Michelle M. Barnes

Educational interventions for international medical graduates: a review and agenda.

International medical graduates (IMGs) play key roles in the health systems of their host countries, but face unique challenges, which makes the provision of effective, tailored support for IMGs essential.

Childhood Poverty and Its Effect on Health and Well-being: Enhancing Training for Learners Across the Medical Education Continuum

OBJECTIVE Childhood poverty is unacceptably common in the US and threatens the health, development, and lifelong well-being of millions of children. Health care providers should be prepared through medical curricula to directly address the health harms of poverty. In this article, authors from The Child Poverty Education Subcommittee (CPES) of the Academic Pediatric Association Task Force on Child Poverty describe the development of the first such child poverty curriculum for teachers and learners across the medical education continuum. METHODS Educators, physicians, trainees, and public health professionals from 25 institutions across the United States and Canada were convened over a 2-year period and addressed 3 goals: 1) define the core competencies of child poverty education, 2) delineate the scope and aims of a child poverty curriculum, and 3) create a child poverty curriculum ready to implement in undergraduate and graduate medical education settings. RESULTS The CPES identified 4 core domains for the curriculum including the epidemiology of child poverty, poverty-related social determinants of health, pathophysiology of the health effects of poverty, and leadership and action to reduce and prevent povertys health effects. Workgroups, focused on each domain, developed learning goals and objectives, built interactive learning modules to meet them, and created evaluation and faculty development materials to supplement the core curriculum. An editorial team with representatives from each workgroup coordinated activities and are preparing the final curriculum for national implementation. CONCLUSIONS This comprehensive, standardized child poverty curriculum developed by an international group of educators in pediatrics and experts in the health effects of poverty should prepare medical trainees to address child poverty and improve the health of poor children.

Thresholds and interpretations: How clinical competency committees identify pediatric residents with performance concerns

Abstract Background: Clinical competency committee (CCC) identification of residents with performance concerns is critical for early intervention. Methods: Program directors and 94 CCC members at 14 pediatric residency programs responded to a written survey prompt asking them to describe how they identify residents with performance concerns. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Six themes emerged from analysis and were grouped into two domains. The first domain included four themes, each describing a path through which residents could meet or exceed a concern threshold:1) written comments from rotation assessments are foundational in identifying residents with performance concerns, 2) concerning performance extremes stand out, 3) isolated data points may accumulate to raise concern, and 4) developmental trajectory matters. The second domain focused on how CCC members and program directors interpret data to make decisions about residents with concerns and contained 2 themes: 1) using norm- and/or criterion-referenced interpretation, and 2) assessing the quality of the data that is reviewed. Conclusions: Identifying residents with performance concerns is important for their education and the care they provide. This study delineates strategies used by CCC members across several programs for identifying these residents, which may be helpful for other CCCs to consider in their efforts.