The Effects of Heart Rhythm Meditation on Vagal Tone and Well-being: A Mixed Methods Research Study.

Many studies have examined the effects of meditation practice focused on the normal breath on vagal tone with mixed results. Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM) is a unique meditation form that engages in the deep slow full breath, and puts the focus of attention on the heart. This form of breathing likely stimulates the vagus nerve with greater intensity.

A Graphic Transformation: A Qualitative Study of Transformative Learning in Medical Trainees during COVID-19 Using Comics as Data Presentation.

Transformative learning is a theory in which individuals construct new or revised interpretations of the meaning of an experience. COVID-19 offers a rare opportunity to better understand how individuals respond to and make meaning within the shared context of an extraordinary event. We aimed to examine if and how residents and fellows engaged in transformative learning when caring for COVID-19 positive patients during the initial peak of the pandemic (Spring 2020).

Embodied aspects of learning to be a surgeon.

Embodied learning is an educational concept that has been applied to various aspects of education, but only touched on in medical education, largely in relation to the teaching and learning of anatomy. Thus far, the medical literature has not addressed embodied learning as it specifically relates to learning to operate and be a surgeon. This paper will discuss relevant principles of embodied learning/cognition, ways it is important both for learning to function as a surgeon and for learning to perform technical aspects of surgery, and finally will discuss implications for surgical education.

The essential value of projects in faculty development.

Projects--planned activities with specific goals and outcomes--have been used in faculty development programs to enhance participant learning and development. Projects have been employed most extensively in programs designed to develop faculty as educators. The authors review the literature and report the results of their 2008 study of the impact of projects within the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine Junior Faculty Development Program, a comprehensive faculty development program.

The role of creative expression in diabetes: an exploration into the meaning-making process.

In this narrative exploration of meaning making through the use of creative arts, we recorded the experiences of 8 women with type 1 diabetes. Through a conceptual framework of creative expression as a way of knowing, we designed this study to evoke affective and metaphorical connections to the meaning of diabetes. The initial narrative interview findings reflected the experience of the participants, with three primary themes emerging: experiencing negative emotions about diabetes, putting a positive "spin" on the negative as a way to make meaning, and resisting against diabetes and the medical approach.

Teaching beliefs of medical educators: perspectives on clinical teaching in pediatrics.

Background: Most who teach in clinical settings see themselves primarily as clinicians or physicians responsible for patient care and only secondarily as educators. The education literature suggests that teaching predominantly operates at a tacit level, where teachers rely on core beliefs to guide their practice, and actually spend little time in reflective practice. Given the lack of research on how medical educators in clinical settings view their teaching, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the teaching beliefs of faculty in a pediatrics department in a college of medicine.