Development and Evaluation of an Objective Tympanic Membrane Visualization Assessment Technique.

Objectives: To introduce an inexpensive method for objectively evaluating otoscopic visualization of the tympanic membrane wherein learners match what they visualize in standardized patients to tympanic membrane photographs.

Methods: Two standardized patients had photographs taken of their tympanic membranes using a commercially-available digital otoscope. First- and third-year medical students were asked to perform an otoscopic examination on each patient using a conventional handheld otoscope and to match what they saw with the correct tympanic membrane image among distractor photographs belonging to other patients.

Utility of a smartphone-enabled otoscope in the instruction of otoscopy and middle ear anatomy.

Purpose: To present the utility of a smartphone-enabled otoscope as a teaching adjunct in pre-clinical otoscopy training.

Methods: 60 pre-clinical medical students were randomized into either a control group using a conventional otoscope or an experimental group using a smartphone-enabled otoscope. Participants in each group were trained to use their assigned device and were given time to practice on a colleague's ear.

A perioperative care map improves outcomes in patients with morbid obesity undergoing major surgery.

Background: The surgical management of patients with morbid obesity (body mass index ≥ 40) is notable for a relatively high risk of complications. To address this problem, a perioperative care map was developed using precautions and best practices commonly employed in bariatric surgery. It requires additional medical assessments, sleep apnea surveillance, more stringent guidelines for anesthetic management, and readily available bariatric operating room equipment, among other items.