A Clinical Reasoning-Encoded Case Library Developed through Natural Language Processing.

IMPORTANCE: Case reports that externalize expert diagnostic reasoning are utilized for clinical reasoning instruction but are difficult to search based on symptoms, final diagnosis, or differential diagnosis construction. Computational approaches that uncover how experienced diagnosticians analyze the medical information in a case as they formulate a differential diagnosis can guide educational uses of case reports. OBJECTIVE: To develop a "reasoning-encoded" case database for advanced clinical reasoning instruction by applying natural language processing (NLP), a sub-field of artificial intelligence, to a large case report library. DESIGN: We collected 2525 cases from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Clinical Pathological Conference (CPC) from 1965 to 2020 and used NLP to analyze the medical terminology in each case to derive unbiased (not prespecified) categories of analysis used by the clinical discussant. We then analyzed and mapped the degree of category overlap between cases. RESULTS: Our NLP algorithms identified clinically relevant categories that reflected the relationships between medical terms (which included symptoms, signs, test results, pathophysiology, and diagnoses). NLP extracted 43,291 symptoms across 2525 cases and physician-annotated 6532 diagnoses (both primary and related diagnoses). Our unsupervised learning computational approach identified 12 categories of medical terms that characterized the differential diagnosis discussions within individual cases. We used these categories to derive a measure of differential diagnosis similarity between cases and developed a website ( universeofcpc.com ) to allow visualization and exploration of 55 years of NEJM CPC case series. CONCLUSIONS: Applying NLP to curated instances of diagnostic reasoning can provide insight into how expert clinicians correlate and coordinate disease categories and processes when creating a differential diagnosis. Our reasoning-encoded CPC case database can be used by clinician-educators to design a case-based curriculum and by physicians to direct their lifelong learning efforts.

The Future Comes Early for Medical Educators.

Many experts have foretold of a digital transformation in medical education. Yet, until recently, day-to-day practices for frontline clinician-educators, who cherish close physical and intellectual contact between the patient, learner, and teacher, have remained largely unchanged. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted that model and is forcing teachers to pursue new ways to reach learners. We provide a roadmap for educators to start their transformation from an analog to a digital approach by harnessing existing tools including podcasts, social media, and videoconferencing. Teachers will need to enhance the same pedagogical and interpersonal practices that underpin effective in-person education while they learn new skills as they become curators, creators, and moderators in the digital space. This adaptation is essential, as many of the changes in medical education spurred by COVID-19 will likely far outlast the pandemic.

An Elusive Case of Mycosis Fungoides: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Erythroderma refers to a spectrum of skin diseases resulting in diffuse erythema and scaling encompassing ≥ 90% of the body surface area. The differential diagnosis ranges from primary dermatologic diseases such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis to potentially deadly causes such as staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, and malignancy. Cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) is an uncommon but highly morbid cause of erythroderma. This non-Hodgkin lymphoma remains a diagnostic challenge due to its variable clinical presentation and varied histologic features. Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common form of CTCL. Making a timely diagnosis is challenging as it may mimic inflammatory diseases of the skin including eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus, and cutaneous lupus. We present a case of a 58-year-old man who presented with 5 years of cutaneous symptoms and several months of fevers and night sweats, ultimately diagnosed as MF. Owing to diffuse CD30 positivity, he was a candidate for brentuximab vedotin, an antibody-drug conjugate medication that selectively targets the CD30 antigen. This resulted in an excellent therapeutic response.

Foreign bodies: Is it feasible to develop tolerance for ambiguity among medical students through Equine-Facilitated learning?

Intolerance of ambiguity among medical students is associated with negative attitudes towards psychosocially complex patients. In this paper, the authors evaluated the feasibility of a 3.5-hour workshop aimed at fostering tolerance for ambiguity in medical students through semi-structured interactions with horses that functioned as experiential surrogates for ambiguity. Among 26 first-year medical students who participated in the feasibility assessment, an overwhelming majority rated the workshop as academically valuable and recommended that it be offered again in the future. After feasibility was established, an additional group of 7 first-year medical students and 5 fourth-year students completed Budner's Tolerance of Ambiguity scale before and after the workshop to provide preliminary data on its effectiveness. The post-workshop mean scores on the Budner scale were lower than pre-workshop mean scores, suggesting that students developed greater tolerance for ambiguity following the workshop. This difference was statistically significant among the first-year students, but not among the fourth-year students. Our findings demonstrate that the equine-facilitated workshop is feasible and can potentially help medical students develop greater tolerance for ambiguity.

Sticky Business: a syndrome of mucoid bacterial spread.

A 70-year-old man presented with acute wrist pain concerning for septic arthritis. Shortly thereafter, he developed acute monocular vision loss and was diagnosed with endogenous endophthalmitis. Subsequent imaging revealed numerous visceral abscesses and a mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm. Cultures, in conjunction with the clinical syndrome, were strongly suggestive of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae syndrome (hvKP). hvKP syndrome may present with multiple sites of infection or subsequent metastatic spread may develop; the liver, lungs, central nervous system and eye are most commonly involved. Prompt source control and intravenous antibiotic therapy leads to a cure in the majority of patients. This case highlights the risk factors, presentation, management and prognosis of this disease as well as its increasing incidence in North America and Europe.

Teaching about diagnostic errors through virtual patient cases: a pilot exploration.

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic error is a major problem in health care, yet there are few medical school curricula focused on improving the diagnostic process and decreasing diagnostic errors. Effective strategies to teach medical students about diagnostic error and diagnostic safety have not been established. METHODS: We designed, implemented and evaluated a virtual patient module featuring two linked cases involving diagnostic errors. Learning objectives developed by a consensus process among medical educators in the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) were utilized. The module was piloted with internal medicine clerkship students at three institutions and with clerkship faculty members recruited from listservs. Participants completed surveys on their experience using the case and a qualitative analysis was performed. RESULTS: Thirty-five medical students and 25 faculty members completed the survey. Most students found the module to be relevant and instructive. Faculty also found the module valuable for students but identified insufficient curricular time as a barrier to implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students and faculty found a prototype virtual patient module about the diagnostic process and diagnostic error to be educational.