Alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and active learning to promote critical thinking in a first-year medical physiology course: lessons learned.

Medical students must be adept at critical thinking to successfully meet the learning objectives of their preclinical coursework. To encourage student success on assessments, the course director of a first-year medical physiology course emphasized the use of learning objectives that were explicitly aligned with formative assessments in class. The course director introduced the physiology discipline, learning objectives, and evidence-based methods of studying to students on the first day of class.

Providing the choice of in-person or videoconference attendance in a clinical physiology course may harm learning outcomes for the entire cohort.

Clinical Physiology 1 and 2 are flipped classes in which students watch prerecorded videos before class. During the 3-h class, students take practice assessments, work in groups on critical thinking exercises, work through case studies, and engage in drawing exercises. Due to the COVID pandemic, these courses were transitioned from in-person classes to online classes.

Review of Risk Factors Associated With Biomarkers for Alzheimer Disease.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with no cure. The number of individuals living with AD doubles every 5 years. The current clinical practice relies on clinical history, mental status tests, cerebrum imaging, and physical and neurological examinations; however, recent advances in the field of biomarkers have provided clues for the early detection of AD.

Spasticity, Pain, and Fatigue: Are They Associated With Functional Outcomes in People With Stroke?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether spasticity, pain, and fatigue symptoms were related to functional outcomes in people with stroke.

Design: A longitudinal correlation design was used.

Methods: Twenty-two stroke patients experiencing spasticity, pain, and fatigue were followed for 7 days over 6 weeks: 3 days in acute rehabilitation units, 3 days postdischarge to home/community, and an additional 1 day at 1 month postdischarge.

Are Symptoms of Spasticity, Pain, and Fatigue Related in People With Stroke?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether symptoms of spasticity, pain, and fatigue are correlated in people with stroke.

Design: A longitudinal-correlation, mixed-method design was used.

Methods: Spasticity, pain, and fatigue symptoms were explored in 22 patients with stroke admitted to three different rehabilitation units certified by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Physiology educators find community in the Physiology Majors Interest Group.

The Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG) is a grass-roots consortium of physiology educators with the common interest of creating program-level guidelines for undergraduate physiology and related programs. A key component of the consortium's activities are the annual P-MIG conferences that have been held at different universities over the past 3 yr (Michigan State University, 2017; University of Arizona, 2018; and University of Minnesota, 2019). Postconference surveys indicate that the conferences are highly valued by the participants, as they have provided an opportunity to get to know others who are passionate about undergraduate education, to discuss best practices in program and course delivery, and to form working groups with the goal to develop national and international guidelines for physiology program delivery and assessment.

CE: Managing Movement Disorders: A Clinical Review.

: Neuromuscular disorders are complex, difficult both to differentiate and to manage. Yet nurses, who encounter a symptomatically diverse neuromuscular patient population in various practice settings, are expected to be well versed in managing the variable associated symptoms of these disorders. Here the authors discuss how to assess such neuromuscular conditions as muscle tightness, spasticity, and clonus; the pathophysiology underlying each; and the available recommended treatments, an understanding of which is necessary for successful symptom management and clear provider-patient communication.

Lived Experiences of Muscle Tightness Symptoms From Patients' Perspectives.

The aims of this study were to understand symptoms of chronic muscle tightness from the patient's perspective and explore symptom management strategies used by them. Muscle tightness, a common symptom, is a challenge to manage in clinical practice because it is commingled with other orthopedic conditions. Nurses may not be aware of the negative impact of tight muscles because this symptom is presumed to be self-limiting; however, if not treated appropriately, muscle tightness can become chronic.

Spasticity over time during acute rehabilitation: a study of patient and clinician scores.

Aims: The aims of this study were to describe spasticity trajectories as a function of time, gender, and diagnosis and to explore the correspondence between patient and clinician scores of spasticity.

Background: Discrepancy between examiner assessment and patient rating of spasticity exists. Assessments that include the patient perspective are critical for patient safety.

Original research: The perioperative experience of patients with Parkinson's disease: a qualitative study.

Objective: The goals of this study were to hear from patients with Parkinson's disease about their perioperative experiences and to describe those experiences using the patients' own words, particularly with regard to antiparkinson medication withholding and symptom exacerbation.

Method: We conducted a descriptive, qualitative study of patients' perioperative experiences with Parkinson's disease symptom management, performing 14 semistructured interviews with 13 participants who had Parkinson's disease and had undergone any type of surgery excepting Parkinson's disease surgeries.

Results: Patients' responses indicated concerns that hospital routines aren't flexible enough for their complex medication regimens; that hospital staff may not recognize a patient's own expertise in Parkinson's disease; and that hospital staff need more education about Parkinson's disease, especially regarding the interactions between the disease and surgery or anesthesia (or both).

Perioperative medication withholding in patients with Parkinson's disease: a retrospective electronic health records review.

Background: Carbidopa-levodopa (Sinemet), the gold-standard treatment for Parkinson's disease, has a short half-life of one to two hours. When patients with Parkinson's disease are placed on NPO (nil per os, or nothing by mouth) status for surgery, they may miss several doses of carbidopa-levodopa, possibly resulting in exacerbation of Parkinson's disease symptoms. Clear guidelines regarding perioperative symptom management are lacking.