Jennifer DiPace

Global health training during residency: the weill cornell Tanzania experience.

BACKGROUND In 2007, Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) began annually to send approximately 30 residents in internal medicine and pediatrics to Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania, where they were supervised and mentored by 2 full-time WCMC faculty physicians. OBJECTIVE To describe the components of the WCMC global health elective and to evaluate the experiences of the participants. METHODS Subjects were WCMC residents in internal medicine and pediatrics from the graduating classes of 2007-2009. Electronic surveys were sent to all participants (n  = 57) and to a group of nonparticipants (n  =  57). RESULTS Overall response rate was 58%. The most-selected, primary reasons for participation in the program were an interest in global health and a desire to serve an underprivileged population. Participants rated use of routine laboratory tests in the United States as more overused than did nonparticipants (P  =  .01). After the elective, 62% of participants reported a reduced use of laboratory and/or radiologic tests. All participants (100%; 39 of 39) reported the elective as having a positive effect on their knowledge of international health and tropical medicine. More than 90% of participants (36 of 39) reported the elective as having a positive effect on their physical examination skills. CONCLUSIONS Participants of the WCMC global health elective report positive experiences from our multidimensional global health collaboration.

Project IMPACT Pilot Report: Feasibility of Implementing a Hospital-to-Home Transition Bundle

This study describes implementation of a pediatric patient-centered hospital-to-home care transition bundle across 4 sites. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To improve hospital to home transitions, a 4-element pediatric patient-centered transition bundle was developed, including: a transition readiness checklist; predischarge teach-back education; timely and complete written handoff to the primary care provider; and a postdischarge phone call. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of bundle implementation and report initial outcomes at 4 pilot sites. Outcome measures included postdischarge caregiver ability to teach-back key home management information and 30-day reuse rates. METHODS: A multisite, observational time series using multiple planned sequential interventions to implement bundle components with non–technology-supported and technology-supported patients. Data were collected via electronic health record reviews and during postdischarge phone calls. Statistical process control charts were used to assess outcomes. RESULTS: Four pilot sites implemented the bundle between January 2014 and May 2015 for 2601 patients, of whom 1394 had postdischarge telephone encounters. Improvement was noted in the implementation of all bundle elements with the transitions readiness checklist posing the greatest feasibility challenge. Phone contact connection rates were 69%. Caregiver ability to teach-back essential home management information postdischarge improved from 18% to 82%. No improvement was noted in reuse rates, which differed dramatically between technology-supported and non–technology-supported patients. CONCLUSIONS: A pediatric care transition bundle was successfully tested and implemented, as demonstrated by improvement in all process measures, as well as caregiver home management skills. Important considerations for successful implementation and evaluation of the discharge bundle include the role of local context, electronic health record integration, and subgroup analysis for technology-supported patients.

Global health training among U.S. residency specialties: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Background: Interest in global health training during residency is increasing. Global health knowledge is also becoming essential for health-care delivery today. Many U.S. residency programs have been incorporating global health training opportunities for their residents. We performed a systematic literature review to evaluate global health training opportunities and challenges among U.S. residency specialties. Methods: We searched PubMed from its earliest dates until October 2015. Articles included were survey results of U.S. program directors on global health training opportunities, and web-based searches of U.S. residency program websites on global health training opportunities. Data extracted included percentage of residency programs offering global health training within a specialty and challenges encountered. Results: Studies were found for twelve U.S. residency specialties. Of the survey based studies, the specialties with the highest percentage of their residency programs offering global health training were preventive medicine (83%), emergency medicine (74%), and surgery (71%); and the lowest were orthopaedic surgery (26%), obstetrics and gynecology (28%), and plastic surgery (41%). Of the web-based studies, the specialties with the highest percentage of their residency programs offering global health training were emergency medicine (41%), pediatrics (33%), and family medicine (22%); and the lowest were psychiatry (9%), obstetrics and gynecology (17%), and surgery (18%). The most common challenges were lack of funding, lack of international partnerships, lack of supervision, and scheduling. Conclusion: Among U.S. residency specialties, there are wide disparities for global health training. In general, there are few opportunities in psychiatry and surgical residency specialties, and greater opportunities among medical residency specialties. Further emphasis should be made to scale-up opportunities for psychiatry and surgical residency specialties.

Pediatric Training Faculty and Resident Perceptions on Teaching High-Value, Cost-Conscious Care: A Multi-Institutional Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES High-value, cost-conscious care (HVCCC) is care that promotes optimal patient outcomes while reducing unnecessary costs. Teaching to promote HVCCC is essential, yet little research has assessed the dual perspectives of residents and faculty on this topic. Our aim was to investigate pediatric resident and faculty perspectives of HVCCC training and role modeling to more effectively promote curriculum and faculty development on this subject. METHODS Pediatric residents and teaching faculty in 2 academic medical centers were surveyed during the 2015-2016 academic year. Questions addressed comfort with HVCCC, current teaching practices, barriers to teaching HVCC, and desired curriculum. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data, and Fishers exact or χ2 tests were used to assess for associations between responses. Institutional review board approval was obtained at both participating institutions. RESULTS We received responses from 51% of faculty (128 of 249) and 60% of residents (73 of 123). Most faculty and residents agreed that HVCCC training is important, but only 26% of residents (18 of 69) felt comfortable practicing HVCCC. Faculty and residents identified lack of training or knowledge (50%, 61 of 121 and 53%, 37 of 70, respectively) and lack of hospital support (73%, 88 of 121 and 69%, 47 of 68, respectively) as the largest barriers. Of residents, >85% (60 of 69) reported a lack of attending physician role modeling. Most faculty (83%, 102 of 123) desired faculty development. CONCLUSIONS Residents and faculty agree that HVCCC is important and that training institutions have a responsibility to address it. However, most residents were not comfortable with HVCCC. Faculty development in HVCCC as well as hospital support for access to pricing data will be key for programs to develop effective resident training in this area.

Learning across the explicit, implicit, and extra-curricula: an exploratory study of the relative proportions of residents' perceived learning in clinical areas at three pediatric residency programs.

Purpose This exploratory multisite study investigated relative proportions of residents’ perceived learning across the explicit, implicit (typically called hidden or informal), and extra-curricula for six Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) focus areas—patient safety, health care quality, care transitions, supervision, fatigue management, and professionalism—using qualitative and numeric data. Method In April through June 2013, the authors recruited and interviewed third-year categorical pediatric residents from three sites. For each CLER focus area, the authors asked residents to think aloud while they assigned a total of 60 points to the explicit, implicit, and extra-curricula, according to where they perceived their learning occurred. All interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. The authors coded qualitative data from interviews using the constant comparative method, scrutinized qualitative data for themes, and reviewed qualitative and numeric data. Results A total of 28/79 (35%) residents participated. Residents perceived learning to occur most often in the implicit curriculum for five of the six CLER focus areas; the one exception being health care quality, which predominantly took place in the explicit curriculum. In the implicit curriculum, role modeling and “learning by doing” were frequently reported modes of learning. The explicit curriculum was perceived as an important baseline for understanding clinical areas. Relatively less learning was perceived to occur in the extra-curriculum. Conclusions The authors believe that recognizing learning in “other-than-explicit” curricula could broaden the medical education community’s understanding of the purview of the medical education curriculum and help educators tap into underused educational opportunities for important clinical topics.