For the general internist: a review of relevant 2013 innovations in medical education.

We conducted a review of articles published in 2013 to identify high-quality research in medical education that was relevant to general medicine education practice. Our review team consisted of six general internists with expertise in medical education of varying ranks, as well as a professional medical librarian. We manually searched 15 journals in pairs, and performed an online search using the PubMed search engine for all original research articles in medical education published in 2013. From the total 4,181 citations identified, we selected 65 articles considered most relevant to general medicine educational practice. Each team member then independently reviewed and rated the quality of each selected article using the modified Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument. We then reviewed the quality and relevance of each selected study and grouped them into categories of propensity for inclusion. Nineteen studies were felt to be of adequate quality and were of moderate to high propensity for inclusion. Team members then independently voted for studies they felt to be of the highest relevance and quality within the 19 selected studies. The ten articles with the greatest number of votes were included in the review. We categorized the studies into five general themes: Improving Clinical Skills in UME, Inpatient Clinical Teaching Methods, Advancements in Continuity Clinic, Handoffs/Transitions in Care, and Trainee Assessment. Most studies in our review of the 2013 literature in general medical education were limited to single institutions and non-randomized study designs; we identified significant limitations of each study. Selected articles may inform future research and practice of medical educators.

Gender differences in salary of internal medicine residency directors: a national survey.

OBJECTIVES: Whether salary disparities exist between men and women in medical education leadership roles is not known. The study objective was to determine whether salary disparities exist between male and female Internal Medicine residency program directors, and if so, to identify factors associated with the disparities and explore historical trends. METHODS: The annual Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) survey in August 2012 included items to assess the salary and demographic characteristics of program directors, which were merged with publically available program data. To assess historical trends, we used similarly obtained survey data from 2008 to 2011. The study included program directors of 370 APDIM member programs, representing 95.6% of the 387 accredited Internal Medicine training programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Of the 370 APDIM member programs, 241 (65.1%) completed the survey, of whom 169 (70.1%) were men and 72 (29.9%) were women. Program directors' total annual salary, measured in $25,000 increments, ranged from $75,000 or less to more than $400,000. Historical trends of mode salary by gender from 2008 to 2012 were assessed. RESULTS: The mode salary was $200,000 to 225,000 for men and $175,000 to $200,000 for women (P = .0005). After controlling for academic rank, career in general internal medicine, and program director age, the distribution of salary remained different by gender (P = .004). Historical trends show that the difference in mode salary has persisted since 2008. CONCLUSIONS: Leaders in academic medical centers, residency and fellowship directors, and all faculty in medical education need to be aware that salary disparities cited decades ago persist in this sample of medical educators. Closing the gender gap will require continued advocacy for measuring and reporting salary gaps, and changing the culture of academic medical centers.