Lead Author: Caroline R. Paul, MD
Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, University of California, Riverside

“Health disparities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, all other genders, sexes, and sexualities (LGBTQIA+) population are striking. Yet, deliberate efforts to integrate sexual orientation and gender identity in pediatric education settings remain lacking. The type of formal training that pediatric educators currently have for the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity is unclear and limited, which led to the development and implementation of this curriculum.”

Lead Author: April R. Christensen, MD, MS
Submitted by: Mekail Ebbert, NYIT-COM @ Arkansas State University

With patient communication being a crucial skill for medical professionals, ongoing focus on the design and implementation of meaningful and well-written SP communication cases is imperative to healthcare education. Surveyed educators in this study reported a struggle to write communication cases with a lack of clear guidelines, yet a reported 90% interested in learning more. See how the creation and piloting of a “...workbook that guides SP case development, paired with an in-person case-writing session to teach medical educators a skill vital to conducting effective communication skills education... significantly increased the quality of SP cases, with high reported educator confidence and satisfaction.”

Authors: Shanna Barton, Aaron Calhoun, Carrie Bohnert, et al.
Submitted by: Janice Radway, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Despite the well-known individual and societal benefits of childhood immunization programs and the demonstrated safety of vaccines, many parents are hesitant to have their children vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy is more than a simple delay or refusal of vaccination. Rather, it can be characterized as a state of mind regarding immunization marked by uncertainty, indecision, conflict, or opposition, and it is best understood as a complex phenomenon with deep sociocultural and psychological roots. The authors developed a laboratory in which communication could be studied in a codified and controlled environment, using standardized patients portraying vaccine-hesitant parents, video-recording, assessment by blinded raters, and a pseudorandomized assignment of pediatric residents to AIMS or standard of care training.

Lead author: Jacqueline Ward-Gaines, MD
Submitted by: Erin Walsh, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

To address the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training in residency programs the authors created a simulation exercise for medicine residents with the objective to increase cultural and structural awareness. The simulation included groups of residents rotating through eight scenarios that were each focused on a cultural competency crucial to DEI training. Standardized patients gave feedback to the residents after each case and the residents debriefed with simulation directors. Preliminary data indicates that mass simulation can be an effective teaching method for residents learning about diversity, health equity, inclusivity, and cultural humility.

Authors: Anish K. Agarwal, David A. Asch, Jeffrey Millstein
Submitted by: Janice Radway, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

A passenger is pinged moments after exiting their rideshare vehicle with a request to “rate your driver” using a simple 5-star rating. A few extra typed comments offer detail and context — completed in just moments. The same person, now exiting a doctor's appointment, receives no such alert. Instead, weeks later, they receive a mailed survey consisting of 30, or more, questions spanning a range of content: getting an appointment, interactions with the reception staff, communication by the clinician, and the cleanliness of facilities. It's not just that the survey relies on an ability to recall and report on these long-ago interactions and how they felt—it’s likely the response is the only item that person will physically mail in weeks, if in the end it is mailed at all. In an increasingly digital world where real-time ratings and just-in-time feedback have become routine across a variety of industries, how can healthcare adapt and evolve?

By: Anthony E. Tuggle, NFK National Board Chair
Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, University of California Riverside

After a recent discussion with faculty about the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), I received the latest monthly newsletter from the US National Kidney Foundation. In the newsletter, there was a piece highlighting a joint task force that was formed by the NKF and ASN in 2020 to reassess the inclusion of race in the diagnosis of kidney disease. “Both organizations have repeatedly asserted that race, is a social, not a biological, construct.”

Authors: Janae K. Heath, C. Jessica Dine; Denise LaMarra; Serena Cardillo
Submitted by: Janice Radway, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

This retrospective study (2012-2018) examined the impact of gender and race on SP assessments of internal medicine (IM) residents' communication skills during the postgraduate year (PGY) 1. Until now, the impact of SP and resident demographics on the standardized communication ratings in residents had not been evaluated. The data demonstrate an association of resident gender on ratings in standardized communication exercises, across multiple communication skills. Understanding the impact of implicit biases on these assessments is critical.

By: Nick Neel, John-Michael Maury, Karen M. Heskett, Alana Iglewicz & Lina Lander
Submitted by: John-Michael Maury, UC-San Diego – School of Medicine

“Medical students experience rising rates of burnout throughout their training. Efforts have been made to not only mitigate its negative effects but also prevent its development. Medical improv takes the basic ideas of improvisational theatre and applies them to clinical situations. Given improv’s focus on self-awareness and reflection, in addition to its spontaneous nature, we hypothesized it had the potential to serve as a creative outlet, a way to prevent and/or mitigate the negative effects of stress, burnout, and fatigue, and provide a learning environment to develop skills necessary to succeed as a physician. University of California (UC) San Diego School of Medicine developed a medical improv elective for pre-clinical students and assessed its effects on student development and wellbeing. Students enrolled in the elective between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 at UC San Diego School of Medicine were surveyed pre-and post-course completion using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Students noted significant improvement in domains related to proactivity in their professional career, wellbeing, engagement with their studies, and communication after completion of the medical improv elective. We describe a pilot-study demonstrating the positive effects of improv on medical student wellbeing and professional development, laying the groundwork for both future study of improv on student wellness and its implementation in the pre-clinical curriculum.”

By Deborah Davidson, SP for Howard University, Georgetown University and George Washington University

Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, NBOME

This SP wrote a poem about her SP experience and transition during COVID. It begins, “To be an SP is a challenging role. We show syndromes and symptoms in body and soul. We try to recall every smile, word, and action. So our feedback’s reflective of each interaction…

Lead Author: Dara VF. Albert

Submitted by: Todd Lash, The Ohio State University

We developed nine standardized scenarios that highlighted communication challenges commonly encountered in child neurology. Child neurology trainees participated in three OSCE events with three scenarios each over three academic years. Standardized patients (SPs) portrayed patients and/or their parents. Each trainee-SP encounter was evaluated by an observing faculty member using a modified Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Form, the SP who provided direct feedback, and by the participating trainee.

By: Timothy M. Smith

Submitted by: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego

Some of the most adverse patient outcomes are caused by poor communication, so medical schools are adopting improv—improvisational theater training—to help students live more in the moment and better empathize with patients. A study published prior to the pandemic found that students used the skills they learned from it, but the gravity of COVID-19 now supplies the ultimate proving ground.

Lead author: Daniela Keren

Submitted by: Kathy Herzberger, Loma Linda School of Medicine

Social studying and learning (SSL), according to the authors is any independent, elective, self-directed and self-organized approach to learning. The article explores what kind of SSL second year medical students developed, their viewpoints regarding the pros and cons, and their perceptions on how it affected their overall learning. How Covid has influenced SSL at this school would make for an interesting follow-up study.

By: David Weiss

Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, NBOME

David Weiss is a Standardized Patient at Northwestern University and Rush University in Chicago, IL. David created a beautiful (and brief) sound story – listen to Corona Thoughts.

By: Eric Widera and Alex Smith

Submitted by: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

The Emergency Department (ED) is a hard place to have serious illness discussions, whether it be goals of care or code status discussions, or whether or not to consider intubation for a seriously ill patient. Emergency physicians often don't have the time for in-depth discussions, nor have been trained on how to do so. There often is limited information about the patient, their functional status, or their prognosis. These are some of the most challenging and some of the most important conversations in medicine, as 75% of older adults visit the ED during the last 6 months of life (data thanks to this Alex Smith publication in Health Affairs!) So how do we have these urgent conversations in a time of crisis to ensure that patients receive care that aligns with their goals? We have Naomi George, researcher and ED physician extraordinaire from the University of New Mexico, and Kai Romero from UCSF and Hospice by the Bay join our podcast to discuss.

Source: Cumberland Times-News

Submitted by: Todd Lash, The Ohio State University

Across the nation, many individuals who identify as transgender or gender diverse avoid accessing health care, even basic primary care, because of fear of discrimination or mistreatment — but WVU Medicine is implementing a number of strategies to improve care for that patient population.

Published by: Academic Medicine

Submitted by: Kerensa Peterson, NBOME

Academic Medicine has released a collection of articles that address race and racism in Medical Education.  The collection is geared toward a variety audiences within the Medical Education Community from medical students to simulation educators to faculty physicians to program directors.

The Social Construction of Race and its Impact on Medicine and Biomedical Research by John Chenault, PhD

By Dan Brown, Emory University

As mentioned in my recap of the opening plenary from the 2020 ASPE virtual conference, Dr. Chenault had to rush through the end of his plenary speech “Medicine and the Black Body,” and attendees were hungry for more, so as we’d hoped, he was invited to do a webinar. The webinar took place on Oct. 30, 2020, and the full webinar is available at the ASPE site. The discussion centered on three questions: What is race? What does medicine and biomedical research tell us about race? How useful are racial categories in biomedical research and practice?

Submitted By: Todd Lash

Full Center Name: Clinical Skills Education and Assessment Center

By: Jamie Bartosch

Submitted by: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego

While describing a simple exercise known as One-Word-Story, Jamie Bartosch writes “It’s a fun activity, but it serves an important purpose for these future doctors. It forces them to listen. This exercise, like the many others they engage in, makes them realize they don’t know where the story is going to go, so they must pay attention to verbal and non-verbal cues.” Skills like these are vital to successful patient care in medicine. While improv can provide some extra laughs, it ultimately “has nothing to with comedy” as University of Chicago Medicine pediatrician Nikki Orlov, MD states. “It’s all about improving advanced communication skills.”

Lead author: Young Soon Park

Submitted by: Kathy Herzberger, Loma Linda University

Establishing major competencies and training for clinical performance in medical education has been prevalent in Korea for only the last 15 years. This is due to the clinical skills test that was added to the paper-based Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE) in 2009. This crucial change in the KMLE has strengthened clinical performance in Korean medical schools. This interesting study emphasizes how evaluator factors as well as the type of scale utilized can influence physician-patient interaction scores.