Education

21 Jun

Posted at 19:46h in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Education, PLoS, Sleep Disorders
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Dorothee Fischer Department of Environmental Health Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety Hopkinton, Massachusetts, MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Chronotypes are a result of how the circadian clock embeds itself into the 24h light-dark cycle, producing earlier and later individuals ("larks and owls") with regards to rhythms in physiology, cognition and behavior, including sleep. It can be beneficial for health and safety to sync forced wake times (work, school) with individual chronotypes, thereby reducing the misalignment between sleep, circadian rhythms and external demands. To better inform potential interventions such as tailored work schedules, more information is needed about the prevalence of different chronotypes and how chronotype differs by age and sex. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large-scale and nationally representative study of chronotypes in the US.

14 Jun

Posted at 12:50h in Author Interviews, Education, Heart Disease, JAMA, Social Issues
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_35213" align="alignleft" width="133"]Yasuhiko Kubota, MD, MPH Visiting Scholar Division of Epidemiology and Community Health School of Public Health University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN Dr. Kubota[/caption] Yasuhiko Kubota, MD, MPH Visiting Scholar Division of Epidemiology and Community Health School of Public Health University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Educational inequality is one of the most important socioeconomic factors contributing to cardiovascular disease. Since education is usually completed by young adulthood, educational inequality may affect risk of cardiovascular disease early in the life course. We thought it would be useful to calculate the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease according to educational levels in order to increase public awareness of the importance of education. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the association of educational attainment with cardiovascular disease risk by estimating the lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease using a US. biracial cohort. Furthermore, we also assessed how other important socioeconomic factors were related to the association of educational attainment with lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease.

27 May

Posted at 19:40h in Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson Department of Psychology Norwegian University of Science and Technology MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are around 23 baby-swimming instructors in Iceland who are offering baby swimming-courses. However, Snorris way to do this is unice after my knowledge. He has been doing baby swimming from 1990 - and has had around 7.000.- babies He heard about this from Norway and discovered that very young babies can stand in this way. He discovered this through practical experience. It works like this:  When holding children in the water - He put his hand under the feet of the children - and lift little bit under i.e gives some pressure (tactile stimuli) the children are gradually able to stand in the feet - so stimuli and experience is important. When they are able to stand once they are able to stand again. How long time it takes for each baby to be able to stand varies a lot - as in our study - the youngest was 3.6 months old. One of the participants was standing in 15 sec in the hands of Snorri in the first week of baby swimming course. I did see babies stand first soon after Snorri started baby swimming instruction around 1990-1991. I was very surprised - and was thinking how is it possible? This is not supported by the literature. My colleagues an I thought about this as a window to study development of balance and coordination in infants. The issue about reflexes versus voluntary movement through experience was central.

24 May

Posted at 17:56h in Author Interviews, Education
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_34843" align="alignleft" width="161"]Dr-Pallavi-Amitava-Banerjee.jpg Dr. Banerjee[/caption] Pallavi Amitava Banerjee, PhD, FRS Lecturer, Graduate School of Education St Luke's Campus University of Exeter  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Several educational programs are being run to increase an awareness and understanding of STEM generally and more specifically to encourage young people to take up STEM learning trajectories. A longitudinal study was conducted where nearly 60,000 year 7 students were followed up through secondary school. Every year these students took part in several hands on activities, ambassador led events, school STEM trips throughout each academic year from the beginning of year 7 till they took GCSEs. Two main educational outcomes were considered – a) GCSE attainment in science and math and b) continued post-16 STEM participation (AS- and A-levels).

21 May

Posted at 16:31h in Author Interviews, Education, Psychological Science, Technology, University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_34746" align="alignleft" width="130"]Jason Han, MD Resident, Cardiothoracic Surgery Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Han[/caption] Jason Han, MD Resident, Cardiothoracic Surgery Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The inspiration for this study comes from my personal experience as a medical student on clinical rotations. Despite having been a victim of a medical error while growing up myself, I found it extraordinarily difficult to admit to even some of my smallest errors to my patients and team. Perplexed by the psychological barriers that impeded error disclosure, I began to discuss this subject with my advisory Dean and mentor, Dr. Neha Vapiwala. We wanted to analyze the topic more robustly through an academic lens and researched cognitive biases that must be overcome in order to facilitate effective disclosure of error, and began to think about potential ways to implement these strategies into the medical school curriculum with the help of the director of the Standardized Patient program at the Perelman School of Medicine, Denise LaMarra. We ultimately contend that any educational strategy that aims to truly address and improve error disclosure must target the cognitive roots of this paradigm. And at this point in time, simulation-based learning seems to be the most direct way to do so, but also remain hopeful that emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality may offer ways for students as well as staff to rehearse difficult patient encounters and improve.

01 May

Posted at 22:17h in ADHD, Author Interviews, Education, Gender Differences, JAMA, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_34264" align="alignleft" width="120"]Professor Jill Pell MD Director of Institute (Institute of Health and Wellbeing) Associate (School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing) University of Glasgow Prof. Pell[/caption] Professor Jill Pell MD Director of Institute (Institute of Health and Wellbeing) Associate (School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing) University of Glasgow MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The novelty of our study lies in its scale and scope. In terms of scope, it reported on six educational outcomes and three health outcomes in the same group of children. In terms of scale, it is the first study of a whole country to compare educational outcomes of children with treated ADHD with their unaffected peers and is more than 20 times larger than previous studies on similar educational outcomes. The only previous countrywide study on health outcomes, included only children with very severe ADHD who were in psychiatric hospitals.

01 May

Posted at 00:46h in Author Interviews, Education, Technology
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frederick W. Kron, MD President and Founder of Medical Cyberworlds, Inc Department of Family Medicine,Ann Arbor, MI and Michael D. Fetters, M.D., M.P.H., M.A. Professor of Family Medicine University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this technology and study? Dr. Kron: Communication is the most important component of the doctor-patient relationship. I know that through research, but also through personal experience. As a cancer survivor, I’ve seen first-hand the difference that outstanding communication skill can make to a vulnerable patient. At the beginning of the project, we asked medical educators about the challenges they had in assessing and training communication competency. They told us that technical skills are easy to teach and assess, but communication skills are mainly behavioral skills that involve verbal and nonverbal behaviors, facial expressions, and many other cues that pass between patient and provider. That’s hard to teach and assess. Activities like role play with standardized patients (SPs) have been widely used, but it’s impossible for SPs to accurately portray these behaviors, or for faculty to fully assess the nuanced behaviors of both learner and patient. Supporting this idea is a lack of evidence proving that SP encounters translate in behavioral changes or transfer into clinical settings. Developments in virtual reality provided us with a great opportunity for assessing and teaching of communication behaviors. Working with a national group of experts, we created computer-based Virtual Humans that interact with learners using the full range of behaviors you’d expect from two people talking together. They are so behaviorally realistic and compelling, that they trigger emotional responses in learners, and make learners want to learn so they can do their best. Dr. Fetters: Our team has particular interest in doctor-patient communication in the context of cancer. There are many critical aspects of cancer communication: breaking the bad news to the patient, negotiating sometimes conflicting family opinions about treatment, and communication among team members about the patient's care, just to name a few. We’ve begun building out those scenarios in the technological platform we developed, Mpathic-VR.

25 Apr

Posted at 22:18h in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Education, Nursing, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_34172" align="alignleft" width="155"]Deborah A. Raines PhD, EdS, RN, ANEF School of Nursing University at Buffalo Dr. Raines[/caption] Deborah A. Raines PhD, EdS, RN, ANEF School of Nursing University at Buffalo MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This research grew from my experience as a neonatal nurse. I have worked with many families preparing to take their baby home and have seen the anxiety they experience wondering if they will be able to take care of their baby’s medical needs at home. Parents are usually most anxious about emergency situations that may occur. Majority of these parents are able to state what they should do, but have never experienced the actual situation with their baby. This study was designed to see if a simulation experience would fill this gap in parents’ preparation for the discharge of their baby from the NICU. This study had parents participated in a customized simulation to have them experience the care needed by their baby at home following discharge from the NICU. The findings revealed that parents reported a nearly 30 percent increase in confidence in their abilities to care for their baby after participating in the simulation.

24 Apr

Posted at 19:02h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Haggi Mazeh, MD, FACS Endocrine and General Surgery Department of Surgery Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus Jerusalem, Israel 91240 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The level of operating room autonomy given to surgical residents varies greatly between different institutions and different countries. On one hand, providing residents the opportunity to operate alone augments their confidence and their sense of responsibility, possibly accelerating their learning process. On the other hand, it may be argued that the presence of a senior general surgeon in every operation is a safer approach. Before 2012, a large proportion of appendectomies at our institution were performed by surgical residents alone. After 2012, our institutional policy changed to require the presence of a senior general surgeon in every appendectomy case. This unique situation provided us the opportunity to compare the outcomes of appendectomies performed by residents alone to those performed in the presence of a senior general surgeon. Our study demonstrated no difference in the complication rates between the two groups of patients. However, surgeries performed in the presence of senior general surgeons were significantly shorter than those performed by residents.

06 Apr

Posted at 11:15h in Author Interviews, Education, Electronic Records, JAMA, Johns Hopkins
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33589" align="alignleft" width="125"]Ge Bai, PhD, CPA Assistant Professor The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Washington, DC 20036 Dr. Ge Bai[/caption] Ge Bai, PhD, CPA Assistant Professor The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Washington, DC 20036 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We examined the hospital data breaches between 2009 and 2016 and found that larger hospitals and hospitals that have a major teaching mission have a higher risk of data breaches.

24 Mar

Posted at 20:14h in Author Interviews, Education

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yeun Joon Kim | Ph.D. Student Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Joseph L. Rotman School of Management University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario Canada   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:   Managers in organizations tend to emphasize the importance of organizing and clustering information so that other employees can (1)...

22 Mar

Posted at 22:51h in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Education
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jiemin Ma PhD MHS Strategic Director, Cancer Interventions Surveillance American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30303 [caption id="attachment_33223" align="alignleft" width="153"]Jiemin Ma PhD MHS Strategic Director, Cancer Interventions Surveillance American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30303 Dr. Jiemin Ma[/caption] MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous studies have shown that educational disparities are smaller in the elderly than in working-aged Americans. The differences may partly be explained by the higher health insurance coverage among the elderly (near universal coverage through Medicare for adults aged 65), as well as some aging-related changes in lifestyle and social factors (e.g. retirement). Some of the previous studies were limited by the use of proxy-reported educational information, which tended to be inaccurate for the elderly. Our study used self-reported educational attainment to estimate relative differences in educational disparities in mortality rates between adults aged 50–64 and 66–79 years in a national representative cohort from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS). We found that educational disparities in all-cause mortality for ages 66–79 years were about 41% and 61% lower than those for ages 50–64 years in non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks, respectively. Diminished disparities in the elderly were also found for deaths from cardiovascular disease and cancer among non-Hispanic Americans.

20 Mar

Posted at 22:40h in Author Interviews, Education, Gender Differences
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_33163" align="alignleft" width="200"]Tasseli McKay, MPH Violence and Victimization Research Program Center for Justice, Safety and Resilience RTI International Tasseli McKay[/caption] Tasseli McKay, MPH Violence and Victimization Research Program Center for Justice, Safety and Resilience RTI International MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prompted by a mass murder of LGBTQ+ individuals in Orlando in 2016 and a range of pending legislation affecting LGBTQ+ communities, RTI researchers analyzed 20 years’ worth of published studies on violence and LGBTQ+ communities. The systematic review identified patterns of evidence across 102 peer-reviewed studies as well as a few unpublished analyses and non-peer-reviewed papers. With The Henne Group, RTI also carried out a series of focus-group discussions to elicit the perspectives of members of LGBTQ+ communities on the violence and victimization issues identified in the review. These were conducted with LGBTQ+ communities in San Francisco; New York City; Durham, North Carolina; and rural Wyoming.

16 Mar

Posted at 00:09h in Author Interviews, CDC, Dermatology, Education, Environmental Risks, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_32979" align="alignleft" width="133"]Sherry Everett Jones PhD, MPH, JD, FASHA Health Scientist, Division of Adolescent School Health Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Dr. Sherry Everett Jones[/caption] Sherry Everett Jones PhD, MPH, JD, FASHA Health Scientist, Division of Adolescent School Health Centers for Disease Control & Prevention MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Results from the School Health Policies and Practices Study found that in 2014, most schools lacked practices that could protect children and adolescents from sun exposure while at school. Positive attitudes and beliefs about sun safety behavior, which would make such behavior more likely, can be promoted and supported by school system policies and practices.

11 Mar

Posted at 19:52h in Author Interviews, Education, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_32834" align="alignleft" width="135"]Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, MD MPH Chief, Division of General Pediatrics Director, Pediatric Population Health Management Director, Raising Healthy Hearts Clinic Dr. Taveras[/caption] Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, MD MPH Chief, Division of General Pediatrics Director, Pediatric Population Health Management Director, Raising Healthy Hearts Clinic MassGeneral Hospital for Children MedicalResearch.com: What are the primary findings of this study and why are they important? Response: The primary findings of this study are that children who get an insufficient amount of sleep in their preschool and early school age years have a higher risk of poor neurobehavioral functioning as reported by their mothers and independently by their teachers at age 7. These behaviors included poorer executive function and more hyperactivity/inattention, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and peer relationship problems.

06 Mar

Posted at 21:04h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Yale
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_32681" align="alignleft" width="175"]Dowin Boatright, MD, MBA</strong> Department of Emergency Medicine Yale School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut Fellow, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program Veterans Affairs Scholar Dr. Dowin Boatright[/caption] Dowin Boatright, MD, MBA Department of Emergency Medicine Yale School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut Fellow, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program Veterans Affairs Scholar MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Studies have demonstrated racial and ethnic inequities in medicine, including disparities in the receipt of awards, research funding, and promotions. Yet few studies have examined the link between race and ethnicity and opportunities for medical school students. Our results show that black and Asian medical school students are less likely to be selected for membership in a prestigious medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), than white medical school students.

06 Mar

Posted at 18:58h in Author Interviews, Education, Gender Differences, JAMA, UCLA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie R. Boiko, MD, MS Resident Physician, PGY1 Department of Pediatrics University of California, San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Grand rounds is an over 100-year-old tradition in US medical school clinical departments of recurring, expert-delivered lectures to update physicians and physicians-in-training on recent advances in relevant medicine. We wanted to determine whether gender representation of speakers at grand rounds aligns with the gender distribution of people typically represented in grand rounds audiences -- faculty, residents, and medical students -- by clinical specialty according to national academic medical trainee and workforce statistics. We chose to focus on grand rounds speakers as visible representations of women in academic medicine. This is important because, despite women and men entering medicine at comparable rates, women are much more likely to depart academic medical careers. As current and recent medical students, we considered that consistent exposure to successful female role models in grand rounds speaking venues may positively reinforce women trainees’ desires to continue in academic medical careers. We found that the people at the podiums do not resemble the people in the audience. Only 26% of grand rounds speakers are women. Even accounting that some clinical specialties contain few women faculty and residents, grand rounds speakers in most specialties we studied were statistically less likely to be women as compared to faculty and residents. Across the specialties, grand rounds speakers are 44% less likely than medical students, 39% less likely than residents, and 21% less likely than faculty to be women.

23 Feb

Posted at 22:07h in Addiction, Alcohol, Author Interviews, Cannabis, Education, Pediatrics, Smoking
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. James Williams UCL Medical School UCL, London, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Despite a downward trend over the last decade in the usage of particular substances amongst adolescents in the UK, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis remain prevalent behaviours in this demographic. These risky health behaviours present a large problem in terms of public health due to the immediate and long-term health problems they cause, as well as negative non-health outcomes such as poor educational attainment and reduced employment. The role of academic ability in determining patterns of substance use is not clear and no study has evaluated academic ability at age 11 in relation to the onset and persistence of all three substances from early to late adolescence and into young adulthood. Our study sought to determine the association between academic ability and the onset and persistence of substance use in adolescence in a representative sample of English school pupils. This would answer for the first time whether ability was associated with ‘experimentation’ in early adolescence or if the association persists into late adolescence.

06 Feb

Posted at 16:10h in Author Interviews, BMJ, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Education, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31685" align="alignleft" width="180"]Yusuke Tsugawa, MD, MPH, PhD Research Associate at Department of Health Policy and Management Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa[/caption] Yusuke Tsugawa, MD, MPH, PhD Research Associate at Department of Health Policy and Management Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior evidence has been mixed as to whether or not patient outcomes differ between U.S. and foreign medical graduates. However, previous studies used small sample sizes or data from a small number of states. Therefore, it was largely unknown how international medical graduates perform compared with US medical graduates. To answer this question, we analyzed a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries admitted to hospitals with a medical condition in 2011-2014. Our sample included approximately 1.2 million hospitalizations treated by 40,000 physicians. After adjusting for severity of illness of patients and hospitals (we compared physicians within the same hospital), we found that patient treated by international medical graduates had lower mortality than patients cared for by US medical graduates (adjusted 30-day mortality rate 11.2% vs 11.6%, p<0.001). We observed no difference in readmissions, whereas costs of care was slightly higher for international medical graduates.

30 Jan

Posted at 22:47h in Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Education, Electronic Records
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dresse Nathalie Wenger Cheffe de clinique FMH médecine interne Département de Médecine Interne CHUV - Lausanne  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The structure of a residents’ working day dramatically changed during the last decades (limitation of working hours per week, wide implementation of electronic medical records (EMR), and growing volume of clinical data and administrative tasks), especially in internal medicine with increasing complexity of patients. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) have some positive effects but negative effects have been also described ie more time writing notes, more administrative works, and less time for communication between physicians and patients. Few time motion studies have been published about the resident's working day in Internal Medicine: the impact of the computer, and what really do the residents do during their work, especially the time spent with the patient versus the computer, as now the EMRs are widely implemented. Previous studies have been mostly performed in the US, so we decided to conduct one observational and objective study in Europe.

30 Jan

Posted at 01:46h in Author Interviews, Education, Neurological Disorders, Neurology, University of Pittsburgh
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31604" align="alignleft" width="142"]Neil A. Busis, M.D. University of Pittsburgh Physicians Department of Neurology Chief of Neurology, UPMC Shadyside Director of Community Neurology Dr. Neil A. Busis[/caption] Neil A. Busis, M.D. University of Pittsburgh Physicians Department of Neurology Chief of Neurology, UPMC Shadyside Director of Community Neurology MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous studies showed that neurologists have both one of the highest rates of burnout and the lowest rates of satisfaction with work-life balance, compared to other physicians. The mission of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is to promote the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care and enhance member career satisfaction. This is why AAN President Dr. Terrence Cascino initiated this research, to better define the issue. Our findings can guide current and future programs to prevent and mitigate neurologist burnout, promote neurologist career satisfaction and well-being, and direct efforts to advocate on behalf of neurologists and their patients.

20 Jan

Posted at 16:44h in Author Interviews, Education, PNAS
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31383" align="alignleft" width="200"]Janet Shibley Hyde Evjue-Bascom Professor Helen Thompson Woolley Professor of Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies Director, Center for Research on Gender & Women University of Wisconsin Madison, WI Dr. Janet Shibley Hyde[/caption] Janet Shibley Hyde Evjue-Bascom Professor Helen Thompson Woolley Professor of Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies Director, Center for Research on Gender & Women University of Wisconsin Madison, WI MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The background is that, in the U.S. and many other Western nations, we don’t have enough people going into STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Innovations in STEM fields are enormously important in 21st century economies. So, we need to encourage more people to go into STEM fields. To do that, they have to major in a STEM field in college, and to do that, they need to prepare in high school.

12 Jan

Posted at 00:08h in Author Interviews, Education, Nature
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_31169" align="alignleft" width="133"]Prof. Shulamit (Shu) Kahn Department of Markets, Public Policy and Law Questrom School of Business Boston University Prof. Shulamit Kahn[/caption] Prof. Shulamit (Shu) Kahn Department of Markets, Public Policy and Law Questrom School of Business Boston University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We started this research because Donna Ginther (Kansas) and I had an NIH R01 to study gender differences in biomedical careers. We quickly discovered that a major problem for women was the fact that between many years of graduate study and long postdocs, their biological clocks had almost expired before they would have a decent amount of time in their lives to think about having children.

17 Dec

Posted at 00:05h in Author Interviews, Education
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30588" align="alignleft" width="162"]Pallavi Amitava Banerjee, PhD Lecturer, Graduate School of Education University of Exeter Dr. Banerjee[/caption] Pallavi Amitava Banerjee, PhD Lecturer, Graduate School of Education University of Exeter, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Science technology engineering mathematics skills are highly valued in the UK as in most other developed countries of the world. Concerns were raised in the past by the Royal Society, Science Council and other learned societies and the UK Parliament about the insufficient number of young people wanting to take up these subjects beyond school. What then followed were a range of STEM enrichment and enhancement activities delivered at the local and national level. These activities were run to help young people appreciate science and math better to break the myth that these are only for the brainy. Students from secondary schools did hands-on practical activities, had STEM ambassador visits and several other events organized.

15 Dec

Posted at 12:54h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Surgical Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30490" align="alignleft" width="150"]Mohammed Al-Omran, MD, MSc, FRCSC Head, Division of Vascular Surgery St. Michael’s Hospital Professor, Department of Surgery University of Toronto Dr. Mohammed Al-Omran[/caption] Mohammed Al-Omran, MD, MSc, FRCSC Head, Division of Vascular Surgery St. Michael’s Hospital Professor, Department of Surgery University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: General surgery residency is among the most demanding clinical training programs in medicine. Several studies have suggested surgical residents have a relatively high attrition rate; however, no study has systematically reviewed the overall prevalence and causes of attrition among general surgery residents. We included over 20 studies representing 19,821 general surgery residents in our review. Most studies were from the US. We found the pooled estimate of attrition prevalence among general surgery residents was 18%. Female residents were more likely to leave than male (25% versus 15%), and residents were most likely to leave after their first training year (48%). Departing residents most commonly switched to another medical specialty (such as anaesthesia, plastic surgery, radiology or family medicine) or relocated to another general surgery program. The most common causes of attrition were uncontrollable lifestyle (range of 18% to 88%) and transferring to another specialty (range of 18% to 39%).

15 Dec

Posted at 12:18h in Author Interviews, Dermatology, Education, JAMA, Melanoma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30478" align="alignleft" width="128"]June K. Robinson, MD Research Professor of Dermatology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Dermatology Chicago, IL 60611 Dr. June Robinson[/caption] June K. Robinson, MD Research Professor of Dermatology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Dermatology Chicago, IL 60611 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This is a secondary finding from a randomized controlled trial of a structured skills training program for melanoma patients and their skin check partners. The pairs learned and performed skin self-examination for the early detection of melanoma. They continued to perform skin checks for 2 years and trained pairs identified more early melanoma (melanoma in situ and Stage 1A melanoma) than controls.

12 Dec

Posted at 21:16h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety, UCSF
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30135" align="alignleft" width="225"]Charlie M. Wray, DO, MS Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine University of California, San Francisco | Department of Medicine San Francisco VA Medical Center Dr. Charlie Wray[/caption] Charlie M. Wray, DO, MS Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine San Francisco VA Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since the establishment of residency duty hour regulations in 2010, which subsequently lead to increased discontinuity of inpatient care and more resident shift work, educators and researchers have attempted to establish which shift handoff technique(s) or strategies work best. National organizations, such as the ACGME, AHRQ, and the Joint Commission have made specific recommendations that are considered "best practice". In our study, using an annual national survey given to Internal Medicine Program Directors, we examined the degree of implementation of these recommended handoff strategies and the proportion of Program Director satisfaction with each of the respective strategies.

09 Dec

Posted at 14:56h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30402" align="alignleft" width="133"]Joshua L Denson MD Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine University of Colorado School of Medicine Dr. Joshua Denson[/caption] Joshua L Denson MD Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine University of Colorado School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Miscommunication during physician transition in care has been associated with adverse patient events and medical errors; however, an understudied topic is the transition in care that occurs each month when resident physicians switch clinical rotations, also called an end-of-rotation transition. During this handoff, hospitalized patients (up to 10-20) are handed over to an oncoming physician who has never met the patients. We sought to investigate if this type of transition was associated with worse patient outcomes, specifically mortality. On July 1, 2011, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty-hour regulations limited first-year resident physicians (interns) to 16 continuous hours of work. Although these rules do not appear to have affected overall patient safety outcomes, they have been associated with an increase in shift-to-shift handoffs among training physicians. Given this, we wanted to study how they might impact patient outcomes surrounding end-of-rotation transitions in care.

08 Dec

Posted at 16:19h in ADHD, Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, UCSF

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:  

Lisa Meeks , PhD Director, Medical Student Disability UCSF Medical Center

[caption id="attachment_30304" align="alignnone" width="171"]Lisa Meeks , PhD Director, Medical Student Disability UCSF Medical Center Dr. Lisa Meeks[/caption]

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This was the first study to include students with AD/HD, learning, psychological, and chronic health conditions. This study found that the prevalence of students with disabilities is up to four times higher than previous studies indicated.

AD/HD, learning, and psychological disabilities were the most prevalent, suggesting that most students with disabilities in medicine have non-apparent disabilities. Within MD granting programs, the number of students self-reporting disability varied between 0% and 12%. Explanations for the high variability between programs are unknown, however, anecdotal reports suggest the degree to which programs have dedicated resources and inclusive practices for students with disabilities influence student disclosure.

06 Dec

Posted at 19:54h in Author Interviews, Education, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_30238" align="alignleft" width="126"]Karen E. Hauer, MD, PhD Associate Dean, Competency Assessment and Professional Standards Professor of Medicine, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143 Dr. Karen Hauer[/caption] Karen E. Hauer, MD, PhD Associate Dean, Competency Assessment and Professional Standards Professor of Medicine, UCSF San Francisco, CA  94143 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As part of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)’s Next Accreditation System, residency programs are now required to rate residents using the Milestones. Evidence of validity of Milestone ratings is needed to show whether this rating system measures meaningful aspects of residents’ practice. In the field of internal medicine, we compared ratings of residents using the old evaluation form, the pre-2015 Resident Annual Evaluation Summary (RAES), which has a non-developmental rating scale that rates residents from unsatisfactory to superior on a 9-point scale, with developmental Milestone ratings. This was a cross-sectional study of all United States internal medicine residency programs in 2013-14, including 21,284 internal medicine residents. Milestone ratings are submitted by residency program directors working with Clinical Competency Committees. We correlated RAES and Milestone ratings by training year; correlated ratings of Medical Knowledge milestones using the two systems with American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) certification examination scores; and examined ratings of unprofessional behavior using the two systems.