Predictors of medical students' ethical decision-making: A pilot study using the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior.

Objective: To understand medical students' (MS) ethical decision-making using the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB).

Methods: We conducted two rounds of focus groups to develop a TIB-based questionnaire by eliciting students' perspectives on an ethical dilemma they will encounter in a standardized patient (SP) station, in which an SP "surgeon" asked them to intubate a sedated patient whom the student knew had requested no student involvement. We administrated questionnaires to 241 third-year MS following this SP station, asking for their decisions in the SP station and if a surgeon made the same request in their clerkship.

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.

Preserving third year medical students' empathy and enhancing self-reflection using small group "virtual hangout" technology.

Background: Medical student professionalism education is challenging in scope, purpose, and delivery, particularly in the clinical years when students in large universities are dispersed across multiple clinical sites. We initiated a faculty-facilitated, peer small group course for our third year students, creating virtual classrooms using social networking and online learning management system technologies. The course emphasized narrative self-reflection, group inquiry, and peer support.

Residents' and standardized patients' perspectives on empathy: issues of agreement.

Objective: We investigated correlations between residents' scores on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE), residents' perceptions of their empathy during standardized-patient encounters, and the perceptions of standardized patients.

Methods: Participants were 214 first-year residents in internal medicine or family medicine from 13 residency programs taking standardized patient-based clinical skills assessment in 2011. We analyzed correlations between residents' JSE scores; standardized patients' perspectives on residents' empathy during OSCE encounters, using the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy; and residents' perspectives on their own empathy, using a modified version of this scale.

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.

Changes in intern attitudes toward medical error and disclosure.

Context: The 2000 Institute of Medicine report, 'To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System', focused the medical community on medical error. This focus led to educational initiatives and legislation designed to minimise errors and increase their disclosure.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether increased general awareness about medical error has affected interns' attitudes toward medical error and disclosure by comparing responses to surveys of interns carried out at either end of the last decade.

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.

eLearning to enhance physician patient communication: a pilot test of "doc.com" and "WebEncounter" in teaching bad news delivery.

Background: Physician-patient communication skills help determine the nature and quality of diagnostic information elicited from patients, the quality of the physician's counseling, and the patient's adherence to treatment. In spite of their importance, surveys have demonstrated a wide variability and deficiencies in the teaching of these skills.

Aim: Describe two specific methodologies for teaching physician-patient communication skills developed at our institution and pilot test them for effectiveness.

Psychosomatic medicine: the scientific foundation of the biopsychosocial model.

Objective: This article presents major concepts and research findings from the field of psychosomatic medicine that the authors believe should be taught to all medical students.

Method: The authors asked senior scholars involved in psychosomatic medicine to summarize key findings in their respective fields.

Results: The authors provide an overview of the field and summarize core research in basic psychophysiological mechanisms-central nervous system/autonomic nervous system, psychoneuroimmunology, and psychoendocrinology-in three major disease states-cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and HIV virus infections.

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.

Evaluating surgeons' informed decision making skills: pilot test using a videoconferenced standardised patient.

Background: Standardised patients (SPs) are effective in evaluating communication skills, but not every training site may have the resources to develop and maintain SP programmes.

Objectives: To test whether videoconferencing technology (VT) could enable an interaction between an SP and an orthopaedic surgeon that would allow the SP to accurately evaluate the surgeon's informed decision making (IDM) skills. We also assessed whether this sort of interaction was acceptable to orthopaedic surgeons as a means of learning IDM skills.

A survey of residents' attitudes and practices in screening for, managing, and documenting domestic violence.

Objective: We conducted this study to identify residents' limitations in screening for, documenting, and managing domestic violence (DV) and to focus future educational interventions.

Methods: We administered a detailed survey to 103 internal medicine residents from 4 university-affiliated programs to ascertain their attitudes about and practices in screening for, documenting, and managing DV.

Results: Most residents agreed that DV is a significant health care problem (87%) and one in which physicians can intervene effectively (77%), yet 37% reported not screening for DV.

Realizing Engel's vision: psychosomatic medicine and the education of physician-healers.

Many of the exciting conceptual and scientific advances in the field of psychosomatic medicine are not taught in United States medical schools. This article, based on the Presidential Address given at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2003, reviews the rationale for integrating psychosomatic medicine into medical curricula, identifies educational needs, proposes a core curriculum, and suggests how American Psychosomatic Society members can be instrumental in curriculum development and implementation.

A pilot test of WebOSCE: a system for assessing trainees' clinical skills via teleconference.

WebOSCE is a computer-based system that allows a student at an affiliate site to participate in a 10-station standardized patient-based exam using a videoconference interface, while nine other students take the exam on-site. We pilot-tested this system during a required year-end objective structured clinical exam. We compared performance data between the 26 distance students taking the exam via WebOSCE with 221 on-site students.

An assessment of residents' abilities to detect and manage domestic violence.

Despite increased awareness of domestic violence (DV), little is known about residents' preparedness to diagnose and respond appropriately to abuse victims. We designed a pilot study to examine this. Seventy-one internal medicine residents participated in a 10-station standardized patient-based Clinical Skills Assessment.