Better together: A multistakeholder approach to developing specialty-wide entrustable professional activities in emergency medicine.

Purpose: Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are a widely used framework for curriculum and assessment, yet the variability in emergency medicine (EM) training programs mandates the development of EPAs that meet the needs of the specialty as a whole. This requires eliciting and incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders (i.e., faculty, residents, and patients) in the development of EPAs. Without a shared understanding of what a resident must be able to do upon graduation, we run the risk of advancing ill-prepared residents that may provide inconsistent care. Methods: In an effort to address these challenges, beginning in February 2020, the authors assembled an advisory board of 25 EM faculty to draft and reach consensus on a final list of EPAs that can be used across all training programs within the specialty of EM. Using modified Delphi methodology, the authors came to consensus on an initial list of 22 EPAs. The authors presented these EPAs to faculty supervisors, residents, and patients for refinement. The authors collated and analyzed feedback from focus groups of residents and patients using thematic analysis. The EPAs were subsequently refined based on this feedback. Results: Stakeholders in EM residency training endorsed a final revised list of 22 EPAs. Stakeholder focus groups highlighted two main thematic considerations that helped shape the finalized list of EM EPAs: attention to the meaningful nuances of EPA language and contextualizing the EPAs and viewing them developmentally. Conclusions: To foreground all key stakeholders within the EPA process for EM, the authors chose within the development process to draft; come to consensus; and refine EPAs for EM in collaboration with relevant faculty, patient, and resident stakeholders. Each stakeholder group contributed meaningfully to the content and intended implementation of the EPAs. This process may serve as a model for others in developing stakeholder-responsive EPAs.

Emergency Medicine Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Case-Based Curriculum for Residents.

Introduction: Millions of patients present to US emergency departments every year with OB/GYN concerns. Emergency medicine trainees must be adequately prepared to care for this population, regardless of how commonly they appear in the training environment. We used active learning and gamification principles in this curriculum to increase learner engagement and participation in the material. Methods: We chose OB/GYN topics based on review of Tintinalli's OB/GYN content and the American Board of Emergency Medicine's Model of Clinical Practice. Each session comprised a case-based lecture and review questions using the game-based Kahoot! online software. Pre- and postcurriculum surveys assessed residents' confidence in caring for emergent OB/GYN pathologies on a 5-point Likert scale. We designed survey questions assessing the first level of Kirkpatrick's levels of training evaluation; these questions were reviewed and revised by the department's Medical Education Scholarship Committee for validity. Results: A mean of 18 residents attended each session. Seventy-six percent of residents (26 of 34) completed the precurriculum survey, 67% (23 of 34) completed the postcurriculum survey, and 44% (15 of 34) completed both. For all respondents, mean reported confidence with curriculum topics increased from 3.5 to 4.0 (p < .05). For residents completing both surveys, confidence increased from 3.4 to 4.0 (p < .01). Discussion: Application of this curriculum significantly improved learner confidence in targeted OB/GYN topics. Future directions could include evaluating curricular impact at higher levels in the Kirkpatrick model, extending sessions to include more time for interaction, and adding suggested readings.

From intern to "accepted": A guide to preparing for fellowship in emergency medicine.

Introduction: The number of fellowship options for emergency medicine (EM) physicians continues to expand. While guides exist to help residents explore individual fellowship pathways, we aimed to create a comprehensive guide for all residents considering fellowship. Methods: At the direction of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Board, 9 members of the Fellowship Guide Workgroup, including members of the Fellowship Approval Committee, and 2 members of SAEM Residents and Medical Students (RAMS) group collaboratively developed the guide using available evidence and expert opinion when high-quality evidence was unavailable. The guide was reviewed and approved by all members. Results: The guide offers advice to EM residents on how to conceptualize key aspects of their training with respect to preparation for fellowship, including scholarship, teaching, leadership, and electives. Additionally, it offers perspective on selecting a fellowship that matches the resident's interests and goals and successfully applying. Conclusion: This fellowship guide for EM residents considering fellowship summarizes the best currently available advice for residents considering fellowship training after residency.

Documentation from trained medical students has a low rate of relative downcoding for emergency medicine encounters.

Background: Since 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines have allowed teaching physicians to bill for evaluation and management services based on medical student documentation. Limited previous data suggest that medical student documentation suffers from a high rate of downcoding relative to faculty documentation. We sought to compare the coding outcomes of documentation performed by medical students, and not edited by faculty, with documentation edited and submitted by faculty. Methods: A total of 104 randomly selected notes from real patient encounters written by senior medical students were compared to the revised notes submitted by faculty. The note pairs were then split and reviewed by blinded professional coders and assigned level of service (LoS) codes 1-5 (corresponding to E&M CPT codes 99281-99285). Results: We found that the LoS agreement between student and faculty note versions was 63%, with 23% of all student notes receiving lower LoS compared to faculty notes (downcoded). This was found to be similar to baseline variability in professional coder LoS designations. Conclusions: Notes from medical students who have completed a focused documentation curriculum have less LoS downcoding than in previous reports.

Emergency Medicine Residents' "Just World" Bias Is Not Associated with a Biased Case Mix.

INTRODUCTION: Belief in a just world is the cognitive bias that "one gets what they deserve." Stronger belief in a just world for others (BJW-O) has been associated with discrimination against individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) or poor health status, as they may be perceived to have "deserved" their situation. Emergency medicine (EM) residents have been shown to "cherry pick" patients; in this study we sought to determine whether BJW-O is associated with a biased case mix seen in residency. METHODS: We assessed EM residents on their BJW-O using a scale with previous validity evidence and behavioral correlates. We identified chief complaints that residents may associate with low SES or poor health status, including psychiatric disease, substance use disorder (SUD); and patients with multidisciplinary care plans due to frequent ED visits. We then calculated the percentage of each of these patient types seen by each resident as well as correlations and a multiple linear regression. RESULTS: 38 of 48 (79%) residents completed the BJW-O, representing 98,825 total patient encounters. The median BJW-O score was 3.25 (interquartile range 2.81-3.75). There were no significant correlations observed between BJW-O and the percentage of patients with multidisciplinary care plans who were seen, or patients with psychiatric, SUD, dental or sickle cell chief complaints seen; and a multiple linear regression showed no significant association. CONCLUSION: Higher BJW-O scores in EM residents are not significantly associated with a biased case mix of patients seen in residency.

A Model Curriculum for an Emergency Medicine Residency Rotation in Clinical Informatics.

Audience: This curriculum is designed for emergency medicine residents at all levels of training. The curriculum covers basic foundations in clinical informatics for improving patient care and outcomes, utilizing data, and leading improvements in emergency medicine. Length of Curriculum: The curriculum is designed for a four-week rotation. Introduction: The American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandated that all Emergency Medicine (EM) residents receive specific training in the use of information technology.1,2 To our knowledge, a clinical informatics curriculum for EM residents does not exist. We propose the following standardized and reproducible educational curriculum for EM residents. Educational Goals: The aim of this curriculum is to teach informatics skills to emergency physicians to improve patient care and outcomes, utilize data, and develop projects to lead change.3 These goals will be achieved by providing a foundational informatics elective for EM residents that follows the delineation of practice for Clinical Informatics outlined by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM).4-6. Educational Methods: The educational strategies used in this curriculum include asynchronous learning via books, papers, videos, and websites. Residents attend administrative sessions (meetings), develop a project proposal, and participate in small group discussions.The rotation emphasizes the basic concepts surrounding clinical informatics with an emphasis on improving care delivery and outcomes, information systems, data governance and analytics, as well as leadership and professionalism. The course focuses on the practical application of these concepts, including implementation, clinical decision support, workflow analysis, privacy and security, information technology across the patient care continuum, health information exchange, data analytics, and leading change through stakeholder engagement. Research Methods: An initial version of the curriculum was introduced to two separate institutions and was completed by three rotating resident physicians and one rotating resident pharmacist. A brief course evaluation as well as qualitative feedback was solicited from elective participants by the course director, via email following the completion of the course, regarding the effectiveness of the course content. Learner feedback was used to influence the development of this complete curriculum. Results: The curriculum was graded by learners on a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The mean response to, "This course was a valuable use of my elective time," was 5 (sd=0). The mean response to, "I achieved the learning objectives," and "This rotation helped me understand Clinical Informatics," were both 4.75 (sd=0.5). Discussion: Overall, participants reported that the content was effective for achieving the learning objectives. During initial implementation, we found that the preliminary asynchronous learning component worked less effectively than we anticipated due to a lower volume of content. In response to this, as well as resident feedback, we added significantly more educational content.In conclusion, this model curriculum provides a structured process for an informatics rotation for the emergency medicine resident that utilizes the core competencies established by the governing bodies of the clinical informatics specialty and ACGME. Topics: Clinical informatics key concepts, including definitions, fundamental terminology, history, policy and regulations, ethical considerations, clinical decision support, health information systems, data governance and analytics, process improvement, stakeholder engagement and change management.

Number of Patient Encounters in Emergency Medicine Residency Does Not Correlate with In-Training Exam Domain Scores.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency medicine (EM) residents take the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) In-Training Examination (ITE) every year. This examination is based on the ABEM Model of Clinical Practice (Model). The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the number of patient encounters a resident sees within a specific clinical domain and their ITE performance on questions that are related to that domain. METHODS: Chief complaint data for each patient encounter was taken from the electronic health record for EM residents graduating in three consecutive years between 2016-2021. We excluded patient encounters without an assigned resident or a listed chief complaint. Chief complaints were then categorized into one of 20 domains based on the 2016 Model. We calculated correlations between the total number of encounters seen by a resident for all clinical years and their ITE performance for the corresponding clinical domain from their third year of training. RESULTS: Available for analysis were a total of 232,625 patient encounters and 69 eligible residents who treated the patients. We found no statistically significant correlations following Bonferroni correction for multiple analyses. CONCLUSION: There was no correlation between the number of patient encounters a resident has within a clinical domain and their ITE performance on questions corresponding to that domain. This suggests the need for separate but parallel educational missions to achieve success in both the clinical environment and standardized testing.

Curated collection for clinician educators: Six key papers on residency recruitment.

INTRODUCTION: All emergency medicine (EM) residency programs must recruit new medical school graduates each year. The process is often overwhelming, with each program receiving far more applicants than available positions. We searched for evidence-based best practices to guide residency programs in screening, interviewing, and ranking applicants to ensure a high-performing and diverse residency class. METHODS: A literature search was conducted on the topic of residency recruitment, utilizing a call on social media as well as multiple databases. After identifying relevant articles, we performed a modified Delphi process in three rounds, utilizing junior educators as well as more senior faculty. RESULTS: We identified 51 relevant articles on the topic of residency recruitment. The Delphi process yielded six articles that were deemed most highly relevant over the three rounds. Transparency with selection criteria, holistic application review, standardized letters of evaluation, and blinding applicant files for interviewers were among noted best practices. CONCLUSIONS: Well-supported evidence-based practices exist for residency recruitment, and programs may benefit from understanding which common recruitment practices offer the most value. The articles discussed here provide a foundation for faculty looking to improve their program's recruiting practices.

Coping Strategies Utilized by Emergency Department Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 has exposed health care workers to new stressors; emergency department providers are at risk of increased stress. It is unknown how coping strategies are utilized by this group during a pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey incorporating the Brief COPE inventory was deployed to residents, fellows, faculty, and physician assistants at a single US academic emergency department in the spring (April 2020 - May 2020) and winter (December 2020 - January 2021). Scores for 14 individual coping strategies, as well as approach (positive) and avoidant (negative) coping categories, were measured, and utilization of these coping strategies was compared with respect to the provider's role, sex, the number of people living at home, presence of pets and/or children at home, and stress level. RESULTS: The response rate was 58/103 (56.3%) and 50/109 (45.9%) for the spring and winter distributions, respectively. In the spring, 70.6% of responders reported increased stress vs 66% in the winter. Overall utilization of coping strategies increased slightly between spring and winter for approach coping (32.22 to 32.64) and avoidant coping (20.95 to 21.73). Resident physicians utilized less approach coping and more avoidant coping when compared to faculty/fellows. Substance use overall had a relatively low score, which increased slightly between spring and winter distributions (2.93 to 3.04). CONCLUSIONS: Approach coping was frequently utilized among ED providers during the COVID-19 pandemic study period. Resident physicians had higher utilization of avoidant coping strategies compared to faculty/fellows and could benefit from targeted wellness interventions during times of increased stress.

Natural language processing and entrustable professional activity text feedback in surgery: A machine learning model of resident autonomy.

BACKGROUND: Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) contain narrative 'entrustment roadmaps' designed to describe specific behaviors associated with different entrustment levels. However, these roadmaps were created using expert committee consensus, with little data available for guidance. Analysis of actual EPA assessment narrative comments using natural language processing may enhance our understanding of resident entrustment in actual practice. METHODS: All text comments associated with EPA microassessments at a single institution were combined. EPA-entrustment level pairs (e.g. Gallbladder Disease-Level 1) were identified as documents. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a common machine learning algorithm, was used to identify latent topics in the documents associated with a single EPA. These topics were then reviewed for interpretability by human raters. RESULTS: Over 18 months, 1015 faculty EPA microassessments were collected from 64 faculty for 80 residents. LDA analysis identified topics that mapped 1:1 to EPA entrustment levels (Gammas >0.99). These LDA topics appeared to trend coherently with entrustment levels (words demonstrating high entrustment were consistently found in high entrustment topics, word demonstrating low entrustment were found in low entrustment topics). CONCLUSIONS: LDA is capable of identifying topics relevant to progressive surgical entrustment and autonomy in EPA comments. These topics provide insight into key behaviors that drive different level of resident autonomy and may allow for data-driven revision of EPA entrustment maps.

COVID-19: A Driver for Disruptive Innovation of the Emergency Medicine Residency Application Process.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on undergraduate medical education with limitation of patient care activities and disruption to medical licensing examinations. In an effort to promote both safety and equity, the emergency medicine (EM) community has recommended no away rotations for EM applicants and entirely virtual interviews during this year's residency application cycle. These changes affect the components of the EM residency application most highly regarded by program directors - Standardized Letters of Evaluation from EM rotations, board scores, and interactions during the interview. The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine Application Process Improvement Committee suggests solutions not only for the upcoming year but also to address longstanding difficulties within the process, encouraging residency programs to leverage these challenges as an opportunity for disruptive innovation.

Effect of Resident Physicians in a Supervisory Role on Efficiency in the Emergency Department.

INTRODUCTION: While patient throughput and emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) are recognized as important metrics in the delivery of efficient care, they must be balanced with the educational mission of academic centers. Prior studies examining the impact of learners on throughput and LOS when staffing directly with attending physicians have yielded mixed results. Herein we sought to examine the impact of a staffing model involving a supervisory resident "pre-attending" (PAT) on ED throughput and LOS, as this model offers a valuable educational experience for residents, but may do so at the expense of operational efficiency. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 26,702 unique patient encounters at a university-affiliated community ED between July 1, 2017-January 1,2019. The experimental group was comprised of patients seen primarily by midlevel providers, who staffed with a PAT, who subsequently staffed with an attending physician. The control group was comprised of patients seen by midlevel providers and staffed directly with attendings without a PAT. We used a parametric hazard model to analyze the effect of the presence of a PAT on service time, controlling for potential confounders including timing of presentation and patient demographics. RESULTS: The presence of a PAT is associated with a statistically significant increase in service time of five minutes (p = 0.006). Holding other variables equal, predicted service time in the experimental group was 173 minutes (95% confidence interval (CI), 171-176), while that for controls was 168 minutes (95% CI, 165-171). CONCLUSION: The presence of a PAT is associated with a statistically significant increase in service time, but the magnitude (five minutes) is likely operationally insignificant. The negligible increase in service time is offset by the benefit to residents' training. The results of this study may be helpful for residency programs considering the addition of a PAT shift structure.

Entrustable Professional Activities in General Surgery: Trends in Resident Self-Assessment.

OBJECTIVE: Effective self-assessment is a cornerstone of lifelong professional development; however, evidence suggests physicians have a limited ability to self-assess. Novel strategies to improve the accuracy of learner self-assessment are needed. Our institution's surgical entrustable professional activity (EPA) implementation strategy incorporates resident self-assessment to address this issue. This study evaluates the accuracy of resident self-assessment versus faculty assessment across 5 EPAs in general surgery. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Within a single academic general surgery residency program, assessment data for 5 surgery EPAs was prospectively collected using a mobile application. Matched assessments (resident and faculty assessments for the same clinical encounter) were identified and the remainder excluded. Assessment scores were compared using Welch's t test. Agreement was analyzed using Cohen's kappa with squared weights. RESULTS: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven EPA assessments were collected in 17 months following implementation. One thousand one hundred and fifty-five (62.2%) were matched pairs. Residents under-rated their own performance relative to faculty assessments (2.36 vs 2.65, p < 0.01). This pattern held true for all subsets except for Postgraduate Year (PGY)2 residents and Inguinal Hernia EPAs. There was at least moderate agreement between matched resident and faculty EPA assessment scores (κ = 0.57). This was consistent for all EPAs except Trauma evaluations, which were completed by faculty from 2 different departments. Surgery resident self-assessments more strongly agreed with Surgery faculty assessments than Emergency Medicine faculty assessments (κ = 0.58 vs 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: Resident EPA self-assessments are equivalent or slightly lower than faculty assessments across a wide breadth of clinical scenarios. Resident and faculty matched assessments demonstrate moderate agreement.