Comparison of patient attitudes and provider perceptions regarding medical student involvement in obstetric/gynecologic care.

Background: Community physicians are becoming increasingly involved in clinical medical education. Some obstetrician/gynecologists have expressed reluctance to participate as clinical preceptors for medical students due to the sensitive nature of many of their patient encounters and concern for diminished patient satisfaction.

Purposes: The purpose was to evaluate the willingness of community ob/gyn patients to participate in clinical medical education and to determine the accuracy of provider perceptions regarding this issue.

Evaluation of Computer-aided Strategies for Teaching Medical Students Prenatal Ultrasound Diagnostic Skills.

Objective: To evaluate whether computer-based learning (CBL) improves newly acquired knowledge and is an effective strategy for teaching prenatal ultrasound diagnostic skills to third-year medical students when compared with instruction by traditional paper-based methods (PBM).

Study Design: We conducted a randomized, prospective study involving volunteer junior (3(rd) year) medical students consecutively rotating through the Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship during six months of the 2005-2006 academic year. The students were randomly assigned to permuted blocks and divided into two groups.

Prosthetic heart valves and arrhythmias in pregnancy.

The majority of women with bioprosthetic valves do not require anticoagulation during pregnancy. In women with mechanical valves, a detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the three anticoagulant options (warfarin, unfractionated heparin and low molecular weight heparin) is indicated. The majority of women with arrhythmias during pregnancy have a benign increased rate of atrial or ventricular premature beats.

Acquired heart disease in pregnancy.

The incidence of rheumatic heart disease in most industrialized countries is decreasing. Those women who have regurgitant lesions will commonly experience an improvement in symptoms, and therapy is required only in the most severe cases. Women with mild to moderate stenotic lesions can usually expect a good outcome to pregnancy, but women with severe stenotic lesions require close monitoring by both their obstetricians and their cardiologists, especially during the third trimester, labour and delivery, and the early postpartum period.

Maternal serum cytokines in preterm premature rupture of membranes.

Objective: To estimate whether maternal serum interleukin (IL)-6 or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) obtained daily are elevated in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes who develop funisitis.

Methods: Daily blood samples were obtained from women with preterm premature rupture of membranes and analyzed for IL-6 and G-CSF by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Funisitis was determined by placental examination.

Post-call cognitive function and satisfaction in medical students on different call schedules: a prospective observational pilot study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 2 different call schedules on post-call cognitive function and satisfaction.

Study Design: This is a prospective observational pilot study of 20 third-year medical students. A computerized cognitive function test was administered to students with call every fourth night or a week of 12-hour "night float" shifts.

Measurement of endometrial stripe thickness by obstetrics and gynecology residents.

Objective: How well do obstetrics and gynecology residents measure the endometrial stripe by transvaginal sonography?

Study Design: Three obstetrics and gynecology residents at the University of Texas Medical Branch from each year level were tested for their ability to perform endometrial stripe measurements. Measurements of endometrial stripe thickness within 1 mm of the reference value that was obtained by an expert sonographer were deemed to be correct.

Results: Residents correctly measured the endometrial stripe in 14 of 24 cases (58%).

An evaluation of trends in obstetrics and gynecology clerkships in the United States and Canada.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide an updated profile of clerkship directors and third-year clerkships for Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology at US and Canadian medical schools.

Study Design: All 142 accredited medical schools in the US and Canada were contacted to identify the individual(s) responsible for third-year medical education in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Additional clerkship sites (n=10) were identified using the Association of Professors in Gynecology and Obstetrics' (APGO) list of current members self-identified as clerkship directors.

Small-group discussion versus lecture format for third-year students in obstetrics and gynecology.

Objective: To compare lecture and small-group discussion for third-year medical students in obstetrics and gynecology.

Methods: Over a 2-year period, 91 third-year medical students in the obstetrics and gynecology clerkships were given educational sessions on diabetes and hypertension in pregnancy by a single instructor, either in a traditional lecture format or in a small-group discussion. After the instructional sessions, students anonymously completed a 20-question multiple-choice examination on the covered topics.