Publications for the week of March 29th, 2021

2021-03-29

There are several new publications available In Press at {$siteTitle}:

Major Contributions:

Brief Reports:

Canadiana:

Black Ice:

You Should Try This:

Commentary and Opinions:

Works-in-Progress:

Letters to the Editor:

Images:

More below:

Major Contributions:

The impact of local health professions education grants: is it worth the investment? by Susan Humphrey-Murto and co-authors considered factors that lead to the publication work based on studies supported by local medical education grants. They identified several factors associated with publication success, including previous oral or poster presentations.  They hope their results will be valuable for Canadian centres with local grant programs.

Exploring the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education: an international cross-sectional study of medical learners by Allison Brown and team studied the impact of COVID-19 on medical learners around the world. There were different concerns depending on the levels of training, such as residents’ concerns with career timeline compared to trainees’ concerns with the quality of learning. Overall, the learners negatively perceived the disruption at all levels and geographic regions.

Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical learner wellness: a needs assessment for the development of learner wellness interventions by Stephana Cherak and team studied learner-wellness in various training environments disrupted by the pandemic. They reported a negative impact on learner wellness at all stages of training. Their results can benefit the development of future wellness interventions.

Program directors’ reflections on national policy change in medical education: insights on decision-making, accreditation, and the CanMEDS framework by Dore, Bogie, et al. invited program directors to reflect on the introduction of the CanMEDS framework into Canadian postgraduate medical education programs. Their survey revealed that while program directors (PDs) recognized the necessity of the accreditation process, they did not feel they had a voice when the change occurred. The authors concluded that collaborations with PDs would lead to more successful outcomes.

In the article, A qualitative study of patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives on educating healthcare providers by Holly Adam and co-authors, they studied what patients thought about their involvement in the education of healthcare providers. Their results highlighted that many patients wanted to be involved in healthcare education in a meaningful way.

Experiential learning, collaboration and reflection: key ingredients in longitudinal faculty development by Laura Farrell and team stressed several elements for effective longitudinal faculty development (LFD) initiatives. They found that participants benefited from a supportive and collaborative environment while trying to learn a new skill or concept.

Brief Reports:

The effect of COVID-19 on medical students’ education and wellbeing: a cross-sectional survey by Stephanie Thibaudeau and team assessed the impact of COVID-19 on medical students. They reported an overall perceived negative impact, including increased depressive symptoms, increased anxiety, and reduced quality of education.

Canadiana:

An equity-oriented admissions model for Indigenous student recruitment in an undergraduate medical education program by Rita Henderson and co-authors shared lessons learned for developing an admissions strategy for recruiting students from medically underserved communities. They promoted an equity-based instead of a quota-based approach in admissions practices.

Black Ice:

Six ways to get a grip on your first health education leadership role by Stasiuk and Scott provided tips for considering a health education leadership position. They advised readers to be intentional and methodical in accepting or rejecting positions.

You Should Try This:

In their article, Physiotherapist-led musculoskeletal education: an innovative approach to teach medical students musculoskeletal assessment techniques, Boulila and team described the implementation of physiotherapist-led workshops, whether the workshops increased medical students’ musculoskeletal knowledge, and if they increased confidence in assessment techniques.

Adapting clinical skills volunteer patient recruitment and retention during COVID-19 by Nazerali-Maitland et al. proposed a SLIM-COVID framework as a solution to the problem of dwindling volunteer patients due to COVID-19. Their framework is intended to provide actionable solutions to recruit and engage volunteers in a challenging climate.

In Quick Response codes for virtual learner evaluation of teaching and attendance monitoring, Roxana Mo and co-authors used Quick Response (QR) codes to monitor attendance and obtain evaluations for virtual teaching sessions. They found QR codes valuable for quick and simple feedback that could be used for many educational applications.

Commentary and Opinions:

In the shadows: medical student clinical observerships and career exploration in the face of COVID-19 by Law and co-authors offered potential solutions to replace in-person shadowing that has been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They hope the alternatives such as virtual shadowing will close the gap in learning caused by the pandemic.

The alarming situation of medical student mental health by D’Eon and team appealed to medical education leaders to respond to the high numbers of mental health concerns among medical students. They urged leaders to address the underlying problems, such as the excessive demands of the curriculum.

Letters to the Editor:

Canadian Federation of Medical Students' response to “The alarming situation of medical student mental health” King et al. on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) responded to the commentary by D’Eon and team on medical students' mental health. King called upon the medical education community to join the CFMS in its commitment to improving medical student wellbeing.

Response to “First year medical student experiences with a clinical skills seminar emphasizing sexual and gender minority population complexity” by Kumar and Hassan acknowledged the previously published article by Biro et al. that explored limitations in medical training for the LGBTQ2S community. However, Kumar and Hassen advocated for further progress and reform for medical training to address the health requirements for sexual and gender minorities.

Works-in-Progress:

Assessing online learning readiness and perceived stress among first year medical students during COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country study by Majumder and team will study online preparedness of first-year students due to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.  They will identify challenges and strategies for future online teaching.

Changes to pediatric resident medical education during COVID-19 by Eleny Romanos-Sirakis aims to use data from a single institution to create a survey to assess changes and level of resident engagement in pediatric residency programs across Canada. She will use the data to determine trends and learn from the experiences of other pediatric programs.

Images:

We are all on the same team: the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses in Canada by Dominic Ong captured a photo of the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, SK, displaying a “Wear a Mask Protect Each Other” message. Ong used the image as a commentary on COVID-19 and mask-wearing as a societal good