4 research outputs found
Defining Natural History: Assessment of the Ability of College Students to Aid in Characterizing Clinical Progression of Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C
Niemann-Pick Disease, type C (NPC) is a fatal, neurodegenerative, lysosomal storage disorder. It is a rare disease with broad phenotypic spectrum and variable age of onset. These issues make it difficult to develop a universally accepted clinical outcome measure to assess urgently needed therapies. To this end, clinical investigators have defined emerging, disease severity scales. The average time from initial symptom to diagnosis is approximately 4 years. Further, some patients may not travel to specialized clinical centers even after diagnosis. We were therefore interested in investigating whether appropriately trained, community-based assessment of patient records could assist in defining disease progression using clinical severity scores. In this study we evolved a secure, step wise process to show that pre-existing medical records may be correctly assessed by non-clinical practitioners trained to quantify disease progression. Sixty-four undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame were expertly trained in clinical disease assessment and recognition of major and minor symptoms of NPC. Seven clinical records, randomly selected from a total of thirty seven used to establish a leading clinical severity scale, were correctly assessed to show expected characteristics of linear disease progression. Student assessment of two new records donated by NPC families to our study also revealed linear progression of disease, but both showed accelerated disease progression, relative to the current severity scale, especially at the later stages. Together, these data suggest that college students may be trained in assessment of patient records, and thus provide insight into the natural history of a disease
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Teaching Rapid Assessment Skills in Triage for the Emergency Medicine Clerkship
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Teaching Rapid Assessment Skills in Triage for the Emergency Medicine Clerkship
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Establishing Interest in the Development of a Novel Telehealth Curriculum for Emergency Medicine Resident Physicians
Learning Objectives: To assess EM resident enthusiasm for a telehealth curriculum and to develop a series of telehealth training modules for EM resident physicians.Introduction/Background: According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), emergency telehealth is a core domain of emergency medicine (EM) and is inclusive of remotely providing acute medical care. In 2016, the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education released a report advocating for the implementation of formalized telehealth training into graduate medical education accreditation requirements. There was rapid growth in telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic: An industry analysis showed overall telehealth utilization grew 38 times from February 2020 to February 2021. Despite this, training in telehealth for residents remains substandard, with experts calling for formal curricula. To our knowledge there is no standardized graduate medical education curriculum for telehealth.Objective: To assess EM resident enthusiasm for a telehealth curriculum and to develop a series of telehealth training modules for EM resident physicians.Curricular Design: We distributed a ten question survey to 44 EM residents to gauge their interest in pursuing telehealth education. We developed a series of 30 minute modules focused on different aspects of telehealth delivery targeted to an audience of EM residents. We created four key telehealth learning modules to train EM residents: Historical Socioeconomic Relevance, The Virtual Patient Encounter, The Telehealth Physical Exam, and Documentation Medicolegal Implications.Impact/Effectiveness: The vast majority of survey respondents feel that telehealth education is probably or definitely important, and would pursue education in telehealth. Future directions include soliciting feedback from residents who complete the curriculum and learning assessment. As telehealth continues its rapid growth beyond a protracted pandemic it is critical that we educate and equip the next generation of emergency physicians to harness the skills to provide emergency telehealth services to their patients