Browsing by Subject "Medical student"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Medical fruits of labor
    (Taylor & Francis, 2015-08) Isaacs, Michael; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    My grandfather's death made a profound impact on my life personally and professionally. Our family was able to share in his last joyous days thanks to a caring physician who first suggested palliative care. During these final days in which friends and family said their goodbyes, I realized as a medical student the immense impact we as healthcare workers truly make in our patients' lives. Reflections on palliative care, faith, medicine, and death following this experience influenced my formation as a Catholic, grandson, and as a physician in training. Lay summary: This article describes the personal experience of a medical student who witnesses the final days of his grandfather's life. Life, death, faith, palliative care, and the impact of physicians on families during these times is the subject of his reflection following his grandfather's death.
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    Medical student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication in adolescent medicine
    (IJME, 2014-08-20) Woods, Jennifer L.; Pasold, Tracie L.; Boateng, Beatrice A.; Hensel, Devon J.; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives To evaluate student self-efficacy, knowledge and communication with teen issues and learning activities. Methods Data were collected during the 8-week pediatric rotation for third–year medical students at a local children’s hospital. Students completed a self-efficacy instrument at the beginning and end of the rotation; knowledge and communication skills were evaluated during standardized patient cases as part of the objective structured clinical examination. Self-efficacy, knowledge and communication frequencies were described with descriptive statistics; differences between groups were also evaluated utilizing two-sample t-tests. Results Self-efficacy levels of both groups increased by the end of the pediatric rotation, but students in the two-lecture group displayed significantly higher self-efficacy in confidentiality with adolescents (t(35)=-2.543, p=0.02); interviewing adolescents, assessing risk, sexually transmitted infection risk and prevention counseling, contraception counseling were higher with marginal significance. No significant differences were found between groups for communication; assessing sexually transmitted infection risk was marginally significant for knowledge application during the clinical exam. Conclusions Medical student self-efficacy appears to change over time with effects from different learning methods; this higher self-efficacy may increase future comfort and willingness to work with this high-risk, high-needs group throughout a medical career.
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    Relationship between exercise intensity and stress levels among U.S. medical students
    (Taylor & Francis, 2022-12) Leuchter, Richard K.; Stuber, Margaret L.; McDonald, Austin L.; Croymans, Daniel M.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Physical activity may protect the mental health of medical students, yet it is unknown which types and intensities of physical activity have the greatest potential to improve medical student well-being. Objective: We characterize the relationship between exercise intensity and stress levels of U.S. medical students, thereby informing the design of future well-being interventions. Design: Two cross-sectional validated surveys assessing stress and physical activity were administered one year apart at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. A total of 1,046 out of 1,392 medical students responded (75%). An ordered logistic regression was used to determine the association between stress and each level of exercise intensity (inactivity, moderate-activity, and health-enhancing physical activity [HEPA]). These exercise intensity groupings were compared to the CDC guidelines for aerobic exercise. Results: While achieving either moderate-activity or HEPA is compliant with the CDC guidelines for aerobic exercise, the additional intensity of exercise required to achieve HEPA was associated with a 26% increase in the probability of being in the lowest stress quartile and a 22% decrease in the probability of being in the highest stress quartile. Medical student physical activity levels were on-par with the national average per the CDC exercise guidelines (65% vs. 58%), but medical student HEPA levels were significantly lower than the national average (27% vs. 64%; OR 0.21; 95% CI 0.12-0.37). Conclusions: There is a large disparity in rates of the highest intensity physical activity (HEPA) between medical students and the age-adjusted national average, which has previously been overlooked by the binary CDC exercise guidelines. The fact that HEPA levels are not optimized and more strongly associated with lower stress levels relative to less intense forms of exercise makes it a promising new target for future well-being interventions among medical trainees.