Professional Development Needs of Clerkship Directors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Successful clerkship directors (CDs) must exhibit a variety of leadership, administrative, educational, and interpersonal skills. This study investigates the professional development needs for family medicine CDs to be successful in their role, in relation to career stage, institutional support, and needed resources. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of CDs at qualifying United States and Canadian medical schools was performed between April 29, 2021 and May 28, 2021. Questions addressed specific training when beginning CD position, professional development activities that have contributed to success, additional professional development skills required to be a successful CD, and planned future development activities. We utilized χ2 square and Mann-Whitney U tests for comparisons. RESULTS: Surveys were completed by 75 CDs, for a response rate of 48.8%. Only 33.3% of respondents reported receiving training specific to their role as CD. The majority of respondents cited informal mentoring and conference attendance as important to their professional development, but none identified graduate degrees as the most important method of professional development. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the lack of formal training provided to CDs and highlight the importance of informal training and conference attendance for professional development.

Family Medicine Telehealth Clinic With Medical Students.

COVID-19 has altered clinical clerkships for medical students, providing an opportunity for telehealth with medical students to take center stage in the age of technology. This research brief demonstrates why and how to incorporate medical students into telehealth. For the purposes of clinical students, telehealth is a better educational alternative to in-person patient care than online modules. We performed a successful outpatient family medicine telehealth pilot program at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) that is currently being scaled up to other clerkships. This pilot was very limited in scope, but serves as a scalable model for future telehealth programs and curricula incorporating medical students.

Medical Student Attitudes on Nutrition Counseling After Implementation of a Novel Curricular Activity.

Objective: The aim of this research was to determine the changes in medical student attitudes toward nutrition counseling after implementation of a novel curricular activity during a required third-year clerkship.Method: All third-year medical students completing their required family medicine clerkship were invited to participate in a voluntary survey composed of the Nutrition in Patient Care Survey (NIPS) and demographics before their required curricular clerkship activity consisting of two separate case-based modules focused on nutritional aspects of patient care. Students and faculty facilitators met via web platform at an assigned time to review and discuss questions. All students were invited to complete the postsurvey composed of only the NIPS.Results: Completion rate was 31% for both pre- and postsurveys. Students' intended specialty choice did not lead to a significant difference in scores on any of the five subscales on pre-intervention surveys. Almost half (43.9%) of the students who completed the surveys reported offering nutrition-related counseling despite lack of formal training. The Physician-Patient Relationship score went from 4.29 to 4.37 (p < 0.03) and the Physician Efficacy score went from 3.18 to 3.34 (p < 0.01). The was no significant difference identified pre- versus postintervention for the Clinical Behavior scales.Conclusions: The modules used in this pilot study resulted in positive changes in student attitudes toward counseling patients about nutrition. The inclusion of required case-based modules focused on nutrition is feasible and can positively impact student attitudes regarding their efficacy in counseling patients.

Text Messaging as a Teaching Tool in a Family Medicine Clerkship Rotation.

INTRODUCTION: Today's learners use multiple forms of social communication, such as text messaging, that offer a promising teaching tool for medical education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a diabetes care curriculum delivered through text messages for third-year medical students on a rural family medicine clerkship. METHODS: A pilot study of 119 participants were compared in a parallel group randomized controlled trial evaluating medical student learning and satisfaction with text messages throughout rotation compared to an email with the same content in their first week of rotation. Participants completed a 10-question multiple-choice test and six survey questions upon completing the rotation. The primary outcome was a difference between test scores among the two groups, and student satisfaction with the educational intervention was a secondary outcome. RESULTS: A total of 85 participants successfully completed the study protocol (34 text messages and 51 email) and were included in a per protocol analysis. The average number of correct responses per test was 3.32 (SD 1.29) in the texting group and 3.69 (SD 1.53) in the email group (P=0.259). Student satisfaction with text messages was 3.68 (SD 0.87) compared to email at 2.02 (SD 0.95) when rating the educational intervention on a 1 to 5 Likert scale (1=poor, 3=average, and 5=excellent). CONCLUSIONS: Participant knowledge on a challenging posttest was not improved with text messages compared to an email in this pilot study. Satisfaction with text messages was primarily positive. Further study is needed to determine the effectiveness of this content delivery method.

Physician Wellness Across the Professional Spectrum.

Physician wellness and burnout are areas of increasing exploration. Physicians are more likely than the general population to suffer the effects of burnout and neglect their own wellness; medicine and its training are deeply engrained with the care of others, often to the detriment of self. The effects vary based on the stage of career for medical trainees and physicians. However, strategies exist to screen for and help alleviate the negative effects of burnout and to improve wellness among physicians. This will continue to be an area warranting further exploration despite increasing awareness regarding the health and well-being of physicians.