Public and Population Health in U.S. Medical Education: A Review of Guidance in Extraordinary Times.

Generations of medical educators have recommended including public and population health (PPH) content in the training of U.S. physicians.

Anxiety, PTSD, and stressors in medical students during the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To assess psychological effects of the initial peak phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on United States (US) medical students in clinical training to anticipate sequelae and prepare for future outbreaks.

Methods: Authors emailed a cross-sectional survey in April-May, 2020 to students in clinical training years at six US medical schools which included validated General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Primary Care-PTSD (PC-PTSD-5) screening tools, and asked students about pandemic-related stress and specific concerns. Authors used quantitative and thematic analysis to present results.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students: a multicenter quantitative study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the United States (US) medical education system with the necessary, yet unprecedented Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) national recommendation to pause all student clinical rotations with in-person patient care. This study is a quantitative analysis investigating the educational and psychological effects of the pandemic on US medical students and their reactions to the AAMC recommendation in order to inform medical education policy.

Methods: The authors sent a cross-sectional survey via email to medical students in their clinical training years at six medical schools during the initial peak phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teaching Public and Population Health in Medical Education: An Evaluation Framework.

Curriculum models and training activities in medical education have been markedly enhanced to prepare physicians to address the health needs of diverse populations and to advance health equity. While different teaching and experiential learning activities in the public health and population health sciences have been implemented, there is no existing framework to measure the effectiveness of public and population health (PPH) education in medical education programs. In 2015, the Association of American Medical Colleges established the Expert Panel on Public and Population Health in Medical Education, which convened 20 U.

A Review of Continuous Quality Improvement Processes at Ten Medical Schools.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education now expects all allopathic medical schools to develop and adhere to a documentable continuous quality improvement (CQI) process. Medical schools must consider how to establish a defensible process that monitors compliance with accreditation standards between site visits. The purpose of this descriptive study is to detail how ten schools in the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) CQI Special Interest Group (SIG) are tackling practical issues of CQI development including establishing a CQI office, designating faculty and staff, charging a CQI committee, choosing software for data management, if schools are choosing formalized CQI models, and other considerations.

The association of angiogenic factors and chronic kidney disease.

Background: There are limited data on the associations of circulating angiogenic factors with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigate the associations of circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A, angiopoietin-1, angiopoietin-1/VEGF-A ratio, VEGF receptor 1 (VEGFR-1), VEGFR-2, and pentraxin-3 with CKD.

Methods: We recruited 201 patients with CKD and 201 community controls without CKD from the greater New Orleans area.

Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis in Pregnancy.

Background: Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) is an uncommon form of glomerulonephritis and it can be particularly difficult to predict outcomes and manage women with this disorder during pregnancy.

Materials And Methods: The management of 3 successful pregnancies in women with MPGN from 1 center and previously described cases from the world literature are reviewed. This includes a number of large studies of pregnancy in women with underlying glomerular disease as well as small case series and individual reports.

What are the implications of implementation science for medical education?

Background: Derived from multiple disciplines and established in industries outside of medicine, Implementation Science (IS) seeks to move evidence-based approaches into widespread use to enable improved outcomes to be realized as quickly as possible by as many as possible.

Methods: This review highlights selected IS theories and models, chosen based on the experience of the authors, that could be used to plan and deliver medical education activities to help learners better implement and sustain new knowledge and skills in their work settings.

Results: IS models, theories and approaches can help medical educators promote and determine their success in achieving desired learner outcomes.

Leptospirosis in New Orleans.

Leptospirosis is an unusual but reemerging zoonotic infectious disease in the United States where the diagnosis may not be suspected when patients initially present. The case report of a patient from New Orleans who presented with jaundice, hypotension and acute kidney injury is presented. In this patient, a broad differential diagnosis was considered on presentation and serologic testing for leptospirosis eventually confirmed the diagnosis.

The educational attributes and responsibilities of effective medical educators.

Of the many roles that the academic-educator may fulfill, that of teacher is particularly challenging. Building on prior recommendations from the literature, this article identifies the skill set of teachers across the medical education continuum-characteristics of attitude and attributes, knowledge, and pedagogic skills that permit effective teaching to be linked with effective learning and understanding. This examination which characterizes teachers' attitudes, knowledge, and skills serves to reemphasize the centrality of teaching within medical education, provides direction for faculty and institutions alike in the discharge of academic responsibilities, and makes educational accountability clear.

Long-term outcome of adults who undergo transplantation with single pediatric kidneys: how young is too young?

Background And Objectives: The optimal donor age for transplanting a single pediatric kidney in an adult recipient remains unknown. En block kidney transplantation is usually performed when the donor age is <5 yr.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We compared the outcomes of adult patients who underwent transplantation with single pediatric kidneys from donors who were younger than 5 yr (group 1, n = 40) and from donors who were aged 5 to 10 yr of age (group 2, n = 39) in our center.

Physician practice behavior and practice guidelines: using unannounced standardized patients to gather data.

Background: Measuring actual practice behaviors of physicians, particularly as they relate to established clinical guidelines, is challenging. Standardized patients provide one method of collecting such data.

Objective: To demonstrate the use of unannounced standardized patients in gathering data that may address adherence to guidelines in an office setting.

Medical school dean as a turnaround agent.

Taking on the role as a new medical school Dean in a new city after Hurricane Katrina posed many challenges. To facilitate turnaround, 3 principles were applied: hit the ground running, promote community involvement, and gain a common vision for the future. This article describes Tulane University's process for implementing change and expands on its vision for the future.

Impact of Hurricane Katrina on medical student academic performance: the Tulane experience.

Background: Hurricane Katrina forced the temporary closure of Tulane University School of Medicine requiring relocation to the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. This required curricular restructuring, and resulted in faculty/student challenges. The effect of these stresses on student performance was studied.

Surviving Hurricane Katrina: reconstructing the educational enterprise of Tulane University School of Medicine.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest natural disasters to ever strike the United States. Tulane University School of Medicine, located in downtown New Orleans, and its three major teaching hospitals were flooded in the aftermath of the storm and forced to close. Faculty, students, residents, and staff evacuated to locations throughout the country.

A new approach to bridging content gaps in the clinical curriculum.

Background: In 2004-05 Tulane University School of Medicine implemented a longitudinal Interdisciplinary Seminar Series composed of small-group interactive exercises to address topics that are often overlooked during the clinical education of medical students. The series utilizes five adult learning principles.

Methods: Each of 13 seminars is offered at a fixed time slot, repeated two to six times per year.

Is medical student choice of a primary care residency influenced by debt?

Context: The average medical student accumulates more than $120,000 in debt upon graduation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether medical student debt affects residency choice.

Design: This was a cross-sectional research study.

Dialysis services in the hurricane-affected areas in 2005: lessons learned.

Background: Hurricane Katrina resulted in partial or complete devastation of dialysis services throughout the Gulf Coast, including the New Orleans metropolitan area. In the immediate aftermath, dialysis had to be provided to patients by surrounding communities in Louisiana, and ultimately by dialysis programs throughout the nation. Peritoneal dialysis patients, though typically more independent, also endured challenges in continuing dialysis following Hurricane Katrina.