A multisite randomized trial of implicit versus explicit modeling in clinical teaching.

PURPOSE: Faculty modeling of desired behaviors has historically been a part of the apprenticeship model of clinical teaching, yet little is known about best practices for modeling. This study compared the educational impact of implicitly versus explicitly modeled communication skills among U.S. medical students. METHOD: Fourth-year medical students from six U.S. academic medical centers were randomly assigned one simulated clinical encounter in which faculty provided either implicit or explicit modeling of important communication skills. Outcomes were assessed by electronic surveys immediately before and after the simulations. Students were blinded to the purpose of the study. RESULTS: Students in the explicit arm were more likely to correctly cite two of the three key specific communication elements modeled by faculty: deliberate body position (53.3% vs. 18.6%, p < 0.001) and summarizing patient understanding (62.2% vs. 11.6%, p < 0.001). More students in the explicit study arm reported faculty 'demonstrated a key behavior that they wanted me to be able to perform in the future' (93.2% versus 62.8%, p = 0.002). Participating faculty stated they would modify their teaching approach in response to their experiences in the study. CONCLUSIONS: In a multi-center randomized trial, explicit faculty role-modeling led to greater uptake of communication knowledge, greater recognition of skills, and a greater sense that faculty expected these skills to be adopted by students. These results must be considered in the context, however, of a simulated environment and a short timeframe for assessing learning with students who volunteered for a simulated experience.

Double Trouble: A Unique Case of Hypercalcemia Caused by Two Underlying Etiologies.

Hypercalcemia has a variety of causes, with primary hyperparathyroidism and malignancies being the most frequently reported. We present the case of a patient presenting with chronic abdominal pain, constipation, and weight loss who was found to have hypercalcemia. The patient was initially diagnosed with colonic actinomycosis, but further investigations revealed an intra-abdominal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We suspect that the leading cause of hypercalcemia was the DLBCL, likely exacerbated by actinomycosis. Actinomycosis and DLBCL can have a similar presentation, so misdiagnosis or coexistence of both conditions should be suspected when a lack of response to one specific therapy is observed.

Development and Validation of a Test for Competence in Evidence-Based Medicine.

BACKGROUND: Medical educators need valid, reliable, and efficient tools to assess evidence-based medicine (EBM) knowledge and skills. Available EBM assessment tools either do not assess skills or are laborious to grade. OBJECTIVE: To validate a multiple-choice-based EBM test-the Resident EBM Skills Evaluation Tool (RESET). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 304 medicine residents from five training programs and 33 EBM experts comprised the validation cohort. MAIN MEASURES: Internal reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination were assessed. Construct validity was assessed by comparing mean total scores of trainees to experts. Experts were also asked to rate importance of each test item to assess content validity. KEY RESULTS: Experts had higher total scores than trainees (35.6 vs. 29.4, P < 0.001) and also scored significantly higher than residents on 11/18 items. Cronbach's alpha was 0.6 (acceptable), and no items had a low item-total correlation. Item difficulty ranged from 7 to 86%. All items were deemed "important" by > 50% of experts. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed EBM assessment tool is a reliable and valid instrument to assess competence in EBM. It is easy to administer and grade and could be used to guide and assess interventions in EBM education.

Evolving practice of hospital medicine and its impact on hospital throughput and efficiencies.

Hospitalists are uniquely positioned to implement strategies to improve patient flow and efficiency. Hospital leaders have stated they expect hospitalists to comanage surgical patients, participate in observation units, and screen medical admissions, in addition to providing inpatient care for medical patients. We review how the hospitalists' role in acute inpatient care, surgical comanagement, short stay units, chest pain units, and active bed management has improved throughput and patient flow.