Creating a win-win for the health system and health Profession's education: a direct observation clinical experience with feedback iN real-time (DOCENT) for low acuity patients in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Clinical education across the professions is challenged by a lack of recognition for faculty and pressure for patient throughput and revenue generation. These pressures may reduce direct observation of patient care provided by students, a requirement for both billing student-involved services and assessing competence. These same pressures may also limit opportunities for interprofessional education and collaboration. METHODS: An interprofessional group of faculty collaborated in a sequential quality improvement project to identify the best patients and physical location for a student teaching clinic. Patient chief complaint, use of resources, length of stay, estimated severity of illness and student participation and evaluation of the clinic was tracked. RESULTS: Clinic Optimization and Patient Care: Five hundred and thirty-two emergency department (ED) patients were seen in the first 19 months of the clinic. A clinic located near the ED allowed for patients with higher emergency severity index and greater utilization of imaging. Patients had similar or lower lengths of stay and higher satisfaction than patients who remained in the ED (p < 0.0001). In the second clinic location, from October 2016-June 2019, 644 patients were seen with a total of 667 concerns; the most common concern was musculoskeletal (50.1%). Student Interprofessional Experience: A total of 991 students participated in the clinic: 68.3% (n = 677) medical students, 10.1% (n = 100) physician assistant students, 9.7% (n = 96) undergraduate nursing students, 9.1% (n = 90) physical therapy students, and 2.8% (n = 28) nurse practitioner students. The majority (74.5%, n = 738) of student participants worked with students from other professions. More than 90% of students reported that faculty set a positive learning environment respectful of students. However, 20% of students reported that faculty could improve provision of constructive feedback. Direct Observation: Direct observation of core entrustable professional activities for medical students was possible. Senior medical students were more likely to be observed generating a differential diagnosis or management plan than first year medical students. CONCLUSIONS: Creation of a DOCENT clinic in the emergency department provided opportunities for interprofessional education and observation of student clinical skills, enriching student experience without compromising patient care.

Ancillary treatment of patients with lung disease due to non-tuberculous mycobacteria: a narrative review.

Background and Objective: Non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) manifests with bronchiectasis, inflammatory bronchiolitis, nodules, and/or cavitation. Bronchiectasis is characterized by permanently dilated airways wherein mucus accumulates, creating a vicious cycle of chronic injurious inflammation and recurrent infections. While antibiotics are an important part of the treatment of NTM-LD, airway clearance techniques to mitigate this pathogenic mechanism of bronchiectasis as well as other ancillary measures are also important components of NTM-LD treatment. The objective of this contemporaneous Narrative Review is to emphasize the importance of such ancillary measures. Methods: We searched PubMed for the key words of "airway clearance", "pulmonary rehabilitation", "nutrition", "swallowing dysfunction", "gastroesophageal reflux", "vestibular dysfunction", or "cochlear dysfunction" with that of "non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease", "bronchiectasis", or "respiratory disease". The bibliographies of identified articles were further searched for relevant articles not previously identified. Each relevant article was reviewed by one or more of the authors and a narrative review was composed. Key Content and Findings: Herein, we discuss five ancillary treatment measures that are pertinent to patients with bronchiectasis and NTM-LD: (I) airway clearance; (II) physical and pulmonary rehabilitation; (III) nutrition; (IV) diagnosis and mitigation of swallowing dysfunction and of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); and (V) minimization of vestibular and cochlear dysfunction associated with some anti-NTM drugs. Conclusions: While antibiotics is often the central focus of treatment of NTM-LD, given its propensity for recurrent and recalcitrant infection, other ancillary measures to break the vicious cycle of injurious inflammation and infection should also be emphasized to optimize treatment success.