The Virtual Hospitalist: a Critical Innovation During the COVID-19 Crisis.

A virtual hospitalist program expanded our ability to confront the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis at the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City. In concert with on-site hospitalists and redeployed physicians, virtual hospitalists aimed to expand capacity while maintaining high-quality care and communication. The program addressed multiple challenges created by our first COVID-19 surge: high patient census and acuity; limitations of and due to personal protective equipment; increased communication needs due to visitor restrictions and the uncertain nature of the novel disease, and limitations to in-person work for some physicians. The program created a mechanism to train and support new hospitalists and provide and expand palliative care services. We describe how our virtual hospitalist program operated during our COVID-19 surge in April and May 2020 and reflect on potential roles of virtual hospitalists after the COVID-19 crisis passes.

Formal art observation training improves medical students' visual diagnostic skills.

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence of inadequate physical examination skills among medical students, teaching these skills has declined. One method of enhancing inspection skills is teaching "visual literacy," the ability to reason physiology and pathophysiology from careful and unbiased observation. OBJECTIVE: To improve students' visual acumen through structured observation of artworks, understanding of fine arts concepts and applying these skills to patient care. DESIGN: Prospective, partially randomized pre- vs. post-course evaluation using mixed-methods data analysis. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-four pre-clinical student participants were compared to 34 classmates at a similar stage of training. INTERVENTION: Training the Eye: Improving the Art of Physical Diagnosis consists of eight paired sessions of art observation exercises with didactics that integrate fine arts concepts with physical diagnosis topics and an elective life drawing session. MEASUREMENTS: The frequency of accurate observations on a 1-h visual skills examination was used to evaluate pre- vs. post-course descriptions of patient photographs and art imagery. Content analysis was used to identify thematic categories. All assessments were blinded to study group and pre- vs. post-course evaluation. RESULTS: Following the course, class participants increased their total mean number of observations compared to controls (5.41 +/- 0.63 vs. 0.36 +/- 0.53, p < 0.0001) and had increased sophistication in their descriptions of artistic and clinical imagery. A 'dose-response' was found for those who attended eight or more sessions, compared to participants who attended seven or fewer sessions (6.31 + 0.81 and 2.76 + 1.2, respectively, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This interdisciplinary course improved participants' capacity to make accurate observations of art and physical findings.