While trauma’s impact on health and well-being is increasingly emphasized in outpatient and pediatric settings, less is known about how a patient’s history of trauma, especially healthcare-related trauma (“medical trauma”), may shape experiences of safety, trust, and distress on a general internal medicine inpatient service. We sought to understand how recently hospitalized adults experience safety, trust, and distress during hospitalization, and how resident physicians and interdisciplinary care team members perceive barriers to delivering trauma-informed care. We conducted a qualitative study among recently hospitalized patients, internal medicine residents, and interdisciplinary care team members. Patients completed semi-structured interviews that explored recent hospitalization experiences and perceptions of distress, safety, and trust. Resident physician and interdisciplinary care team members participated in focus groups to explore experiences caring for patients with trauma histories. Patients were screened for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) using the Philadelphia ACEs survey. Transcripts were analyzed using a quasi-inductive descriptive approach. A total of 10 patients with high ACEs, 10 internal medicine residents, and 10 interdisciplinary care team members (5 nurses, 4 social workers, and 1 chaplain) participated. Patients highlighted medical trauma (healthcare-related experiences that resulted in prolonged emotional or psychological distress) as a relevant traumatic experience while seeking medical care. Three themes emerged describing how hospitalization could re-activate or compound existing medical trauma: (1) Hospital treatments sometimes retraumatized patients, especially those with prior medical trauma; (2) perceived bias influenced encounters for patients and challenged clinicians’ responses; and (3) missed inquiry about prior medical trauma and clinicians’ uncertainty about broaching it limited emotionally safe communication. Medical trauma is an important and impactful phenomenon, often reinforced through routine care. Embedding trauma-informed strategies, such as screening for prior trauma, reviewing documentation for bias, and trauma-informed communication, may help reduce medical trauma and strengthen trust in inpatient general medicine care.

Background Oncologic emergencies (OEs) are life-threatening complications of malignancy that can present in multiple clinical settings and necessitate early recognition and intervention. Most medical resident training is experiential, but variability in exposure can yield gaps in medical knowledge that could result in delayed patient care. Remote curricula are commonly used to fill these gaps and reduce classroom burden on trainees. Given their time-sensitive nature, OEs are a prime target to augment clinical experience with a supplementary curriculum to prepare residents for new scenarios. This study evaluates whether an original, remote curriculum improves internal medicine resident knowledge of and confidence in recognition and management of OEs. Methods With expert faculty input, we developed a remote curriculum for first-year internal medicine residents at a tertiary care academic medical center. The curriculum includes 6 OEs: tumor lysis syndrome (TLS), hypercalcemia (hyperCa), neutropenic fever (NF), hyperviscosity syndrome and leukostasis (HVS/LS), superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome, and malignant spinal cord compression (CC). OEs were selected based upon prominence in the literature, morbidity and mortality, need for urgent management, and association with malignancy. We created an online lesson in Qualtrics for each OE. Each lesson was designed to be completed in 15 minutes via computer or smartphone. Lessons were delivered by email every 10 days, with reminders every 5 days. Learning objectives for each OE lesson were to 1) identify concerning signs and symptoms, 2) order appropriate workup, and 3) provide prompt management in the appropriate clinical setting. Lessons included clinical questions and evidence-based information delivery contextualized by case presentations. We evaluated the curriculum's efficacy with a randomized, controlled study. First-year residents were randomly assigned to two groups (“Intern A” and “Intern B”). We built assessments of knowledge and confidence with expert faculty input. Confidence in identifying and managing each OE was assessed by Likert scale (“1 - completely confident,” “5 - not at all confident”). Knowledge was evaluated with 3 multiple choice questions per OE, for a maximum knowledge score of 18. After both groups completed the pre-test, Intern A received the curriculum. After curriculum completion, both groups completed the post-test. All interns were required to complete the curriculum, but research participation was optional. Residents consented to participation prior to each test administration. All lessons and research activities were anonymous. Analysis was completed in GraphPad Prism 9 using the unpaired t-test or one-way ANOVA with post-hoc testing, as appropriate. Results Thirty-nine internal medicine residents completed the curriculum. Twenty were assigned to Intern A and 19 to Intern B. Intern A had 10 pre-test respondents (50.0%) with a mean knowledge score of 9.13 (50.7% correct), and Intern B had 13 pre-test respondents (68.4%) with a mean knowledge score of 9.35 (51.9% correct). There were no differences by OE-specific score. Baseline confidence was similar between groups (Table 1). Comparison of mean knowledge scores is shown in Figure 1. Intern A and B had 9 (45.0%) and 10 (52.6%) post-test respondents, respectively. Both Intern A (mean 14.2; 95% CI, 12.8 to 15.7; 78.9% correct) and Intern B (mean 12.2; 95% CI, 10.5 to 13.9; 67.8% correct) significantly improved their knowledge scores compared to prior, though Intern A had a more marked effect size (Intern A mean difference 5.02; 95% CI, 2.84 to 7.21; P<0.0001; Intern B mean difference 2.66; 95% CI, 0.660 to 4.66; P=0.006). Intern A confidence significantly improved from the pre-test in both the identification and management of HVS/LS and SVC syndrome. Intern A confidence was significantly better than Intern B confidence in management of SVC syndrome at the time of the post-test (Table 1). Conclusions Baseline intern OE knowledge scores were sub-optimal. Intern participation in a remote OE curriculum improved knowledge acquisition to a greater degree than experiential learning alone. Confidence in identification and management of OEs with low pre-existing confidence, such as HVS/LS and SVC syndrome, improved in the remote curriculum. Further study should evaluate knowledge retention over time, resident clinical performance, and patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND:"One-minute preceptor" (OMP) is a well-established educational technique; however, primary literature on OMP lacks a tool to assess behavioral change after delivery of curricula.Primary aim of this pilot study was to design a checklist for direct observation of teachers using OMP on general medicine rounds and obtain inter-rater reliability evidence for the checklist.METHODS:This study pilots an internally designed 6-item checklist to assess change in directly observed behavior. We describe the process of developing the checklist and training the observers. We calculated a percent agreement and Cohen's kappa to assess inter-rater reliability.RESULTS:Raters had a high percent agreement ranging from 0.8 to 0.9 for each step of OMP. Cohen's kappa ranged from 0.49 to 0.77 for the five OMP steps. The highest kappa obtained was for getting a commitment (κ = 0.77) step, whereas the lowest agreement was for correcting mistakes (κ = 0.49).CONCLUSION:We showed a percent agreement ≥0.8 and moderate agreement based on Cohen's kappa with most steps of OMP on our checklist. A reliable OMP checklist is an important step in further improving the assessment and feedback of resident teaching skills on general medicine wards.

Career selection in medicine is a complex and underexplored process. Most medical career studies performed in the U.S. focused on the effect of demographic variables and medical education debt on career choice. Considering ongoing U.S. physician workforce shortages and the trilateral adaptive model of career decision making, a robust assessment of professional attitudes and work-life preferences is necessary. The objective of this study was to explore and define the dominant viewpoints related to career choice selection in a cohort of U.S. IM residents. We administered an electronic Q-sort in which 218 IM residents sorted 50 statements reflecting the spectrum of opinions that influence postgraduate career choice decisions. Participants provided comments that explained the reasoning behind their individual responses. In the final year of residency training, we ascertained participating residents' chosen career. Factor analysis grouped similar sorts and revealed four distinct viewpoints. We characterized the viewpoints as "Fellowship-Bound-Academic," "Altruistic-Longitudinal-Generalist," "Inpatient-Burnout-Aware," and "Lifestyle-Focused-Consultant." There is concordance between residents who loaded significantly onto a viewpoint and their ultimate career choice. Four dominant career choice viewpoints were found among contemporary U.S. IM residents. These viewpoints reflect the intersection of competing priorities, personal interests, professional identity, socio-economic factors, and work/life satisfaction. Better appreciation of determinants of IM residents' career choices may help address workforce shortages and enhance professional satisfaction.

Importance Laser-assisted drug delivery (LADD) is used for various medical and cosmetic applications. However, there is insufficient evidence-based guidance to assist clinicians performing LADD. Objective To develop recommendations for the safe and effective use of LADD. Evidence Review A systematic literature review of Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, and MEDLINE was conducted in December 2019 to identify publications reporting research on LADD. A multidisciplinary panel was convened to draft recommendations informed by the systematic review; they were refined through 2 rounds of Delphi survey, 2 consensus meetings, and iterative review by all panelists until unanimous consensus was achieved. Findings Of the 48 published studies of ablative fractional LADD that met inclusion criteria, 4 were cosmetic studies; 21, oncologic; and 23, medical (not cosmetic/oncologic), and 6 publications of nonablative fractional LADD were included at the request of the expert panel, producing a total of 54 studies. Thirty-four studies (63.0%) were deemed to have low risk of bias, 17 studies (31.5%) had moderate risk, and 3 (5.5%) had serious risk. The key findings that informed the guidelines developed by the expert panel were as follows: LADD is safe in adults and adolescents (≥12 years) with all Fitzpatrick skin types and in patients with immunosuppression; it is an effective treatment for actinic keratosis, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in situ, actinic cheilitis, hypertrophic scars, and keloids; it is useful for epidermal and dermal analgesia; drug delivery may be increased through the application of heat, pressure, or occlusion, or by using an aqueous drug solution; laser settings should be selected to ensure that channel diameter is greater than the delivered molecule; antibiotic prophylaxis is not recommended, except with impaired wound healing; antiviral prophylaxis is recommended when treating the face and genitalia; and antifungal prophylaxis is not recommended. The guideline's 15 recommendations address 5 areas of LADD use: (I) indications and contraindications; (II) parameters to report; (III) optimization of drug delivery; (IV) safety considerations; and (V) prophylaxis for bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. Conclusions and Relevance This systematic review and Delphi consensus approach culminated in an evidence-based clinical practice guideline for safe and effective use of LADD in a variety of applications. Future research will further improve our understanding of this novel treatment technique.

BACKGROUND:Residency programs apply varying criteria to the resident selection process. However, it is unclear which applicant characteristics reflect preparedness for residency.OBJECTIVE:We determined the applicant characteristics associated with first-year performance in internal medicine residency as assessed by performance on Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones.METHODS:We examined the association between applicant characteristics and performance on ACGME Milestones during intern year for individuals entering Northwestern University's internal medicine residency between 2013 and 2018. We used bivariate analysis and a multivariable linear regression model to determine the association between individual factors and Milestone performance.RESULTS:Of 203 eligible residents, 198 (98%) were included in the final sample. One hundred fourteen residents (58%) were female, and 116 residents (59%) were White. Mean Step 1 and Step 2 CK scores were 245.5 (SD 12.0) and 258 (SD 10.8) respectively. Step 1 scores, Alpha Omega Alpha membership, medicine clerkship grades, and interview scores were not associated with Milestone performance in the bivariate analysis and were not included in the multivariable model. In the multivariable model, overall clerkship grades, ranking of the medical school, and year entering residency were significantly associated with Milestone performance (P ≤ .04).CONCLUSIONS:Most traditional metrics used in residency selection were not associated with early performance on ACGME Milestones during internal medicine residency.

Background. There is a clear mandate for resident training in social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity stemming from patients' needs and program accreditation requirements. Objective. To explore residents' perspectives on the impact of an SDOH curriculum. Methods. In 2017, we developed an SDOH curriculum for 38 PGY-2 Internal medicine residents at our institution. Half of the residents completed semi-structured interviews and online reflections. We conducted a thematic analysis of the transcripts to identify common themes in their perspectives on the curriculum and its impact. Results. Residents valued the curriculum and were motivated to change their practice. Participants cited lack of time and resources as important barriers limiting advocacy to the patient level. Conclusions. Graduate medical education training in SDOH is critical. By addressing the learner-defined barriers to advocacy and incorporating curricular elements learners have identified, residency programs can structure their SDOH curriculum to optimize the impact for patients and trainees.

Teamwork and leadership skill training are critically important aspects of medical education. This chapter describes the evolution of education curricula for health professions team-based skill development leading to the potential application of simulation-based (SB) mastery learning. The chapter starts with our interview of Apollo 13 commander Captain James Lovell who sets the stage for mastery learning of team skills by sharing the rigorous training his team received for space flight nearly 50 years ago. The chapter then defines effective healthcare teams, briefly speaks to the science of team science, lists healthcare teams in a variety of professions, and identifies evidence-based team training principles. The next chapter section covers team training for effective healthcare moving from principles to strategies, team training in operation, and the lifespan of team training. The chapter finishes with concluding remarks.

Background Up to 60% of preventable mortality is attributable to social determinants of health (SDOH), yet training on SDOH competencies is not widely implemented in residency. The objective of this study was to assess internal and family medicine residents’ competence at identifying and addressing SDOH. Methods Residents’ perceived competence at identifying, discussing, and addressing SDOH in outpatient settings was assessed using a single questionnaire administered in March 2017. In this cross-sectional analysis, bivariate associations of resident characteristics with the following outcomes were examined: identifying, discussing, and addressing patients’ challenges related to SDOH through referrals. Results The survey was completed by 129 (84%) residents. Twenty residents (16%) reported an annual income of less than $50,000 during childhood. Overall, 108 residents (84%) reported previous SDOH training. Two-thirds had outpatient practices in Veterans Affairs or safety-net clinics. Thirty-nine (30%) intended to pursue a career in primary care. The following numbers of residents reported high levels of competence for performing these outcomes: identifying patients’ challenges related to SDOH: 37 (29%); discussing them with patients: 18 (14%); and addressing these challenges through referrals to internal and external resources: 13 (10%) and 11 (9%), respectively. Factors associated with higher competence included older age, lower childhood household income, prior education about SDOH, primary practice site and intention to practice primary care. Conclusions Most residents had previous SDOH training, yet only a small proportion of residents reported being highly competent at identifying or addressing SDOH. Providing opportunities for practical training may be a key component in preparing medical residents to identify and address SDOH effectively in outpatient practice.

BACKGROUND:Underrepresented minority (URM) trainees face unique challenges in academic medicine. Near-peer mentorship is an under-described method to support URM trainees.OBJECTIVE:We created and evaluated the Student to Resident Institutional Vehicle for Excellence (STRIVE) program in a large urban medical school and associated residency programs.METHODS:All URM residents were invited to participate in the STRIVE mentorship program consisting of 3 pillars of programming: medical school curriculum review sessions, panel discussions, and social events for medical students. The program was evaluated through participation rates and a 7-item survey delivered in May 2019 after 3 years of implementation.RESULTS:The STRIVE initiative conducted 25 events. Thirty-five of 151 eligible (23%) URM residents participated as mentors for an average of 50 of 110 eligible (45%) URM medical students annually. Resident mentors participated for an average of 3 to 4 hours each year. Twenty of 32 eligible resident mentors (63%) completed the survey. Ninety-five percent (19 of 20) of survey respondents agreed that STRIVE made them a better mentor; 90% (18 of 20) reported that they would have appreciated an equivalent program during their medical school training; and 75% (15 of 20) agreed that the program helped them address the challenges of underrepresentation in medicine.CONCLUSIONS:Over a 3-year period, STRIVE required a modest amount of resident time and was valued by the URM residents and medical students who participated in the program.

Objectives: Simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) programs have been shown to be beneficial to improve procedural skill acquisition. However, simulated procedure performance can be affected by a host of factors, including stress. This investigation examined the preliminary efficacy of bolstering an established SBML program for medical residents with a brief mindfulness intervention (called a PITSTOP) to reduce procedural stress and improve simulator performance. Design: The study employed a partially blinded, parallel-group, randomized, repeated-measures intention-to-treat design. Participants were blinded to the primary outcome (simulator performance) and instead were informed of the study's secondary outcome (stress prevention). The SBML faculty instructors and study investigators were blinded to participants' group assignment. Settings/location: Northwestern Memorial Hospitals of Chicago. Subjects: Twenty-six postgraduate year (PGY) 1 internal medicine residents enrolled in a required SBML central venous catheter (CVC) insertion training from June 2015 to January 2018 participated in the study. Interventions: SBML consists of a simulated skills pretest, deliberate practice, and a simulated skills post-test (within 1 week of pretest). PGY 1 participants were randomly assigned to the PITSTOP intervention (12-min PITSTOP mindfulness training video) or control group (12-min control video on ways to increase physical activity) before the SBML pretest. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was a comparison of each group's simulator performance during pre- and post-tests. Secondary outcomes were changes in groups' procedural stress during these tests (assessed using self-reported, instructor-rated, and physiologic indicators), and self-reported self-regulation outcomes. Results: Residents who watched the PITSTOP video before their SBML training made fewer procedural errors relative to controls during their pretest for intrajugular CVC insertion (p = 0.03). PITSTOP participants also had lower heart rate (p = 0.03) and less visible trembling (p = 0.003) relative to controls at the post-test. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that a brief, mindfulness intervention may reduce stress during SBML training.

This chapter addresses the key education policy consequences that derive from implementation and management of mastery learning programs in the health professions. The chapter begins with framing statements about mastery learning policy consequences taken from two scholarly reports. It proceeds to discuss the benefits and challenges of mastery learning education policies regarding four stakeholder entities: learners, education programs, sponsoring organizations, and governing bodies and the healthcare system. A brief coda provides a chapter summary.

Background. Most residency programs do not provide trainees with health equity data for their clinic patients. Methods. Equity report cards were developed for internal and family medicine residents in a large health system. After considering which equity indictors were available, how to attribute patients to residents, and what level of granularity was feasible, equity reports were created for five ambulatory quality measures. Chi-square tests were used to test the significance of differences in quality measure satisfaction between groups. Results. Attributing patients to the physician who had seen them for the greatest proportion of encounters performed best. Creating equity reports for individual resident panels was not possible due to insufficient numbers. Most measures had sufficient patients when combining all residents' patients. Inequities were identified for four of five examined measures. Conclusion. Creating aggregate equity reports for all primary care residents across multiple equity indicators was feasible, documenting disparities in health care quality.

Background Understanding factors in internal medicine (IM) resident career choice may reveal important needed interventions for recruitment and diversity in IM primary care and its subspecialties. Self-reported learner confidence is higher in men than in women in certain areas of practicing medicine, but has never been explored as a factor in career choice. Objective The purpose of this study is to elucidate associations between confidence, gender, and career choice. Design IM residents completed a 31-item survey rating confidence in procedural, clinical, and communication skills on a 9-point Likert scale. Residents also reported anticipated career choice and rated influence of factors. Associations between gender and confidence scale scores, gender and career choice, and confidence and career choice were analyzed usingttests, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression controlled for postgraduate year (PGY), institution, and specialty choice. Participants 292 IM residents at Northwestern and University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Main Measures Resident gender, self-reported confidence, career choice Key Results Response rate was 79.6% (n= 292), of them 50.3% women. Overall self-reported confidence increased with training (PGY-1 4.9 (1.1); PGY-2 6.2 (1.0); PGY-3 7.4 (1.0);p< 0.001). Men had higher confidence than women (men 6.6 (1.5); women 6.3 (1.4),p= 0.06), with the greatest difference in procedures. High confidence in men was associated with choice of procedural careers, whereas there was no association between confidence and career in women. Conclusions This is the first study demonstrating a gender difference in self-reported confidence and career choice. There is a positive correlation in men: higher self-reported confidence with procedural specialties, lower with general internal medicine. Women's self-reported confidence had no association. Further investigation is needed to elucidate causative factors for differences in self-reported confidence by gender, and whether alterations in level of self-reported confidence produce a downstream effect on career choice.

Purpose Medical training has traditionally focused on the proximate determinants of disease, with little focus on how social conditions influence health. The authors conducted a scoping review of existing curricula to understand the current programs designed to teach primary care residents about the social determinants of health (SDH). Method In January and March 2017, the authors searched seven databases. Eligible articles focused on primary care residents, described a curriculum related to SDH, were published between January 2007 and January 2017, and were based in the United States. Results Of the initial 5,523 articles identified, 43 met study eligibility criteria. Most programs (29; 67%) were in internal medicine. Sixteen studies (37%) described the curriculum development process. Overall, 20 programs (47%) were short or one-time sessions, and 15 (35%) were longitudinal programs lasting at least 6 months. Thirty-two programs (74%) reported teaching SDH content using didactics, 22 (51%) incorporated experiential learning, and many programs (n = 38; 88%) employed both. Most studies reported satisfaction and/or self-perceived changes in knowledge or attitudes. Conclusions The authors identified wide variation in curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation. They highlight curricula that considered community and resident needs, used conceptual frameworks or engaged multiple stakeholders to select content, used multiple delivery methods, and focused evaluation on changes in skills or behaviors. This review highlights the need not only for systematic, standardized approaches to developing and delivering SDH curricula but also for developing rigorous evaluation of the curricula, particularly effects on resident behavior.

Introduction Inpatient telemetry monitoring is a commonly used technology designed to detect and monitor life-threatening arrhythmias. However, residents are rarely educated in the proper use and interpretation of telemetry monitoring. Methods We developed a training module containing an educational video, PowerPoint presentation, and hands-on interactive learning session with a telemetry expert. The module highlights proper use of telemetry monitoring, recognition of telemetry artifact, and interrogation of telemetry to identify clinically significant arrhythmias. Learners completed pre- and postcurriculum knowledge-based assessments and a postcurriculum survey on their experience with the module. In total, the educational curriculum had three 60-minute sessions. Results Thirty-two residents participated in the training module. Residents scored higher on the posttest (77% ± 12%) than on the pretest (70% ± 12%), t(31) = −4.3, p < .001. Wilcoxon signed rank tests indicated PGY-3s performed better on the posttest (Mdn = 0.86) than on the pretest (Mdn = 0.72), z = −2.19, p = .031. PGY-2s also performed better on the posttest (Mdn = 0.86) than on the pretest (Mdn = 0.76), z = −2.04, p = .042. There was no difference between pretest (Mdn = 0.66) and posttest (Mdn = 0.71) scores for PGY-1s, z = −1.50, p = .142. The majority of residents reported that the telemetry curriculum boosted their self-confidence, helped prepare them to analyze telemetry on their patients, and should be a required component of the residency. Discussion This module represents a new paradigm for teaching residents how to successfully and confidently interpret and use inpatient telemetry.