Multidimensional Evaluation of Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment Training for Medical Students.

OBJECTIVE: Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based approach to identifying and addressing alcohol use in non-specialty settings. Many medical schools teach SBIRT, but most published evaluations of these efforts exclude rigorous skill assessments and teaching methods. METHODS: During the 2017-2018 academic year, 146 third-year medical students received classroom-based learning on SBIRT and motivational interviewing (MI) and at least two SBIRT practices with feedback as part of a 4-week psychiatry clerkship. The objective of this curriculum was to improve SBIRT knowledge, attitudes, and confidence and enable learners to skillfully deliver SBIRT. Outcomes evaluated included satisfaction, knowledge, attitudes and confidence, and clinical skill in delivering SBIRT to a standardized patient (rated by the actor, as well as an expert). RESULTS: Results indicated acceptable satisfaction at post-curriculum and significant improvements in attitudes and knowledge from pre- to post-curriculum. On the clinical skills exam, all students were rated as having mastered at least 80% of SBIRT elements by standardized patients and 91.8% were rated at this level by a faculty expert. Student attitudes and knowledge were unrelated to expert ratings, and standardized patient ratings had limited associations with expert ratings. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest curriculum objectives were achieved and provide unique contributions to the SBIRT curricular outcome research for healthcare trainees. Other findings included that trainee knowledge and confidence may not relate to skill, and standardized patient feedback provides different information on SBIRT and MI skill than expert ratings.

Challenges of Assessing Resident Competency in Well-Being: Development of the Psychiatry Milestones 2.0 Well-Being Subcompetency.

Burnout and depression are major problems facing physicians, with 300-400 physicians dying by suicide each year. In an effort to address this issue, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) revised the Common Program Requirements for residency and fellowship programs to include a strong emphasis on well-being, and this revision has been extended to including a subcompetency on well-being in the Milestones 2.0. The Psychiatry Milestones 2.0 Work Group was convened to draft updated psychiatry milestones. As part of the open feedback period, the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training submitted an organizational letter outlining several points to consider regarding the original draft of the well-being subcompetency. The ACGME was receptive to this feedback and allowed the Psychiatry Milestones 2.0 Work Group to revise the subcompetency. Current research indicates that burnout is largely driven by systemic factors, but well-being literature and initiatives often focus on individual factors and responsibility for burnout rather than systemic change. Program directors tasked with assessing resident well-being can additionally encounter several professionalism concerns, including how to (1) define a subcompetency within a competency that itself has not been well defined; (2) decide the appropriate balance between individual and systemic responsibility for well-being; (3) consider mental health as a parameter of well-being; (4) balance roles as physicians, psychiatrists, and training directors in thinking about the mental health of residents without overstepping boundaries and while maintaining privacy, confidentiality, and resident safety; and (5) measure well-being in a sociocultural context. This article describes how these considerations were incorporated into the revision of the Psychiatry Milestones 2.0 version of the well-being subcompetency, which has subsequently been made available to other specialty work groups for potential use as they develop their specialty-specific Milestones 2.0.