Browsing by Author "Hughes, Mary"

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    Adaptive change in simulation education: Comparison of effectiveness of a communication skill curriculum on death notification using in-person methods versus a digital communication platform
    (Wiley, 2021-07) Hughes, Mary; Gerstner, Brett; Bona, Anna; Falvo, Lauren; Schroedle, Karen; Cooper, Dylan; Sarmiento, Elisa; Hobgood, Cherri; Ahmed, Rami; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background Mandates to social distance and “shelter in place” during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the exploration of new academic content delivery methods. Digital communication platforms (DCP; e.g., Zoom) were widely used to facilitate content delivery, yet little is known about DCP’s capacity or effectiveness, especially for simulation. Objective The objective was to compare the experience, outcomes, and resources required to implement a simulation-based communication skill curriculum on death notification to a cohort of learners using in-person versus DCP delivery of the same content. Methods We used the GRIEV_ING mnemonic to train students in death notification techniques either in person or utilizing a DCP. For all learners, three measures were collected: knowledge, confidence, and performance. Individual learners completed knowledge and confidence assessments pre- and postintervention. All performance assessments were completed by standardized patients (SPs) in real time. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to identify differences in individual and between-group performances. Results Thirty-four learners participated (N = 34), 22 in person and 12 via DCP. There was a statistically significant improvement in both groups for all three measures: knowledge, confidence, and performance. Between-group comparisons revealed a difference in pretest confidence but no differences between groups in knowledge or performance. More preparation and prior planning were required to set up the DCP environment than the in-person event. Conclusions The in-person and DCP delivery of death notification training were comparable in their ability to improve individual knowledge, confidence, and performance. Additional preparation time, training, and practice with DCPs may be required for SPs, faculty, and learners less familiar with this technology.
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    Death notification: a digital communication platform for simulated patient-based training with medical students
    (BMJ Publishing Group, 2020-09-25) Hughes, Mary; Gerstner, Brett; Bona, Anna; Falvo, Lauren; Hobgood, Cherri; Ahmed, Rami A.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Medical simulation experiences, focused on enhancing essential communication skills, provide high value to trainees. These communication-based simulations often require little equipment and instead use trained faculty facilitators who can impart clinical significance and expertise to trainees. Teaching communication skills and techniques remotely is theoretically possible but has been largely unexplored in medical education.1 The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions imposed by shelter-in-place orders and social distancing created a need to expand traditional training methods and experiment with remote simulation training for communication skills. In this brief report, we explore the experience, outcomes and barriers to implementing a simulated communication skill curriculum focused on death notification to a cohort of remote medical students.
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    Does Length of Emergency Medicine Training Matter for Leadership Skills in Pediatric Resuscitation? A Pilot Study
    (2023-04-28) Schoppel, Kyle; Keilman, Ashley; Fayyaz, Jabeen; Padlipsky, Patricia; Diaz, Maria Carmen G.; Wing, Robyn; Hughes, Mary; Franco, Marleny; Swinger, Nathan; Whitfill, Travis; Walsh, Barbara
    Background The majority of pediatric patients in the United States (US) are evaluated and treated at general emergency departments (GEDs) that are often ill prepared for pediatric patients. Despite rotating at large pediatric hospitals, during training Emergency Medicine (EM) residents care perform few pediatric resuscitations. It is possible that discrepancies in length of EM residency training may allow for variable exposure to pediatric patients, critical resuscitations, and didactic events. The goal of this study was to compare leadership skills of EM residents graduating from 3 vs. 4-year programs during simulated pediatric resuscitations using a previously validated leadership assessment tool, the Concise Assessment of Leader Management (CALM). Methods This was a prospective, multicenter, simulation-based cohort pilot study that included graduating 3rd- and 4th-year EM resident physicians from 6 EM residency programs. We measured leadership performance across three simulated pediatric resuscitations using the CALM tool and compared leadership scores between the 3rd- vs. 4th-year resident cohorts. We also correlated leadership to self-efficacy scores. Results Forty-seven residents (24 3rd-year residents and 23 4th-year residents) participated. Out of a total possible CALM score of 66, residents from 3-year programs scored 45.2 [SD ± 5.2], 46.8 [SD ± 5.0], and 46.6 [SD ± 4.7], whereas residents from 4-year programs scored 45.5 [SD ± 5.2], 46.4 [SD ± 5.0], 48.2 [SD ± 4.3] during the sepsis, seizure and cardiac arrest cases respectively. The Total Leadership Score (TLS) for the 3-year cohort was 46.2 [SD ± 4.8] vs. 46.7 [ SD ± 4.5] (p = 0.715) for the 4-year cohort. Conclusions These data suggest there may be no difference in leadership skills between 3rd- vs 4th-year EM residents in our study cohort. This pilot study provides the basis of future work that will assess a larger multicenter cohort with the hope to obtain a more generalizable dataset.