Ultrasound interest group: a novel method of expanding ultrasound education in medical school

Abstract Purpose Ultrasound technology and clinical applications are advancing across many medical specialties and there exists an increasing need for ultrasound education in medical school. Few institutions, however, have incorporated this into the 4-year curriculum and barriers to curricular change remain. The Ultrasound Interest Group (USIG) is an alternative, extracurricular way for future operators to gain ultrasound exposure throughout all four years of medical school and develop the skill sets necessary to emerge as leaders in sonography. Methods The USIG was designed using a student organization infrastructure. The mission is to promote ultrasound education and student leadership across the medical school, outside the required curriculum. Participation is voluntary and open to all medical students. Leadership consists of defined positions held by junior and senior medical students. The USIG holds four meetings per year, organizes clinical and scanning opportunities for students, sponsors ultrasound events, and distributes a newsletter. Results The USIG has been an active student interest group for three academic years and had three sets of student leaders. Participants in USIG activities included first through fourth-year medical students each year. To date, the USIG had 12 meetings including 2 national and 4 local guest speakers. The USIG has organized scanning opportunities for students, sponsored events, and established a vertical model of structured mentorship. Conclusion The USIG is a feasible method of promoting ultrasound education and student leadership among medical students. This model may be implemented at other medical schools as a centralized, organizing body for extracurricular ultrasound education

Ultrasound interest group: a novel method of expanding ultrasound education in medical school

Abstract Purpose Ultrasound technology and clinical applications are advancing across many medical specialties and there exists an increasing need for ultrasound education in medical school. Few institutions, however, have incorporated this into the 4-year curriculum and barriers to curricular change remain. The Ultrasound Interest Group (USIG) is an alternative, extracurricular way for future operators to gain ultrasound exposure throughout all four years of medical school and develop the skill sets necessary to emerge as leaders in sonography. Methods The USIG was designed using a student organization infrastructure. The mission is to promote ultrasound education and student leadership across the medical school, outside the required curriculum. Participation is voluntary and open to all medical students. Leadership consists of defined positions held by junior and senior medical students. The USIG holds four meetings per year, organizes clinical and scanning opportunities for students, sponsors ultrasound events, and distributes a newsletter. Results The USIG has been an active student interest group for three academic years and had three sets of student leaders. Participants in USIG activities included first through fourth-year medical students each year. To date, the USIG had 12 meetings including 2 national and 4 local guest speakers. The USIG has organized scanning opportunities for students, sponsored events, and established a vertical model of structured mentorship. Conclusion The USIG is a feasible method of promoting ultrasound education and student leadership among medical students. This model may be implemented at other medical schools as a centralized, organizing body for extracurricular ultrasound education

Pasteurella multocida Epiglottitis

Epiglottitis is an uncommon but life-threatening disease. While the most common infectious causesare the typical respiratory pathogens, Pasteurella multocida is a rare causative organism. Wepresent a case of P. multocida epiglottitis diagnosed by blood culture. The patient required intubationbut was successfully treated medically. P. multocida is a rare cause of epiglottitis; this is the ninthreported case in the literature. Most diagnoses are made from blood culture and patients usuallyhave an exposure to animals

Pasteurella multocida epiglottitis: A review and report of a new case with associated chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Epiglottitis is an uncommon but life-threatening disease. While the most common infectious causes are the typical respiratory pathogens, Pasteurella multocida is a rare causative organism. We present a case of P. multocida epiglottitis diagnosed by blood culture. The patient required intubation but was successfully treated medically. P. multocida is a rare cause of epiglottitis; this is the ninth reported case in the literature. Most diagnoses are made from blood culture and patients usually have an exposure to animals

Gender differences in funding among grant recipients in emergency medicine: A multicenter analysis

OBJECTIVE: To describe differences in funded grants between male and female faculty in two academic emergency departments. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of grant funding at two academic emergency departments from January 2012-September 2018. We queried the grants department databases at each institution and obtained records of all funded grants for emergency medicine (EM) faculty. We extracted the following information for each award: gender of the principal investigator (PI), PI academic rank, grant mechanism (government, institutional, industry, organizational), and percent effort. Differences by gender were compared using Chi-square or Fisher\u27s exact test and Wilcoxon-rank sum. RESULTS: One-hundred and thirty grants were awarded to EM faculty at the two institutions during the study period. Of the funded grants, 35 (27%) of recipients were female. Among grant recipients, females held lower academic ranking than males (p-value \u3c 0.001): Instructor (49% vs 51%), Assistant Professor (36% vs 64%), Associate Professor (9% vs 91%), and Professor (0% vs 100%), respectively. Organizational grants were dispersed equally between funded faculty, but females received a fewer government, industry, and institutional grants (p-value = 0.007). Female grant recipients were awarded a higher median percent of effort compared to males (14% [IQR: 3-51] vs 8% [IQR: 1-15], respectively, p-value = 0.023). CONCLUSION: In this multicenter analysis, gender discrepancies exist among funded grants of EM faculty. Male recipients had higher academic ranking than their female counterparts. Female recipients were less likely to have government, institutional, and industry grants but received a greater percent effort on funding that was awarded

Pasteurella multocida Epiglottitis

Epiglottitis is an uncommon but life-threatening disease. While the most common infectious causesare the typical respiratory pathogens, Pasteurella multocida is a rare causative organism. Wepresent a case of P. multocida epiglottitis diagnosed by blood culture. The patient required intubationbut was successfully treated medically. P. multocida is a rare cause of epiglottitis; this is the ninthreported case in the literature. Most diagnoses are made from blood culture and patients usuallyhave an exposure to animals

A Multimodal Curriculum With Patient Feedback to Improve Medical Student Communication: Pilot Study

Introduction: Despite the extraordinary amount of time physicians spend communicating withpatients, dedicated education strategies on this topic are lacking. The objective of this study was todevelop a multimodal curriculum including direct patient feedback and assess whether it improvescommunication skills as measured by the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) in fourth-yearmedical students during an emergency medicine (EM) clerkship.Methods: This was a prospective, randomized trial of fourth-year students in an EM clerkship atan academic medical center from 2016-2017. We developed a multimodal curriculum to teachcommunication skills consisting of 1) an asynchronous video on communication skills, and 2)direct patient feedback from the CAT, a 15-question tool with validity evidence in the emergencydepartment setting. The intervention group received the curriculum at the clerkship midpoint. Thecontrol group received the curriculum at the clerkship’s end. We calculated proportions and oddsratios (OR) of students achieving maximum CAT score in the first and second half of the clerkship.Results: A total of 64 students were enrolled: 37 in the control group and 27 in the interventiongroup. The percentage of students achieving the maximum CAT score was similar between groupsduring the first half (OR 0.70, p = 0.15). Following the intervention, students in the intervention groupachieved a maximum score more often than the control group (OR 1.65, p = 0.008).Conclusion: Students exposed to the curriculum early had higher patient ratings on communicationcompared to the control group. A multimodal curriculum involving direct patient feedback may be aneffective means of teaching communication skills

A Multimodal Curriculum With Patient Feedback to Improve Medical Student Communication: Pilot Study

Introduction: Despite the extraordinary amount of time physicians spend communicating withpatients, dedicated education strategies on this topic are lacking. The objective of this study was todevelop a multimodal curriculum including direct patient feedback and assess whether it improvescommunication skills as measured by the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) in fourth-yearmedical students during an emergency medicine (EM) clerkship.Methods: This was a prospective, randomized trial of fourth-year students in an EM clerkship atan academic medical center from 2016-2017. We developed a multimodal curriculum to teachcommunication skills consisting of 1) an asynchronous video on communication skills, and 2)direct patient feedback from the CAT, a 15-question tool with validity evidence in the emergencydepartment setting. The intervention group received the curriculum at the clerkship midpoint. Thecontrol group received the curriculum at the clerkship’s end. We calculated proportions and oddsratios (OR) of students achieving maximum CAT score in the first and second half of the clerkship.Results: A total of 64 students were enrolled: 37 in the control group and 27 in the interventiongroup. The percentage of students achieving the maximum CAT score was similar between groupsduring the first half (OR 0.70, p = 0.15). Following the intervention, students in the intervention groupachieved a maximum score more often than the control group (OR 1.65, p = 0.008).Conclusion: Students exposed to the curriculum early had higher patient ratings on communicationcompared to the control group. A multimodal curriculum involving direct patient feedback may be aneffective means of teaching communication skills

Standardized Video Interview Scores Correlate Poorly with Faculty and Patient Ratings

The Standardized Video Interview (SVI) was developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges to assess professionalism, communication, and interpersonal skills of residency applicants. How SVI scores compare with other measures of these competencies is unknown. The goal of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the SVI score and both faculty and patient ratings of these competencies in emergency medicine (EM) applicants. This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected dataset of medical students. Students enrolled in the fourth-year EM clerkship at our institution and who applied to the EM residency Match were included. We collected faculty ratings of the students’ professionalism and patient care/ communication abilities as well as patient ratings using the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) from the clerkship evaluation forms. Following completion of the clerkship, students applying to EM were asked to voluntarily provide their SVI score to the study authors for research purposes. We compared SVI scores with the students’ faculty and patient scores using Spearman’s rank correlation. Of the 43 students from the EM clerkship who applied in EM during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 application cycles, 36 provided their SVI scores. All 36 had faculty evaluations and 32 had CAT scores available. We found that SVI scores did not correlate with faculty ratings of professionalism (rho = 0.09, p = 0.13), faculty assessment of patient care/communication (rho = 0.12, p = 0.04), or CAT scores (rho = 0.11, p = 0.06). Further studies are needed to validate the SVI and determine whether it is indeed a predictor of these competencies in residency