Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Student Performance and Evaluation Scores.

In March 2020, the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine suspended in person clinical teaching due to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) pandemic. During this period, virtual cases, telehealth participation, and online cases were incorporated into medical education. We have examined the effects of educational outcomes of third and fourth year students throughout clerkship performance, national standardized test scores, and our local fourth year OSCE examination. We found that USMLE step 2 scores were higher in the COVID-affected group. Patient logs in the COVID-affected group were lower for internal medicine, family medicine, OBGYN, and psychiatry clerkships. Clerkship performance grades in the COVID-affected group were lower for OBGYN and higher for surgery and psychiatry, but not different in other clerkships. USNBME subject specific examination scores in the COVID-affected group were higher for internal medicine, surgery, family medicine and psychiatry, but not different in all other specialties. For the fourth year OSCE, students in the COVID-affected group performed better on note taking and worse on physical examination. Future investigations will be needed to explore how our COVID-affected medical students perform in residency and beyond.

Impact Deceleration Differences on Natural Grass Versus Synthetic Turf High School Football Fields.

American football has the highest rate of concussions in United States high school sports. Within American football, impact against the playing surface is the second-most common mechanism of injury. The objective of this study was to determine if there is a difference in impact deceleration between natural grass and synthetic turf high school football fields. A Century Body Opponent Bag (BOB) manikin was equipped with a Riddell football helmet and 3 accelerometers were placed on the forehead, apex of the head, and right ear. The manikin was dropped from a stationary position onto its front, back, and left side onto natural grass (n = 10) and synthetic turf (n = 9) outdoor football fields owned and maintained by public and private institutions on O'ahu, Hawai'i. Data was collected on 1,710 total drops. All accelerometers in forward and backward falls, and 1 accelerometer in side falls showed significantly greater impact deceleration on synthetic turf compared to the natural grass surfaces (P < .05). The results of this study provide evidence-based rationale to inform youth sports policies, particularly those aimed at injury prevention through safer playing environments and equipment.

Adult Negative Spectator Behavior at Youth Sporting Events.

Due to its competitive nature, youth sports may provide an environment that invites the display of negative parenting behavior and exposes children to adults outside of their own household. This study aimed to quantify the frequency of negative parent and spectator behavior at youth sporting events and compare incidences across different sports and age ranges. Investigators attended baseball, basketball, soccer, and football events in Central O'ahu, Hawai'i for children ages 6 to 10 years. Recorded spectator behaviors included alcohol use, smoking, swearing, and negative language (such as threats and violent language). Negative behaviors were reported at a majority (68%) of events. The 95% confidence intervals of the means (95% CIM) for all negative behaviors observed were overlapping, and we were not able to demonstrate statistically significant differences between the 4 sports. The lack of significance between sports may be due to the younger-player-age group, small sample size, and time of events.