Pulmonary and Critical Care In-Service Training Examination Score as a Predictor of Board Certification Examination Performance.

Rationale: Most trainees in combined pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship programs complete in-service training examinations (ITEs) that test knowledge in both disciplines. Whether ITE scores predict performance on the American Board of Internal Medicine Pulmonary Disease Certification Examination and Critical Care Medicine Certification Examination is unknown.

Objectives: To determine whether pulmonary and critical care medicine ITE scores predict performance on subspecialty board certification examinations independently of trainee demographics, program director competency ratings, fellowship program characteristics, and prior medical knowledge assessments.

A comparison of Google Glass and traditional video vantage points for bedside procedural skill assessment.

Background: This pilot study assessed the feasibility of using first person (1P) video recording with Google Glass (GG) to assess procedural skills, as compared with traditional third person (3P) video. We hypothesized that raters reviewing 1P videos would visualize more procedural steps with greater inter-rater reliability than 3P rating vantages.

Methods: Seven subjects performed simulated internal jugular catheter insertions.

Service and its association with matching into a primary care residency.

Background And Objectives: There is a shortfall in the primary care workforce, and an effort is needed in learning more about what motivates students to work as generalists. There is enthusiasm about service as a potential motivator. The objective is to determine whether there is an association between high participation in service and selection of a primary care residency.

Medical student perceptions of medical school education about suffering: a multicenter pilot study.

Background And Objectives: Little is known about what students perceive they are taught about suffering in medical school. We sought to explore medical student perceptions of their medical school education about suffering.

Methods: We used an online survey of medical students enrolled in four US medical schools with chi-square analysis of responses by gender and preclinical/clinical status.

Is minimally invasive total knee arthroplasty associated with lower costs than traditional TKA?

Background: Studies of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) approaches to TKA have shown decreased postoperative pain, earlier return to function, and shorter lengths of stay in the hospital. However, it is unclear whether these differences translate into decreased costs or charges associated with care.

Questions/purposes: We asked whether a minimally invasive approach to TKA is associated with lower inpatient charges and direct inpatient costs than the traditional approach.

Medical trainee perceptions of medical school education about suffering: a pilot study.

Background: The relief of suffering is a fundamental goal of medicine, but what medical students are taught about suffering has been largely unexplored.

Objective: This pilot study explored the perceptions of physicians in postgraduate training of their medical school education about suffering.

Design: Survey research involving physicians in postgraduate family medicine training programs.

Longitudinal integrated clerkships for medical students: an innovation adopted by medical schools in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States.

Purpose: Integrated clinical clerkships represent a relatively new and innovative approach to medical education that uses continuity as an organizing principle, thus increasing patient-centeredness and learner-centeredness. Medical schools are offering longitudinal integrated clinical clerkships in increasing numbers. This report collates the experiences of medical schools that use longitudinal integrated clerkships for medical student education in order to establish a clearer characterization of these experiences and summarize outcome data, when possible.

Minimally invasive total knee arthroplasty compared with traditional total knee arthroplasty. Assessment of the learning curve and the postoperative recuperative period.

Background: There is disagreement about whether so-called minimally invasive approaches result in faster recovery following total knee arthroplasty. It is also unknown whether patients are exposed to excess risk during the surgeon's learning curve. We hypothesized that a minimally invasive quadriceps-sparing approach to total knee arthroplasty would allow earlier clinical recovery but would require longer operative times and compromise component alignment during the learning period compared with a traditional medial parapatellar approach.

Commercially funded and United States-based research is more likely to be published; good-quality studies with negative outcomes are not.

Background: Prior studies implying associations between receipt of commercial funding and positive (significant and/or pro-industry) research outcomes have analyzed only published papers, which is an insufficiently robust approach for assessing publication bias. In this study, we tested the following hypotheses regarding orthopaedic manuscripts submitted for review: (1) nonscientific variables, including receipt of commercial funding, affect the likelihood that a peer-reviewed submission will conclude with a report of a positive study outcome, and (2) positive outcomes and other, nonscientific variables are associated with acceptance for publication.

Methods: All manuscripts about hip or knee arthroplasty that were submitted to The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume, over seventeen months were evaluated to determine the study design, quality, and outcome.

Industry-funded positive studies not associated with better design or larger size.

Previous studies have associated commercial funding with positive outcomes in orthopaedic research. Those reports, however, failed to account for potential confounding variables that can lead to a disproportion of positive outcomes, including sample size, study design, and study quality. We tested the hypothesis that nonscientific factors (funding source, orthopaedic subspecialty, and geographic region of origin) are associated with positive study outcomes, but not the result of differences in study design, study quality, or sample size.

Working across the boundaries of health professions disciplines in education, research, and service: the University of Washington experience.

The Institute of Medicine's vision for health professions education specifies working together across professions and schools to provide patient-centered care. Improvement in collaborative preparation of health professionals is seen as central to achieving substantial improvement in the quality of health care. In this article, the authors address one central question: How can medical schools work with other health-sciences schools to promote their educational, research, and service missions? The authors summarize the history of the University of Washington (UW) Health Sciences Center in promoting interprofessional collaboration in education, service and research; analyze the key strategic, structural, cultural and technical elements that have promoted success or served as barriers in the development of the UW Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education and Research; and suggest strategies that may be transferable to other institutions seeking to implement an interprofessional health sciences program.

Academic degrees and clinical practice characteristics: the University of Washington physician assistant program: 1969-2000.

Context: The physician assistant profession has been moving toward requiring master's degrees for new practitioners, but some argue this could change the face of the discipline.

Purpose: To see if there is an association between physician assistants' academic degrees and practice in primary care, in rural areas, and with the medically underserved.

Methods: Surveys were sent to 880 graduates of the first 32 University of Washington physician assistant classes through 2000.

Important demographic variables impact the musculoskeletal knowledge and confidence of academic primary care physicians.

Background: Although most musculoskeletal illness is managed by primary care providers, and not by surgeons, evidence suggests that primary care physicians may receive inadequate training in musculoskeletal medicine. We evaluated the musculoskeletal knowledge and self-perceived confidence of fully trained, practicing academic primary care physicians and tested the following hypotheses: (1) a relationship exists between a provider's musculoskeletal knowledge and self-perceived confidence, (2) demographic variables are associated with differences in the knowledge-confidence relationship, and (3) specific education or training affects a provider's musculoskeletal knowledge and clinical confidence.

Methods: An examination of basic musculoskeletal knowledge and a 10-point Likert scale assessing self-perceived confidence were administered to family practice, internal medicine, and pediatric faculty at a large, regional, academic primary care institution serving both rural and urban populations across a five-state region.

Impact of educational intervention on confidence and competence in the performance of a simple surgical task.

Background: Many complex new procedures involve a learning curve, and patients treated by individuals who are new to a procedure may have more complications than those treated by a practitioner who has performed the intervention more frequently. Still, at some point on the learning curve, each individual must decide that he or she is qualified to perform a procedure, presumably on the basis of his or her level of confidence, background, education, and skill. To evaluate the interrelationship of these factors, we designed a study in which we assessed the performance of a simulated knee joint injection.

The departmental advisor's effect on medical students' confidence when the advisor evaluates or recruits for their own program during the match.

Background: Departmental advisors who also serve on residency selection committees at their institutions have a dual role as advisor and evaluator of residency applicants.

Purpose: This study explores this dual role and its effect on medical students' confidence in the advising relationship.

Methods: A secure, anonymous questionnaire was made available online to 1,362 graduating medical students from ten U.

Medical education research at the University of Washington School of Medicine: lessons from the past and potential for the future.

Faculty in the Department of Medical Education and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Washington School of Medicine received over $1.2 million in direct grant and contract support in 2003. In this case study, the authors provide some of the history and background of the evolution of the department's structure and its role in providing leadership in medical education research at the university, as well as regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Attitudes of Chinese medical students toward the global minimum essential requirements established by the Institute for International Medical Education.

Background: The Institute for International Medical Education has published "Global Minimum Essential Requirements (GMERs) in Medical Education."

Purpose: This study examined attitudes of a sample of Chinese medical students toward the GMERs.

Methods: Matriculating and graduating West China School of Medicine Sichuan University medical students were administered parallel surveys during the 2001 to 2002 academic years.

Implications for designing online oral health resources: a review of fifty-six websites.

We conducted a review of websites in oral health to identify content areas of our target interest and design features that support content and interface design. An interprofessional team evaluated fifty-six oral health websites originating from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and associations (28.6 percent), regional/state agencies (21.

Addressing disparities in children's oral health: a dental-medical partnership to train family practice residents.

Providing oral health care to rural populations in the United States is a major challenge. Lack of community water fluoridation, dental workforce shortages, and geographical barriers all aggravate oral health and access problems in the largely rural Northwest. Children from low-income and minority families and children with special needs are at particular risk.

Communication between programs and applicants during residency selection: effects of the match on medical students' professional development.

Purpose: Communication between programs and applicants during the Match has raised concern among medical educators. This study explores the patterns of such communication and its effect on the ethical and professional development of medical students.

Method: In March and April 2001, the authors made a secure, anonymous questionnaire available online to 1,362 medical students who were graduating from ten U.