Value of General Medical Knowledge Examinations in Performance Assessment of Practicing Physicians With Potential Competence and Performance Deficiencies.

INTRODUCTION: Problems with a physician's performance may arise at any point during their career. As such, there is a need for effective, valid tools and processes to accurately assess and identify deficiencies in competence or performance. Although scores on multiple-choice questions have been shown to be predictive of some aspects of physician performance in practicing physicians, their relationship to overall clinical competence is somewhat uncertain particularly after the first 10 years of practice. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine how a general medical knowledge multiple-choice question examination is associated with a comprehensive assessment of competence and performance in experienced practicing physicians with potential competence and performance deficiencies. METHODS: The study included 233 physicians, of varying specialties, assessed by the University of California, San Diego Physician Assessment and Clinical Education Program (PACE), between 2008 and 2012, who completed the Post-Licensure Assessment System Mechanisms of Disease (MoD) examination. Logistic regression determined if the examination score significantly predicted passing assessment outcome after correcting for gender, international medical graduate status, certification status, and age. RESULTS: Most physicians (89.7%) received an overall passing assessment outcome on the PACE assessment. The mean MoD score was 66.9% correct, with a median of 68.0%. Logistic regression (P = .038) was significant in indicating that physicians with higher MoD examination scores had an increased likelihood of achieving a passing assessment outcome (odds ratio = 1.057). DISCUSSION: Physician MoD scores are significant predictors of overall physician competence and performance as evaluated by PACE assessment.

Competency versus performance in plastic surgery: navigating through new technologies and medical devices.

The purpose of this article is to examine how plastic surgeons learn to use novel technology in their practices. In addition, a critical evaluation of current teaching methods as they relate to surgeon competence in these new technologies is discussed.

Remediation of the deficiencies of physicians across the continuum from medical school to practice: a thematic review of the literature.

Despite widespread endorsement of competency-based assessment of medical trainees and practicing physicians, methods for identifying those who are not competent and strategies for remediation of their deficits are not standardized. This literature review describes the published studies of deficit remediation at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education levels. Thirteen studies primarily describe small, single-institution efforts to remediate deficient knowledge or clinical skills of trainees or below-standard-practice performance of practicing physicians. Working from these studies and research from the learning sciences, the authors propose a model that includes multiple assessment tools for identifying deficiencies, individualized instruction, deliberate practice followed by feedback and reflection, and reassessment. The findings of the study reveal a paucity of evidence to guide best practices of remediation in medical education at all levels. There is an urgent need for multiinstitutional, outcomes-based research on strategies for remediation of less than fully competent trainees and physicians with the use of long-term follow-up to determine the impact on future performance.

Continuing medical education, professional development, and requirements for medical licensure: a white paper of the Conjoint Committee on Continuing Medical Education.

To provide the best care to patients, a physician must commit to lifelong learning, but continuing education and evaluation systems in the United States typically require little more than records of attendance for professional association memberships, hospital staff privileges, or reregistration of a medical license. While 61 of 68 medical and osteopathic licensing boards mandate that physicians participate in certain numbers of hours of continuing medical education (CME), 17 of them require physicians to participate in legislatively mandated topics that may have little to do with the types of patients seen by the applicant physician. Required CME should evolve from counting hours of CME participation to recognizing physician achievement in knowledge, competence, and performance. State medical boards should require valid and reliable assessment of physicians' learning needs and collaborate with physician and CME communities to assure that legislatively mandated CME achieves maximal benefit for physicians and patients. To assure the discovery and use of best practices for continuing professional development and for maintenance of competence, research in CME and physician assessment should be raised as a national priority.

ABMS' Maintenance of Certification: the challenge of continuing competence.

The American Board of Medical Specialties, since its inception in 1933 as the Advisory Board for Medical Specialties, is concerned with the education, training and certification of physician specialists. Although not perfect, the initial certification process is quite good and accomplishes its intended purpose. However, initial certification is based on a primarily knowledge-based "snapshot." The newly developed Maintenance of Certification Program will evaluate the competencies, medical knowledge, patient care, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, practice-based learning and improvement and systems-based practices believed to be necessary and sufficient for certified physicians to have and maintain throughout their entire professional career. Furthermore, the process will focus on education and assessment to encourage continuous quality improvement in clinical practice.

American Board of Medical Specialties and repositioning for excellence in lifelong learning: maintenance of certification.

The board certification movement was founded out of a concern for the quality of care, and today, more than 85% of all physicians licensed to practice medicine in the United States have been certified by an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member board. There is increasing evidence of a need for continuous monitoring and promotion of quality as well as for assessment and documentation that certified medical specialists are keeping up-to-date so that their continuing competence can be documented. To help, the ABMS established a program called Maintenance of Certification, a system that includes periodic examination of knowledge and the comprehensive evaluation of practice. Maintenance of Certification includes 4 major components: professional standing, including an unrestricted license to practice medicine; lifelong learning and self-assessment; demonstrated cognitive expertise; and practice performance assessment. The efforts of the Conjoint Committee on Continuing Medical Education press continuing medical education providers to facilitate self-directed learning and directed self-learning while driving lifelong learning and assessment into the clinical practices of all physicians who seek to continuously upgrade their knowledge, skills, and behaviors to provide quality medical care.

Specialty board certification and clinical outcomes: the missing link.

PURPOSE: Specialty board certification status is often used as a standard of excellence, but no systematic review has examined the link between certification and clinical outcomes. The authors evaluated published studies tracking clinical outcomes and certification status. METHOD: Data sources consisted of studies cited between 1966 and July 1999 in OVID-Medline, psychological abstracts (PsycLit), and the Educational Research Information Clearinghouse (ERIC). Screening criteria included: only U.S. patients and physicians used as subjects; verified specialty board certification status by an American Board of Medical Specialties' (ABMS') member board using the ABMS database or derivative sources; described selection criteria for patients and physicians; selected nationally recognized standards of care for outcomes; and nested patient data by individual physician. The computerized searches that were conducted in 1999 identified 1,204 papers; one author and a research assistant selected 237 papers based on subject relevance, and reduced the list to 56 based on study quality. The authors independently applied inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify 13 of the 56 papers containing 33 separable relevant findings. RESULTS: Of the 33 findings, 16 demonstrated a significant positive association between certification status and positive clinical outcomes, three revealed worse outcomes for certified physicians, and 14 showed no association. Three negative findings and one finding of no association were identified in two papers with insufficient case-mix adjustments in the analyses. Meta-analytic statistics were not feasible due to variability in outcome measures across studies. CONCLUSIONS: Few published studies (5%) used research methods appropriate for the research question, and among the screened studies more than half support an association between board certification status and positive clinical outcomes.

Effects of managed care on teaching, research, and clinical practice in academic plastic surgery.

The aim of this study was to determine: 1) if there have been changes in teaching, research, and clinical practice in academic plastic surgery in recent years; and 2) if there have been, are they associated with changes in the managed care environment? Gaining a clearer perspective on how managed care affects academic plastic surgery will enable academicians to define better the problems and opportunities they face mutually and to respond effectively to these issues. This study used a cross-sectional study design. Reference time periods were the premanaged care era (1990-1991) versus the current time (1997-1998). Data were collected by questionnaires sent to 94 academic program directors in plastic surgery. The main independent variable of managed care was measured as the difference in the percent of income from health maintenance organizations generated by each program in 1990 to 1991 versus 1997 to 1998. The dependent variables of teaching, research, and clinical practice were measured by the percentage of time spent in each category, the number of work hours per week, the number of staff personnel, the location of teaching, the number of grants and publications, and the percentage of reconstructive and cosmetic cases in 1990 to 1991 versus 1997 to 1998. Univariate analysis, paired Student's t-test, Fisher's exact test, Pearson's correlation, Spearman's correlation, and linear regression were used to establish significance (alpha = 0.05) of the effects of managed care on dependent variables. Sixty-six questionnaires were completed and returned (70% response rate). There were significant changes in the managed care environment, clinical practice (operating room and clinics), and research in academic plastic surgery from 1990 to 1997. The percentage of income generated from managed care increased from 9.8% (of total revenue) in 1990 to 23.6% in 1997 (an increase of 13.8%; p < 0.0001). Academic plastic surgeons were found to spend significantly more time in clinical practice (3% more of total time spent; 5.3 hours more per week in 1997; p < 0.016). This change correlated significantly with the increase in managed care (p < 0.015). In addition, the percentage of cosmetic cases increased from 18.0% in 1990 to 28.3% in 1997 (p < 0.001), and that of reconstructive surgery was reduced proportionately (p < 0.001). Also, a significant decrease in the time spent for research was observed (mean reduction, 2.8 hours less per week; p < 0.001). Although the trend was to a lower number, there were no significant changes in the amount of time spent in teaching (p > 0.08) and in administrative duty (p > 0.06), or in the number of personnel employed in the teaching programs (p > 0.05). In summary, these findings suggest that: 1) a greater percentage of revenue was generated from managed care in 1997 than in 1990, indicating a growing fiscal influence by managed care on academic plastic surgery; 2) furthermore, this change is associated with academic plastic surgeons devoting more time to clinical practice and less time to research endeavors; and 3) although managed care policies do affect teaching adversely, this effect has not yet reached significance for the period examined during this study.

Pyroclastic flow injury : Mount St. Helens, May 18, 1980

Three patients who were on the periphery of the pyroclastic flow of the Mount St. Helens eruption on May 18, 1980 were treated for severe thermal and inhalation injuries. Although exposed in identical manner, two patients arrived with heavily colonized burn wounds and developed adult respiratory distress syndrome leading directly to their death, whereas the third patient, with a noncolonized burn wound and little evidence of adult respiratory distress syndrome, survived. Evidence of inhaled ash complicating various stages of adult respiratory distress syndrome was confirmed by energy dispersive roentgenographic analysis. In the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and the aleutian islands, potential for further injuries of this type in even larger numbers exists. Should these occur, those who treat the victims should be aware of the potential for severe inhalation problems in addition to the obvious burns