Article review: Selected abstracts from 2010 CORD Academic Assembly

In the 2010 CORD-CDEM Supplement in Academic Emergency Medicine, 29 abstracts were selected from the CORD Academic Assembly. Here's a quick look at the first 10. Maybe there's something that you might be interested in pursuing or reading more about.

The Patient Experience: A Novel Educational Experience in the ACGME General Competencies

Catherine A. Marco, David F. Baehren, and Kristopher Brickman (University of Toledo, Toledo, OH)

In this retrospective survey study, 8 PGY-1 EM residents shadowed patients from triage to disposition and found positive and negative examples of the ACGME competencies - Professionalism, Systems Based Practice, Patient Care, and Interpersonal and Communication Skills.

Political Advocacy Project for Emergency Medicine Residency 

David C. Lee, Joseph LaMantia, Andrew E. Sama, and Theodore Sung (North Shore University Hospital)

The purpose of this curricular innovation was to enhance political awareness and action amongst emergency physicians. PGY-4 EM residents at the program were required to complete a political advocacy project where residents each studied a federal or local bill, summarized their findings to the EM program, and contacted their local political representative. 

Successfully Introducing Interns to Academic Medicine: A Curriculum for Participation in the Annual Society for Academic Medicine Meeting 

Jeffrey N. Love (Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center)

This curricular innovation involved a structured experience for PGY-1 EM residents at the annual SAEM meeting, which included attending didactic sessions, select abstract presentations, and interest group meetings.  Upon their return, each resident then reported on 3 abstracts/papers at the departmental journal club.

The Effect of a Novel, Emergency Department Based Work-Study Program on Medical Students’ Perceived Skills and Clinical Competency 

M. Tyson Pillow, Shkelzen Hoxhaj, Angela Fisher, Donald Stader, and Theresa Tan (Baylor College of Medicine)

This retrospective survey study evaluated 1st year medical students who were provided the opportunity to participate in a work-study program where they learned how to perform phlebotomy, place peripheral IVs, and obtain ECGs in the ED. Eleven of the 53 respondents (21%) had participated in the work-study program. Compared to the non-participants, their comfort level on a 0-4 point scale were much better for phlebotomy (3.6 vs 0.2), IV placement (1.6 vs 0.1), and ECG acquisition (3.2 vs 0.6). 

Is Academic Productivity Amongst Emergency Physicians Affected by a Salary Incentive Plan?

Randy J. Hartman, Timothy C. Stallard, David L. Morgan, and Cindy F. Rush (Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center)

This retrospective observational study evaluated the consequence of an EM department's moving from an academic salary incentive plan (which rewarded scholarly activity, conference attendance, and completion of resident evaluations) to a clinical-based salary incentive plan (which rewarded clinical RVUs only). Results showed that the percentage of faculty submitting projects dropped by 62.5%, conference attendance decreased by 9.8%, and completed resident evaluations dropped by 24.7%.

EM-CROS: A Model for the Development of an Emergency Medicine Curriculum for Rotating Residents 

Tyler S. Jorgenson, Ian B. K. Martin, Kevin J. Biese, Cherri D. Hobgood (UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine)

This curricular innovation focuses on teaching off-service residents rotating in the ED. One article was selected in 7 core topics each-- chest pain, sepsis, altered mental status, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, headache, and cervical spine trauma. These articles and test questions were distributed to the residents for independent study. While on shift, the residents were encouraged to evaluate a variety of patient complaints, by having them each check off a card-based list of procedures and patient encounter objectives for the rotation period.

Medical Students’ Perceptions of an Emergency Medicine Clerkship: An Analysis of Self Assessment Surveys 

Jennifer A. Avegno, Heather Murphy-Lavoie, Lisa Moreno-Walton (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans)

This 1-year survey study evaluated EM clerkship students' change in confidence level with patient management, resuscitations, oral presentations, procedural skills, and understanding of EM practice after completing an EM clerkship rotation. A secondary outcome measure was comparing these items between the 2- and 4-week clerkship groups. All of the students felt more comfortable with patient management and basic procedural skills after the EM clerkship. Students in the 2-week clerkship felt less confident in their formal presentation skills and most basic procedures (except ECG interpretation, splinting, and venipuncture) compared to those in the 4-week clerkship.

Reducing Unnecessary Administrative Time of Student Scheduling by Utilizing a Template System and Google Documents 

Jeffrey T. Van Dermark, Derek L. Kelly, and David deGive (UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas)

This curricular innovation empowered EM clerkship students by allowing them to select their own EM shift schedules based on a pre-templated schedule posted on Google Docs. Before the start of the rotation, students were allowed to decide amongst themselves who was assigned to each of the 10 evenly-weighted EM shift schedules. This significantly freed the administrative staff and clerkship director from burdensome administrative work to accomodate everyone's schedule requests.

Emergency Medicine Residents Exhibit Varied Learning Styles 

Nicole M. Deiorio and Donald E. Rosen (Oregon Health and Science University)

This survey-based study evaluated the learning styles of 30 EM residents based on the Kolb Learning Style Index. This self-assessment tool categorizes learners into Convergers, Divergers, Accomodators, and Assimilators. Amongst the 22 residents who responded,  59% were Convergers, 0% were Divergers, 23% were Accomodators, and 18% were Assimilators. With a variety of learning styles, the authors propose that the EM conferences and didactic curricula should be designed with this in mind.

Video Feedback to Students Can Be Easy and Inexpensive 

Nicole M. Deiorio and Ryan T. Palmer (Oregon Health and Science University)

This curricular innovation involves delivering feedback to medical students in a delayed fashion using video messaging. If real-time feedback is not possible, faculty can use a website (www.eyejot.com) to record and email their short video messages to the student for free. The authors hypothesize that subtle cues and nuances from the video format make the feedback more impactful than if done in text form.

Reference
Multiple authors. 2010 Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) Selected Abstracts Acad Emerg Med. 2010. 17, Supplement: S1-S10. DOI: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2010.00884.x