Development of a pilot procedural skills training course for preclerkship medical students.

Objective: Despite procedural skills being recognized as an important component of medical school education, medical students are not confident in their ability to carry out a range of medical procedures. We conducted an institutional needs assessment and used the results to inform the creation of a procedure-based preclinical elective for first- and second-year students.

Methods: We surveyed second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students at Alpert Medical School as well as select program directors to guide selection of a list of procedures to be taught in the elective.

Novel use of an ultrasonic bone aspirator for extended endoscopic frontal sinusotomy: A feasibility study.

Introduction: Extended endoscopic frontal sinusotomy is often required for surgical management of anterior skull base pathology. Such approaches are necessary for access to pathology and maintenance of postoperative frontal sinus outflow tract drainage. Cold steel instrumentation and endoscopic high-speed microdrills are typically used for bony removal during extended frontal sinus approaches but are associated with certain drawbacks, such as thermal injury and obscuration of the surgical field with bone dust.

Rigid bronchoscopic management of complications related to endobronchial stents after lung transplantation.

Objectives: We reviewed the utility of rigid bronchoscopy in the management of complications resulting from placement of metallic endobronchial stents after lung transplantation.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all lung transplant patients who required metallic endobronchial stenting between 2005 and 2009. The patients' medical records were reviewed, and details regarding stent placement, complications, and removal were recorded.