Annual Review of Medical Education Articlesin Internal Medicine Journals 2004–2005

Abstract

This journal watch is sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Education and continues the reviews of medical education articles initiated by Jennifer Kogan on behalf of the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine.1 As with its predecessors,1,2 the purpose of this article is to identify and summarize medical education publications from specialty journals that are particularly salient to educators across specialties who would not usually read these journals. We are grateful to Teaching and Learning in Medicine and the Alliance for Clinical Education for giving us a forum in which we can share our education research, learn from our colleagues in other fields, and open dialogs of collaboration.The members of the Publication Committee of the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine reviewed the literature and prepared this review. Included are articles published in the 12 months following the last review, from September 1, 2004, through August 31, 2005. Our initial search of the Medline® database used the medical subject heading terms medical education, with the subheadings undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education combined with medical student, internship, and residency. The search was limited to the English language and identified 2,688 education articles. We then limited the journals to those in medicine, which was broadly defined to include general and subspecialty journals of internal medicine. We performed a secondary review of the contents of internal medicine journals to identify articles missed in the Medline search and excluded articles from general medical education journals, such as Academic Medicine, Medical Teacher, Medical Education, and Teaching and Learning in Medicine, and medical journals that cross specialties, such as Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, and Lancet. This left approximately 400 articles, which we reviewed for methodology, implications of the findings, and relevance to educators in other medical fields; this yielded 10 for inclusion. The following is a summary of each selected article grouped by theme.ProfessionalismShanafelt TD, West C, Zhao X, et al. Relationship between increased personal wellbeing and enhanced empathy among internal medicine residents. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2005;20:559-64.This exploratory study employed useful, validated measures of wellbeing and empathy to document a correlation between high mental well-being and empathy scores from a cross-sectional survey of internal medicine residents. Although the study was limited to a single program (Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine) and by a low response rate (50%), the correlation was significant (ps =. 02-.05). Several other demographic and program factors did not correlate. This study laid important groundwork for future study of causal relations and whether educational interventions aimed at mental well-being impact empathy, an important professional value. Future scholarship in this area will better enhance our efforts to foster professionalism at all levels in medical education.Arnold L, Shue CK, Kritt B, Ginsburg S, Stern DT. Medical students' views on peer assessment of professionalism. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2005;20(9):819-824.This is a well-designed, qualitative analysis of medical student views of peer assessment of professionalism. The authors identify a number of factors that affect how students view such assessment, including the educational environment, personal struggles with peer assessment, and characteristics of the assessment system. This is a must read for any clerkship director considering or currently using peer assessment of professionalism.