Advances in medical education and practice
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As the health care delivery landscape changes, medical schools must develop creative strategies for preparing future physicians to provide quality care in this new environment. Despite the growing prominence of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) as an effective model for health care delivery, few medical schools have integrated formal education on the PCMH into their curricula. Incorporating the PCMH model into medical school curricula is important to ensure that students have a comprehensive understanding of the different models of health care delivery and can operate effectively as physicians. ⋯ Students who participate in the WCCC gain hands-on experience in coordinating care, providing continuity of care, addressing issues of accessibility, and developing quality and safety metrics. The WCCC experience provides an integrative model that links service-learning with education on health care delivery in a primary care setting. The authors propose that adoption of this approach by other student-run clinics provides a substantial opportunity to improve medical education nationwide and better prepare future physicians to practice within this new model of health care delivery.
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Emergency Medicine (EM) residents take the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) in-training exam, and performance on this exam has been shown to correlate to performance on the ABEM qualifying exam. Though many residencies have in-training exam preparation activities, there is little data on the effectiveness of these efforts. This study aimed to elicit resident perspectives about the exam and exam preparation in order to generate hypotheses and better inform future preparation efforts. ⋯ Residents value the in-training exam as a marker of their academic progress and for their ability to gain familiarity with the qualifying exam. They prefer question-based preparation over text-based learning, as long as there is a detailed explanation of each answer. Educators creating structured in-training review may want to focus on question-based material with detailed explanations.
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Technological advances have dramatically changed medical education, particularly in the era of work-hour restrictions, which increasingly highlights a need for novel methods to teach surgical skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of a novel, computer-based, interactive, cognitive simulator for training surgeons to perform pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND). ⋯ We describe an interactive, computer-based simulator designed to assist in mastery of the cognitive steps of an open surgical procedure. This platform is intuitive and flexible, and could be applied to any stepwise medical procedure. Overall, experts outperformed novices in their performance on the trainer. Experts agreed that the content was acceptable, accurate, and representative.
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A national online survey was conducted to evaluate pediatric subspecialty fellow satisfaction regarding continuity clinic experience. ⋯ Fellow-run continuity clinics provide fellows with a greater sense of satisfaction and independence in management plans.
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The effect of peer-led training in basic life support (BLS) in the education of medical students has not been assessed. ⋯ Peer-led training in BLS by medical students is feasible and as effective as health professional-led training.