United States

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated significant changes in medical anatomy laboratory instruction at many universities over the past 2 years. Much has been published regarding the use of technology to substitute for face-to-face instruction with anatomical dissection, yet the impact of this paradigm shift on the student experience has not been fully characterized. The objective of this study was to identify how medical student experiences in and perceptions of anatomy laboratory instruction have differed at the University of Louisville since 2018 through various modes of delivery (dissection, virtual, hybrid). 

Methods
A series of 4 focus groups for the medical Classes of 2022 (n=8), 2023 (n=6), 2024 (n=10), and 2025 (n=7) were convened to pose 4 open-ended questions about their classes’ unique anatomy lab experience. The Classes of 2022 and 2023 had a fully dissection-based lab, while the Class of 2024 had a fully virtual lab experience and the Class of 2025 had a hybrid lab. Student responses from each focus group were recorded, transcribed, categorized and patterns within the data were documented. Triangulation was utilized to validate observations: researcher observations, second observer observations, and member checking. 

Results
Four categories emerged from the thematic analysis of each of the 4 medical classes in this study. Themes for the Classes of 2022, 2023, and 2025 included humanistic lessons, teamwork, kinesthetic learning, and self-efficacy. The Class of 2024 instead focused on adaptability, anxiety about future patient encounters, concerns regarding anatomical orientation, and a sense of an incomplete learning experience; these themes resulted in negative emotional responses including feeling defeated, overwhelmed, frustrated, and unsupported. 

Conclusion
A comprehensive analysis of this focus group data provided valuable information on the numerous benefits of in-person, dissection-based anatomy lab instruction for first-year medical students.

AMA Research Challenge 2022

The Hidden Curriculum: Student Lessons from the Medical Anatomy Laboratory from 2018 to 2021

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The IKIGAI: Well-being and Identity Formation for Medical Students

Abstract Title:
The Impact of Integrating Mindfulness into the Healer’s Art course at University of Michigan Medical School: a Feasibility Study.

Background
Nearly half of medical students in the United States suffer from burnout – a triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased personal accomplishment. These higher rates are associated with increased likelihood of leaving medical school, suicidal ideation, and lower patient satisfaction. Mindfulness practice such as yoga and meditation is a potential intervention found to reduce stress levels and burnout among healthcare workers . Integrating mindfulness practices during pre-existing courses within medical education is a potential intervention to prevent burnout. 
Methods
We evaluated the impact of introducing mindfulness practices (meditation and yoga) into the 2022 Healer’s Art elective course at University of Michigan Medical School. Half of the medical students were randomized into a meditation class (n=11) while the other half were randomized to a yoga class (n=12) for the third session. Students were given a pre-course survey to assess baseline measures of mindfulness, burnout, and energy levels, adapted from Maslauch’s Burnout Inventory and the Five Facet Mindfulness survey. Pre- and post-mindfulness session surveys were administered to the students, with a 100% participation completion rate.
Results
The yoga intervention resulted in a statistically significant increase in energy (26% increase) and breath awareness (13% increase) outcomes. Simultaneously, the meditation intervention resulted in a significant increase in mindfulness (22% increase). Both of our interventions were found to be statistically significant to decrease burnout among participants (14% and 10%, respectively). 95% of students expressed that mindfulness practices should be incorporated into future Healer’s Art courses. 
Conclusion
Our feasibility study evaluated the impact of offering a mindfulness course for medical students enrolled in the Healer’s Art elective. In summation, students in both the meditation and yoga groups had reported decreased levels of burnout, although there was no significant difference between the two groups. Thus, perhaps the type of mindfulness practice did not matter as much as the act of doing a mindful practice. In addition, the vast majority of students recommended mindfulness practices continued to be offered into future Healer’s Art courses. Based on our results, medical students’ mental health would likely benefit from integrating mind-body practices into the Healer’s Art course. 


The Impact of Integrating Mindfulness into the Healer’s Art Course at University of Michigan Medical School: A Feasibility Study

Background: Medical students can experience declines in empathy during training, especially in their third year.1,2,3 These declines correlate with several factors that contribute to burnout.3 At the Medical University of South Carolina, expressive writing modules were created to help clinicians address burnout. Yet these modules were not made available to health science students, who may benefit from expressive writing as part of self-care. This quality improvement project utilized a 6-week program informed by the Pennebaker Method4 to assess the impact of these writing modules on resilience, self-compassion, and self-efficacy in third-year medical students.
 Materials/Methods: Students from the third-year College of Medicine class self-identified their willingness to participate in this 6-week assessment project. The Connor Davidson Resiliency Scale Short Form 10 and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale were administered pre and post intervention to investigate changes in resilience and self-efficacy. After submitting pre-intervention surveys, students completed weekly expressive writing modules for 5 weeks and answered open-ended responses about each writing experience. These open-ended responses underwent 1) qualitative analysis and 2) quantitative content analysis using text-mining software, KhCoder.

Results: The Connor-Davidson Short-Form 10 showed a significant improvement in resilience 
(p = 0.015) between pre and post intervention. The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale showed significant reduction in anxiety (p = 0.04589). Qualitative analysis revealed that students found value in writing from others’ perspectives, reflecting on gratitude, reconnecting to purpose, and reaffirming professional identity. KHCoder data supported these findings.

Conclusion: These expressive writing modules may help students gain new perspectives on professional identity, past challenges, past successes, and future growth at a pivotal time in their training. Doing so can support resilience, self-compassion, and self-efficacy. Two limitations of the project were the small sample size (N=14) that reduced its power. An assessment with a larger sample of students, including a control group, would provide more robust data on the value of these modules.

References:

1. Andersen, F.A., et al. Revisiting the trajectory of medical students' empathy, and impact of gender, specialty preferences and nationality: a systematic review. BMC Med Educ. 2020; Feb 17; 20(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-1964-5. 

2. Hojat, et al. Does empathy decline in the clinical phase of medical education? A nationwide, multi-institutional, cross-sectional study of students at DO-granting medical schools. Acad Med. 2020; 95: 911-918. 

3. Neumann, et al. Empathy decline and its reasons: A systematic review of studies with medical students and residents. Acad Med. 2011; 86 (8): 996-1009.

4. Pennebaker, J.W. & Smyth, J. Opening up by writing it down: the healing power of expressive writing (third edition). New York: Guilford. 2016.

The Write Track: Can Digital Expressive Writing Modules Promote Resilience, Self-Compassion, and Self-Efficacy in Medical Students?

Underrepresented groups and perceived educational barriers for residency and fellowship success

Background
Advance care planning (ACP) is associated with important positive outcomes, including higher satisfaction with care and lower surrogate distress. However, engagement in ACP is low among Latinx older adults. This is the first study to use community-based participatory research (CBPR)—a method known to reduce health disparities—to identify ACP barriers/facilitators and design community-based ACP events.

Methods
In partnership with community-based organizations, clinicians, and local government in San Francisco (SF), we formed a Latinx Community Committee (N=13 community members) to lead this project from 9/2020-8/2021. We recruited Latinx-identifying, Spanish- or English-speaking older adults (age≥55), caregivers, and community leaders for focus groups. We conducted 6 focus groups in English and Spanish assessing ACP barriers/facilitators and analyzed data using thematic analysis. Based on focus group findings, we designed and implemented community-based ACP events that incorporated new (e.g., artwork used for messaging/advertising, testimonials from patients/physicians) and existing (e.g., Prepare for Your Care) culturally appropriate ACP materials, and targeted Latinx LGBTQI+, intergenerational, and older adult populations. We advertised events through various channels (e.g., flyers, phone calls, radio, social media) in SF Latinx communities. Using a validated survey at the events, we assessed acceptability (i.e., comfort attending, willingness to recommend to others) and pre- vs post-event readiness to engage in ACP (4-point scale; 4=most ready) with Wilcoxon signed rank tests.

Results
Focus groups included 10 older adults, 8 caregivers, and 10 community leaders. Themes highlighted the importance (e.g., means of advocacy), barriers (e.g., how to start ACP conversation), and facilitators (e.g., trusted community spaces) of ACP in the Latinx community. Ninety-seven people attended 5 pilot events; they were 59.4 (SD 19.2) years old, 81.7% Latinx, 5.6% Black, 64.8% Spanish-speaking, 32.4% sexual/gender minorities. Overall ACP readiness increased from 2.62/4 (SD 0.97) to 2.95 (SD 0.93; P=0.05). Specifically, participants’ readiness to document their wishes for medical care in writing increased significantly (P=0.003). Most people were comfortable attending events (85%) and would recommend them to others (90%).

Conclusion
This study describes a feasible, acceptable, and effective CBPR ACP intervention. Co-developed community events represent a promising approach to reducing disparities in ACP among the Latinx population.


“Advocating for what we need”: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach to Advance Care Planning in the San Francisco Latinx Elder Community

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are events or actions experienced by a child before the age of 18 that fall within three categories: abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Standardized ACE scores can be calculated and have been proven to significantly affect future health outcomes. However, resiliency, defined as “the capacity to adapt successfully to challenges that threaten function, survival, or future development” has shown to be a protective factor against ACE-associated mental and physical health outcomes. A medical student led initiative was developed in collaboration with a local charter school as a near peer mentoring program for high school student with traditionally high ACE scores. The purpose was to foster positive relationships while developing social and emotional skills to promote resiliency with the intent to mitigate high ACE scores.

Methods Twenty-five high school students from the local charter school were identified and assigned to an individual near peer medical student mentor for a year-long mentoring relationship. The mentoring pair met monthly for one hour via a virtual video platform approved by the charter school. Monthly materials were provided to each medical student mentor to help facilitate the mentoring meetings.

Results Survey results show the goal of creating positive longitudinal relationships was achieved. Before the mentoring program, 55% of the charter school students felt that had someone to reach out to for support compared to 78% during the mentoring program. 78% felt they could contact their mentor for anything, 89% felt their mentor was a safe person to talk to, and 100% stated they felt their mentor was a reliable person in their life.

Conclusion The near peer mentoring program had a positive impact on fostering positive relationships and resiliency skills with students who have high ACE scores. The program’s virtual connecting allows for a high degree of flexibility and its use of standardized resources eases training. However, a virtual platform can at times limit relational depth, and the impact of the program is dependent on medical student engagement. As such, this program is easily adoptable to environments with community engagement focused on efforts to mitigate ACES among high school learners.

A Medical Student Near Peer Mentoring Program in Character Education Designed to Mitigate Adverse Childhood Experiences in High School Students

Abstract Title: A Systematic Review on Women’s Health in Abortion Legalized vs. Abortion Prohibited Nations
Background: On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed the constitutional right to abortion. This study compares trends in women’s health and unmet contraceptive needs between abortion legalized and prohibited nations, as of July 20, 2022.
Methods: A systematic review of data obtained from literature searches in Cochrane library, EMBASE, Medline, Guttmacher Institute, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) databases.
Results: Among 195 nations in the world, 16 each were grouped into two categories. Group one included 16 nations where abortion is legalized, and group two included 16 nations where abortion is prohibited, with exceptions only in cases to save the pregnant person’s life. The mean adolescent birth rate per 1000 women aged 15-19 years was 13.7 (range, 3.53- 51.8) in abortion legal group compared to 77.9 (range, 49.5-142.8) in abortion illegal group. Further, while 50% of unintended pregnancies ended in abortion in abortion legalized nations, only 38.5% were terminated in abortion illegal countries. In addition, it was observed that there was a 12% to 74% unmet need for contraceptive and abortive services among abortion prohibited nations. The mean maternal age at first birth was 27 years in abortion legal group compared to 21 years in abortion illegal group. The mean maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births was 43 among abortion legal group while it was 263.8 among abortion illegal group. Overall, average female literacy rate was 96.8% in abortion legal group compared to 68.8% in abortion illegal group. It was also noted that the average adolescent birth rates were as low as 0.29 in nations having established unrestricted abortion laws that date back to 1960.
Conclusion: The high adolescent birth and maternal mortality rates alongside lower female literacy rates in abortion prohibited nations raises serious concerns about women’s health and restricted opportunities for higher education. Further research is needed to evaluate if liberalizing abortion policies would help improve women’s health and literacy.

A Systematic Review on Women’s Health in Abortion Legalized vs. Abortion Prohibited Nations

Title: Analysis of Blood Pressure Readings Among the Unsheltered Population of Miami-Dade County
Background: Hypertension (HTN) can lead to adverse cardiovascular sequelae without appropriate management. People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are at increased risk of acute and chronic diseases, yet have poor access to HTN monitoring. Little is known about prevalence of HTN among unsheltered PEH. Our objective is to assess baseline HTN characteristics in the unsheltered PEH population of Miami-Dade County. 
Methods: Blood Pressure (BP) measurements were obtained by in-person clinic “street runs” where medical providers meet with unsheltered PEH in non-clinical environments such as overpasses and encampments. Vitals were recorded in RedCap electronic medical record system. Centers for Disease Control National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017 – 2020 pre-pandemic data set represented the general population. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test comparisons were performed using SPSS v26. 
Results: BP was reported in 145 interactions – participant mean age 56.2 years (SD 10.5), 79.8% Male. The total average systolic BP (SBP) 140.14 (SD 22.28), diastolic BP (DBP) 87.99 (SD 12.74). Average visit 1 (N = 94) SBP 141.10 (SD 22.82), DBP 88.46 (SD 13.24). Average visit 2 (N= 22) SBP 145.45 (SD 21.69), DBP 89.82 (SD 12.45). No significant difference was found between visits 1 and 2. Elevated BP at two visits established formal HTN diagnosis, as defined by American College of Cardiology criteria. NHANES average SBP 119.81 (SD 19.38), DBP 71.61 (SD 12.02). NHANES data compared to average Visit 1 BP showed PEH to have significantly higher SBP (p<0.0001), DBP (p<0.0001). Age and gender stratification furthered internal validation. The average BP measurements of unsheltered PEH at clinic was in American Heart Association’s HTN Stage 2 category. 
Conclusion: BP of the PEH surveyed were higher than in the general population and within pathological staging criteria for HTN. Steady results from multiple visits suggest compounding factors beyond access to care: polysubstance use disorder, smoking, poor and unbalanced nutrition, chronic stress of being unsheltered. Future studies comparing unsheltered vs sheltered PEH could elucidate more information on risks and management of this deadly and preventable disease.

Analysis of Blood Pressure Readings Among the Unsheltered Population of Miami-Dade County

Background: Moderators of now-banned r/nonewnormal described its aims as the “free exchange of ideas and debate”, but it often hosted topics such as vaccine misinformation and questioning COVID-19 death report legitimacy. Previous studies on Reddit vaccine sentiment found that conglomerates of COVID-19 related subreddits had overall positive sentiment. However, no study analyzed specific characteristics of individual misinformation and information subreddits, such as r/nonewnormal and r/Coronavirus, respectively.

Methods: This study analyzed Reddit comments from 7/2020-6/2021 that are publicly available at http://files.pushshift.io/reddit/comments/ for similarity and topic analyses using Rstudio. For subreddit similarity, we counted distinct users commenting on a subreddit 10 or more times, to ensure consistent engagement. Subreddits were ranked by overlapping users with r/nonewnormal and r/Coronavirus to determine similarity. The 50 most popular subreddits overall were excluded because they target broad topics (e.g. r/news) that users engage, regardless of interests. Topic popularity in both subreddits was determined by incidence of the words “vaccine”, “lockdown”, “mask”, and “quarantine”. Word aliases were also counted (e.g. Vax for vaccine).

Results: The most similar subreddits to r/nonewnormal serially were r/LockdownSkepticism, r/Coronavirus, r/conspiracy, r/Conservative, and r/PoliticalCompassMemes. For r/Coronavirus the most similar serially were r/nottheonion, r/insanepeoplefacebook, r/PoliticalHumor, r/technology, and r/trashy. The topic analysis showed that in r/nonewnormal the difference in incidence of “vaccine” (+19,175) and “mask” (+7346) increased from 7/2020-6/2021 while “quarantine” (+263) and “lockdown” (+1608) stayed similar. In r/Coronavirus, “vaccine” (+16,907) increased from 7/2020-3/2021 then decreased through 7/2021 (-14,083) while “quarantine” (-2792), “mask” (-33,894), and “lockdown” (-4573) decreased from 7/2020-6/2021.

Conclusion: Similarity analysis showed that users of r/nonewnormal were likely to engage with other subreddits related to COVID-19, COVID-19 misinformation, and conspiracies. r/conservative’s presence contrasted with r/Coronavirus’s liberal-leaning similar subreddits r/nottheonion and r/PoliticalHumor. Pew Research surveys reflect this as liberal Americans believed the pandemic was serious more than conservatives. “Vaccine” became more popular over time, likely, because of 12/2020 vaccine rollouts sparking discussions. “Quarantine” and “lockdown” likely decreased overtime as CDC guidelines decreased quarantine times and statewide lockdowns lessened overall. The incongruent “mask” incidence causation is unclear. This study shows, as activity mirrors previous survey results, online activity can reflect interests, sentiment, and overall activity of specific corresponding populations.

Analysis of COVID-19 Information and Misinformation Subreddits

BACKGROUND: School safety is of growing interest with weapon carrying at the center. Weapon carrying in school causes physical injury and death among students and staff, and psychological trauma among those who witness the display or use of such weapons. Factors such as age, gender, mental and psychological status, bully victimization, family characteristics, poverty, and neighborhood crime have been associated with weapon carrying into schools. My main objective is to determine the prevalence of weapon carrying among US high school students and examine the association between bully victimization and weapon carrying in school.

METHODS: A nationally representative sample of high school students from the 2019 YRBSS data was utilized for this cross-sectional study (n= 13,677). Logistic regression was used to assess if bully victimization predicts the odds of weapon carrying, adjusting for age, sex, grade, and sexual identity. A stratified analysis using age groups was also carried out to determine the odds of weapon carrying among younger adolescents (15 years and younger) and older adolescents (older than 15 years).

RESULTS: In the final sample of 11,921 students, the prevalence of weapon carrying was 2.4%. 19.5% of the adolescents in the sample reported being bullied in school. Those who were bullied had 3.06 times greater odds of weapon carrying to school than those who were not bullied (aOR= 3.06; 95% CI 2.38,3.91]. These odds were lower among those aged
15 years and below (aOR= 2.05, 95% CI 1.33, 3.1) and higher among those greater than 15 years (OR= 3.45,95% CI 2.58, 4.6).

CONCLUSION: With about 16 million students in US high schools, the prevalence of weapon carrying suggests that about 368,000 students carry weapons to school. The results suggest that victims of bullying are more likely to carry weapons to school. Interventions to improve school safety should also focus on reducing bullying in schools. Particular attention should be paid to older adolescents who are victims of bullying.

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