Effects of an Experiential Trauma Bootcamp on PGY 3 Anesthesiology Residents' Knowledge and Confidence Levels.

Background: Bootcamp-style education involves short, intense educational sessions and is a proven educational modality in anesthesia medical education. However, rarely has it been used with senior anesthesiology residents and never in exposing these residents to a curriculum aimed at care of the trauma patient. The purpose of this study was to design and implement an experiential bootcamp to prepare anesthesiology residents to take senior trauma call at a Level 1 trauma center in the Southeastern United States. Methods: Before taking senior trauma call, 21 postgraduate year 3 anesthesiology residents took part in an 8-hour trauma bootcamp that combined flipped classroom-style education with immersive, procedural, and augmented reality simulation facilitated by subject matter experts. Before and after the bootcamp, residents completed 17-item confidence and 20-item knowledge questionnaires developed by the study authors. Results were compared before and after the bootcamp to determine overall change in confidence and knowledge levels pertaining to caring for trauma patients and taking senior trauma call. Additionally, residents completed an evaluation measuring their perceptions of the benefit of the educational offering. Results: Statistically significant increases were seen in 16 out of 17 confidence questions (P < .001) and 12 out of 20 knowledge questions (P < .001). Additionally, respondents indicated that they found the content to be valuable and likely to improve their care delivery within the clinical setting. Conclusions: Following this bootcamp, postcourse surveys demonstrated that residents' knowledge and confidence increased significantly through simulation combined with a flipped-classroom approach in preparation for senior trauma call.

Age-related changes in crowding and reading speed.

Crowding, the inability to recognize objects in clutter, is known to play a role in developmental changes in reading speed. Here, we investigated whether crowding also plays a role in age-related changes in reading speed. We recruited 18 young (mean age: 22.6 ± 3.5; range: 18~31) and 21 older adults (mean age: 58.2 ± 7.0; range: 50~73) with normal vision. Reading speed was measured with short blocks of text. The degree of crowding was determined by measuring crowding zone (the distance between a target and flankers required to yield a criterion recognition accuracy) and the size of the visual span (an uncrowded window in the visual field within which letters can be recognizable reliably). Measurements were made across the central 16-degree visual field using letter-recognition tasks. Our results showed that, compared to young adults, older adults exhibited significantly slower reading speed (a decrease by 30%) and larger crowding: an enlargement of crowding zone (an increase by 31%) and shrinkage of the visual span (a decrease by 6.25 bits). We also observed significant correlations between reading speed and each of the crowding measures. Our results suggest that crowding increases with age. Age-related changes in crowding may in part explain slower reading in older adults.

Slow Reading in Glaucoma: Is it due to the Shrinking Visual Span in Central Vision?

Purpose: Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide, characterized by progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells. Patients with bilateral glaucoma read slower than normal cohorts. Here we examined the factors that may underlie slow reading in glaucoma and determined the best predictor of reading speed in glaucoma. Methods: A total of 38 subjects participated in this study: 17 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (mean age = 64.71 years) and 21 age-similar normal controls (58.24 years). For each subject, we measured binocular visual acuity (BVA); binocular contrast sensitivity (BCS); stereoacuity; visual field mean deviation (MD); and the visual span (i.e., the number of letters recognizable at one glance) known to limit reading speed. The visual span was measured with a trigram letter-recognition task in which subjects identify trigrams flashed at varying letter positions left and right of the fixation. Oral reading speed was measured with short blocks of text. Results: Even after controlling for age, glaucoma patients showed significantly slower reading speed (by 19%, P < 0.05) and smaller visual span (by 11 bits, P < 0.001) compared to normal controls. While their BVA was relatively normal (20/20 Snellen equivalent), their BCS (P < 0.001); stereoacuity (P < 0.001); and visual field MD (P < 0.001) showed pronounced deficits. Multiple regression analysis further revealed that reading speed in glaucoma was best predicted by the visual span. Conclusions: Our results showed that slower reading speed in glaucoma was closely related to the shrinkage of the visual span. Our findings further support the view that the visual span plays a limiting role in reading speed.