Publications by authors named "Matthew Fitz"

Background: The acting internship (AI) in internal medicine plays a key role in the transition from medical school to residency. While there have been recent changes in medical education including a pass/fail USMLE Step 1 and increasing use of competency-based assessment, there has not been a large survey of the state of the AI in many years.

Objective: To assess the current landscape of the internal medicine AI and identify areas in need of standardization.

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Background: At some US Academic Health Centers (AHCs), patients with predominantly Medicaid insurance are seen in one clinic and patients with other insurance are seen in another. The extent of this practice and implications are unknown.

Objective: To estimate the proportion of AHCs that have at least two primary care internal medicine clinics that differ substantially in proportion of patients with Medicaid and to compare patient demographic, staffing, and operational features.

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Background: Residency program directors will likely emphasize the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 2 clinical knowledge (CK) exam more during residency application given the recent USMLE Step 1 transition to pass/fail scoring. We examined how internal medicine clerkship characteristics and NBME subject exam scores affect USMLE Step 2 CK performance.

Design: The authors used univariable and multivariable generalized estimating equations to determine associations between Step 2 CK performance and internal medicine clerkship characteristics and NBME subject exams.

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Background: Medical students matriculating from their preclinical curriculum into clinical clerkships face a significant learning curve when using an electronic medical record (EMR) system for clinical documentation. With the trend toward reduction in preclinical medical education, students now have fewer opportunities to optimize their note-writing and overall clinical skills before transitioning to patient-care settings.

Methods: This study sought to investigate how a structured medical scribing program in an outpatient clinic helps bridge the gap between traditional preclinical and clinical curricula in medical education.

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Background: Over 41 million people in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language, of which 16 million have limited English proficiency (LEP). It is well-established that language barriers contribute to health disparities and that the use of ad-hoc interpretation by untrained family members results in substandard care. We developed a novel interpreter training program for medical students to serve as in-person interpreters at a charitable, resident continuity clinic so as to overcome the language barrier in the delivery of healthcare to LEP patients.

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Purpose: To identify which internal medicine clerkship characteristics may relate to NBME Medicine Subject Examination scores, given the growing trend toward earlier clerkship start dates.

Method: The authors used linear mixed effects models (univariable and multivariable) to determine associations between medicine exam performance and clerkship characteristics (longitudinal status, clerkship length, academic start month, ambulatory clinical experience, presence of a study day, involvement in a combined clerkship, preclinical curriculum type, medicine exam timing). Additional covariates included number of NBME clinical subject exams used, number of didactic hours, use of a criterion score for passing the medicine exam, whether medicine exam performance was used to designate clerkship honors, and United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 performance.

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Unlabelled: Phenomenon: Fourth-year medical students obtain Department of Medicine (DOM) letters ("Chair" letters) to support their residency applications. Writing and interpreting DOM letters are challenging. There is heterogeneity in the letters that makes it difficult to both write and read these letters.

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Glycogenic hepatopathy (GH) is an underdiagnosed complication of uncontrolled type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). It appears as an acute relapsing hepatitis with reversible transaminase elevations secondary to excessive hepatic glycogen accumulation. Patients are often asymptomatic but can present with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.

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Background: Authorities suggest academic medical centers eliminate conflicts of interest. The authors evaluated medical students' opinions and knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry.

Method: An anonymous 20-item questionnaire was administered to medical students from four different medical schools; 15 items addressed opinions, and five items were free-response knowledge questions.

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