and tools that enable faculty to justify their entrustment decisions.
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To document fatigue in New Zealand junior doctors in hospital-based clinical training positions and identify work patterns associated with work/life balance difficulties. This workforce has had a duty limitation of 72 hours/week since 1985. The authors chose a gender-based analytical approach because of the increasing proportion of female medical graduates. ⋯ Limitation of duty hours alone is insufficient to manage fatigue risk and difficulties in maintaining work/life balance. These findings have implications for schedule design, professional training, and workforce planning.
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Projects--planned activities with specific goals and outcomes--have been used in faculty development programs to enhance participant learning and development. Projects have been employed most extensively in programs designed to develop faculty as educators. The authors review the literature and report the results of their 2008 study of the impact of projects within the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine Junior Faculty Development Program, a comprehensive faculty development program. ⋯ On the basis of these findings and a review of the literature, the authors conclude that projects are an essential element of a faculty development program. Projects provide a foundation for future academic success by enabling junior faculty to develop and hone knowledge and skills, identify a career focus and gain recognition within their community, generate scholarship, allocate time to academic work, and establish supportive relationships and collaborative networks. A list of best practices to successfully incorporate projects within faculty development programs is provided.
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To determine the extent of restrictions to medical student documentation in patients' records and the opinions of medical education leaders about such restrictions' impact on medical student education and patient care. ⋯ Although students' ability to enter notes in patients' records is believed to be important for student education, only about half of all hospitals allow all students' notes in the EMR. Policies regarding placement of student notes should be implemented to ensure students' competency in note writing and their value as members of the patient care team.