The Effect of a Mock Medical Visit on Refugee Health Self-Efficacy and Medical Trainee Communication Apprehension.

INTRODUCTION: As refugees adjust to a new country, their health care can take a toll. Refugees may have difficulty navigating a new health care system and experience low health self-efficacy. Another potential contributor is inadequate medical trainee curriculum addressing refugee health. METHODS: We devised simulated clinic experiences called mock medical visits. Surveys were utilized before and after the mock medical visits to assess the Health Self-Efficacy Scale for refugees and the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension for trainees. RESULTS: Health Self-Efficacy Scale scores increased from 13.67 to 15.47 (P = 0.08, n = 15). Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension scores decreased from 27.1 to 25.4 (P = 0.40, n = 10). DISCUSSION: While our study did not reach statistical significance, the overall trends suggest mock medical visits can be a valuable tool to increase health self-efficacy in refugee community members and decrease intercultural communication apprehension in medical trainees.

Underprepared: influences of U.S. medical students' self-assessed confidence in immigrant and refugee health care.

BACKGROUND: United States (U.S.) census data from 2017 indicates that the percentage of persons born outside of the U.S. is increasing. However, no studies describe the amount of class time focused on immigrant and refugee health during medical school in the U.S. nor on incoming residents' confidence in providing culturally sensitive care. The objective of this study is to characterize final-year medical students' exposure to immigrant and refugee health and their confidence in caring for these populations. METHODS: A voluntary, cross-sectional survey was sent electronically to fourth-year medical students at twelve U.S. medical schools in 2020, with 707 respondents (46% response rate). Questions addressed respondents' curricular exposure to immigrant and refugee health care during medical school and their confidence in providing culturally sensitive care. Chi-square tests were used to assess relationships between categorical variables, and odds ratios were calculated for dichotomized variables. RESULTS: Most students (70.6%) described insufficient class time dedicated to culturally sensitive care, and many (64.5%) reported insufficient clinical exposure in caring for immigrants/refugees. The odds that incoming residents felt 'usually' or 'always' confident in their ability to provide culturally sensitive care to immigrants and refugees were higher in those with more class time on culturally sensitive care (OR 5.2 [3.6-7.4]), those with more clinical opportunities to care for immigrants and refugees (OR 7.2 [5.1-10.2]), and those who participated in a domestic low-resource or international elective (OR 1.4 [1.02-1.9]). More than half (55.3%) of respondents reported feeling 'not at all' or only 'sometimes' confident in their ability to provide culturally sensitive care to immigrants/refugees. CONCLUSIONS: Most fourth-year U.S. medical students entering residency feel unprepared to deliver culturally sensitive care to immigrants and refugees. This may be mediated by increased exposure to didactic curricula class time and/or experiential clinical activities, as those factors are associated with improved student confidence.

Understanding Barriers to Care for Refugee Patients: Lessons From Focus Groups.

BACKGROUND: Refugee populations resettled in the United States face health disparities and barriers to accessing care. Better understanding of the barriers this population faces may help clinicians address them. METHODS: Focus groups with refugees were held in Wisconsin. Discussion prompts such as "What could be done to improve health in your community?" were used. Notes from the focus groups were organized and coded using MAXQDA. RESULTS: Six themes were identified from the focus groups regarding health care barriers and experiences: language, interpretation, pharmacy, insurance, transportation, and respect. DISCUSSION: Clinicians working with refugee populations can strive to minimize barriers to care for refugee patients by being aware of the barriers, implementing changes in their practice, and/or community advocacy.

Caring for Refugee Patients: An Interprofessional Course in Resettlement, Medical Intake, and Culture.

INTRODUCTION: Refugees access health care at rates similar to US citizens. Many clinicians, however, do not feel prepared to care for them. This study evaluated whether an interprofessional presentation could improve knowledge of refugee health and cross-cultural comfort. METHODS: The session consisted of a lecture and 3 small-group sessions. Students from various health care programs attended via Zoom. Participants completed pre- and postsurveys to assess cross-cultural comfort and knowledge of refugee health. RESULTS: Of 161 attendees, 63 completed the presurvey (39%) and 49 completed the postsurvey (30%). All 9 knowledge questions demonstrated statistically significant improvements, while only 1 cross-cultural question showed significant improvement. DISCUSSION: The session improved knowledge of refugee health but not cross-cultural comfort, indicating the need for further interventions.

The Immigrant Partnership and Advocacy Curricular Kit: A Comprehensive Train-the-Trainer Curriculum in Immigrant and Refugee Health.

The number of immigrants and refugees in the United States is growing, yet many trainees and clinicians feel unprepared to manage the diverse needs of this population. This perspective piece describes the development of the Immigrant Partnership and Advocacy Curricular Kit (I-PACK) by the Midwest Consortium of Global Child Health Educators. I-PACK is an adjunct to the Consortium's sugarprep.org global health curricular materials. Using Kern's six-step approach to curriculum development, they developed eight modules in immigrant and refugee health that incorporate interactive learning activities. The I-PACK was launched as an open-access resource in September 2020. As of September 2021, the curriculum has been freely available at sugarprep.org/i-pack and downloaded from educators in 15 countries. The I-PACK curriculum can address a growing need in medical education to empower learners and clinicians to provide competent and compassionate care for immigrants and refugees.

Using Electronic Health Record Tools to Decrease Antibiotic Exposure in Infant Sepsis Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Our internal infant sepsis evaluation clinical practice guideline recommends infants with negative culture results who are undergoing sepsis evaluation receive antibiotics until culture results are negative for a maximum of 36 hours. The aims of our project were to decrease the percentage of patients who received >30 hours of administered antibiotic doses (recognizing effective concentrations last until hour 36) and increase 36-hour phrase documentation by using clinical decision support tools. METHODS: We used quality improvement methodology to study infants aged ≤60 days with negative culture results. The outcome measures were the percentage of patients who received >30 hours of administered antibiotic doses, the percentage of history and physical (H&P) notes that included a statement of the anticipated 36-hour antibiotic discontinuation time (36-hour phrase), and length of stay. The process measure was the use of an illness-specific H&P template or an influencer smartphrase. Balancing measures were readmissions for positive culture results. Interventions included education, an illness-specific H&P template, a criteria-based rule to default to this H&P template, and editing influencer smartphrases. RESULTS: Over 33 months, 311 patients were included. Percentage of patients who received >30 hours of administered antibiotic doses decreased from 75.6% to 62%. Percentage of H&P notes documenting the 36-hour phrase increased from 4.9% to 75.6%. Illness-specific H&P template and influencer smartphrase usage increased to a mean of 51.5%; length of stay did not change. No readmissions for positive culture results were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical decision support techniques and educational interventions popularized the "36-hour phrase" and were associated with a reduction in the antibiotic exposure in infants with negative culture results hospitalized for sepsis evaluation.

The impact of global health opportunities on residency selection.

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of medical trainees across specialties desire and expect Global Health (GH) experiences during training. It is useful for residency programs to know the impact that offering GH opportunities has on resident recruitment. The study objectives were to explore the importance of GH opportunities in residency selection among fourth-year medical students, examine the relationship between interest in GH and career plans, and describe students' perspectives on prior GH experiences. METHODS: The authors administered an electronic survey to all fourth-year medical students attending 12 different US institutions in February 2020. Data from the ten schools who were able to comply with the survey distribution methodology and with response rates above 25% were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation. RESULTS: A total of 707 fourth-year medical students from the included schools completed the survey out of 1554 possible students (46% response rate). One third of respondents ranked the presence of GH experiences in residency as moderately or very important and 26% felt that the presence of a formal GH curriculum was at least moderately important, with variation noted among specialties. After training, 65% of students envision practicing internationally in some capacity. A desire to care for underserved patients in their careers was significantly correlated with an interest in GH experiences during residency. CONCLUSIONS: The opportunity to be involved in GH experiences during training can be an important factor for many medical students when considering residency choice, and the availability of these opportunities may be a valuable recruitment tool. Students valuing GH opportunities during residency are more interested in working with underserved populations in their future careers.

The Great Gut Mimicker: A case report of MIS-C and appendicitis clinical presentation overlap in a teenage patient.

BACKGROUND: Abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal symptoms are common presenting features of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and can overlap with infectious or inflammatory abdominal conditions, making accurate diagnosis challenging. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the case of a 16-year-old female who presented with clinical symptoms suggestive of appendicitis and an abdominal computed tomography (CT) that revealed features concerning for appendicitis. After laparoscopic appendectomy, histopathology of the appendix demonstrated only mild serosal inflammation and was not consistent with acute appendicitis. Her overall clinical presentation was felt to be consistent with MIS-C and she subsequently improved with immunomodulatory and steroid treatment. CONCLUSIONS: We note that MIS-C can mimic acute appendicitis. This case highlights MIS-C as a cause of abdominal imaging with features concerning for appendicitis, and MIS-C should be considered in the differential for a patient with appendicitis-like symptoms and a positive COVID-19 IgG. Lab criteria, specifically low-normal white blood cell count and thrombocytopenia, appears to be of high relevance in differing MIS-C from acute appendicitis, even when appendix radiologically is dilated.

Letting Residents Lead: Implementing Resident Admission Triage Call Curriculum and Practice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Graduating residents are expected to be competent in triaging patients to appropriate resources. Before 2017, pediatric residents were not involved in admission triage decisions. In 2017, after implementing an admission triage curriculum (ATC), residents had opportunities to be involved in overnight admission calls with the emergency department (ED), which were initially supervised (joint calls), and as skills progressed, residents conducted calls and admitted patients independently. We implemented and evaluated the impact of a graduated ATC intervention bundle on pediatric resident opportunities to participate in admission triage, while monitoring resident confidence, the ED experience, and patient safety. METHODS: We evaluated the impact of our ATC using quality improvement methodology. The primary outcome was the frequency of resident participation in joint and independent triage calls. Other measures included resident confidence, the ED clinician experience, and patient safety. Resident confidence and the ED clinician experience were rated via surveys. Safety was monitored with daytime hospitalist morning assessments and postadmission complications documented in the medical record. RESULTS: The percent of joint calls with the hospitalist increased from 7% to 88%, and 125 patients were admitted independently. Residents reported significant increases in adequacy of triage training and confidence in 3 triage skills (P < .001) after ATC. There were no complications or safety concerns on patients admitted by residents. ED clinicians reported increased admitting process efficiency and satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Our ATC intervention bundle increased the number of admission decision opportunities for pediatric residents, while increasing resident triage confidence, maintaining safety, and improving ED clinician experience.

Do normal head ultrasounds need repeating in infants less than 30 weeks gestation?

OBJECTIVE: Current head ultrasound (HUS) screening recommendations in preterm infants often include a repeat HUS, regardless of initial findings. The objective of this study is to determine the rate of subsequent severe intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), ventriculomegaly (VM), or periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) among infants < 30 weeks gestation (EGA) with a normal HUS at day of life (DOL) 4-10. METHODS: Retrospectively collected data were analyzed for all infants < 30 weeks EGA cared for in one NICU from 1 January 2010 to 31 August 2014. Infants with severe congenital anomalies were excluded. We reviewed the first three HUSs and last documented HUS. Severe IVH was defined as > Papile grade 2 and significant interval HUS change was defined as development of severe IVH, PVL, or VM. RESULTS: Of the 383 infants who had an initial screening HUS between DOL 4 and 10, 258 (67%) were initially normal and repeat screening was performed in 228 of these. None developed severe IVH on follow-up HUS. One infant developed VM secondary to GBS meningitis, and one developed echogenicity concerning for PVL that later resolved. CONCLUSIONS: Among very preterm infants with a normal HUS between DOL 4 and 10, routine follow-up HUS is unlikely to identify a significant change.