Are commonly used resident measurements associated with procedural skills in internal medicine residency training?

Background: Acquisition of competence in performing a variety of procedures is essential during Internal Medicine (IM) residency training.

Purposes: Determine the rate of procedural complications by IM residents; determine whether there was a correlation between having 1 or more complications and institutional procedural certification status or attending ratings of resident procedural skill competence on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) monthly evaluation form (ABIM-MEF). Assess if an association exists between procedural complications and in-training examination and ABIM board certification scores.

Chest pain and ST segment elevation attributable to cholecystitis: a case report and review of the literature.

Chest pain with electrocardiographic changes is usually a life-threatening presentation of cardiac ischemia. There are, however, a variety of noncardiac conditions that have been reported to mimic these clinical and electrocardiographic changes. An Asian woman presented with chest pain and ST segment elevations in the distribution of the left anterior descending artery.

Impact of a residency research program on research activity, faculty involvement, and institutional cost.

Background: The impact of residency research programs on resident research activity, faculty involvement, and institutional cost has not been well described.

Description: A strategy to increase resident research activity was implemented in a community-based internal medicine residency program. Strategy components included a resident research director, a research elective, cost reimbursement, and a research requirement.

A resident research director can improve internal medicine resident research productivity.

Background: Resident participation in research projects is felt to be an important component of internal medicine residency training, and accreditation organizations require that residency programs show that their residents and faculty participate in scholarly activity.

Purpose: To determine the impact of a Resident Research Director (RRD) on scholarly productivity of our internal medicine residents.

Methods: We reviewed the number of presentations and publications of all residents from our institution over a 10-year study period (1992-2001).

The reliability and validity of the American Board of Internal Medicine Monthly Evaluation Form.

Purpose: To report indicators of reliability and validity of the American Board of Internal Medicine Evaluation Form (ABIM-MEF) at one institution (Wright-Patterson Medical Center).

Method: Completed ABIM-MEFs from 1990-1999 were reviewed. Reliability measures included Cronbach alpha, interrater reliability, and rating consistency between different types of staff and rotations.

Procedure skill competence and certification in internal medicine residency training.

Background: Procedure skill training and competency certification are an important part of internal medicine residency training. Expert guidelines exist on the minimum number of procedures recommended to attain competence, but these have not been validated.

Purpose: To study the validity of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) recommended procedure guidelines.

Morning Report: an analysis of curricular content and comparison to national guidelines.

Background: Morning Report is a long-standing tradition for internal medicine residency programs, but format and content vary greatly and have not been compared to any accepted curriculum standards. The Federated Council for Internal Medicine (FCIM) Task Force on the Internal Medicine Residency Curriculum has published curriculum guidelines for residency programs.

Purpose: We compared our institution's Morning Report topics with FCIM curriculum guidelines to determine the feasibility and validity of these guidelines in a residency program.

Assessing the reliability and validity of the mini-clinical evaluation exercise for internal medicine residency training.

Purpose: The mini-clinical evaluation exercise, or mini-CEX, assesses residents' history and physical examination skills. To date, no study has assessed the validity of the mini-CEX (mCEX) evaluation format. The authors' objective was to determine the reliability and validity of the mCEX evaluation format.

Military internal medicine resident performance on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination.

The mission of military graduate medical education in internal medicine is to produce high-quality military internists prepared to practice in military environments. Board certification in internal medicine is an important outcome of internal medicine residency training. The American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination (ABIMCE) first-taker pass rate of the graduates of an internal medicine residency program is a key measure of the quality of the program.