Promotion of bone morphogenetic protein signaling by tetraspanins and glycosphingolipids.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) belong to the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily of secreted molecules. BMPs play essential roles in multiple developmental and homeostatic processes in metazoans. Malfunction of the BMP pathway can cause a variety of diseases in humans, including cancer, skeletal disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

Standardized patient assessment of medical student empathy: ethnicity and gender effects in a multi-institutional study.

Purpose: To examine, primarily, the effects of ethnicity and gender, which could introduce bias into scoring, on standardized patient (SP) assessments of medical students and, secondarily, to examine medical students' self-reported empathy for ethnicity and gender effects so as to compare self-perception with the perceptions of SPs.

Method: Participants were 577 students from four medical schools in 2012: 373 (65%) were white, 79 (14%) black/African American, and 125 (22%) Asian/Pacific Islander. These students were assessed by 84 SPs: 62 (74%) were white and 22 (26%) were black/African American.

Resident and attending physician perception of maladaptive response to stress in residents.

Background: Residency stress has been shown to interfere with resident well-being and patient safety. We developed a survey research study designed to explore factors that may affect perception of a maladaptive response to stress.

Methods: A 16-item survey with 12 Likert-type perception items was designed to determine how often respondents agreed or disagreed with statements regarding the resident on the trigger tape.

The development of a validated checklist for femoral venous catheterization: preliminary results.

Femoral venous catheterization is a common, invasive procedure, which may lead to serious complications. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills and may result in improved health care quality. The results of the first step of the validation of a femoral venous catheterization checklist are described.

The development of a validated checklist for radial arterial line placement: preliminary results.

Radial arterial line placement is an invasive procedure that may result in complications. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills and may result in improved health care quality. The results of the first step of the validation of a radial arterial line placement checklist are described.

The development of validated checklist for Foley catheterization: preliminary results.

Foley catheterization (FC) is known to result in complications. Validated checklists are central to teaching/assessing procedural skills and may result in improved health care quality. The results of the first step of the validation of male and female FC checklists are described.

The development of a validated checklist for nasogastric tube insertion: preliminary results.

Nasogastric (NG) tube insertion is known to result in complications. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills and may result in improved health care quality. The results of the first step of the validation of an NG tube insertion checklist are described.

Disaster preparedness: what training do our interns receive during medical school?

Disaster preparedness training is a critical component of medical student education. Despite recent natural and man-made disasters, there is no national consensus on a disaster preparedness curriculum. The authors designed a survey to assess prior disaster preparedness training among incoming interns at an academic teaching hospital.