Are students ready for meaningful use?

Background: The meaningful use (MU) of electronic medical records (EMRs) is being implemented in three stages. Key objectives of stage one include electronic analysis of data entered into structured fields, using decision-support tools (e.g.

The value of bedside rounds: a multicenter qualitative study.

Background: Bedside rounds have decreased on teaching services, raising concern about trainees' clinical skills and patient-physician relationships.

Purpose: We sought to identify recognized bedside teachers' perceived value of bedside rounds to assist in the promotion of bedside rounds on teaching services.

Methods: Authors used a grounded theory, qualitative study design of telephone semistructured interviews with bedside teachers (n = 34) from 10 U.

Mobile technology for the facilitation of direct observation and assessment of student performance.

Background: We developed, implemented, and assessed a web-based clinical evaluation application (i.e., CEX app) for Internet-enabled mobile devices, including mobile phones.

Using cloud-based mobile technology for assessment of competencies among medical students.

Valid, direct observation of medical student competency in clinical settings remains challenging and limits the opportunity to promote performance-based student advancement. The rationale for direct observation is to ascertain that students have acquired the core clinical competencies needed to care for patients. Too often student observation results in highly variable evaluations which are skewed by factors other than the student's actual performance.

The implementation of a mobile problem-specific electronic CEX for assessing directly observed student-patient encounters.

Background: Facilitating direct observation of medical students' clinical competencies is a pressing need.

Methods: We developed an electronic problem-specific Clinical Evaluation Exercise (eCEX) based on a national curriculum. We assessed its feasibility in monitoring and recording students' competencies and the impact of a grading incentive on the frequency of direct observations in an internal medicine clerkship.

Internal medicine clerkship characteristics associated with enhanced student examination performance.

Purpose: To determine which internal medicine (IM) clerkship characteristics are associated with better student examination performance.

Method: The authors collected data from 17 U.S.

Outcomes of a national faculty development program in teaching skills: prospective follow-up of 110 medicine faculty development teams.

Background: Awareness of the need for ambulatory care teaching skills training for clinician-educators is increasing. A recent Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded national initiative trained 110 teams from U.S.

A randomized trial comparing digital and live lecture formats [ISRCTN40455708.

Background: Medical education is increasingly being conducted in community-based teaching sites at diverse locations, making it difficult to provide a consistent curriculum. We conducted a randomized trial to assess whether students who viewed digital lectures would perform as well on a measure of cognitive knowledge as students who viewed live lectures. Students' perceptions of the digital lecture format and their opinion as whether a digital lecture format could serve as an adequate replacement for live lectures was also assessed.

Medical comorbidity in addictive disorders.

Greater risks exist for medical comorbidities in persons with addictive disorders. Clinicians should screen for early comorbidities such as hepatitis C and HIV. During acute intoxications and overdoses, patients are at greater risk for major respiratory and cardiac events.

Faculty development needs.

We compared prior training in 4 areas (general teaching skills, teaching specific content areas, teaching by specific methods and in specific settings, and general professional skills) among community-based teachers based in private practices (N = 61) compared with those in community sites operated by teaching institutions (N = 64) and hospital-based faculty (N = 291), all of whom attended one of three national faculty development conferences. The prevalence of prior training was low. Hospital-based faculty reported the most prior training in all 4 categories, teaching hospital affiliated community-based teachers an intermediate amount, and private practice community-based teachers the least (all P <.