Infusing the Interdisciplinary into Medical/ Health Sciences Education: Vitamins or Vaccines?

Academic medical institutions have responded to recent changes and challenges confronting the health care system with various recommendations for curricular reform; many grouped under the rubric of interdisciplinary training. The ultimate goal is to create physicians, with mastery over specialized knowledge, who can practice cost-effective, humanized medicine. This article elaborates a conceptual classification system that categorizes curricular reform recommendations into one of two approaches – Vitamins or Vaccines – that highlights differences in the processes of curricular reform programs. Programs seeking the same goal may create different types of practitioners depending on the approach dominating the professional training and socialization process. The Vitamins approach is reactive, supplemental, and incremental, often imparting instruction instead of education. The Vaccines approach is proactive, addresses fundamental factors, and seeks long-term solutions from a preventive perspective. As educators, our choice of approach, Vitamins or Vaccines, for curricular reform will determine how academia prepares physicians for the futur

Needs Assessment in Postgraduate Medical Education:A Review

Although the concept of needs assessment in continuing medical education is well accepted, there is limited information on needs assessment in postgraduate medical education. We discuss the learning needs of postgraduate trainees and review the various methods of needs assessment such as: questionnaire surveys, interviews, focus groups, chart audits, chart-stimulated recall, standardized patients, and environmental scans in the context of post graduate medical education

Consolidation of P2Y12 Testing While Maintaining Quality and Turnaround Time

Objective: To consolidate the test performed at 2 different locations at 1, thereby improving cost effectiveness while maintaining quality and result turnaround time.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1059/thumbnail.jp

Primary Care Patient Experience in Pneumonia Patient and the Effects of Readmissions

Patient primary care experience is an essential component of patient care. Research has consistently demonstrated that patient experience correlates with clinical processes of care for prevention and disease management and with better health outcomes. Patients who are admitted to the hospital face numerous challenges upon discharge, including high readmission rates. In fact, one-fifth of Medicare patients admitted to the hospital will be readmitted within 30 days of discharge. With the Affordable Care Act’s creation of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), hospitals are now penalized for excess readmission rates for common admitting diagnoses such as pneumonia. The purpose of this study was to examine how patients’ baseline primary care experiences relate to the likelihood of readmission. Patients diagnosed with pneumonia were identified during their initial hospitalization and administered the CG-CAHPS 3.0 and Supplementary CAHPS PCMH. The results of these surveys were compared between readmitted and non-readmitted patients. Also, the differences between the primary care experiences of the pneumonia patient cohort and patients at the hospital system’s primary care sites were examined. Results showed that 5 patients out of the 33 patients surveyed were readmitted with non-pneumonia related causes. Patients across 18 primary care sites report higher levels of satisfaction with their PCP (88.7%) compared to patients hospitalized for Pneumonia (66.7%; X2 =14.9,

Acute Stroke Intervention In Young Patients

Purpose: Stroke is a disease of the elderly, however it can affect the younger patients. We present a retrospective review of our series of young patients (55 years old and younger), treated at our institution from 2007 to 2012, to assess the safety, efficacy and patient outcome of multimodal endovascular treatment in this patient population. Methods: A total of 42 patients underwent multimodal endovascular revascularization for acute ischemic events. Recanalization rates were assessed using the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI)and clinical outcomes were assessed using the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) obtained at discharge and follow-up visits. Patient demographics, medical co-morbidities, treatment complications and mortality data were collected and analyzed. Results: Of 42 patients, an improvement in Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction score (TIMI score) was noted in 38 patients (90.47%). The average modified Rankin Scale score on discharge was 3.2 with 25 patients (60%) having a favorable score of 0-3. All 21 patients (100%) with available clinical follow-up had a favorable mRS score (mean follow-up of 10.4 months). Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred in four patients (9.5%); none required surgery. Three fatalities resulted from intraoperative vessel rupture (7.14%). Conclusion: We observed good recanalization rates and favorable clinical outcomes after endovascular stroke intervention in young patients. Also, there was a low morbidity and mortality rate overall. Therefore multimodal endovascular recanalization of acute ischemic stroke is an effective treatment in younger patients, which justifies aggressive management of those patients