Role Modeling Kindness at the Bedside.

Compassion and kindness are interchangeable attitudes and behaviors in society. As evidence shows the importance of compassion and kindness in healthcare, there has been a push to nurture and teach compassion through experiential learning in medical schools. However, there is not much evidence of educating learners on the importance of kindness as the complement or foundation of compassion and empathy. Kindness is the ability to act positively and appropriately and can be provided without emotion, judgment, or expecting anything in return. Kindness does not require the receiver to be in severe distress or suffering. Acts of kindness can be random acts done to anyone, anytime, with or without illness or suffering. Research shows that kindness elevates the healthcare profession for both clinicians and patients. Compassion and kindness must be taught through the integrated approach of role modeling, observation, practice, experience, and reflection in the classroom and in the clinical environment. It is vital that medical schools and healthcare institutions' faculty and staff make kindness to patients, families, and staff a key behavior, along with compassion and empathy. There is more that can be done to encourage acts of kindness through everyday actions; educators can display kindness toward colleagues and medical students in their learning. Kindness can improve conversations with patients and improve the emotional and social well-being of learners. Displaying kindness during bedside or classroom teaching would engrain its importance in the professional identity formation of future generations of physicians.

Nurturing Empathy through Arts, Literature, and Role Play for Postgraduate Trainees of Ophthalmology.

Background and Purpose: Empathy is essential in patient-centered compassionate health care. Lack of formal training, workload, patient factors, and digitalization have been attributed to its regression. Empathy can be nurtured by educational interventions. A structured empathy education module for postgraduate trainees is not available in India. The aim for this research was to develop, deliver, and evaluate one for ophthalmology postgraduate trainees. Methodology: This interventional study was conducted in the tertiary ophthalmology department of Western India during 2022-2023. Four workshops comprising of interactive lectures, literature, creative arts, and role plays were delivered with trained facilitators. Data from surveys for trainee self-assessment, patient perception of trainee empathy, pre-post knowledge test, and trainee and facilitator feedback were collected and analyzed. Results: Seventy-nine ophthalmology postgraduate trainees participated in this intervention. Excessive workload and lack of training were shared as the barriers to empathetic care. Trainees showed improved knowledge, skills, and attitude in empathy after the workshops. The facilitators and trainees were satisfied with the learning goals, execution, utility, feasibility, and relevance of the workshops. Ninety-three percent trainees want this module to be a part of postgraduate curriculum. Conclusion: This study substantiates the use of structured interactive training for cultivating empathy in postgraduate trainees. Barriers against empathy were identified and can be mitigated by restorative measures. Literature, arts, and role plays are the effective education tools for empathy.

Exploring Generative Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Medical Education: Assessing Case-Based Learning for Medical Students.

The recent public release of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has brought fresh excitement by making access to GenAI for medical education easier than ever before. It is now incumbent upon both students and faculty to determine the optimal role of GenAI within the medical school curriculum. Given the promise and limitations of GenAI, this study aims to assess the current capabilities of a GenAI (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, ChatGPT), specifically within the framework of a pre-clerkship case-based active learning curriculum. The role of GenAI is explored by evaluating its performance in generating educational materials, creating medical assessment questions, answering medical queries, and engaging in clinical reasoning by prompting it to respond to a problem-based learning scenario. Our results demonstrated that GenAI addressed epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment questions well. However, there were still instances where it failed to provide comprehensive answers. Responses from GenAI might offer essential information, hint at the need for further inquiry, or sometimes omit critical details. GenAI struggled with generating information on complex topics, raising a significant concern when using it as a 'search engine' for medical student queries. This creates uncertainty for students regarding potentially missed critical information. With the increasing integration of GenAI into medical education, it is imperative for faculty to become well-versed in both its advantages and limitations. This awareness will enable them to educate students on using GenAI effectively in medical education.

Micromanagement in clinical supervision: a scoping review.

Micromanagement in clinical supervision in health professions education generally refers to supervision characterized by unproductive excessive control and attention to detail. It can affect autonomy, competence, well-being of learners, teamwork, and ultimately patient care. Despite its potential negative impact on learners and patients, no comprehensive review of this phenomenon has been conducted. This scoping review aims to explore the breadth of extant literature concerning micromanagement in clinical supervision in health professions education and map the body of research on the topic. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR). We searched eight databases, and the final review and analysis comprised 12 articles that examined micromanagement in clinical supervision across health professions education. Micromanagement was conceptualized as ineffective supervisory practices such as undue scrutiny, excessive control, domination, and ineffectual leadership. Conversely, alternatives to micromanagement included entrusting or granting autonomy, coaching for independent practice, and providing effective supervision and leadership. Overall, micromanagement was attributed to individual behavioral and personality factors, such as distrust, perfectionism, self-conviction, and low self-esteem. The consequences of micromanagement included inadequacies in professional development and well-being of trainees and patient care, and organizational dysfunction. Suggested solutions included entrusting or empowering trainees with encouragement and clear communication, open communication efforts by trainees, organizational management for quality supervision, and faculty's valuing both clinical and educational goals. Current literature on micromanagement-in the context of clinical supervision in health professions education-was found to be sparse, implying a need for more rigorous research and discourse on this understudied area. The findings can be used to recognize, solve, and prevent the prevalent, and often unrecognized, phenomena of micromanagement, which may improve clinical supervision, the professional development of trainees and faculty, organizational management, and ultimately patient care.

The Emerging Role of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education, Research, and Practice.

Recent breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and the emergence of transformer-based large language models such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) have the potential to transform healthcare education, research, and clinical practice. This article examines the current trends in using GAI models in medicine, outlining their strengths and limitations. It is imperative to develop further consensus-based guidelines to govern the appropriate use of GAI, not only in medical education but also in research, scholarship, and clinical practice.

Role Modeling in Medical Education: A Twenty-First Century Learner's Perspective.

Traditional role modeling is a complex process of observation and emulation delivered by experienced senior physicians with an unknown outcome. Role modeling through organized modalities has been utilized as an educational tool in medical school for years. However, effects of parenting, near peers, gender, race, and social media on role modeling in medical education have not been well characterized yet play a significant role in the development of modern clinicians. The aim of this paper is to encourage students as future medical and clinical educators through an in-depth analysis of role modeling, with the goal of improving their "role modeling consciousness."

Racial Identity and Relevance in Teaching Clinical Skills and Diagnostic Medicine: A Small/Pilot Focus Session to Engage Medical Educators.

Background The relevance and importance of using racial and ethnic categories in medical education is an area requiring richer discussion and engagement among all health professions educators. Objectives There is a genuine need to identify opportunities for leveraging social and structural determinants of health to address health disparities within medical education. We designed a focus session led by a team of diverse clinical and basic science faculty to analyze how medical curricula can integrate racial/ethnic identity as a clinical indicator. We sought to develop strategies to empower medical students and teachers to integrate race as a social rather than a biological construct. Methods The 90-minute focus session included an interactive presentation reviewing the literature related to the use of racial identity in medical education, small group case-based discussions in breakout rooms, a large group debrief, and an optional activity for participants to apply the knowledge gained. The study was approved by the Nova Southeastern University Institutional Review Board (IRB #: 2021-185-NSU). Results Thirty-three participants attended the session at the 2021 International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) Conference. Eleven (33%) participated in both pre-session and post-session surveys. Survey data revealed significant pre-/post-changes in the knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of using race in medical education. Qualitative data indicated that participants acquired new knowledge related to the integration of racial identity as a clinical indicator and they were willing to incorporate strategies learned into their teaching. Conclusion Our study data suggests that this focus session equipped faculty with new knowledge and resources to effectively incorporate racial/ethnic identity into medical school curricula to increase awareness of healthcare disparities.

Defining Advising, Coaching, and Mentoring for Student Development in Medical Education.

Medical school curricula integrate classroom academic teaching, hands-on clinical training, longitudinal professional development, and identity formation to prepare students to enter the healthcare workforce as residents. Mentorship, coaching, and advising are well-recognized approaches used by educators to help young learners accomplish their personal and professional goals and objectives. However, undergraduate medical education literature has not clearly articulated the distinctions between the roles and core responsibilities of each guidance approach. Attempts to describe each role and responsibility have generated ambiguity and steered institutions towards implementing their own role-specific functions. The purpose of this paper is to establish a functional framework that may be used to differentiate the principal duties of a mentor, coach, and advisor in the context of undergraduate medical education (UME). Four key components are necessary to achieve this goal: (1) adopting a singular definition for each form of guidance; (2) characterizing each role based on unique skills; (3) describing the interplay between learner needs and educator capabilities; (4) training educators on how to effectively distinguish each form of guidance. Creating clear distinctions between mentors, coaches, and advisors in medical education will bolster students' academic experience and improve the educator-learner relationship. These definitions may also benefit faculty members by providing a clear framework for their responsibilities, which can be used for evaluations or determining future promotions.

Micromanagement During Clinical Supervision: Solutions to the Challenges.

Learner autonomy is an invaluable asset in graduate medical education, preparing the trainee to independently face challenges in the future professional settings. Educational institutions face the difficult task of providing a balance between learner autonomy and supervision. In graduate medical education, trainees often prefer less supervision than what is imparted by their attending physician. This increased supervision comes at the cost of learner autonomy and has not exhibited improvement in patient outcomes or safety. When attendings exhibit control over details, the trainees may label them as "micromanagers". Cardinal features of a micromanager include excessively requesting updates, insisting that the task be done their way, and scrutinizing every detail. This micromanaging behavior is non-conducive to the learning environment and may even contribute to supervisor burnout. The business literature reveals a debate about this very topic. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of literature on micromanagement in graduate medical education. Although a conglomerate of internal factors may lead to excessive supervision in an academic medical institution, we surmise that micromanagement exists because of a complex dynamic between three drivers: accountability, trust, and autonomy. When trainees are held accountable, they learn to take ownership for their actions which leads to establishment of trust which further enables motivation and gaining of autonomy. Supervising attendings should ideally be able to comfortably adjust their level of supervision based on their trust and the trainee's competence, accountability, and autonomy. The micromanaging physician is unable to do so, and this can have a detrimental effect on the learner. Micromanagement can be perceived by some as a beneficial component during the early immersion of the trainee with the rationalization for better patient outcomes and safety. However, in the long term, it threatens the learning environment and erodes the complex relationship between accountability, trust, and autonomy. We recommend an action plan to mitigate micromanagement at three levels-the micromanager, the micromanaged, and the organizational structure-and hope that these solutions enhance the learning environment for both the trainee and supervisor.

Segregation Predicts COVID-19 Fatalities in Less Densely Populated Counties.

Aim It is well known that social determinants of health (SDoH) have affected COVID-19 outcomes, but these determinants are broad and complex. Identifying essential determinants is a prerequisite to address widening health disparities during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Methods County-specific COVID-19 fatality data from California, Illinois, and New York, three US states with the highest county-cevel COVID-19 fatalities as of June 15, 2020, were analyzed. Twenty-three county-level SDoH, collected from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHRR), were considered. A median split on the population-adjusted COVID-19 fatality rate created an indicator for high or low fatality. The decision tree method, which employs machine learning techniques, analyzed and visualized associations between SDoH and high COVID-19 fatality rate at the county level. Results Of the 23 county-level SDoH considered, population density, residential segregation (between white and non-white populations), and preventable hospitalization rates were key predictors of COVID-19 fatalities. Segregation was an important predictor of COVID-19 fatalities in counties of low population density. The model area under the curve (AUC) was 0.79, with a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 76%. Conclusion Our findings, using a novel analytical lens, suggest that COVID-19 fatality is high in areas of high population density. While population density correlates to COVID-19 fatality, our study also finds that segregation predicts COVID-19 fatality in less densely populated counties. These findings have implications for COVID-19 resource planning and require appropriate attention.

"I Agree to Disagree": Comparative Ethical and Legal Analysis of Big Data and Genomics for Privacy, Consent, and Ownership.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: Digital healthcare, as it relates to big data and genomics, presents a real threat to privacy and ownership rights for individuals and society. Research Question/Hypothesis: Our experience with genomics provides a lens to facilitate the way we navigate toward a future health data space. Contemporary and innovative legal and ethical models can be applied to concepts of privacy, ownership, and consent in relation to big data. SIGNIFICANCE: Technological innovation has transformed healthcare at a faster rate than legal reform, security measures, and consent policies can adapt. The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been recognized as a work in progress, with respect to big data as it relates to healthcare and individual wellbeing. The shortcomings of HIPAA, and its application to big data, can be paralleled with its prior limitations surrounding genomics in the last two decades. The Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act (2008) and Genomic Data Sharing Policy (2015) were established to overcome HIPAA's inadequacies concerning genetic discrimination and security. These policies can serve as a basic model for our approach to legislative reform as it relates to privacy risks with big data generated in healthcare and from healthy individuals in society who are not patients. In addition to notions of privacy, concepts of ownership and consent have become increasingly vague and opaque. The technological advancements have facilitated access and transmission of information, such that big data can be sold for financial gain for commercial enterprise. This applies to genomics, with companies like 23andMe, in addition to big data, as it relates to big tech giants like Apple or Google who oversee wearable and search term data. Clarity of ownership within a digital healthcare arena needs to be defined through ethical and legal frameworks at a global level. APPROACH: A narrative review of the literature published between 2010 and 2021 was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. Articles discussing privacy, security, ownership, big data, and genomics were included as relevant literature. IMPORTANCE: As a society, we are at a crossroads; we must determine the extent of privacy that we are willing to give for science and society. We cannot continue with the current status quo in hope that individual will be used for the greater good of society. We need to strive for a cohesive approach to combat privacy violations by encouraging legislative reform, ethical accountability, and individual responsibility.

Advanced Placement Courses for Medical School: A Novel AMed Track to Reduce Financial Burden and Attract Nontraditional Students.

Medical school admissions have become increasingly competitive, creating a pool of nontraditional applicants that seek postbaccalaureate training in biomedical sciences. Several postbaccalaureate and graduate programs developed curricula that, except for learning clinical skills, mirror the learning objectives of the foundational science curricula in medical schools. This education structure provides applicants with a competitive advantage when applying to medical schools. However, basic science curriculum assessments in medical schools have changed to pass/fail scoring systems. As a result, students that participate in preparatory postbaccalaureate and graduate programs cannot show their superior level of knowledge and may find some core foundational science subjects redundant during their pre-clerkship medical education. The aim of this article is to propose an innovative system for matriculation into medical school through the AdvancedMed (AMed) Track, a three-year accelerated medical curriculum in which graduate curricula adopt an advanced placement course called AMed courses. This system would mirror the structure of the high school Advanced Placement (AP) system; therefore, students would take AMed courses similar in rigor to medical school basic science courses. These courses include Anatomy, Histology, Physiology, Cellular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Microbiology, Immunology, Biostatistics, and Epidemiology. All courses would require a scored national standardized test to receive medical school credit toward a three-year accelerated track curriculum. Nontraditional students could choose to study independently and take the AMed standardized examination for credit to enter the AMed Track. Medical schools have the incentive to start an AMed Track because its implementation could lessen the financial burden, reduce time spent in medical school, and increase the participation of nontraditional medical students.

The smile is stronger than the handshake.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Healthcare providers struggle with the timing of handwashing and the handshake during the visit with patients, we question whether the handshake is even a necessary component of the modern introduction. The Physician-Patient relationship is strongest when built on trust, and typically begins with a traditional handshake. The importance of hand hygiene has become an integral part of the patient encounter. Taking a break for hand-hygiene interrupts the natural flow of the initial introduction and non-verbal body language to our patients. In current time constrained visits, we focus on handwashing instead of on continuous eye-contact with our patient. It is arguable that the elimination of the handshake may allow one to focus on more culturally acceptable universal verbal and non-verbal communication skills that help us to build essential trust with our patients.

Unusual Advice to Prevent Burnout in Early Medical career.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Burnout is known to be a chronic response to prolonged occupational stressors. Learners, faculty, and other health care professionals experience burnout since they often lack the emotional, physical, and mental means to overcome the demands of professional work, their careers and life in general. Furthermore, higher demand for patient care revenue, teaching, scholarship and research has increased the prevalence of psychological strain and burnout among physicians. Every health care professional need guidance when starting a new job and career after the training period. A medical student's goals differ from those of a post graduate trainee (resident or fellow) and a resident's current goals will differ from those of his or her first "real" job. This article will explore simple advice to young doctors who are embarking on their first job post residency training. It will explain the importance of valuable mentorship, how to become a regional expert and how to juggle responsibilities in the workplace and home. It highlights the importance of writing and journaling reflections and preparing for unexpected twists during a medical career and why all physicians should strive to make time for themselves and their hobbies. Inculcating these simple habits and attitudes can make the physician's job more rewarding and meaningful. Physicians following these tips and guidelines may find more fulfilment and meaning in their professional and personal lives leading to lesser burnout on the job.

Innovative curriculum: Integrating the bio-behavioral and social science principles across the LifeStages in basic science years.

Behavioral and social science integration in clinical practice improves health outcomes across the life stages. The medical school curriculum requires an integration of the behavioral and social science principles in early medical education. We developed and delivered a four-week course entitled "LifeStages" to the first year medical students. The learning objectives of the bio-behavioral and social science principles along with the cultural, economic, political, and ethical parameters were integrated across the lifespan in the curriculum matrix. We focused on the following major domains: Growth and Brain Development; Sexuality, Hormones and Gender; Sleep; Cognitive and Emotional Development; Mobility, Exercise, Injury and Safety; Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle; Stress and coping skills, Domestic Violence; Substance Use Disorders; Pain, Illness and Suffering; End of Life, Ethics and Death along with Intergenerational issues and Family Dynamics. Collaboration from the clinical and biomedical science departments led to the dynamic delivery of the course learning objectives and content. The faculty developed and led a scholarly discussion, using the case of a multi-racial, multi-generational family during Active Learning Group (ALG) sessions. The assessment in the LifeStages course involved multiple assessment tools: including the holistic assessment by the faculty facilitator inside ALGs, a Team-Based Learning (TBL) exercise, multiple choice questions and Team Work Assessment during which the students had to create a clinical case on a LifeStages domain along with the facilitators guide and learning objectives.

Zebrafish acid ceramidase: Expression in Pichia pastoris GS115and biochemical characterization.

Acid ceramidase (N-acylsphingosine deacylase EC 3.5.1.23; AC) catalyzes the hydrolysis of ceramide into sphingosine (SPH) and free fatty acid. Zebrafish acid ceramidase (AC) has 60% homology with the human AC). Mutations in the human AC gene asah1 are known to cause Farber disease and spinal muscular atrophy with progressive myoclonic epilepsy. Zebrafish AC was overexpressed in Pichia pastoris by inserting asah1b gene into the genome. The majority of the overexpressed enzyme was secreted into the culture medium and purified to apparent homogeneity by stepwise chromatography. The recombinant protein was glycosylated precursor, that further undergoes limited autoproteolytic processing into two subunits (α and ß) which are visible in SDS-PAGE. The zebrafish AC is heterodimer associated with an inter-subunit disulfide bond. SDS-PAGE estimated the mass of native enzyme to be approximately 50 kDa & size exclusion chromatography estimated the mass of the active enzyme as approximately 100 kDa, suggesting the formation of a dimer of heterodimers. The protein was secreted as a mixture of processed and unprocessed forms in the culture media. A preliminary characterization of purified zebrafish AC was done by an enzyme assay. The zebrafish AC expressed in Pichia pastoris would be used for further structural and functional analysis.