Opportunities, barriers, and recommendations in down syndrome research.

Background: Recent advances in medical care have increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life for people with Down syndrome (DS). These advances are the result of both pre-clinical and clinical research but much about DS is still poorly understood. In 2020, the NIH announced their plan to update their DS research plan and requested input from the scientific and advocacy community.

Early performance in a humanistic medicine course as a predictor of dental students' later clinical performance.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that dental students' early ability to demonstrate a humanistic approach with patients is associated with later clinical performance. A first-year humanistic medicine course, Patient Doctor I (PDI), at Harvard School of Dental Medicine combines training in conducting the medical interview with human values, placing a high value on strengthening relationships with patients and emphasizing empowerment, respect, and strong communication skills. Retrospective data were collected in the following domains: PDI course evaluations, admissions information, National Board Dental Examination Parts I and II scores, and Promotions Committee and faculty evaluation scores for hand skills and humanistic and interactive patient-student skills.

Assessing early performance in the patient-doctor relationship in dental education.

In addition to current admissions criteria, the assessment of qualities related to humanistic medicine may help predict clinical and academic performance in dental education. The objective of this feasibility study was to develop and assess the reliability of a coding scheme to quantify and rate qualitative formative narratives describing individual student performance in a medical interview course that utilizes principles of humanistic medicine. A mixed method, using focus groups and individual interviews, was used to develop a coding strategy.