Where Do International Medical Graduates Matriculate for Internal Medicine Training? A National Longitudinal Study.

INTRODUCTION: In 2020, roughly 25% of applicants who matched into internal medicine (IM) residencies were international medical graduates (IMGs). We examine 12-year trends in distribution of IMGs among IM training programs and explore differences in program perceptions towards IMG recruitment. METHODS: Since 2007, Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine Annual Surveys have collected data about trainees by medical school graduate type. Sixteen additional questions regarding perceptions of IMGs were included in the 2017 spring survey. RESULTS: The 2017 survey response rate was 63.3% (236/373) and ranged from 61.9 to 70.2% for the 2007-2019 Annual Surveys. During that 12-year period, 55-70% of community programs' and 22-30% of university programs' PGY1 positions were filled by IMGs. In 2017, 45% of community programs' and 15% of university programs' interview and ranking positions were allocated to IMGs. Departmental pressure (university 45.6% [95% CI 43.7-47.5]; community 28.2% [95% CI 26.6-29.7]; p = 0.007), institutional priority (university 64.0% [95% CI 62.1-66.0]; community 41% [95% CI 36.9-44.6]; p = 0.001), and reputational concerns (university 52.8% [95% CI 50.0-55.6]; community 38.5% [95% CI 36.0-40.9]; p = 0.045) were cited as factors influencing recruitment of IMGs. CONCLUSION: Our study was limited to exploring program factors in residency recruitment and did not assess applicant preferences. There is a large, longstanding difference in the recruitment of IMGs to US community-based and university residencies, beginning during the interview and ranking process. Further research in disparities in IMG recruitment is needed, including exploring pressures, preferences, and potential biases associated with the recruitment of IMGs.

Does Increased Schedule Flexibility Lead to Change? A National Survey of Program Directors on 2017 Work Hours Requirements.

BACKGROUND: The learning and working environment for resident physicians shifted dramatically over the past two decades, with increased focus on work hours, resident wellness, and patient safety. Following two multi-center randomized trials comparing 16-h work limits for PGY-1 trainees to more flexible rules, the ACGME implemented new flexible work hours standards in 2017. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine program directors' (PDs) support for the work hour changes and programmatic response. DESIGN: In 2017, US Internal Medicine PDs were surveyed about their degree of support for extension of PGY-1 work hour limits, whether they adopted the new maximum continuous work hours permitted, and reasons for their decisions. KEY RESULTS: The response rate was 70% (266/379). Fifty-seven percent of PDs (n = 151) somewhat/strongly support the new work hour rules for PGY-1 residents, while only 25% of programs (N = 66) introduced work periods greater than 16-h on any rotation. Higher rates of adopting change were seen in PDs who strongly/somewhat supported the change (56/151 [37%], P < 0.001), had tenure of 6+ years (33/93 [35%], P = 0.005), were of non-general internal medicine subspecialty (30/80 [38%], P = 0.003), at university-based programs (35/101 [35%], P = 0.009), and with increasing number of approved positions (< 38, 10/63 [16%]; 38-58, 13/69 [19%]; 59-100, 15/64 [23%]; > 100, 28/68 [41%], P = 0.005). Areas with the greatest influence for PDs not extending work hours were the 16-h rule working well (56%) and risk to PGY1 well-being (47%). CONCLUSIONS: Although the majority of PDs support the ACGME 2017 work hours rules, only 25% of programs made immediate changes to extend hours. These data reveal that complex, often competing, forces influence PDs' decisions to change trainee schedules.

Ceftriaxone-Induced Hemolytic Anemia: A Rare and Fatal Reaction.

Ceftriaxone, a regularly used antibiotic for broad-spectrum coverage, is a rare cause of hemolytic anemia. Patients may present with truncal pain, nausea, vomiting, and an acute drop in hemoglobin within 48 hours of administration. Prompt recognition and initiation of treatment are essential. We describe a case of a 65-year-old woman being treated for osteomyelitis who developed hemolytic anemia, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and multi-system organ failure after being de-escalated from cefepime to ceftriaxone.

Symptomatic Junctional Bradycardia Due to Untreated Hypothyroidism After Beta-Blocker Discontinuation: A Case Report.

Hypothyroidism is known to cause bradycardia, but there are no direct comparisons of the level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to heart rate (HR) to assist in therapeutic hormonal management. This case presents a patient who developed symptomatic junctional bradycardia and underwent serial TSH testing to attempt to improve her HR while minimizing systemic toxicity from levothyroxine. The patient had a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation on beta-blocker therapy and hypothyroidism and developed symptomatic junctional bradycardia following a lapse in her thyroid supplementation. Upon initiation of hormonal replacement therapy, serial TSH levels were assessed as she continued to have episodic bradycardia with severe hypertension. Given the lack of evidence correlating TSH levels to HR, this case report calls for further studies to be conducted to create reliable guidelines in therapeutic management to prevent bradycardia events while minimizing systemic levothyroxine toxicity.

The Data Error Criteria (DEC) for retrospective studies: development and preliminary application.

Retrospective chart review (RCR) studies rely on the collection and analysis of documented clinical data, a process that can be prone to errors. The aim of this study was to develop a defined set of criteria to evaluate RCR datasets for potential data errors. The Data Error Criteria (DEC) were developed by identifying data coding and data entry errors via literature review and then classifying them based on error types. Three components comprise the DEC: general errors, numerical-specific errors, and categorical variable-specific errors. Two reviewers independently applied these criteria via a manual review process to an existing de-identified database. A total of 10,168 errors were identified out of a total of 28,656 data points. The total number of errors included redundancies as certain errors may be included in multiple categories. These included 2515 general errors, 39 numerical-specific errors, and 7614 categorical variable-specific errors. Input-related categorical variable-specific errors occurred most frequently, followed by errors secondary to blank cells. Inter-rater agreement was near perfect for all categories. Identifying errors outlined in the DEC can be crucial for the data analysis stage as they can lead to inaccurate calculations and delay study timelines. The DEC offers a framework to evaluate datasets while reducing time and efforts needed to create high-quality RCR-related databases.

Oculomotor Nerve Palsy as a Manifestation of Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura: A Case Report.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is caused by alterations in the immune system resulting in platelet destruction. It often manifests clinically with bleeding or on routine lab work revealing thrombocytopenia in asymptomatic individuals. Neurologic manifestations of this condition are sparsely documented in the literature. Among the symptoms reported were case reports of ischemic strokes, transient ischemic attacks, mononeuropathy multiplex, and polyneuropathy as neurological complications from immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Isolated cranial nerve palsies are uncommon. The following case describes a patient with immune thrombocytopenic purpura who presented with an isolated cranial nerve III palsy. A 55-year-old presented with pain in the right eye that was found in a downward and lateral gaze paralysis. There was no evidence of central or peripheral neurovascular etiology on imaging. However, workup revealed isolated thrombocytopenia with platelets <2000/ml3. Other possible etiologies, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and infectious etiologies, were evaluated and excluded. Thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura was excluded with the results from ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13) activity. The patient was appropriately transfused with platelets and was treated with methylprednisolone, which improved his platelets. At the time of discharge, the patient continued to have cranial nerve III palsy and was referred to follow up with hematology on an outpatient basis. In prior case reports where ITP presented as neurological deficits, there was evidence of intraneural microhemorrhage. Our case is unique in that the primary neurologic presentation without central nervous system pathology eventually led to the diagnosis of ITP. The symptoms were attributed to microhemorrhages that were not detected in imaging studies. Further studies are warranted to explore any correlation or causative association between ITP and neurological symptoms. This case report highlights the need to consider uncommon but possible manifestations of conditions that may initially appear seemingly irrelevant to the patient's chief complaint.

Using macros in microsoft excel to facilitate cleaning of research data.

Background: Retrospective chart review studies may be delayed by inability to export clean clinical data from an electronic medical record (EMR) or data repository. Macros are pre-programmed procedures that can be used in Microsoft Excel to help streamline the process of cleaning clinical datasets. Objectives: To demonstrate how macros may be useful for researchers at community hospitals and smaller academic health centers that lack informatics support. Methods: Using an intrinsic function of our institution's EMR, vital signs and lab results from 20 individual hospitalizations were exported to a spreadsheet. Two macros were developed to sort through these datasets and output them into a specified format. The speed of macro-assisted data cleaning was compared to manual transcription. Results: Time spent on data cleaning was significantly reduced when using macro-assisted sorting compared to the manual approach for both vital signs (46.5 seconds versus 12.3 minutes per record, a 94% reduction; P < 0.001) and labs (13.7 seconds versus 2.6 minutes per record, a 91% reduction; P < 0.001). Conclusions:Macros offer a flexible and efficient tool for cleaning large sets of clinical data, particularly when an institution lacks informatics support or EMR functionality to export clinical data in an analysis-ready format.

Cancer survivorship in hematologic malignancies: Lifestyle changes after diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Studies show that patients make lifestyle changes soon after certain solid tumor diagnoses, suggesting that this may be a teachable moment to motivate and promote healthy behaviors. There is a paucity of data regarding changes made after a diagnosis of a hematologic malignancy. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 116 patients at a community oncology center who completed anonymous questionnaires was performed. Questions addressed lifestyle choices made with respect to smoking, alcohol consumption, recreational drug use, diet, and exercise habits before and after diagnosis of a hematologic malignancy. Support systems utilized, including psychiatry services, were also assessed. RESULTS: Patients exhibited significant reduction in smoking behavior (Χ2  = 31.0, p < 0.001). 82.4% (n = 14) of one pack per day smokers quit between the time periods, with nearly all smokers showing a reduction after diagnosis. Alcohol use overall did not change significantly, however, 10.3% (n = 12) of patients reported quitting drinking completely between time periods. Changes in dietary intake and exercise were not statistically significant overall. Utilization of external support systems correlated with improved diet as well as decrease in total smoking years. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that patients exhibited significant lifestyle changes after being diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy. Clinicians should take advantage of this 'teachable moment' to educate patients about positive health behavior changes. Advances in cancer therapeutics have led to an increase in cancer survivors, this education is crucial in reducing the risk of developing chronic comorbidities as well as secondary malignancies.

US Internal Medicine Program Director Perceptions of Alignment of Graduate Medical Education and Institutional Resources for Engaging Residents in Quality and Safety.

Alignment between institutions and graduate medical education (GME) regarding quality and safety initiatives (QI) has not been measured. The objective was to determine US internal medicine residency program directors' (IM PDs) perceived resourcing for QI and alignment between GME and their institutions. A national survey of IM PDs was conducted in the Fall of 2013. Multivariable linear regression was used to test association between a novel Integration Score (IS) measuring alignment between GME and the institution via PD perceptions. The response rate was 72.6% (265/365). According to PDs, residents were highly engaged in QI (82%), but adequate funding (14%) and support personnel (37% to 61%) were lower. Higher IS correlated to reports of funding for QI (76.3% vs 54.5%, P = .012), QI personnel (67.3% vs 41.1%, P < .001), research experts (70.5% vs 50.0%, P < .001), and computer experts (69.0% vs 45.8%, P < .001) for QI assistance. Apparent mismatch between GME and institutional resources exists, and the IS may be useful in measuring GME-institutional leadership alignment in QI.

Relationship Between Institutional Investment in High-Value Care (HVC) Performance Improvement and Internal Medicine Residents' Perceptions of HVC Training.

PURPOSE: To measure the association between institutional investment in high-value care (HVC) performance improvement and resident HVC experiences. METHOD: The authors analyzed data from two 2014 surveys assessing institutions' investments in HVC performance improvement as reported by program directors (PDs) and residents' perceptions of the frequency of HVC teaching, participation in HVC-focused quality improvement (QI), and views on HVC topics. The authors measured the association between institutional investment and resident-reported experiences using logistic regression, controlling for program and resident characteristics. RESULTS: The sample included 214 programs and 9,854 residents (59.3% of 361 programs, 55.2% of 17,851 residents surveyed). Most PDs (158/209; 75.6%) reported some support. Residents were more likely to report HVC discussions with faculty at least a few times weekly if they trained in programs that offered HVC-focused faculty development (odds ratio [OR] = 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.37; P = .01), that supported such faculty development (OR = 1.21; 95% CI 1.04-1.41; P = .02), or that provided physician cost-of-care performance data (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 1.03-1.39; P = .02). Residents were more likely to report participation in HVC QI if they trained in programs with a formal HVC curriculum (OR = 1.83; 95% CI 1.48-2.27; P < .001) or with HVC-focused faculty development (OR = 1.46; 95% CI 1.15-1.85; P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Institutional investment in HVC-related faculty development and physician feedback on costs of care may increase the frequency of HVC teaching and resident participation in HVC-related QI.

The views of U.S. medical school deans toward academic primary care.

PURPOSE: To understand the views of U.S. medical school deans about their primary care faculties. METHOD: In 2000, the authors mailed a questionnaire containing 43 multipart items to deans of 130 U.S. allopathic medical schools. The questionnaire assessed the deans' attitudes about and evaluation of primary care at their school and their school's efforts to strengthen it. Deans were asked to compare family medicine, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics with nonprimary care clinical departments at their schools. RESULTS: Of the 83 (64%) deans who responded, 82% reported their school had departments or divisions of family medicine, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics. Deans rated general internal medicine and general pediatrics higher than nonprimary care faculty on clinical expertise and productivity (p < .001) and family medicine equivalent to nonprimary care faculty. Deans rated all three primary care faculties superior to nonprimary care faculty for teaching skills (p < .001) and programs (p < .05), but lower than nonprimary care disciplines for research productivity (p < .01) and revenues (p < .001). They rated family medicine and general pediatrics lower for research skills (p < .001), but 73% of deans stated research was equally important for primary care and nonprimary care departments. Deans considered overall financial resources to be equivalent for primary care and nonprimary care departments, but 77% of deans felt primary care departments or divisions needed financial support from the medical school to survive. Most deans attempted to strengthen primary care by changing the curriculum to promote primary care and by providing financial support. CONCLUSIONS: Deans ranked primary care faculty high on clinical and teaching measures. Although they considered research to be an important activity for primary care faculty, they evaluated it low relative to nonprimary care departments.

Developing and implementing universal guidelines for oral patient presentation skills.

BACKGROUND: Oral case presentations are important for patient care and clinical education. Previously published attempts to improve oral presentation skills have been labor intensive and have focused primarily on medical students. DESCRIPTION: We created a multifaceted intervention to improve oral case presentations of medical students and internal medicine residents. Our intervention included a written handout with detailed instructions, pocket cards, model presentations, and multiple teaching sessions. The intervention was developed by consensus, supported by the department of medicine and endorsed by key faculty within the department. In addition to soliciting feedback from students and residents, we evaluated our intervention with prospectively acquired ratings of student oral case presentation skills recorded on a standardized evaluation for the internal medicine clerkship. EVALUATION: Students, residents, and faculty gave positive feedback, although they noted some practical obstacles to effective oral case presentations. After dissemination of the guidelines, 44% of students (42/96) were rated as "excellent" in oral presentation skills on standardized evaluations of the internal medicine clerkship, compared to 30% in the previous academic year (33/111; odds ratio [OR]=1.8, 95% confidence interval=1.04-3.3; p=.036). CONCLUSION: A multifaceted intervention improved medical student oral case presentation skills. Although participants noted barriers that need further attention, we demonstrated modest improvement in student performance.