United States

Abstract Title: From Stage to Clinic: The Implementation of the Theater of Oppressed in Medical Education

Background
Structural and social determinants of health (SSDOH) studies are an essential part of medical education. Previous work has demonstrated increased awareness and reflexivity of SSDOH topics among students. This skill, however, does not always translate into a tangible behavioral change. The complexity of SSDOH does not lend itself well to didactic teaching styles or even traditional active learning modalities like TBL and CBL. These approaches often lead to SSDOH being presented as a laundry list of problems rather than a multifaceted problem originating from societal systems of power. Theater of the Oppressed is a pedagogical method derived from Brazilian theatrical studies. In Theater of the Oppressed, the actors and audience work together to practice action-based change that stimulates critical observation and representation of reality, as well as allow for the envisioning and production of conscientious and concrete actions. Theater of the Oppressed has great utility in medical education and opportunity to incite behavioral change. 

Methods
To create a pilot test of the Theater of the Oppressed in medical education, a focus group was held with current medical students to assess what SSDOH topics they were interested in, or felt they were lacking in their medical education. These topics were used to write a five-person scene featuring an oppressor, a victim, and several bystanders. Volunteer actors rehearsed the scene and practiced improvised situations prior to the pilot session. 

Results
Second through fourth year medical students watched a live scene depicting the relationship between an oppressor and victim. Using previous knowledge of SSDOH and existing interpersonal communication skills, after the scene students were able to switch with an actor to try and alleviate the oppression. This engaged students in SSDOH discussion and allowed for the practice of tangible intervention. 

Conclusion
Theater of the Oppressed has a large utility in improving SSDOH medical education. Future installments will use a Likert scale and free response questions to survey participants before and after a session. The survey will evaluate for general understanding of SSDOH, perceived ability to alleviate health inequities, and overall benefit of Theater of the Oppressed in medical education.


AMA Research Challenge 2022

From Stage to Clinic: The Implementation of Forum Theatre In Medical Education

poster

Welcome to the largest national, multi-specialty research event **featuring research from 750 medical students, residents and fellows, and international medical graduates.**


#### Event Details
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Ricardo Correa, MD, EdD
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Stuart M. Greenstein, MD
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Stephanie Strohbeen, MD
 
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Jessica Li, MD/PhD Candidate
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Charles Lopresto, DO

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Welcome to the largest national, multi-specialty research event featuring research from 750 medical students, residents and fellows, and international medical graduates.


Background:
Hearing loss affects 1.6 billion people, making it the third most common disability worldwide. Patients who can hear are approximately 2 times more likely to secure primary care appointments than those who are deaf and communicate via American Sign Language (ASL). Compounding factors such as inadequate sign language interpreter services and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the existing healthcare service disparities received by the deaf population. Additional studies show that despite having similar health insurance coverage percentages (Deaf=96% covered; Hearing=94% covered), deaf patients rated their doctors as having lower patient-centered communication skills than those who hear (Deaf patient centered communication satisfaction mean=60.99 [SD=25.89]; Hearing patient centered communication satisfaction mean=82.25 [SD=21.14]; t test=16.97, P value<.001). Despite this, there is still a lack of formal training for frontline health professionals working with this disadvantaged population. 

Methods
The dire need for ASL interpreter services can be alleviated by introducing an ASL elective to medical school programs and other health professional school curriculums. Language electives, including medical Spanish, are currently offered by 78% of 125 U.S. medical schools in response to the growing Spanish-speaking population, yet very few medical programs offer an elective to teach ASL. Our proposed ASL elective would be modeled similarly to current language electives to confront this seemingly timeless disparity.

Results
Through collaboration with local ASL community centers, including churches and colleges, health professional programs across the nation can develop a 4-week ASL elective through clubs or service-learning projects. Offering such an elective would ultimately help produce better prepared future healthcare professionals, especially those interested in ENT, audiology, and primary care specialties.

Conclusion
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates equal access and effective communication to all patients, especially those with disabilities; however, ASL interpreter services are not readily available or reimbursed by all healthcare systems and insurances. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic enforced mask mandates which prevents deaf patients from reading lips, thus hindering one of few alternative communication methods apart from ASL. The call for reformation in the medical healthcare system to alleviate the perpetual struggles of the deaf population is one that needs to be heard now.

Health Care Disparities Among the Deaf Call for Health Professional Education Reformation

Abstract Title:
Image Quality Assessment in Point of Care Ultrasound Education
Background
Our aim was to provide a high-quality POCUS education program for hospitalists at the Jesse Brown VA hospital. That entailed providing a valid and consistent way of tracking the progress of our learners throughout the program, for which image quality assessment was one of the main metrics. Literature review demonstrated a gap in evidence-based methods for doing so, which is why we believe our findings are invaluable for the advancement of POCUS education.
Methods
A group of 25 ultrasound images was shared with our 3 educators for quality measurement on a numerical scale. First, each educator independently scored the images based on clinical gestalt. A second round of image scoring was done where the educators were provided a rubric to independently score images based on orientation, gain, plane, depth, and visible structures. A debriefing session was then done to clarify how each of the educators perceived and utilized the rubric after which a third and final round of image scoring was done. The educators were blinded to their colleagues’ grading submissions until the end of the 3 rounds.
Results
The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.589 for the first round of scoring. After adding the rubric, the ICC rose to 0.752 (28% increase). The ICC further increased to 0.862 after the debriefing session was done on using the rubric. The calculated Conbrach’s alpha for internal consistency was 0.811.

Conclusion
There is a significant improvement in the ICC after implementing the rubric, and again after the debriefing session was conducted. This implies a higher consistency in the feedback learners receive on their images from the different educators when using an agreed-upon rubric to track their progress. 
The rubric was also successful in grounding the educators to focus on the innate image quality attributes first, and then to provide feedback on the clinical utility of the entire study of images a learner has submitted for a given patient. We were thus able to independently score technical skills for image acquisition while fostering the learner’s clinical skills of interpreting such images to guide their use of ultrasonography in clinical practice.

Image Quality Assessment in Point of Care Ultrasound Education

Abstract Title:
Impact of Medical School Longitudinal Research Program in Post-Graduate Research Productivity

Background
In 2004, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM) implemented a novel, mandatory research curriculum for medical students titled the Longitudinal Research Project (LRP). Under faculty mentorship, medical students construct an individualized scholarly research project that must be completed prior to graduation. This study evaluates the long-term implications of the LRP by analyzing post-graduate research productivity following the implementation of this unique research curriculum.

Methods
This retrospective study analyzed publication data from 2007-2020 on UPSOM graduates before and after LRP implementation in 2004. Each graduate’s respective publication(s) were identified via PubMed’s Advanced Search Builder with a time frame that began from one-year to seven-years post-graduation. Confounders were identified using bivariate analyses and incorporated into final multivariate regression models. The cross-sectional time series cohort was analyzed using multivariate linear mixed effects modeling with significance set to 0.05 via STATA 16 statistical software.

Results
1,022 medical school graduates met inclusion criteria. Of which, 278 graduated prior to 2008 (pre-LRP), while 744 graduated in 2008 or later (post-LRP). The average rate of publications annually was 0.47 + 1.43 pre-LRP & 0.57 + 1.40 post-LRP. According to multivariate linear-mixed effects results, post-LRP medical school graduates exhibited a greater average annual publication rate than pre-LRP medical student graduates (ß = 0.10, 95%CI: 0.03 – 0.17, p = 0.008). The average probability of at least one publication in a given year was 22% (95%CI: 0.21 – 0.23) pre-LRP & 27% (95%CI:0.25 – 0.28) post-LRP. The average probability of at least one first author publication in a given year was 12.2% (95% CI: 0.12 – 0.13) pre-LRP & 15% (95% CI:0.14 – 0.16) post-LRP.

Conclusion
Medical school graduates who partook in a mandatory, longitudinal research program in a medical school curriculum exhibited a greater average annual publication rate than pre-LRP medical graduates early on in their post-graduate careers. This study suggests that implementing a mandatory LRP within a medical school’s curriculum may increase meaningful research productivity and progression of clinical science for young physicians beyond the curriculum.



Impact of Medical School Longitudinal Research Program in Post-Graduate Research Productivity

Medical law is a subset of the legal system that dictates appropriate medical practice, regulations, and the rights and responsibilities of healthcare professionals and their patients. As the relationship between medicine and law becomes increasingly complex, many medical students report negative perceptions of the legal field and feel unprepared to handle medical-legal issues upon entering their clinical rotations and residencies. The aim of this literature review was to provide an overview of medical student understanding of medical law as well as the current status of medical-legal education in the United States. 

A PubMed search revealed 3,483 papers that were sorted for relevance and the citations of relevant papers were also reviewed. A total of 38 studies were included and evaluation yielded three main themes that were explored in depth. The first theme was that medical students and residents report feeling unprepared to handle legal aspects of healthcare. Surveys regarding medical student perceptions of the legal field unveiled the second theme which describes students as having generally negative feelings and attitudes toward law, although students acknowledged the importance of medical law in healthcare. The last theme was described by studies determining that introducing medical-legal courses to current medical school curricula would benefit students and have a positive impact on their perceptions of the legal field. 

More must be done to evaluate and reform current medical curricula to produce legally competent and confident physicians. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education in the United States should take the lead and add medical-legal education to their standards for accreditation that are annually released.

Incorporating Medical Law into Medical Education Curricula: A Literature Review

Background Traditionally, hands-on procedural training during pre-clerkship education has been limited. Students transition from the classroom to the wards with limited procedural skills. As a result, students navigate their first clerkships with anxiety about being unprepared. In response, we hosted an in-person event, the Medical School Convention (MSC), to help the first-year medical students acclimate to procedural skills they will use shortly in their core clerkship training. 

Methods An in-person targeted simulation curriculum was launched at a large, private allopathic medical school to help improve medical students' self-perceived efficacy before starting clerkships. The objective was to provide medical students with a small group, hands-on clinical and procedural skills practice to better prepare them for clinical clerkships. Six relevant skills often not included in the traditional medical school curriculum were selected for the training, each being taught at a separate station. The stations were: oral presentations, suturing, venipuncture, intubation, ultrasound, and trauma assessment. A curriculum and training course was created for each of the skills. Following the skills training, students were offered an anonymous post-survey assessing comfort and self-perceived competency with the skills taught at the stations they attended. This study was deemed exempt by the Institutional Review Board. 
Descriptive statistics were obtained for all variables. Survey responses were analyzed using paired t-tests to compare pre-training and post-training responses. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. 

Results In the posttest survey, 95.1% of students reported that this workshop helped them feel more confident in clinical scenarios. Additionally, 100% of students reported that they would recommend this workshop to other medical students. Although not statistically significant, there are appreciable differences in students’ perceived confidence (2.8 vs. 3.2, p=0.537) and clinical self-efficacy (5.3 vs. 6.3, p=0.998) pre-and post-training, respectively. 

Conclusion The Medical School Convention provided valuable insights regarding medical students' self-reported preparedness for the wards. Through our brief one-day course, we identified some knowledge gaps regarding procedural skills and ways to address them. We conclude that more hands-on skills training should be integrated into all medical school curricula before students begin clerkships to help increase their self-confidence.

Medical School Convention: An Innovative Model to Prepare Medical Students for Clerkships

Medical Specialty Speed Dating: Does It Work?

Background: There is a paucity of research regarding the perceptions and potential behavioral changes of the medical students that will be taking the USMLE as a pass/fail examination. We sought to assess medical student perceptions of the USMLE Step 1 transition to pass/fail and evaluate differences in extracurricular participation between pass/fail Step 1 students and scored Step 1 students.

Methods: Sixty-eight US medical schools were invited to participate in an anonymous survey. Self-reported extracurricular activities during the first year of medical school were compared between Step 1 pass/fail students (S1PF) and Step 1 scored students (S1S) with a chi square test.

Results: Between 8/25/2021-11/16/2021, 341 students started the survey and 277 (81.2%) completed the survey. One hundred two (36.8%) were S1S and 175 (63.2%) were S1PF, of which 87 (49.7%) had completed at least one year of medical school. We found mixed results on whether students would prefer Step 1 to be pass/fail or scored. The majority felt the transition would disadvantage students from “lower ranking” medical schools. Regarding the transition, the majority of S1PF reported more anxiety related to Step 2, extracurricular activities, and the
residency application process. There were no significant differences between S1S and S1PF students for participation in volunteering, teaching, and research, but a significant increase was observed in how many leadership positions S1PF students applied to and obtained during their first year of medical school (p < 0.001 and p = 0.011, respectively).

Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the perceptions and possible behavioral changes of medical students who will be taking Step 1 as a pass/fail examination. The reported increase in anxiety among pass/fail students should be addressed by medical education professionals and merits discussion of curricular remodeling. The transition creates an opportunity to redefine the residency application process allowing holistic evaluation of students which can confer advantage to those from “lower ranking” schools.

Medical Student Perceptions of the USMLE Step 1 Transition to Pass/FailScoring

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders Fail to Match Previous 15-Years of Underrepresented in Medicine Growth in Graduate Medical Education Residency Training Programs

According to the National Residency Matching Program in 2022, 631 pathology positions were offered. In total, 248 MD seniors applied and filled 36.6% of these positions. To bolster medical students' interest in pathology, a medical school pathology interest group organized a multi-day activity to introduce rising second-year medical students to pathology as a career. Five students completed both pre- and post-activity surveys assessing their knowledge of pathology as a specialty. All five students had a BA/BS degree as their highest level of education. Only one student indicated that they had previously shadowed a pathologist as a medical laboratory scientist for a duration of four years. Two students indicated that they were interested in internal medicine, one indicated radiology, one forensic pathology or radiology, and one was undecided. During the activity, students biopsied tissue from cadavers in the gross anatomy lab. Following the biopsies, students participated in the standard tissue processing by shadowing a histotechnologist. Under the guidance of a pathologist, students microscopically examined slides and discussed the clinical findings. Post-activity survey results indicated that participation increased their knowledge of pathology as a career with a median increase of 0.8 points (range: 0.2 to 1.6) on a 5-point Likert scale. Students also indicated that their participation increased their knowledge of pathology skills and techniques – median increase of 1.2 (range: 0.8 to 1.8). This activity can be implemented by medical educators to increase exposure of medical students to pathology as a career with the benefit of increasing student knowledge in the specialty.

Pathology Education Project: A Pilot Program to Spark Student Interest in Pathology as a Career

Background
Effective patient education can help achieve better clinical outcomes. A patient who is active and engaged in their care can better manage their condition at home, especially when monitoring a chronic illness. Meaningful patient education is an important skill in the professional formation of physicians, yet little is known about medical students’ perceptions and implementations of best strategies for effective patient education.
Methods
All second-year Wayne State University School of Medicine students (n = 298) were invited to complete an online survey regarding their opinion on the most important strategies for successful patient education. The survey asked participants to rank the following strategies from most (1) to least (8) effective: providing written patient education materials in numerous languages, patient teach-back, provider empathy, patient motivation, education follow-up, patient health literacy levels, social determinants of health barriers, and other.
Students then completed a patient education module, which involved groups of 5-6 students creating a visual education tool for a specific chronic illness and target patient population. Groups first attended a faculty presentation on their chosen chronic illness, then wrote an abstract and designed a final product under the guidance of a senior medical student or physician mentor. After this module, all second-year students were invited to complete a post-survey regarding the patient education strategies they felt accurately characterized their project. 111 students completed the pre-survey, and 67 students completed the post-survey.
Results
Before completing the module, students ranked patient teach-back (mean score of 3.07), provider empathy (3.11), and patient motivation (3.49) as the top strategies for effective patient education. After the module, students identified social determinants of health barriers (mean score of 3.36), patient health literacy levels (3.54), and patient motivation (3.55) as the three strategies that best characterized their chronic illness project.
Conclusion
In a course assignment, undergraduate medical students utilized different patient education strategies from those they initially identified as most effective, indicating a dissociation between their mental framework and application of practices in patient education. These results reveal the need for more comprehensive pre-clinical medical education in implementing effective patient education strategies.

Next from AMA Research Challenge 2022

Health Care Disparities Among the Deaf Call for Health Professional Education Reformation