Podcasts from the journal Medical Education 2011

Doctors do not follow guidance when managing their own health and illness. This behaviour may start at medical school. This study aimed to investigate whether inappropriate responses to illness are an issue for medical students and, if so, to identify the determinants of students’ responses to illness. Editor in Chief of Medical Education, Kevin Eva speaks to Sarah Ross (Division of Medical and Dental Education, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK) about her co-authored paper focusing on medical students’ illnesses and treatment of their own health, published in the December issue: ‘Medical students’ illness-related cognitions’ by Sarah Ross, Martin von Fragstein and Jennifer Cleland. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04079.x/abstract

Globalisation initiatives in medical education are premised on a universal model of medical education. This study was conducted to challenge this premise by empirically examining the impact of culture on the practice of medical education in anaesthesia residency training programmes in Thailand and Canada. Editor in Chief of Medical Education speaks to Dr Anne Wong (Department of Anaesthesia, Faculty of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) about the cultural contexts in her paper published in the December issue of the journal ‘Culture in medical education: comparing a Thai and a Canadian residency programme’. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04059.x/abstract

Effective handover within the health care setting is vital to patient safety. Despite published literature discussing strategies to improve handover, the extent to which educational interventions have been used and how such interventions relate to the published theoretical models of handover remain unclear. These issues were investigated through a systematic review of the literature. Editor in Chief Kevin Eva speaks to Morris Gordon (Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Salford, Salford, UK) about the paper he co-authored in the November 2011 issue of Medical Education: 'Educational interventions to improve handover in health care: a systematic review' by Morris Gordon and Rebecca Findley. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04049.x/abstract

The global shortage of doctors is of concern. This is particularly true in French-speaking regions of New Brunswick, Canada, where there is no medical school. Since 1981, francophone medical students from New Brunswick have been able to undertake part of their training in their province through an agreement with medical schools in another province. We studied the effects of frequency and length of exposure to the province of origin during medical training on the likelihood that a doctor will ever or currently practise medicine in that province. Editor in Chief Kevin Eva, speaks to Professor Michele Landry (Dieppe Family Medicine Unit, Vitalité Health Network, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada) about the paper that he co-authored in the November issue of Medical Education: 'Improving the recruitment and retention of doctors by training medical students locally' by Michel Landry, Aurel Schofield, Rachel Bordage, Mathieu Bélanger. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04055.x/abstract

Despite the intentions of caregivers not to harm, medical encounters may involve intimidation and induce emotions of shame. Reflection is a critical part of professional learning and training. However, the role of shame in medical education has scarcely been studied. The aim of this study was to explore medical students’ reflections on shame-related experiences in clinical situations and to examine how they tackled these experiences. Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, speaks to Ulf Lindström (Division of Family Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden) who is the co-author of the following paper appearing in the October 2011 issue of Medical Education: 'Medical students’ experiences of shame in professional enculturation' by Ulf H Lindström, Katarina Hamberg, Eva E Johansson. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04022.x/abstract

A particularly onerous aspect of the transition from medical student to practising doctor concerns the necessity to be able to rapidly identify acutely unwell patients and initiate appropriate resuscitation. These are skills in which many graduates feel poorly prepared and are considered by some to be best learned on the job. This constructivist study investigated the factors that influence the behaviour of junior doctors in this context and initiated the development of a framework that promotes understanding of this important area. Editor in Chief of Medical Education, Kevin Eva, speaks to Dr Victoria Tallentire (Centre for Medical Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK) who is the co-author of the following paper published in the October 2011 issue of Medical Education: 'Understanding the behaviour of newly qualified doctors in acute care contexts' by Victoria Tallentire, Samantha Smith, Janet Skinner and Helen Cameron. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04024.x/abstract

Conflict management has been identified as an essential competence for surgeons as they work in operating room (OR) teams; however, the optimal approach is unclear. Social science research offers two alternatives, the first of which recommends that task-related conflict be managed using problem-solving techniques while avoiding relationship conflict. The other approach advocates for the active management of relationship conflict as it almost always accompanies task-related conflict. Clarity about the optimal management strategy can be gained through a better understanding of conflict transformation, or the inter-relationship between conflict types, in this specific setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate conflict transformation in OR teams in order to clarify the approach most appropriate for an educational conflict management programme for surgeons. Editor in Chief Kevin Eva speaks to David Rogers (Department of Surgery, Faculty of School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, Illinois, USA) about hi co-authored article featuring in the September 2011 issue of Medical Education: ‘Teaching operating room conflict management to surgeons: clarifying the optimal approach’ by David Rogers, Lorelei Lingard, Margaret L Boehler, Sherry Espin, Mary Klingensmith,, John D Mellinger, Nancy Schindler. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04040.x/abstract

The study of expertise in medical education has a long history of success. Researchers have identified and elaborated on many dimensions of expert performance. In part, this success has derived from researchers’ ability to effectively isolate the dimensions and explore each separately. Although this deconstruction of the expert has been successful, the need to recombine the dimensions of expertise as part of an integrated construct of expert practice has recently become an increasingly evident imperative in health professions education. The Editor in Chief Kevin Eva, speaks to Maria Mylopoulos (Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) about the article she co-authored in the September issue of Medical Education entitled: ‘Putting the expert together again’ by Maria Mylopoulos and Glenn Regehr. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04032.x/abstract

Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education talks to Geoff Norman (Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), recent Karolinska award winner about his paper in the August issue of Medical Education: Fifty years of medical education research: waves of migration. Medical education research has been an academic pursuit for over 50 years, tracing its roots back to the Office of Medical Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo, New York, with George Miller. As the field has matured, the nature of the questions posed and the disciplinary bases of its practitioners have evolved. Geoff Norman looks at three chronological ‘generations’ of academics who have contributed to the field, at intervals of roughly 10–15 years. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03921.x/abstract

Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, speaks to Professor Ron Harden, the General Secretary of AMEE, and Professor of Medical Education at University of Dundee, amongst many other roles. This podcasts forms one of three commissioned articles for the August issue of Medical Education from the first three Karolinska prizewinners. The challenge for these authors in writing the articles was to reflect on their careers within medical education, and how they believe medical education has changed over the years and what the future may hold. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03934.x/abstract

Study strategies, such as time and study management techniques, seem to be consistently related to achievement even when aptitude is controlled for, but the picture is not entirely clear. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether relationships could be identified between academic aptitude, study strategies and academic performance which would enable us to provide students with feedback in certain skill areas in order to maximise achievement. Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, talks to co-authors of this paper Courtney West (Office of Student Affairs, Texas A&M, Health Science Center College of Medicine, Bryan, Texas, USA) and Mark Sadoski (Office of Educational Development, Texas A&M, Health Science Center College of Medicine, Bryan, Texas, USA). Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03929.x/abstract

In this special podcast, Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, talks to Dr Liz Wager, Chair of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). Kevin and Liz discuss various publication ethics issues and provide advice for authors, editors and publishers. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) was established in 1997 by a small group of medical journal editors in the UK but now has over 6000 members worldwide from all academic fields. Membership is open to editors of academic journals and others interested in publication ethics. COPE provides advice to editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics and, in particular, how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. Please see www.publicationethics.org for more information on COPE.

The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which clinician-educators agree on definitions of critical thinking and to determine whether their descriptions of critical thinking in clinical practice are consistent with these definitions. Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, speaks to Ed Krupat (Center for Evaluation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) about his co-authored paper in the June issue of Medical Education: ‘Thinking critically about critical thinking: ability, disposition or both?’ by Edward Krupat, Jared M Sprague, Daniel Wolpaw, Paul Haidet, David Hatem, Bridget O’Brien. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03910.x/abstract

Rather than merely acting professionally, medical students are expected to become professionals. Developing an embodied professional persona is not straightforward as there is no single perspective of what medical professionalism comprises. In the context of this confusion, medical educationalists have been charged with developing a professionalism curriculum that emphasises, supports and measures students’ professionalism. This paper focuses on medical students’ discourses of medical professionalism in order to understand the means through which students conceptualise professionalism. Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, speaks to Lynn Monrouxe (Division of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK), about her co-authored paper in the June issue of Medical Education: ‘Differences in medical students’ explicit discourses of professionalism: acting, representing, becoming’ by Lynn V Monrouxe, Charlotte E Rees, Wendy Hu. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03878.x/abstract

Twice a year, Medical Education publishes a selection of the best short structured reports submitted to its ‘Really Good Stuff: Lessons learned through innovation in medical education’ section. This section has always been intended to be an outlet for the dissemination of descriptions of exciting new ideas in a variety of areas including curriculum design, teaching practice, assessment or evaluation and attempts at programme or curriculum change. As of May 2011, RGS has taken on a new form, encouraging educators to share the insights they have gained (for better or worse) as a result of their educational scholarship rather than compelling them to demonstrate the success of their innovations. In this podcast Kevin Eva talks to Brownie Anderson (Senior Director of Educational Programmes for the Association of American Medical Colleges and Editor of the Medical Education 'Really Good Stuff Series'. Read the accompanying Editorial: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03990.x/full

In this podcast, Editor in Chief of Medical Education Kevin Eva talks to Andrew White (Department of Internal Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA) about the paper he co-authored in the April issue of Medical Education entitled: How trainees would disclose medical errors: educational implications for training programmes’ by Andrew A White, Sigall K Bell, Melissa J Krauss, Jane Garbutt, W Claiborne Dunagan, Victoria J Fraser, Wendy Levinson, Eric B Larson, Thomas H Gallagher. Read the paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03875.x/abstract

Mindfulness is a well-recognised concept in medical education literature, and many people have written on it. In this podcast, Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education, talks to Emma Warnecke (Senior Lecturer in General Practice, University of Tasmania School of Medicine, and recently appointed Associate Head of Student Affairs) about her article, published in the April issue of Medical Education – ‘Randomised controlled trial of mindfulness practice of medical students’ dress levels’.

Sandra Nicholson, (General Practioner, Reader of Medical Education at Barts and the London School of Medicine, London) speaks to Editor in Chief of Medical Education, Kevin Eva, about her article which features in the March issue ‘Reasons selectors give for accepting and rejecting medical applicants before interview’ by Rebecca Turner and Sandra Nicholson. Sandra was formerly an Associate Dean for Admission at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and discusses the concerns have been raised that the current selection methods of screening Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) forms in the UK and holding interviews are essentially subjective and their abilities to predict success at medical school are largely unknown. In particular, questions on the validity and reliability of screening students’ personal statements are highlighted.

Academic activity during internship is essentially practical and ward rounds are traditionally considered the cornerstone of clinical education. There is a well-established principle within the educational community that actively manipulating material on the part of the learner tends to yield better learning outcomes rather than allowing them to be passive recipients of the learning material. Kevin Eva, Editor-in-Chief of Medical Education, talks to Professor Hegla Prado, (Paediatrician, Department of Learning, Instituto de Medicina Integral, Recife, Brazil) about this topic, which is the subject of an article Professor Prado co-authors in the March 2011 issue of Medical Education: ‘Active learning on the ward: outcomes from a comparative trial with traditional methods’ by Hegla Melo Prado, Gilliatt Hannois Falbo, Ana Rodrigues Falbo & José Natal Figueirôa.

Charles Kromann, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Clinical Education in Copenhagen, Denmark (Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark) is also waiting for his defense date for his PhD, which focuses on an important and growing area of research within medical education – test-enhanced learning, which looks at the value of testing for pedagogical benefit rather than testing to see how much one has learnt. This topic has also been the focus of study for a paper that features in the February 2011 issue of Medical Education; ‘Test-enhanced learning may be a gender-related phenomenon explained by changes in cortisol level’ by Charles Kromann, Morten Jensen and Charlotte Ringsted. Read the paper here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03790.x/full

It has been acknowledged that certain personality characteristics influence both medical students’ and doctors’ performance. With regard to medical students, studies have been concerned with the role of personality, and performance indicators such as academic results and clinical competence. Eva Doherty (Director of human factors and patient safety, National Surgical Training Centre, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland) speaks to Kevin Eva, Editor in Chief of Medical Education about the importance of personality factors in her co-authored paper entitled ‘Personality factors and medical training: a review of the literature’ by Eva M. Doherty and Emmeline Nugent. Read the full ‘Medical Education in Review’ paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03760.x/abstract

The January 2011 podcast is a four-way conversation between the Editor in Chief of Medical Education, Kevin Eva, and the three guest editors of the issue, Tim Dornan (Department of Education Development and Research, Maastricht University, The Netherlands), Jean McKendree (Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, Hull York Medical School, UK) and Iain Robbé (Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Cardiff University, Wales). The aim of this annual January special issue is to provide a state of the art rendition of where the field of health professional education stands. This year marks the centenary of the Flexner Report and the three guest editors decided to base this special issue around this centenary. Read the editorial by Kevin Eva: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03894.x/pdf Read the Commentary by the three guest editors: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03893.x/pdf