Development and implementation of a COVID-19 Vaccine and Pandemic Planning course: An interprofessional education approach.

We developed an online interprofessional COVID-19 Vaccine and Pandemic Planning course at the height of the pandemic to prepare health science students for future vaccine delivery. Faculty from nursing, pharmacy, medical, and dentistry developed a six-week online co-curricular interprofessional education activity open to all health science students across seven schools on three campuses within the same University system. Total enrollment included 303, with 228 completing the course from 16 programs.

Communicating value to patients-a high-value care communication skills curriculum.

Introduction: With rising health care costs in the United States, trainees will be increasingly challenged in discussing testing stewardship with patients.

Objective: We piloted a high-value care (HVC) communication skills curriculum utilizing the Four Habits Model for communication. We hoped residents would 1) learn to apply the Four Habits communication model to HVC discussions with standardized patients (SP) and 2) improve value-based communication skills through training in a high-intensity curriculum with feedback from trained faculty facilitators and peers.

Training primary care clinicians in motivational interviewing: a comparison of two models.

Objectives: To evaluate implementing two training models for motivational interviewing (MI) to address tobacco use with primary care clinicians.

Methods: Clinicians were randomized to moderate or high intensity. Both training modalities included a single ½ day workshop facilitated by MI expert trainers.

An interactive handoff workshop to improve intern readiness in patient care transitions.

Introduction: Patient handoffs are common during residency and are often performed with little or no training. We devised a simple intervention to improve the readiness of interns to perform handoffs.

Methods: We administered a 90-minute interactive workshop during intern orientation in 2009 and 2010.

Patient race and physicians' decisions to prescribe opioids for chronic low back pain.

Nonwhite patients are less likely than white patients to have their pain adequately treated. This study examined the influence of patient race and patient verbal and nonverbal behavior on primary care physicians' treatment decisions for chronic low back pain in men. We randomly assigned physicians to receive a paper-based, clinical vignette of a chronic pain patient that differed in terms of patient race (white vs.

Toward an ecological perspective of resident teaching clinic.

Teaching clinic managers struggle to convert performance data into meaningful behavioral change in their trainees, and quality improvement measures in medicine have had modest results. This may be due to several factors including clinical performance being based more on team function than individual action, models of best practice that are over-simplified for real patients with multiple chronic diseases, and local features that influence behavior but are not aligned with core values. Many are looking for a new conceptual structure to guide them.

Changing residents' beliefs and concerns about treating chronic noncancer pain with opioids: evaluation of a pilot workshop.

Objective: To determine if a pilot phase workshop influenced residents' beliefs and concerns about using opioids for chronic noncancer pain.

Design: Pre- and post-survey questionnaire.

Setting: University residency program.

Medical residents' beliefs and concerns about using opioids to treat chronic cancer and noncancer pain: a pilot study.

This study assessed and compared residents' beliefs and concerns about using opioids for treating pain in patients with cancer and noncancer low back pain (NLBP). Participants included 72 Internal Medicine and Medicine-Pediatrics residents who completed a survey questionnaire. Based on a scale of 0 = "No concern" to 10 = "Very concerned," residents expressed greater concern that treating NLBP with opioids, compared with cancer-related pain, causes addiction (6.

Testing the exportability of a tool for detecting operational problems in VA teaching clinics.

Background: Recurrent operational problems in teaching clinics may be caused by the different medical preferences of patients, residents, faculty, and administrators. These preference differences can be identified by cultural consensus analysis (CCA), a standard anthropologic tool.

Objective: This study tests the exportability of a unique CCA tool to identify site-specific operational problems at 5 different VA teaching clinics.

Evaluation of a worksheet to structure teaching and learning outpatient internal medicine.

The Worksheet for Ambulatory Medicine (WAM) is an educational tool designed to enhance teaching and learning outpatient internal medicine. It was developed to identify student learning needs, focus teaching, and structure educational and patient care activities in a clinic setting. The purpose of the study was to assess the feasibility and educational value of using the WAM with medical students and preceptors.

A communication assessment and skill-building exercise (CASE) for first-year residents.

Objective: Good communication skills are essential for residents entering postgraduate education programs. However, these skills vary widely among medical school graduates. This pilot program was designed to create opportunities for (1) teaching essential interviewing and communication skills to trainees at the beginning of residency, (2) assessing resident skills and confidence with specific types of interview situations, (3) developing faculty teaching and assessment skills, (4) encouraging collegial interaction between faculty and new trainees, and (5) guiding residency curricular development.