Professionalism and inter-communication skills (ICS): a multi-site validity study assessing proficiency in core competencies and milestones in medical learners.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal and Communication Skills (ICS) and Professionalism milestones are challenging to evaluate during medical training. Paucity in proficiency, direction and validity evidence of assessment tools of these milestones warrants further research. We validated the reliability of the previously-piloted Instrument for Communication skills and Professionalism Assessment (InCoPrA) in medical learners. METHODS: This validity approach was guided by the rigorous Kane's Framework. Faculty-raters and standardized patients (SPs) used their respective InCoPrA sub-component to assess distinctive domains pertinent to ICS and Professionalism through multiple expert-built simulated-scenarios comparable to usual care. Evaluations included; inter-rater reliability of the faculty total score; the correlation between the total score by the SPs; and the average of the total score by two-faculty members. Participants were surveyed regarding acceptability, realism, and applicability of this experience. RESULTS: Eighty trainees and 25 faculty-raters from five medical residency training sites participated. ICC of the total score between faculty-raters was generally moderate (ICC range 0.44-0.58). There was on average a moderate linear relationship between the SPs and faculty total scores (Pearson correlations range 0.23-0.44). Majority of participants ascertained receiving a meaningful, immediate, and comprehensive patient-faculty feedback. CONCLUSIONS: This work substantiated that InCoPrA was a reliable, standardized, evidence-based, and user-friendly assessment tool for ICS and Professionalism milestones. Validating InCoPrA showed generally-moderate agreeability and high acceptability. Using InCoPrA also promoted engaging all stakeholders in medical education and training-faculty, learners, and SPs-using simulation-media as pathway for comprehensive feedback of milestones growth.

A Simulation Suture Compared With a Clinical Suture for Training on Laparoscopic Simulators: Objective Measurements Indicate Acceptable Physical Characteristics.

OBJECTIVE: Simulation sutures are a low-cost option for training purposes, but they may not perform as well as the more expensive clinical suture. Trainees at our institution have raised concerns about their quality and integrity compared with clinical suture. The objective was to determine whether significant differences in strength of the sutures and knot holding capabilities between low and high-cost sutures existed. METHODS: Two sutures were compared: 3-0 braided silk simulation suture (Sim*Vivo LLC, Willsboro, NY) and 3-0 Perma-Hand silk braided clinical suture (Ethicon, Somerville, NJ). The diameter of the suture was assessed with light microscopy. Tensile strength of the suture and knotted suture were assessed. Both sutures were tested dry and wet. RESULTS: Tensile strength of the sutures, knotted or unknotted, were not significantly different. Knot type did not change this comparison. Soaking in saline did not change the tensile strength but did introduce a substantial difference in knot failure mode between sutures. The mean diameter of the Ethicon suture was larger than that of the Sim*Vivo suture, which could influence suture behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The applied mechanical tests identified that clinical and simulation sutures differ some in their inherent mechanical characteristics related to suture handling. However, these differences did not translate to a key measure of performance of a sutured junction, namely, the strength of the knotted suture. Based on the results of the study, any subjective impressions of simulation suture strength and knot holding should not negatively impact its use for medical education.

Computers in patient education and monitoring.

Computing technologies offer much promise in the field of medicine. Every discipline in medicine has been affected by the proliferation of computerized technology. Clinicians face challenges in balancing constraints of time and personnel resources when caring for and educating patients. The potential value of computer technology is tremendous and expectations run high among providers and patients. Computers can help patients to synthesize knowledge from information and to retain information about diseases. Computer and communication technologies can extend the caregiver's reach with remote patient monitoring. Health care providers' roles are changing because of the availability of health information on the Internet. Computer-based patient education can help improve the patient's awareness and understanding of his or her disease(s), which can help make the patient more of a partner in the patient-physician relationship. Currently, there are some limitations to and issues about using computers for patient education and monitoring, but I expect those limitations and issues to be substantially mitigated in the future.

Practice variability in management of acute respiratory distress syndrome: bringing evidence and clinician education to the bedside using a web-based teaching tool.

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice often lags behind publication of evidence-based research and national consensus guidelines. OBJECTIVE: To assess practice variability in the clinical management of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and test an evidence-based, online clinician-education tool designed to improve intensive-care clinicians' understanding of current evidence about ARDS management. METHODS: We surveyed 117 intensive care clinicians (16 critical care physician specialists, 28 resident physicians, 50 critical care nurses, and 23 respiratory therapists) with an online questionnaire in our tertiary academic institution. Fifty of the original respondents (12 residents, 26 critical care nurses, and 12 respiratory therapists) also responded to a repeat survey that included context-sensitive hypertext links to a summary of critically appraised primary articles regarding ARDS management, to determine if the responses changed after the clinicians had read the evidence-based summary information. RESULTS: Critical care physician specialists were most likely to choose the low-tidal-volume (low-VT) ventilation strategy and protocol-based ventilator weaning and were least likely to choose neuromuscular blockade or parenteral nutrition (p < 0.05). In a paired comparison, individual respondents were more likely to choose treatment options that are based on stronger evidence (low-VT, daily interruption in sedation, and protocol weaning [p < 0.01]). We also reviewed the medical records of 100 patients who were mechanically ventilated for > 48 h, during the 6 months before and after the survey, from which we identified 45 ARDS patients. Following the clinician-education intervention, ARDS patients were less likely to receive potentially injurious high-VT ventilation (mean day-3 VT 10.3 +/- 2.3 mL/kg before vs 8.9 +/- 1.7 mL/kg after, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Web-based teaching tools are useful to educate intensive-care practitioners and to promote evidence-based practice.