Jeffrey A. Morzinski

Faculty development through formal mentoring.

No abstract available.

Meeting the challenge to document teaching accomplishments: The educator's portfolio

Faculty seeking promotion as educators have been constrained by the lack of an effective method for presenting and assessing the value of their teaching contributions. The educators portfolio holds promise as a solution to this problem. A review of portfolio literature in higher and teacher education was conducted to determine the typical contents of a portfolio. Concurrently, a postcard survey on educator portfolios was mailed to 134 U.S. medical school deans. All postcard respondents who indicated that a portfolio system was in place received a follow‐up semistructured telephone interview. Two primary content orientations were identified in the portfolio literature: faculty development (e.g., philosophy of education, continuing education) and promotion (e.g., curriculum development, assessment of learner performance, teaching skills). Ninety‐one percent of medical schools responded to the postcard survey. Seventeen medical schools reported having a portfolio‐like system in place, used primarily for fac...

Use of the educator's portfolio to stimulate reflective practice among medical educators

Background: Preparing a teaching portfolio to document educational expertise should be useful for both promotion and to stimulate faculty development. Description: This article describes a study of the effectiveness of the Educators Portfolio (EP) as a stimulus for facultys reflection about educational practice. Methods: Structured interviews of 10 faculty who prepared EPs for promotion were conducted, and a qualitative content analysis of the resulting protocols was conducted to determine if the EP development process had promoted their reflection on education and, if so, how. Results: All 10 faculty indicated that reflection about education had occurred. Four categories of reflection emerged: (a) surfacing of dilemmas in practice, (b) seeking supports, (c) reformulating educational practice, and (d) transformation of educational practice. Conclusions: These findings indicate that EP preparation creates a forum for reflection on educational practice, which promotes faculty development.

Logic Modeling: A Tool for Improving Educational Programs

PURPOSE Palliative care education programs must be systematically designed and accurately evaluated in order to account for their impact on learners and learning communities. Logic modeling is a framework for designing educational programs and monitoring their influence. METHODS We applied a logic modeling process to a Palliative Care Educational Program (PCEP), embedded within a required month-long geriatrics rotation for third-year general internal medicine residents at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Each of four main categories of a logic model and the process for applying the steps to the PCEP are described. The four logic model categories that form the basis of the analysis are: (1) inputs, the raw resources consumed by the program (human resources, money, and space); (2) outputs, program activities and the number and types of actual participants; (3) outcomes, what the program will achieve in the short term (knowledge, attitudes and behavior change); and (4) impact, the results that are of ultimate interest to program stakeholders, such as placement in medically underserved areas, improved health or more efficient care. RESULTS The application of logic modeling to the PCEP exposed achievements (e.g., resident knowledge gains) and gaps (no evidence of long-term impact) in each of the model categories and has resulted in the design teams reassessment of each program component. DISCUSSION Palliative care educators can improve their programs by using the logic model categories and process steps to explicitly define and assess the links between key program components.

An Evaluation of Formal Mentoring Studies and a Model for their Improvement

Abstract New employees often learn an organizations unwritten rules— the “ropes”—through one-on-one relationships with workplace colleagues or mentors. Increasingly, organizations are implementing mentoring programs to foster supportive work relationships—and evaluators are being called on to assess them. This paper presents a systematic literature review of mentoring-type program evaluations and reveals wide gaps in what published studies report. The complex and long-term nature of mentoring programs presents unique challenges to evaluators. To meet these challenges we suggest an evaluation model that attends to local audience needs and addresses four evaluation stages: (1) context evaluation, for assessing needs, objectives and organizational support; (2) design evaluation, to assess mentor and protege characteristics, the process for pairing the mentor and protege, the program duration, activities and recognition/rewards for participants; (3) implementation stage evaluation, to monitor activities, feedback and revisions; and (4) product evaluation, to assess systematically the planned and unplanned outcomes that consist of program reactions, learning, behavior change, and impact.

Clinical clerkship students' perceptions of (un)safe transitions for every patient.

Purpose As calls for training and accreditation standards around improved patient care transitions have recently increased, more publications describing medical student education programs on care transitions have appeared. However, descriptions of students’ experience with care transitions and the sender/receiver communication that supports or inhibits them are limited. To fill this gap, the authors developed this project to understand students’ experiences with and perceptions of care transitions. Method At the start of a patient safety intersession at the Medical College of Wisconsin (2010), 193 third-year medical students anonymously wrote descriptions of critical incidents related to care transitions they had witnessed that evoked a strong emotional reaction. Descriptions included the emotion evoked, clinical context, and types of information exchanged. The authors analyzed the incident descriptions using a constant comparative qualitative methodology. Results Analysis revealed that 111 of the 121 medical students (92%) who disclosed emotional responses had strong negative reactions to unsuccessful transitions, experiencing frustration, irritation, fear, and anger. All of these negative emotions were associated with lack of or poor communication between the sender and receiver: ambiguous roles and responsibilities, insufficient detailing of the patient’s medical course, inadequate identification of the people involved in the transition, incomplete delineation of what the patient needed, and unclear reasons for the transition. Conclusions Third-year medical students’ descriptions of care-transition incidents reveal high rates of strong negative emotions and of communication gaps that may adversely affect patient care. Results support curricular innovations that align students’ needs and experiences with safe patient care transitions.

Training lay volunteers to promote health in central-city African American churches.

ABSTRACT In a nation plagued by skyrocketing healthcare costs, is there an affordable way to address health needs of older African Americans in medically underserved areas? The Milwaukee, Wisconsins Elder Community Health Upholder (ECHU) project indicates yes, we can. The key: A partnership that guides committed volunteers focused on establishing and sustaining health initiatives in faith-based settings.

Towards Building a Bridge between Community Engagement in Research (CEnR) and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER)

A major national priority is establishing an effective infrastructure for translation of scientific discoveries into the community. Knowledge and practice continue to accelerate in health research yet healthcare recommendation adoption remains slow for practitioners, patients, and communities. Two areas of research placed in the later stages of the translational research spectrum, Community Engagement in Research and Comparative Effectiveness Research, are ideal for approaching this challenge collaboratively. The Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeastern Wisconsin convened academics and community‐based organizations familiar with these fields of research in a 1‐day workshop to establish an initial dialogue on similarities and differences with a goal of exploring ways to operationalize a collective effort. Participants represented four academic institutions and twelve other healthcare and community‐based service organizations. Primary fields of study included community engaged research, comparative effectiveness research, psychology, clinical research, administration, nursing, public health, education, and other professionals. This initial report outlines the results of this diverse discussion and provides insights into the priorities, diverging issues, and areas for future examination and practice. Key discoveries reveal clear crosscutting issues, value in philosophical and provocative discussions among investigators, a need for practice and lessons learned, and bidirectional exchange with community representation.

Reaching and Supporting At-Risk Community Based Seniors: Results of a Multi-church Partnership

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a nurse-led, church-based educational support group for “at-risk,” older African Americans on hospitalization and emergency department use. Study nurses enrolled 81 “at-risk” older adult members of ten churches. Participants completed a trifold pamphlet identifying personal health information and support, and they attended eight monthly educational/support group sessions in their church during the 10-month intervention. Study nurses completed a risk assessment interview with each senior both pre- and post-participation. The study nurse completed post-program assessments with 64 seniors, a 79% retention rate. At the program’s conclusion researchers conducted a focus group with the study RNs and used an anonymous written survey to gather participant appraisals of program elements. Neither hospitalization nor emergency department/urgent care usage was significantly different from pre- to post-program. Session attendance was moderate to high and over half of the seniors brought a family member or friend to one or more sessions. The majority of seniors initiated positive health changes (e.g., smoking cessation, weight loss, or diet changes). Participants expressed high satisfaction and expressed satisfaction to perceive that they were supporting other seniors in their community. We conclude that this intervention was successful in engaging and motivating seniors to initiate health behavior change and contributed to a health-supportive church-based community. To demonstrate a statistically significant difference in hospital and ED usage, however, a stronger intervention or a larger sample size is needed.