Lessons learned spanning 17 years of experience with three consecutive nationwide competency based medical education training plans.

Introduction: Curricula for postgraduate medical education have transformed since the introduction of competency based medical education (CBME). Postgraduate training plans offer broader training with different competencies and an outcome-based approach, in addition to the medical technical aspects of training. However, CBME also has its challenges. Over the past years, critical views have been shared on the potential drawbacks of CBME, such as assessment burden and conflicts with practicality in the workplace. Recent studies identified a need for a better understanding of how the evolving concept of CBME has been translated to curriculum design and implemented in the practice of postgraduate training. The aim of this study was to describe the development of CBME translations to curriculum design, based on three consecutive postgraduate training programs spanning 17 years. Method: We performed a document analysis of three consecutive Dutch gynecology and obstetrics training plans that were implemented in 2005, 2013, and 2021. We used template analysis to identify changes over time. Results: Over time, CBME-based curriculum design changed in several domains. Assessment changed from a model with a focus on summative decision to one with an emphasis on formative, low-stakes assessments aimed at supporting learning. The training plans evolved in parallel to evolving educational insights, e.g., by placing increasing emphasis on personal development. The curricula focused on a competency-based concept by introducing training modules and personalized authorization based on feedback rather than on a set duration of internships. There was increasing freedom in personalized training trajectories in the training plans, together with increasing trust towards the resident. Conclusion: The way CBME was translated into training plans has evolved in the course of 17 years of experience with CMBE-based education. The main areas of change were the structure of the training plans, which became increasingly open, the degree to which learning outcomes were mandatory or not, and the way these outcomes were assessed.

Conceptualizing Educational Comparability in Distributed Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to create greater clarity about the current understanding and formulate a model of how educational comparability has been used in the literature to inform practice. METHOD: The authors conducted a literature search of 9 online databases, seeking articles published on comparability in distributed settings in health professions education before August 2021, with an updated search conducted in May 2023. Using a structured scoping review approach, 2 reviewers independently screened articles for eligibility with inclusion criteria and extracted key data. All authors participated in the descriptive analysis of the extracted data. RESULTS: Twenty-four articles published between 1987 and 2021 met the inclusion criteria. Most articles were focused on medical education programs (n = 21) and located in North America (n = 18). The main rationale for discussing comparability was accreditation. These articles did not offer definitions or discussions about what comparability means. The program logic model was used as an organizing framework to synthesize the literature on practices that schools undertake to facilitate and demonstrate comparability in the design (inputs), implementation (activities), and evaluation (outcomes) of distributed education. Inputs include common learning objectives, identical assessment tools and policies, governance models that enable clear communication, and reporting structure that is supported by technological infrastructure. Activities include faculty planning meetings and faculty development training. Outcomes include student experiences and academic performances. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that a more complex understanding of the dynamics of educational processes and practices is required to better guide the practice of educational comparability within distributed education programs. In addition to highlighting the need to develop an accepted definition of educational comparability, further elucidation of the underlying dynamics among input, activities, and outcomes would help to better determine what drivers should be prioritized when considering educational change with attention to context within distributed education.

'Yourself in all your forms': A grounded theory exploration of identity safety in medical students.

INTRODUCTION: Identity threats, such as stereotype threat and microaggressions, impair learning and erode well-being. In contrast to identity threat, less is known about how learners experience feelings of safety regarding their identity. This exploratory study aims to develop a theory of identity safety in the clinical learning environment. METHODS: This multi-institutional, qualitative interview study was informed by constructivist grounded theory and critical pedagogy. Participants were clinical students at three public medical schools in the United States in 2022. Investigators purposively sampled participants for interviews based on their responses to an 11-item survey with an open-ended question soliciting students' personal identities and responses to both the racial/ethnic and gender Stereotype Vulnerability Scales. The investigators interviewed, coded, constantly compared and continued sampling until the codes could be developed into categories, then concepts and finally into a theory. The team engaged in critical reflexivity throughout the analytic process to enrich data interpretations. RESULTS: Sixteen diverse students were interviewed. We organised their identity-salient experiences into identity threat, threat mitigation and identity safety. Participants experienced identity threat through unwelcoming learning environments, feeling compelled to change their behaviour in inauthentic ways or sociopolitical threat. Threat mitigation occurred when a participant or supervisor intervened against an identity threat, dampening but not eliminating the threat impact. Participants characterised identity safety as the ability to exist as their authentic selves without feeling the need to monitor how others perceive their identities. Identity safety manifested when participants demonstrated agency to leverage their identities for patient care, when others upheld their personhood and saw them as unique individuals and when they felt they belonged in the learning environment. DISCUSSION: Attending to identity safety may lead to educational practices that sustain and leverage team members' diverse identities. Identity safety and threat mitigation may work together to combat identity threats in the learning environment.

Postgraduate Selection in Medical Education: A Scoping Review of Current Priorities and Values.

PURPOSE: The process of screening and selecting trainees for postgraduate training has evolved significantly in recent years, yet remains a daunting task. Postgraduate training directors seek ways to feasibly and defensibly select candidates, which has resulted in an explosion of literature seeking to identify root causes for the problems observed in postgraduate selection and generate viable solutions. The authors therefore conducted a scoping review to analyze the problems and priorities presented within the postgraduate selection literature to explore practical implications and present a research agenda. METHOD: Between May 2021 and February 2022, the authors searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, ERIC, and Google Scholar for English language literature published after 2000. Articles that described postgraduate selection were eligible for inclusion. 2,273 articles were ultimately eligible for inclusion. Thematic analysis was performed on a subset of 100 articles examining priorities and problems within postgraduate selection. Articles were sampled to ensure broad thematic and geographical variation across the breadth of articles that were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: Five distinct perspectives or value statements were identified in the thematic analysis: (1) Using available metrics to predict performance in postgraduate training; (2) identifying the best applicants via competitive comparison; (3) seeking alignment between applicant and program in the selection process; (4) ensuring diversity, mitigation of bias, and equity in the selection process; and (5) optimizing the logistics or mechanics of the selection process. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides insight into the framing and value statements authors use to describe postgraduate selection within the literature. The identified value statements provide a window into the assumptions and subsequent implications of viewing postgraduate selection through each of these lenses. Future research must consider the outcomes and consequences of the value statement chosen and the impact on current and future approaches to postgraduate selection.

Challenges, coping and support during student placement abroad: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: During placements abroad, healthcare students are confronted with different personal and professional challenges, related to participation in practice. This study investigates when and how students respond to such challenges, and which coping and support mechanisms students use to overcome these. METHODS: Twenty-five international students shared their experiences about physiotherapy placement in The Netherlands. Using a critical incident technique, we asked participants to recall events where participation was affected by an unforeseen situation, in or outside the clinic. Further, we explored students' strategies of seeking support within their social network to overcome individual challenges. Two researchers applied thematic analysis to the interview data, following an iterative approach. Team discussions supported focused direction of data collection and analysis, before conceptualizing results. RESULTS: Participants described a wide range of challenges. The scope and impact level of challenges varied widely, including intercultural differences, language barriers and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, students' personal context and wellbeing. Mechanisms employed by students to overcome these challenges depended on the type of event (personal or professional), making purposeful use of their available network. CONCLUSION: Students involve clinical staff, peers, family and friends during placement abroad, to make deliberate use of their support network to overcome challenges in participation, whereas the academic network remains distant. Findings may help reflect on the roles and responsibilities of academic staff and other professionals involved with placements abroad. Healthcare programmes should ensure support before, during and after placement is within students' reach.

Stakes of Assessments in Residency: Influence on Previous and Current Self-Regulated Learning and Co-Regulated Learning in Early Career Specialists.

Introduction: Assessments drive learning but the influence of the stakes of the assessments on self-regulated (SRL) during and after residency are unknown. As early career specialists (ECS) must continue learning independently, the answer to this is important as it may inform future assessments with the potential to promote life-long learning after graduation. Methods: We utilized constructivist grounded theory to explore the perspectives of eighteen ECS on the influence of stakes of assessments within residency on their SRL during training and in current practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews. Results: We initially set out to examine the influence of the stakes of assessments on SRL during residency and after graduation. However, it was apparent that learners increasingly engaged with others in co-regulated learning (CRL) as the perceived stakes of the assessments increased. The individual learner's SRL was embedded in CRL in preparation for the various assessments in residency. For low-stakes assessments, the learner engaged in less CRL, taking less cues from others. As stakes increased, the learner engaged in more CRL with peers with similar intellectual level and supervisors to prepare for these assessments. SRL and CRL influenced by assessments in residency had a knock-on effect in clinical practice as ECS in: 1) developing clinical reasoning, 2) improving doctor-patient communication and negotiation skills, and 3) self-reflections and seeking feedback to deal with expectations of self or others. Discussion: Our study supported that the stakes of assessments within residency reinforced SRL and CRL during residency with a continued effect on learning as ECS.

Academic half days, noon conferences and classroom-based education in postgraduate medical education: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Classroom-based education (CBE) is ubiquitous in postgraduate medical education (PGME), but to date no studies have synthesized the literature on the topic. We conducted a scoping review focusing on academic half days and noon conferences. METHODS: We searched 4 databases (MEDLINE [OVID], Embase [OVID], ERIC [EBSCO] and Web of Science) from inception to December 2021, performed reference and citation harvesting, and applied predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria to our screening. We used 2 frameworks for the analysis: "experiences, trajectories and reifications" and "description, justification and clarification." RESULTS: We included 90 studies, of which 55 focused on resident experiences, 29 on trajectories and 6 on reification. We classified 44 studies as "description," 38 as "justification" and 8 as "clarification." In the description studies, 12 compared academic half days with noon conferences, 23 described specific teaching topics, and 9 focused on resources needed for CBE. Justification studies examined the effects of CBE on outcomes, such as examination scores (17) and use of teaching strategies in team-based learning, principles of adult learning and e-learning (15). Of the 8 clarification studies, topics included the role of CBE in PGME, stakeholder perspectives and transfer of knowledge between classroom and workplace. INTERPRETATION: Much of the existing literature is either a description of various aspects of CBE or justification of particular teaching strategies. Few studies exist on how and why CBE works; future studies should aim to clarify how CBE facilitates resident learning within the sociocultural framework of PGME.

Learning in Tension: A Case Study Examining What Internal Medicine Residents Learn in the Ambulatory Care Setting.

Introduction: Medical care of patients with complex conditions has shifted to the ambulatory setting, whereas current knowledge of resident learning is primarily based on studies from inpatient settings. Preparing trainees to adapt to this shift necessitates an understanding of what internal medicine (IM) residents currently learn during ambulatory rotations. The aim of this study is to identify what residents learn during their ambulatory care experience. Methods: Using a qualitative instrumental case study design, the authors conducted separate focus groups with IM trainees (n = 15), supervisors (n = 16), and program directors (n = 5) from two IM programs in New York City, USA in 2019. Participants were invited via email, and focus group sessions were complemented by document analysis of ambulatory syllabi. Results: Based on focus group commentary and document analysis, content learned in the ambulatory setting encompassed three domains; 1) patient needs, 2) the resident's role within a healthcare team, and 3) health system opportunities and limitations. Residents also learned about tensions within and between these domains including the skills needed to care for patients versus the skills acquired, a desire for ownership of patient care versus fragmented care, and time allotted versus time required. Discussion: This study revealed two outcomes about what residents learn during their ambulatory care experience. First, learning content largely fell into three domains. Second, residents learned about the tensions between ideal care delivery and the realities of practice. These results highlight the imperative to better align curricula with clinical environments to meet the learning needs of residents.

Cardiovascular mortality in women in their forties after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in the Netherlands: a national cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are associated with cardiovascular disease later in life. Given that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy often occur at a relatively young age, there might be an opportunity to use preventive measures to reduce the risk of early cardiovascular disease and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of cardiovascular mortality in women after a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. METHODS: In this population-based cohort study, the Netherlands Perinatal Registry (PRN) and the national death registry at the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics were linked. We analysed women in the Netherlands with a first birth during 1995-2015 to determine the association between cardiovascular mortality and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (based on recorded diastolic blood pressure or proteinuria, or both). We analysed the association between the highest diastolic blood pressure measured in pregnancy and cardiovascular mortality and constructed survival curves to assess cardiovascular mortality after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, specifically pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension. To differentiate between the severity of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, cardiovascular mortality was assessed in women with a combination of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy with preterm birth (gestational age <37 weeks) and growth restriction (birthweight in the 10th percentile or less). All hazard ratios (HRs)were adjusted for maternal age. FINDINGS: Between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2015, the PRN contained 2 462 931 deliveries and 1 625 246 women. In 1 243 890 women data on their first pregnancy were available and were included in this analysis after linkage, with a median follow-up time of 11·2 years (IQR 6·1-16·3). 259 177 (20·8%) women had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and of these 45 482 (3·7%) women had pre-eclampsia and 213 695 (17·2%) women had gestational hypertension; 984 713 (79·2%) women did not develop hypertension in their first pregnancy. Compared with women without hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the risk of death from any cause was higher in women who had hypertensive disorders (HR 1·30 [95% CI 1·23-1·37], p<0·001), pre-eclampsia (1·65 [1·48-1·83]; p<0·0001), and gestational hypertension (1·23 [1·16-1·30]; p<0·0001). Those women with pre-eclampsia had a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality compared with those without any hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (adjusted HR 3·39 [95% CI 2·67-4·29]), as did those with gestational hypertension (2·22 [1·91-2·57]). For women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy combined with preterm birth (gestational age <37 weeks) and birthweight in the 10th percentile or less, the adjusted HR for cardiovascular mortality was 6·43 (95% CI 4·36-9·47), compared with women without a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. The highest diastolic blood pressure measured during pregnancy was the strongest risk factor for cardiovascular mortality (for 80-89 mm Hg: adjusted HR 1·47 [95% CI 1·00-2·17]; for 130 mm Hg and higher: 14·70 [7·31-29·52]). INTERPRETATION: Women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy have a risk of cardiovascular mortality that is 2-3 times higher than that of women with normal blood pressure during pregnancy. The highest measured diastolic blood pressure during pregnancy is an important predictor for cardiovascular mortality later in life; therefore, women who have hypertensive disorders of pregnancy should be given personalised cardiovascular follow-up plans to reduce their risk of cardiovascular mortality. FUNDING: None.

Shame at the Gates of Medicine: A Hermeneutic Exploration of Premedical Students' Experiences of Shame.

PURPOSE: Little is known about the nature of shame in students attempting to enter medical school, despite its potential to impact well-being and professional identity formation during training. In this study, the authors used hermeneutic phenomenology to ask: How do premedical students experience shame as they apply to medical school? METHOD: From September 2020 to March 2021, the authors recruited 12 students from a U.S. Master of Biomedical Sciences program who intended to apply to medical school. Data collection consisted of each participant creating a "rich picture" depicting a shame experience during their premedical training, a semistructured interview that deeply explored this and other shame experiences, and a debriefing session. Data were analyzed using Ajjawi and Higgs's 6 steps of hermeneutic analysis. RESULTS: Self-concept, composed of an individual's identities and contingencies of self-esteem, was central to participants' shame experiences. Through a confluence of past and future self-concepts and under the influence of external factors and the weight of expectations, shame often destabilized participants' present self-concepts. This destabilization occurred because of events related to application processes (repeat Medical College Admission Test attempts), interpersonal interactions (prehealth advisor meetings), and objective performance measures (grades, test scores). Participants' efforts to restabilize their self-concept catalyzed specific identity processes and self-concept formation. CONCLUSIONS: Shame provided a window into the emotional experiences, identity processes, and ideologies that shape students' attempts to enter medical school. The authors discuss the central role of contingencies of self-esteem, the potential origins of performance-based self-esteem in trainees, and the identity negotiation and identity work involved in shame reactions. They call for the adoption of contingencies of self-esteem within current conceptualizations of professional identity formation; training for faculty and prehealth advisors about the nature of shame in premedical learners; and consideration of the consequential validity of standardized tests, which may trigger damaging shame.

Pharmacist trainees narrow scope of interprofessional collaboration and communication in hospital practice.

Early curricular exposure to interprofessional education (IPE) is intended to acclimatize health professional trainees to shared-care in the practice settings they will ultimately join. However, IPE activities typically reside outside actual organizational and social systems in which interprofessional care is delivered. We aimed to explore how pharmacist trainees experience collaborator and communicator competency roles during team-based workplace-based learning. Participants maintained written diaries reflecting on interprofessional collaboration and communication during an eight-week hospital clerkship. Diary entries and transcripts from semi-structured follow-up interviews were analyzed from the social constructivist perspective using reflective thematic analysis. Participant accounts of on-ward activities represented most collaborator and communicator roles outlined in pharmacy and interprofessional competency frameworks, but were predominantly between the pharmacist trainee and physicians. Pharmacist trainees did not routinely engage with other health professions on a daily basis. Additionally, reported encounters with other team members were typically information exchanges and not episodes of authentic interdependent or shared care. Interactions were almost completely devoid of perceived interpersonal or role conflict. These findings offer insight into how pharmacist trainees perceive and develop competencies for team-based care. Further work is required to understand how such limited scope of interprofessional communication and collaboration might ultimately impair quality patient care.

Trainees' perceptions of being allowed to fail in clinical training: A sense-making model.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical supervisors allow trainees to fail during clinical situations when trainee learning outweighs concerns for patient safety. Trainees perceive failure as both educationally valuable and emotionally draining; however, the nuance of supervised failures has not been researched from the trainee perspective. This study explored trainees' awareness and their experience of failure and allowed failure to understand those events in-depth. METHODS: We interviewed 15 postgraduate trainees from nine teaching sites in Europe and Canada. Participants were a purposive sample, representing 1-10 years of clinical training in various specialties. Consistent with constructivist grounded theory, data collection and analysis were iterative, supporting theoretical sampling to explore themes. RESULTS: Trainees reported that failure was a common, valuable, and emotional experience. They perceived that supervisors allowed failure, but they reported never having it explicitly confirmed or discussed. Therefore, trainees tried to make sense of these events on their own. If they interpreted a failure as allowed by the supervisor, trainees sought to ascertain supervisory intentions. They described situations where they judged supervisor's intentions to be constructive or destructive. DISCUSSION: Our results confirm that trainees perceive their failures as valuable learning opportunities. In the absence of explicit conversations with supervisors, trainees tried to make sense of failures themselves. When trainees judge that they have been allowed to fail, their interpretation of the event is coloured by their attribution of supervisor intentions. Perceived intentions might impact the educational benefit of the experience. In order to support trainees' sense-making, we suggest that supervisory conversations during and after failure events should use more explicit language to discuss failures and explain supervisory intentions.

A phenomenology of direct observation in residency: Is Miller's 'does' level observable?

INTRODUCTION: Guidelines on direct observation (DO) present DO as an assessment of Miller's 'does' level, that is, the learner's ability to function independently in clinical situations. The literature, however, indicates that residents may behave 'inauthentically' when observed. To minimise this 'observer effect', learners are encouraged to 'do what they would normally do' so that they can receive feedback on their actual work behaviour. Recent phenomenological research on patients' experiences with DO challenges this approach; patients needed-and caused-some participation of the observing supervisor. Although guidelines advise supervisors to minimise their presence, we are poorly informed on how some deliberate supervisor participation affects residents' experience in DO situations. Therefore, we investigated what residents essentially experienced in DO situations. METHODS: We performed an interpretive phenomenological interview study, including six general practice (GP) residents. We collected and analysed our data, using the four phenomenological lenses of lived body, lived space, lived time and lived relationship. We grouped our open codes by interpreting what they revealed about common structures of residents' pre-reflective experiences. RESULTS: Residents experienced the observing supervisor not just as an observer or assessor. They also experienced them as both a senior colleague and as the patient's familiar GP, which led to many additional interactions. When residents tried to act as if the supervisor was not there, they could feel insecure and handicapped because the supervisor was there, changing the situation. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that the 'observer effect' is much more material than was previously understood. Consequently, observing residents' 'authentic' behaviour at Miller's 'does' level, as if the supervisor was not there, seems impossible and a misleading concept: misleading, because it may frustrate residents and cause supervisors to neglect patients' and residents' needs in DO situations. We suggest that one-way DO is better replaced by bi-directional DO in working-and-learning-together sessions.

Overextending: A Qualitative Study of Trainees Learning at the Edge of Evolving Expertise.

Background: The challenge of graduate medical education is to prepare physicians for unsupervised practice while ensuring patient safety. Current approaches may inadequately prepare physicians due to limited opportunities for autonomy. Recent work on how trainees gain autonomy shows that they actively influence their supervisors' entrustment decisions. If program directors more clearly understand how trainees experience increasing independence, they may better sensitize trainees to the deliberations they will face during patient care. Objective: The authors sought to explore how trainees experience lessening supervision as their clinical training advances. Methods: Using constructivist grounded theory, the authors recruited trainees from various specialties and training levels via email and conducted 17 semi-structured interviews from 2019 to 2020 to solicit clinical experiences during which their perceived autonomy changed. Through constant comparison and iterative analysis, key themes and conceptual relationships were identified. Results: Seventeen trainees from 4 specialties described novel clinical situations that required "overextending," or going beyond their perceived edge of evolving expertise. This move represented a spectrum based on perceived locus of control, from deliberate overextending driven by trainees, to forced overextending driven by external factors. Trainee judgments about whether or not to overextend were distilled into key questions: (1) Can I do it? (2) Must I do it? (3) Do I want to do it? and (4) Is it safe to do it? More advanced trainees posed a fifth question: (5) Am I missing something? Conclusions: Decisions to move into the realm of uncertainty about capabilities carried weight for trainees. In making deliberative judgments about overextending, they attempted to balance training needs, capability, urgency, and patient safety.

Medical Students' Socialization Tactics When Entering a New Clinical Clerkship: A Mixed Methods Study of Proactivity.

PURPOSE: Socialization into clinical clerkships is difficult in part due to ambiguity around students' new roles and expected behaviors. Being proactive reduces ambiguity and is essential to socialization. Proactive behavior can be taught and goes beyond having a proactive personality. Among students entering new undergraduate clinical clerkships, this study aimed to investigate (1) reported proactive behaviors and their association with social integration and (2) enabling and inhibiting factors for proactive behavior. METHOD: This study was conducted at the 5-year MBBS program at Western Sydney University during academic year 2019-2020. Using a convergent mixed methods approach, survey and interview data from third-, fourth-, and fifth-year students were collected. Surveys explored 5 proactive behaviors: feedback seeking, information seeking, task negotiation, positive framing, and relationship building. Interviews elicited descriptions of how students described their proactivity and what influenced students to be proactive when entering a new clerkship. Data were integrated using the following the thread and mixed methods matrix techniques. RESULTS: Students exhibited all 5 proactive behaviors. Survey data showed positive framing and task negotiation had the highest and lowest scores, respectively. Only positive framing correlated significantly with social integration scores (r = 0.27; P < .01), but this contrasted to interviews, in which students described how other proactive behaviors also led to social integration. Proactive behavior scores decreased across academic years. Integrated data showed 3 linked antecedents to whether students exhibited proactive behavior: feeling capable of being proactive, individual intention to be proactive, and the immediate environment and system-level factors. CONCLUSIONS: Students who framed the experience positively were more likely to report increased social integration. Initiating task negotiation was challenging for most students. The authors propose a conceptual model for proactivity and social integration to support socialization and learning during clinical transitions for future research and interventional design.

Strangers in a strange land: The experience of physicians undergoing remediation.

INTRODUCTION: The experience of remediation in practising physicians has not been widely studied. Remediatees frequently present negative emotions, but observers can only infer the underlying reasons behind these. Understanding remediatees' perspectives may help those mandating and organising remediation to structure the process in ways that improve the experience for all concerned parties and maximise chances of a successful outcome for remediatees. METHODS: Seventeen physicians who had undergone remediation for clinical competence concerns were interviewed via telephone. Participant data were first iteratively analysed thematically and then reanalysed using a narrative mode of analysis for each participant in order to understand the stories as wholes. Figured worlds (FW) theory was used as a lens for analysing the data for this constructivist research study. RESULTS: Participants entering the FW of remediation perceived that their position as a 'good doctor' was threatened. Lacking experience with this world and with little available support to help them navigate it, participants used their agency to draw on various discursive threads within the FW to construct a narrative account of their remediation. In their narratives, participants tended to position themselves either as victims of regulatory bodies or as resilient individuals who could make the best of a difficult situation. In both cases, the chosen discursive threads enabled them to maintain their self-identity as 'good doctor'. CONCLUSION: Remediation poses a threat to a physician's professional and personal identity. Focusing mainly on the educational aspect of remediation-that is, the improvement in knowledge and skills-risks missing its impact on physician identity. We need to ensure not only that we support physicians in dealing with this identity threat but that our assessment and remediation processes do not inadvertently encourage remediatees to draw on discursive threads that lead them to see themselves as victims.

Assessing trainee performance: ensuring learner control, supporting development, and maximizing assessment moments.

In this article, the authors provide practical guidance for frontline supervisors' efforts to assess trainee performance. They focus on three areas. First, they argue the importance of promoting learner control in the assessment process, noting that providing learners agency and control can shift the stakes of assessment from high to low and promote a safe environment that facilitates learning. Second, they posit that assessment should be used to support continued development by promoting a relational partnership between trainees and supervisors. This partnership allows supervisors to reinforce desirable aspects of performance, provide real-time support for deficient areas of performance, and sequence learning with the appropriate amount of scaffolding to push trainees from competence (what they can do alone) to capability (what they are able to do with support). Finally, they advocate the importance of optimizing the use of written comments and direct observation while also recognizing that performance is interdependent in efforts to maximize assessment moments.Conclusion: Using best practices in trainee assessment can help trainees take next steps in their development in a learner-centered partnership with clinical supervisors. What is Known: • Many pediatricians are asked to assess the performance of medical students and residents they work with but few have received formal training in assessment. What is New: • This article presents evidence-based best practices for assessing trainees, including giving trainees agency in the assessment process and focusing on helping trainees take next steps in their development.

Advancing the science of health professions education through a shared understanding of terminology: a content analysis of terms for "faculty".

INTRODUCTION: Health professions educators risk misunderstandings where terms and concepts are not clearly defined, hampering the field's progress. This risk is especially pronounced with ambiguity in describing roles. This study explores the variety of terms used by researchers and educators to describe "faculty", with the aim to facilitate definitional clarity, and create a shared terminology and approach to describing this term. METHODS: The authors analyzed journal article abstracts to identify the specific words and phrases used to describe individuals or groups of people referred to as faculty. To identify abstracts, PubMed articles indexed with the Medical Subject Heading "faculty" published between 2007 and 2017 were retrieved. Authors iteratively extracted data and used content analysis to identify patterns and themes. RESULTS: A total of 5,436 citations were retrieved, of which 3,354 were deemed eligible. Based on a sample of 594 abstracts (17.7%), we found 279 unique terms. The most commonly used terms accounted for approximately one-third of the sample and included faculty or faculty member/s (n = 252; 26.4%); teacher/s (n = 59; 6.2%) and medical educator/s (n = 26; 2.7%) were also well represented. Content analysis highlighted that the different descriptors authors used referred to four role types: healthcare (e.g., doctor, physician), education (e.g., educator, teacher), academia (e.g., professor), and/or relationship to the learner (e.g., mentor). DISCUSSION: Faculty are described using a wide variety of terms, which can be linked to four role descriptions. The authors propose a template for researchers and educators who want to refer to faculty in their papers. This is important to advance the field and increase readers' assessment of transferability.

'It depends': The complexity of allowing residents to fail from the perspective of clinical supervisors.

PURPOSE: Clinical supervisors acknowledge that they sometimes allow trainees to fail for educational purposes. What remains unknown is how supervisors decide whether to allow failure in a specific instance. Given the high stakes nature of these decisions, such knowledge is necessary to inform conversations about this educationally powerful and clinically delicate phenomenon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 19 supervisors participated in semi-structured interviews to explore how they view their decision to allow failure in clinical training. Following constructivist grounded theory methodology, the iteratively collected data and analysis were informed by theoretical sampling. RESULTS: Recalling instances when they considered allowing residents to fail for educational purposes, supervisors characterized these as intuitive, in-the-moment decisions. In their post hoc reflections, they could articulate four factors that they believed influenced these decisions: patient, supervisor, trainee, and environmental factors. While patient factors were reported as primary, the factors appear to interact in dynamic and nonlinear ways, such that supervisory decisions about allowing failure may not be predictable from one situation to the next. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical supervisors make many decisions in the moment, and allowing resident failure appears to be one of them. Upon reflection, supervisors understand their decisions to be shaped by recurring factors in the clinical training environment. The complex interplay among these factors renders predicting such decisions difficult, if not impossible. However, having a language for these dynamic factors can support clinical educators to have meaningful discussions about this high-stakes educational strategy.

Supported Independence: The Role of Supervision to Help Trainees Manage Uncertainty.

PURPOSE: Safe and effective supervised practice requires a negotiated partnership between trainees and their supervisors. Substantial work has explored how supervisors make judgments about trainees' readiness to safely engage in critical professional activities, yet less is known about how trainees leverage the support of supervisors when they perceive themselves to be at the limits of their abilities. The purpose of this study is to explore how trainees use supervisory support to navigate experiences of clinical uncertainty. METHOD: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the authors explored how novice emergency medicine trainees conceptualized the role of their supervisors during experiences of clinical uncertainty. They employed a critical incident technique to elicit stories from participants immediately following clinical shifts between July and September 2020, and asked participants to describe their experiences of uncertainty within the context of supervised practice. Using constant comparison, 2 investigators coded line-by-line and organized these stories into focused codes. The relationships between these codes were discussed by the research team, and this enabled them to theorize about the relationships between the emergent themes. RESULTS: Participants reported a strong desire for supported independence, where predictable and accessible supervisory structures enabled them to work semiautonomously through challenging clinical situations. They described a process of borrowing their supervisors' comfort during moments of uncertainty and mechanisms to strategically broadcast their evolving understanding of a situation to implicitly invoke (the right level of) support from their supervisors. They also highlighted challenges they faced when they felt insufficiently supported. CONCLUSIONS: By borrowing comfort from-or deliberately projecting their thinking to-supervisors, trainees aimed to strike the appropriate balance between independence for the purposes of learning and support to ensure safety. Understanding these strategic efforts could help educators to better support trainees in their growth toward self-regulation.