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#IAMSE 18 Saturday Workshop Spotlight with Maryellen Gusic & Wendy Hobson-Rohrer

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The first day of our 22nd annual meeting is packed with workshops, seminars and speakers. Saturday’s activities will cover a variety of topics including educational research manuscript reviews, enhancing leadership skills and an introduction to game-based teaching and learning. During the afternoon block of sessions Maryellen Gusic and Wendy Hobson-Rohrer will present a dynamic interactive session on looking ahead at what’s next in your academic career.

Expanding Your Horizons Beyond Your Current Academic Unit: What’s Next on Your Leadership Pathway

June 9 1215In this interactive session, participants will explore opportunities to advance in their academic career beyond their current divisions and departments. Academic health science centers are complex organizations that provide a broad spectrum of possible growth opportunities for faculty. Participants will review typical structures of academic health science centers, draw their own organization and discuss unique challenges. The group will discuss the nature of formal and informal positions in medical education.

After engaging in a self-assessment and visioning exercise, participants will discuss their goal and consider gaps/learning needs. Ideas of how to address the gaps to effectively position themselves for new leadership opportunities will be shared. In small group discussions and facilitated large group information sharing, the audience will discuss how to practice graceful self-promotion and to benefit through work with mentors and sponsors who can expand one’s network.

Participants will learn how to design an effective executive summary and cover letter to successfully market oneself and meet the needs of a new position in the organization. At the end of the workshop, each participant will do step back planning: starting with an ideal future position, they will delineate key first steps to take when they get home to investigate a new role/responsibility that will help them start on the pathway to this goal.

Objectives:
• Explore leadership opportunities across the mission areas of academic health centers
• Create an individual professional development plan to advance towards an institutional leadership role
• Effectively document one’s skills and accomplishments to allow others to see you in this new role

A broad exploration of potential opportunities will give participants an expanded view of what is possible and concrete steps for how to advance their career and meet professional goals. During the workshop, participants will envision new leadership opportunities, reflect on their current position and what gaps they need to address and learn through peer mentoring and input from the session facilitators.

 

Medical Science Educator April Article Review from Dr. John L. Szarek

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Each month the IAMSE Publications Committee reviews published articles from the archives of Medical Science Educator or of its predecessor JIAMSE. This month’s review, written by Dr. John L. Szarek, is taken from the article titled Using Small Case-Based Learning Groups as a Setting for Teaching Medical Students How to Provide and Receive Peer Feedback, published in the Medical Science Educator, Volume 27, (pages 759–765), 2017 by EC Bird, N Osheroff, CC Pettepher, WB Cutrer, and RH Carnahan.

PLeaSe Sir, I want some more (Feedback)!

With apologies to Charles Dickens, how many times have students asked for feedback, let alone more? When giving feedback, students often provide superficial comments because they do not want to dis their peers. Giving and receiving feedback is critical in the development of health professionals, both novice and experienced. Yet, feedback is misunderstood. To get the most out of feedback, students (and faculty) need development but the best method and venue needs to be better defined. In the September 2017 issue of Medical Science Educator, Emily Bird and colleagues at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine describe a model to teach students how to provide and receive peer feedback. The Feedback PLeaSe! Method which they developed is taught and used in case-based learning (CBL) sessions during which a faculty facilitator meets with 8 students. The authors propose that this is the ideal venue since it represents a safe setting for learning and more closely mirrors interactions in the clinical workplace.

The Method is divided into three phases, preparation, listening and summarizing. In the preparation phase, the facilitator describes the concept of providing and receiving in-person feedback and the process that will be used in the CBL sessions. In the second part of the preparation phase, the facilitator provides training on the nature of useful feedback. Here the facilitator uses the acronym STAR (Specific and observable, Timely, Actionable, and Received) to help students remember the characteristics of effective feedback in a simple way. Learners are provided a schedule for feedback interactions during which one student will receive feedback from each of their peers at the end of a CBL session. In the listening phase, the listening receiver receives from each group member one comment on an aspect of the receiver’s performance that was particularly helpful, and one comment on a specific aspect which could be improved. The students are encouraged to focus their feedback on issues related to the CBL group process. During the summary phase, the receiver provides a summary of what was heard in order to establish that the feedback was accurately received and understood. The facilitator observes the process and offers comments as appropriate to help students become more skillful.

Learner reactions to the process were positive and comments by students suggested that their feedback skills improved. As with many activities in small groups, however, the facilitator is key. The facilitator needs to value the activity and help students provide high-quality feedback. The Feedback PLeaSe! Method is simple and can be adapted to other facilitated small group sessions.

John L. Szarek, PhD, CHSE
Professor and Director of Clinical Pharmacology
Education Director for Simulation
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Member IAMSE Publications Committee


Want access to over 40 archived issues and more than 800 medical science articles? Visit Medical Science Educator online here for access to every issue since 2011!

How to Connect with the IAMSE Admin Team

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The IAMSE Admin team has grown. To better support your membership needs, it may be helpful to know our members and what they do for IAMSE.

Julie K. Hewett, CMP, CAE
Association Manager

Julie has been supporting IAMSE for nearly 20 years in many different ways. Currently, she is responsible for Board and Committee support and conference management. Julie will continue to oversee the rest of the management team to support the overall needs of the Association.

Danielle Inscoe
Account Manager, Membership Support

Danielle’s role with IAMSE will be as the first point of member contact whether by phone or email. She will be helping to manage the day-to-day operations of the Association and will be available to answer questions regarding memberships, web audio seminars and upcoming Association activities.

Amoritia Strogen-Hewett, QAS
MSE Editorial Assistant, Conference Logistics

Amoritia currently serves as the Editorial Assistant for Medical Science Educator. She also plays a major role in abstract management for the conference as well as on-site logistics.

Cassie Chinn
Communications and Website Manager

Cassie manages the social media aspect of IAMSE. She helps create posts to get the word out about what goes on within the organization. She also ensures the website for IAMSE is always up to date while also helping get new content posted as it becomes available.

How to Connect with the Team:

IAMSE
c/o JulNet Solutions, LLC
1404 1/2 Adams Avenue
Huntington, WV 25704
Phone: 304-522-1270
Fax: 304-523-9701

Email:
Julie Hewett: julie@iamse.org
Danielle Inscoe: danielle@iamse.org
Amoritia Strogen-Hewett: amoritia@iamse.org
Cassie Chinn: cassie@iamse.org

When in doubt? support@iamse.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MedicalEducator
Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamse
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mededucator
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/134281
Website: www.iamse.org

IAMSE – Medical Science Educator Call for Manuscripts

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Medical Science Educator, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), publishes scholarly work in the field of health sciences education. The journal publishes four issues per year through Springer Publishing. We welcome contributions in the format of Short Communication, Original Research, Monograph, Commentary, and Innovation. Please visit our website www.medicalscienceeducator.org for a more detailed description of these types of articles.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

#IAMSE18 – Faculty Development Workshop “TBL in a Day”

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This year we are excited to offer two full-day faculty development workshops at our annual meeting. Participants can choose from two exciting events featuring an introduction into scholarly research, literature review, collaborative exercises and discussion. Our second featured workshop is Basics of Team-Based Learning in a Day presented by Amy Lin, MD, Abbas Hyderi and Hugh Clements-Jewery.

TBL in a Day’s first three hour session, titled “Fundamental Principles and Practices of TBL,” is followed by an hour-long lunch break and then a second three hour session titled “Creating an Effective TBL Module.” The goal of the activity is for participants to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the fundamental components, the sequence of components, and the benefits of TBL, building on the knowledge and skills from the first session in the second.

By the end of the TBL 101 Workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the main advantages of TBL.
  • Describe the essential elements of TBL.
  • Explain why these elements are essential.
  • List the sequence of events in the Readiness Assurance Process (RAP), describing the importance of each component.
  • Describe what makes an in-class activity a ‘4 S’ activity.

By the end of Creating an Effective TBL module workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Use backward design to create a TBL module.
  • List the sequence of steps for designing a TBL module.
  • Construct team application exercises that adhere to the ‘Four S’ framework.
  • Construct team application exercises that will engage a team in high-level thinking.
  • Closely link team application exercises to the readiness assurance process.
  • Select the best format for application exercises (MCQ, gallery walk).

Have you registered for the 2018 IAMSE Meeting? If not, there’s still time to do so! For more information on the 2018 IAMSE Meeting and to register, click here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

IAMSE Spring 2018 WAS Session 5 Highlights

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In case you missed last week’s Webcast Audio Seminar (WAS) Session, here are the highlights of this session:

Peer Support: Mitigating the Emotional Toll of Medical Errors
Presenter: Jo Shapiro, MD, FACS
April 5, 12 PM ET

  • There is an abundance of research that makes the case for a peer support program for those who make medical errors by showing the financial and moral costs for what happens after medical errors are committed.
  • Culture has a huge effect on how medical errors are viewed and how they are dealt with. Creating a safety culture with a learning and growing mindset is essential to the success of any peer support program.
  • The mission for the Center for Professionalism and Peer Support is to encourage a culture that values and promotes mutual respect, trust and teamwork.
  • It is important to understand and be respectful of how others might react to a medical error in which someone has been harmed instead of only interpreting the situation from one’s own perspective
  • Medicine acculturates its members to “be perfect.” As a result, committing medical errors is discordant with perfection and creates feelings of upset and isolation.
  • Shame and blame is the predominant model for dealing with medical errors. It is always somebody’s fault vs. how do we learn from this?
  • Following a medical error, 30% of clinicians experience a negative impact on work performance, personal life and/or colleague relationships.
  • Research shows that those committing medical errors are at an increased risk for depression and burnout.
  • Burnout and depression are independent predictors of reporting a major medical error. It is not simply the emotional toll for committing errors, but burnout and depression lead to further medical errors.
  • Commonly felt emotions by clinicians who have made medical errors are: Sadness, Shame, Self-Doubt, Fear, Anger, Isolation.
  • Feeling these negative emotions is a natural reaction, but the problem is that sometimes recovery from these negative emotions never occurs.
  • One cannot expect people who are feeling unsupported and isolated to deliver high quality patient care or to sustain joy in their work.
  • Many people are impacted by medical errors, most significantly, patients and families. Errors also impact physicians, team members and the institution. Everyone should have access to support.
  • Factors associated with resilience after adverse events include: talking about it with colleagues, dealing with imperfection, disclosure and apology, learning from the error, sharing that learning with colleagues and trainees, forgiveness.
  • Barriers to clinicians seeking support include: lack of time, stigma, lack of confidentiality, access.
  • The Center for Professionalism and Peer Support uses a first responder model. There is 1:1 peer support and group peer support. Peer support is available to everyone who works in the program.
  • Training is crucial for peer support volunteers; they must be well-trained.
  • Disclosure coaching supports physicians in having transparent and empathic conversations with patients after errors.
  • Peer support is a powerful tool for culture change.
    Shame and Blame > Promotion of a “just” culture
    Personal invulnerability > We are all humans who are influenced by human emotions and other human factors
    Expectation of emotional denial > Normalizing emotional reactions
    Isolation > Community solidarity
    Self Care is selfish > Gets you back to what you do well
    Helps clinicians to show up with compassion for patients.
  • Informal peer support is valuable. As a colleague, it is important to acknowledge the adverse event to let your colleague know that “I see you and I care about you.” E.g. “Sorry you had to go through this.” It is also helpful to ask a colleague if he/she has adequate support and if you can help him/her obtain support.
  • For informal peer support it is not useful to do the following;
    • Minimize a colleague’s pain. E.g. “It will be OK.”
    • Try to “fix” the situation.
  • Because this type of peer support program has so much face validity and it is not resource intensive, it is not exceptionally difficult to advocate for peer support at one’s institution.
  • The worst thing we can do is not to be there for one another when an adverse event occurs.

The Fall web seminar series is set to begin in September. Be sure to keep an eye on your email for more information!

#IAMSE18 Workshop Presenter Spotlight: Mike Lumpkin

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The 22nd Annual IAMSE Meeting is just around the corner, and we would like to introduce one of the 2018 workshop presenters, Dr. Mike Lumpkin from Georgetown University Medical Center.

Dr. Lumpkin is Professor in the department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, Division of Integrative Physiology, and immediate past Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He directs the Human Endocrinology course taught to first-year medical students and teaches physiology and neuroendocrinology to both medical and graduate students. He lectures in the Conventional Medicine series of the Georgetown Mini-Medical School. In addition, Dr. Lumpkin is a facilitator for Mind-Body group and is the course director of the Physiology of Mind-Body medicine. Dr. Lumpkin will be presenting a workshop on this topic with Emily Ratner on Saturday, June 9 at the annual IAMSE conference.
Using Mind-Body Physiology to Gain Acceptance for Wellness/Resiliency Programs
Numerous studies have shown that hospital residents and medical school faculty suffer from a disproportionate amount of stress, burnout, and loss of empathy compared to the general population. This situation has negative ramifications for workforce retention, proper patient care, costs to health systems, and individual happiness. Their stressors are increasing due to mounting institutional and regulatory demands. Often, in the culture of modern allopathic medicine, individuals are encouraged to deny or ignore their ongoing distress so that they may soldier on.

To address the challenge of introducing mind-body stress management skills to science-oriented residents and faculty who may have reservations, we will outline a paradigm that we have used to link the scientific basis of stress and stress-related diseases to the productive and accepted practice of mind-body skills to promote wellness and resiliency. In doing so, it is hoped that improved coping skills will enhance the longevity of and satisfaction with the work life and careers of medical faculty.

Be sure to register for the 2018 IAMSE Meeting! The Meeting will be held at the Green Valley Ranch and Resort, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9-12, 2018..

We hope to see you there!

IAMSE Spring 2018 WAS Session 4 Highlights

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In case you missed last week’s Webcast Audio Seminar (WAS) Session, here are the highlights of this session:

Project on the Good Physician: Using Life Stories to Study Medical Student Wellness
Presenters: Tania M. Jenkins, PhD and John D. Yoon, MD
March 29, 12 PM ET

  • The Project on the Good Physician is a longitudinal study of the moral and professional formation of the US physician.
  • How does one become and remain a good physician?
  • Researchers found high rates of reported burnout for medical students.
  • The life-story approach is unique because it examines the dynamic nature of stressors and resilience-building factors before and throughout the duration of medical school.
  • The study design included questionnaires and follow-up phone interviews. Secondary analyses were conducted on the qualitative data from the phone interviews which produced the following findings:
    • Stressors: Negative role models, difficult rotations, USMLE Step 1
    • Double-edged swords: (stressor and/or motivator) Financial concerns, personal life events
    • Stress-attenuating factors: Positive role models, support networks, faith and spirituality, passion (These strategies helped students reframe stressors as temporary.)
  • Studying life stories provides a window into how medical students make sense of their lived experiences and how they identify stressors and those factors that protect against stress.
  • Life stories explore the role of past individual challenges as sources of future resilience by creating an understanding of how lived experiences influence and mitigate stress.
  • For more details about this study, please refer to the Good Physician website: https://pmr.uchicago.edu/projects/research/good-physician

For more information on the next session or to register, please click here.

Medical Science Educator March Article Review from Dr. Louis Justement

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Each month the IAMSE Publications Committee reviews published articles from the archives of Medical Science Educator or of its predecessor JIAMSE. This month’s review, written by Dr. Louis B. Justement, is taken from the article titled Analysis of Strategies for the Teaching of Difficult Threshold Concepts in Large Undergraduate Medicine and Science Classes, published in the Medical Science Educator, Volume 27, (pages 673-684), 2017.

A critical issue that underpins teaching in undergraduate medical and science classes, particularly large format classes, relates to the fact that one needs to identify effective ways to help students grasp threshold concepts. Threshold concepts are those concepts that are often difficult to fully understand but are critical for transforming one’s appreciation of a larger topic or area of science. Studies have yet to be performed to identify the most effective methods for helping students grasp threshold concepts in large classroom settings. Moreover, it is also not clear whether the same approaches will be equally effective in settings where the student populations are distinct in terms of their background and future career path. This question is particularly relevant in those introductory classroom settings where there is limited individual instruction and where other resources may be limited on a per student basis to support the educational mission.

One such study to better understand the association between multiple interventions to teach a threshold concept and their relative effectiveness in an undergraduate medicine versus science class environment is discussed in a recent paper entitled Analysis of Strategies for the Teaching of Difficult Threshold Concepts in Large Undergraduate Medicine and Science Classes, published in the Medical Science Educator, Volume 27, (pages 673-684), 2017, by authors SK Delaney, J Mills, A Galea, R LeBard, J Wilson, KJ Gibson, G Kornfeld and B Ashraf.

In this study, the authors focus on the field of genetics and teaching the threshold concept associated with the Hardy-Weinberg law, or equilibrium as it is often referred to. The study was conducted in large format medicine and science classes at the University of New South Wales and multiple interventions were employed to assist students in grasping the concept, including lecture-based simulation, small group tutorials, computer simulation and a variety of learning resources. Student knowledge was then assessed and students were surveyed to determine student perceptions of various learning interventions and their effectiveness.

This study provides important understanding of the complexities associated with teaching threshold concepts. It was determined that students achieve a similar level of understanding of threshold concepts regardless of background if a variety of teaching interventions are offered. However, the authors did determine that different student groups may exhibit preferences for distinct types of teaching interventions depending on the type of class and their individual learning style. Most importantly, the degree of preference for specific types of teaching interventions is more varied within any given group of students, for example medicine or science student groups, than across different types of students, i.e. medicine versus science. Based on these findings the authors conclude that it is more effective to teach threshold concepts by employing a combination of interventions, e.g. lecture-based simulations and small group tutorials, in a given setting than by using one or the other.


Want access to over 40 archived issues and more than 800 medical science articles? Visit Medical Science Educator online here for access to every issue since 2011!

#IAMSE18 – Plenary Speaker Highlight: Aviad Haramati

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Wrapping up our plenary speaker highlights for the 22nd Annual IAMSE Meeting is Dr. Aviad Haramati. Keenly eyeing the meeting’s focus of integrating nutrition and wellness education in teaching the health sciences, Dr. Haramati’s presentation titled “Fostering Well-being in the Learning Environment: the Imperative for Medical Science Educators” will discuss issues surrounding physician stress and burnout.

Aviad Haramati: Fostering Well-being in the Learning Environment: the Imperative for Medical Science Educators
[Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC]

More than half of practicing physicians exhibit characteristics of chronic stress and burnout. This trend may begin earlier with the observed decline in empathy during medical student training and the alarming rates of burnout in medical and other students in the health professions. Research findings suggest that there is an important link between the culture and state of the learning environment and the health of learners and teachers. In this presentation, Dr. Haramati will review the elements that impact on the well-being and resilience of students and faculty in the health professions and highlight interventions that are being implemented to help learners manage stress, foster empathy and build resilience, with a particular emphasis on the critical role that medical science educators can play.

For more information on Dr. Haramati, please click here.

Be sure to register for the 2018 IAMSE Meeting! The Meeting will be held at the Green Valley Ranch and Resort, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9-12, 2018. Registration may be found online here.

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#IAMSE18 – Plenary Speaker Highlight: Hanno Pijl

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This year the 22nd Annual IAMSE Meeting’s focus is integrating nutrition and wellness education in teaching the health sciences. Our fourth plenary speaker, Dr. Hanno Pijl, will highlight that message with his address “Lifestyle Medicine: Why Do We Need It?

Hanno Pijl: Lifestyle Medicine: Why Do We Need It?
[Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands]

Almost all of the major non-communicable diseases which we are faced with today are the result of gene-environment-lifestyle interactions. Dr. Pijl will sketch the science supporting this knowledge, and argue that not only are public health efforts needed to prevent non-communicable disease from occurring, but also that doctors should be aware of the power of lifestyle intervention to treat a variety of chronic diseases. This is why knowledge of lifestyle and nutrition in relation to health and disease should be taught in medical schools. Dr. Pijl and his team are currently working on an international (master) course for bachelor medical students and doctors interested in the topic. He will explain more about the ideas concerning the structure and content of that course.

For more information on Dr. Pijl, please click here.

Be sure to register for the 2018 IAMSE Meeting! The Meeting will be held at the Green Valley Ranch and Resort, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9-12, 2018. Registration may be found online here.

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Medical Science Educator Call for Announcements in June Issue

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In every issue of Medical Science Educator, we publish an announcements section. In this section we share information that is of interest to the readership of the journal. Individual IAMSE members wishing to post medical education related announcements in the Journal are invited to send their requests to the Editorial Assistant at journal@iamse.org. Announcements may be IAMSE-related, announcements from other medical education organizations, medical education conference information or international issues affecting medical education. Announcements will be published at the Editor’s discretion.

Deadline for inclusion in the June issue: April 6, 2018