Under pressure: Supporting academic faculty in demanding times.

Medical education has long relied upon the inherent rewards of teaching to secure necessary educators. In an era of increasing emphasis upon clinical productivity, the expectation of faculty engagement in medical education has been upended. In addition, the demands and stressors of modern medical education has contributed to the perceived cost of teaching by faculty.

Changes and challenges in the residency application process in obstetrics and gynecology.

Faculty career advisors who guide applicants applying to obstetrics and gynecology residency programs need updated information and resources, given the constant changes and challenges to the residency application process. Initial changes included standardization of the application timeline and interview processes. More recent changes included the utilization of a standardized letter of evaluation, initiation of program signaling, second look visit guidelines, and updated sections in the Electronic Residency Application Service.

Paving the Way for Medical Students: How Smooth Should the Road Be?

Clerkship directors must balance the mental wellbeing of their medical students with the demanding schedule that rotations in procedural specialties such as surgery and obstetrics and gynecology require. In this paper, the Undergraduate Medical Education Committee of the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology argues the importance of maintaining adequate clinical exposure for learners. Involving students in overnight call provides additional clinical involvement, improved relationships with the clinical team, and a better perspective on specialist lifestyle.

Obstetrics and gynecology clerkship directors' experiences advising residency applicants.

Background: The evolving landscape of application processes for obstetrics and gynecology residency applicants poses many challenges for applicants and advisors. The lack of data coordination among national groups creates crucial gaps in information for stakeholder groups.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the current state of the advising milieu for obstetrics and gynecology residency applicants and their career advisors, the annual Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics survey focused on US clerkship directors' experiences advising students through these processes.

Strategies to Create a More Gender Identity Inclusive Learning Environment in Preclinical and Clinical Medical Education.

Recognition of the spectrum of gender identities has been a recent phenomenon in the medical profession. Over the past 20 years, medical literature related to gender identity diversity has increased several-fold, yet it more commonly addresses clinical care rather than aspects related to medical education. Medical educators continue to struggle with appropriate language and inclusive approaches when discussing gender-based aspects of medical education.

To the Point: optimizing the learning environment in labor and delivery.

The labor and delivery floor is a unique learning environment that poses challenges to teaching medical students, with a potentially detrimental effect on their evaluations of the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship. This article, from the "To the Point" series prepared by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Undergraduate Medical Education Committee, offers specific suggestions for improving undergraduate medical education in obstetrics with attention to student preparation, faculty development, nonphysician staff involvement, and patient education. Optimizing the learning environment in labor and delivery would improve student experiences and perceptions of our specialty.

Encouraging workforce diversity- supporting medical students with mobility and sensory disabilities.

Purpose: This article is prepared by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Undergraduate Medical Education Committee and provides educators recommendations for optimizing inclusive education for our students with disabilities. Medical educators are increasingly encountering students with disabilities and have the responsibility of ensuring requirements are met.

Method: Medical education committee members from the US and Canada reviewed the literature on disabilities in medical student education to identify best practices and key discussion points.

Clerkship director confidence in medical student career advising in obstetrics and gynecology.

Background: Given the increasing complexities of the residency application processes, there is an ever-increasing need for faculty to serve in the role of fourth-year medical student career advisors.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate obstetrics and gynecology clerkship directors' confidence and fulfillment with serving in the role of faculty career advisors.

Study Design: A 25-item electronic survey was developed and distributed to the 225 US obstetrics and gynecology clerkship directors in university-based and community-based medical schools with active memberships in the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

The Dobbs Decision and Undergraduate Medical Education: The Unintended Consequences and Strategies to Optimize Reproductive Health and a Competent Workforce for the Future.

The June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization resulted in state-specific differences in abortion care access across the country.

Enhancing interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education in women's health.

This article is from the 'To The Point' series from the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Undergraduate Medical Education Committee. The purpose of this review is to provide an understanding of the differing yet complementary nature of interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education as well as their importance to the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. We provide a historical perspective of how interprofessional collaboration and interprofessional education have become key aspects of clinical and educational programs, enhancing both patient care and learner development.

To the Point: advising students applying to Obstetrics and Gynecology residency in 2020 and beyond.

This article, from the "To the Point" series by the Undergraduate Medical Education Committee of the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, is a guide for advising medical students applying to Obstetrics and Gynecology residency programs. The residency application process is changing rapidly in response to an increasingly complex and competitive atmosphere, with a wider recognition of the stress, expense, and difficulty of matching into graduate training programs. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and societal upheaval make this application cycle more challenging than ever before.

Medical Education and Safety as Co-priorities in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Era: We Can Do Both.

As hospitals and medical schools confronted coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), medical students were essentially restricted from all clinical work in an effort to prioritize their safety and the safety of others. One downstream effect of this decision was that students were designated as nonessential, in contrast to other members of health care teams. As we acclimate to our new clinical environment and medical students return to the frontlines of health care, we advocate for medical students to be reconsidered as physicians-in-training who bring valuable skills to patient care and to maintain their status as valued team members despite surges in COVID-19 or future pandemics.

Welcoming a paradigm shift in occupational therapy: symptom validity measures and cognitive assessment.

Until now, occupational therapists have been limited in their ability to access methods designed to ensure that formal cognitive and psychosocial testing results were valid. These standardized symptom validity tests (SVTs) are now considered mandatory during neuropsychological testing, particularly within a medical-legal context. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of symptom validity testing by occupational therapists involved in a medical-legal setting and to determine whether data obtained are in keeping with findings from other professions.

Evaluation of a PCR assay for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in respiratory and nonrespiratory samples from adults with community-acquired pneumonia.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia, but it is undoubtedly underdiagnosed. We used a nested PCR assay (targeting the pneumolysin gene) to detect S. pneumoniae DNA in multiple sample types from 474 adults with community-acquired pneumonia and 183 control patients who did not have pneumonia.