Efficacy of an internet-based learning module and small-group debriefing on trainees' attitudes and communication skills toward patients with substance use disorders: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To examine whether an Internet-based learning module and small-group debriefing can improve medical trainees' attitudes and communication skills toward patients with substance use disorders (SUDs).

Method: In 2011-2012, 129 internal and family medicine residents and 370 medical students at two medical schools participated in a cluster randomized controlled trial, which assessed the effect of adding a two-part intervention to the SUDs curricula. The intervention included a self-directed, media-rich Internet-based learning module and a small-group, faculty-led debriefing.

Returning physicians to the workforce: history, progress, and challenges.

There is growing recognition of the need to reeducate clinically inactive physicians seeking to return to practice and in the facilitation of this return. Physicians seeking to return to practice face many challenges: maneuvering the various requirements of licensing, medical, and credentialing boards; finding an appropriate educational program to become up to date in current practice; paying for the program; and overcoming personal obstacles. Educational programs also face challenges: cost of development and maintenance; allocation of staff and faculty time to reeducate returning physicians alongside other learners; provision of emotional counseling and career guidance; interpretation of varied licensing and board guidelines; and the need to tailor one's program to individual trainees.

Assessment of an innovative instructional program to return non-practicing physicians to the workforce.

Introduction: Few formal educational programs are available in the United States to assist physicians wishing to return to medical practice after clinical inactivity. Little published data on physicians who complete these programs exist. We describe the Drexel Medicine Physician Reentry/Refresher course and present our findings on participant demographics, performance, and goal attainment following course completion.

The impact of the changing health care environment on the health and well-being of faculty at four medical schools.

Purpose: Increased pressure for clinical and research productivity and decreased control over the work environment have been reported to have adverse impacts on academic faculty in limited studies. The authors examined whether work-related stressors in academic medicine negatively affected the physical and mental health, as well as life and job satisfaction, of academic medical school faculty.

Method: A 136-item self-administered anonymous questionnaire modified from a small 1984 study was distributed to 3,519 academic faculty at four U.