Impact of Academic Golden Weekend Initiative on Academic Success for an Internal Medicine Clerkship

Background: COVID-19 precautions led to a change in the number of protected weekends for the UTRGV Internal Medicine Clerkship, going from 2 protected weekends to none. The aim of Academic Golden Weekends during a fully inpatient clerkship has been to maximize the student experience by providing enough time to balance all the necessary components of the student experience. Starting April 26, 2021, all cohorts completing their Internal Medicine Clerkship as third-year medical students had 3 protected weekends. Methods: Two surveys were created to compare the pre-intervention and post-intervention cohorts. The surveys focused on student satisfaction regarding the time they had for self-study, accomplishing clerkship requirements, and overall well-being. Furthermore, IM Clerkship NBME grade and clerkship final grade data have been retrieved and deidentified, later analyzed by a blinded party to assess the impact of the Academic Golden Weekend Initiative on academic performance. Results: Prior survey analysis has shown that prior to the implementation of Academic Golden Weekends, students had a higher rate of dissatisfaction regarding time available for self-study, accomplishing clerkship requirements, and self-care. The leading cause for overall dissatisfaction was lack of protected weekends.100% of students in the post-intervention cohort reported feeling that Academic Golden Weekends had a positive impact on their academic performance and self-care and reported increased levels f satisfaction across all categories. However, the preliminary analysis of the impact that this initiative had on academic performance, did not show a significant improvement on average NBME, and clerkship grades. Conclusions: While the Academic Golden Weekends initiative has led to improved student satisfaction for academic performance and self-care, the limited data collected thus far does not reveal a significant improvement in academic performance in terms of NBME and clerkship grades. Once more data is gathered these variables will be re-analyzed for statistical differences

Environmental and Genetic Correlations Between the Metabolic Syndrome (MS) and System Variables Representing Adaptive Immunity, Innate Immunity and Hemostasis

The MS is prevalent in Mexican Americans (MAs) and is projected to increase. It is important therefore to better understand its genetic and environmental determinants. We hypothesized that the MS reflects dysfunction in important biological systems. To evaluate this concept, we analyzed gene expression data for the adaptive-immune, innate-immune, and hemostasis systems in relation to the MS from a study on MAs of San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley

Iatrogenic Thyrotoxicosis due to Compounding Error of Liothyronine

Background: This case is one of four recorded reports of thyrotoxicosis due to compounding error of liothyronine. The presentation of this differs from classic thyrotoxicosis caused by endogenous hormones. Compounding pharmacy regulation has been a source of regulatory conflict for decades. Case Presentation: A 70-year-old woman was brought to the emergency department by her daughter for concerns of a 2 days of altered mental status. She had a past medical history of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and hypertension. Physical exam was notable for elevated blood pressure, which was around the patients’ baseline. Sinus tachycardia was also noted. The patient had recently had a change to her thyroid medication, though could not provide more information regarding this. Workup in the emergency department revealed Free T3 levels elevated out of range at \u3e22.80 pg/mL. Upon further investigation, the patient was found to be taking liothyronine from a compounding pharmacy. An independent analysis of the medication concluded that the patient was administered a dose of liothyronine that was 1000-times greater than prescribed by her endocrinologist. Conclusions: This case presentation highlights an unusual presentation of thyrotoxicosis, particularly as associated with liothyronine overdose. In this report we will outline the previously recorded reports of iatrogenic thyrotoxicosis due to compounding pharmacy error. We will discuss the inherent risk associated with use of compound pharmacies and detail other instances of adverse events traced to compound pharmacy error

Internal Medicine Quality Improvement Project

Abstract Internal Medicine Quality Improvement Project Alvarenga UTRGV c/o 2022, Duran UTRGV c/o 2022, Onyechi UTRGV c/o 2022, Dr. Jose Campo-Maldonado, MD Background: In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, clinical experiences required adaptation to ensure safety of student learners. One such change was that the internal medicine clerkship moved to a fully inpatient experience. An unintended consequences of this was the elimination of protected weekends from the 2-month course. This research study aimed at evaluating student’s perceptions of the clerkship’s schedule and how it related to well-being, burnout, overall satisfaction with the clerkship, and final grades. Methods: An anonymous survey regarding overall satisfaction with self-study time, ability to master clerkship requirements was emailed to students who had completed the IM clerkship by April 26, 2021. Our intervention was the addition of three academic golden weekends to the schedule of the IM clerkship for any student completing the clerkship after April 26. Students in the post-intervention clerkship will submit an identical survey and the responses will be compared. In addition to this, focus groups will be asked about their perception of how 3 full 2-day weekends affected their experience. Results: Preliminary data from the pre-intervention population identified burn-out and dissatisfaction with lack of a 2-day weekends as barriers to satisfaction. A focus group with the first post-intervention clerkship group identified golden weekends as a useful intervention. There was an emphasis on the increased ability to master the clerkship material and study for shelf examination. Formal analysis pending

Impact of Academic Protected Weekend Initiative on Fully Inpatient Rotation Experience

COVID-19 forced many programs to face drastic changes to the structure of the medical school clerkship curriculum. For The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, a school along the United States Mexico border, this meant transitioning the Internal Medicine clerkship from a 6-week inpatient 2-week outpatient structure to an 8-week inpatient experience. Unintentionally this led to a change in the number of protected weekends during the Internal Medicine Clerkship leading from 2 to 0. After students voiced their concerns about the impact that the loss of these protected weekends had on their academic-wellness balance, the Academic Golden Weekend Initiative was implemented. This poster looks at the impact that this initiative had on student satisfaction and performance by analyzing survey s completed by pre-intervention and post-intervention cohorts. The goal of the Academic Golden Weekend Initiative is to promote work-life balance or in this case academic- wellness balance in the medical student population. During post-clerkship feedback sessions, students voiced concerns about the difficulty of balancing a 6-day work week for 8 consecutive weeks with the responsibilities that come with being a medical student, such as preparing for the NBME subject examination and self-care. By modifying the structure of the fully inpatient experience to accommodate for Academic Golden Weekends, the aim was to maximize the student experience during the clerkship by providing enough time to balance all the necessary components of the student experience. Results showed that there was an increase in satisfaction with time to self-study from -0.26 (neither to somewhat dissatisfied) to +1.0 (somewhat satisfied) and improvement of +1.26. Satisfaction with time for clerkship requirements increased from +0.37 (neither to somewhat satisfied) to +1.57 (somewhat satisfied to very satisfied) and increase of +1.2. Satisfaction with time for self-care increased from -0.89 (in the range of neither to somewhat dissatisfied) to +.36 (neither to somewhat satisfied) and increase of +1.25. 85.71% of students in this cohort reported feeling that Academic Golden Weekends had a positive impact when it came to both academic performance and self-care