Association Of Academic Physiatrists Research Articles

Student-Led Workshop on Disability Advocacy.

Medical students can be powerful advocates for and in partnership with the disability community, yet opportunities for targeted advocacy training are sparse. In February 2023, a medical student-led workshop on disability advocacy for trainees took place at the Association of Academic Physiatrists' Annual Conference. The aims of this session were for trainees to (1) identify existing gaps in disability education at their institution and in policy around disability-related issues; (2) improve perceived ability to engage in disability-related education and policy-based advocacy; and (3) apply an intersectional lens to identify opportunities for intersectionality in disability advocacy. Pre- and post-session responses were anonymously submitted via Qualtrics. Of 31 pre-survey respondents, 18 responded to the post-survey, and 12 were identified as having matching unique identifiers. After the workshop, participants overall were more likely to report being very/somewhat confident about their ability to identify gaps in disability education at their institution (75.0% vs 100.0%, p = 0.011), policy around disability-related issues (41.7% vs 100.0%, p < 0.006), and opportunities for intersectionality in disability advocacy (33.3% vs 91.7%, p < 0.015). Participants were more likely to report being very/somewhat confident in engaging in education-based advocacy (58.3% vs 100.0%, p = 0.006), policy-based advocacy (16.7% vs 91.7%, p < 0.002) and intersectional disability advocacy (41.7% vs 91.7%, p < 0.006). All attendees strongly/somewhat agreed with the statements "I hope that this session will continue in future years" and "I think that other trainees would benefit from a similar course." This session was shown to effectively meet the intended goals of the program.

Association of Academic Physiatrists Residency and Fellowship Program Directors' Resident Recruitment Subcouncil Position Paper on Residency Recruitment.

Residency recruitment practices have undergone significant changes in the last several years. Interviews are now conducted fully virtually leading to both positive and negative downstream effects, including decreased cost to applicants and programs, decreased time away from clinical activities, flexibility in scheduling, and increased applications for applicants and program directors. In response to these changes, the Association of Academic Physiatrists Residency and Fellowship Program Directors Council convened a workgroup consisting of program directors, program coordinators, residents, and medical students who reviewed the available literature to provide an evidence-based set of best practices for program leaders and applicants. Available data from the Association of American Medical Colleges and its relevance to future recruitment cycles are also discussed.

Rehabilitation medicine professionals’ views on climate change and health

Background: Climate change is already harming human health, both directly and indirectly. Physical and rehabilitation medicine professionals are at the frontlines of addressing climate change and health, as their patients are particularly vulnerable to these health harms. It is, therefore, important to understand how these health professionals understand the connection between climate and health and what resources they need to engage with the issue. Methods: We surveyed the members of 2 medical societies—the Association of Academic Physiatrists and the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine—to assess their climate beliefs and attitudes, understanding of climate change’s present and future health harms, the barriers they perceive to engagement with the issue, and the types of resources they would find helpful. Results: We found that health professionals in the field of rehabilitation medicine understand that climate change impacts human health and think actions should be taken; however, they also perceive barriers to their own involvement in educating the public and policymakers about climate and health and believe there are more urgent health issues in the region where they practice. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that health professionals in the field of rehabilitation medicine are convinced of the realities of climate change and its relationship to their profession. Further, although many in this field do perceive other health issues to be more urgent in their regions of practice, there are opportunities to provide resources and support to those who are ready to engage directly with climate change and health.

Going Virtual: A Virtual Summer Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Externship Experience for Medical Students.

Opportunities for early medical student exposure to the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) are desirable for promoting the field as a career choice and are useful for introducing students to the care of people with disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted medical education and caused the cancellation of many in-person clinical programs, including the Medical Student Summer Clinical Externship in PM&R supported by the Association of Academic Physiatrists. This article describes the process by which an in-person summer clinical externship program was effectively converted into a Virtual PM&R Experience using a combination of independent assignments and small-group sessions. A total of 87 medical students completed the Virtual PM&R Experience over two summers. The participants of the program met the program learning objectives, including enhancing their understanding of physiatry as a career and recognizing the medical and social issues that affect persons with disability.

Advancing Academic Capacity in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to Strengthen Rehabilitation in Health Systems Worldwide: A Joint Effort by the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Association of Academic Physiatrists, and the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

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Advancing Academic Capacity in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to Strengthen Rehabilitation in Health Systems Worldwide: A Joint Effort by the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Association of Academic Physiatrists, and the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Advancing Academic Capacity in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to Strengthen Rehabilitation in Health Systems Worldwide: A Joint Effort by the European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Association of Academic Physiatrists, and the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Training Characteristics, Academic Accomplishments, and Motivation of Current Chairs in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

The aim of the study was to report the training characteristics, academic accomplishments, and motivation of current United States academic physical medicine and rehabilitation chairs. The authors developed a 23-question survey that was disseminated via e-mail to 86 current chairs who were members of the Chairs Council from the Association of Academic Physiatrists in May 2020. Follow-up e-mails were sent 2 and 4 wks after the initial distribution, and the survey closed after 6 wks in June 2020. The data collected were deidentified. Descriptive analysis was performed. Forty-nine chair responses were received, which had a response rate of 60%. A total of 69.4% of the chairs (32 of 49) were men and 30.6% (17 of 49) were women. A total of 75.5% (37 of 49) were White/Caucasian, 12.2% (6 of 49) Hispanic/Latinx, 10.2% (5 of 49) Asian, and 2% (1 of 49) were Black/African American. A total of 8.2% of the chairs (4 of 49) reported having a disability. Sixty-seven percent of the female chairs (10 of 15) reported experiencing gender discrimination in the workplace versus 3% of male chairs (1 of 34). Twenty-nine percent of the chairs were full professors in physical medicine and rehabilitation when first appointed, 57.1% associate professors, and 6% assistant professors. A total of 73.5% of the chairs had served as a reviewer for a peer-reviewed publication. Fifty-two percent of the chairs had a leadership role in a national physical medicine and rehabilitation organization. Fifty-eight percent of the chairs had at least 16 peer-reviewed publications when first appointed. This survey provides insight to the training characteristics, accomplishments, and motivation of current chairs for physiatrists aspiring to enter these ranks. It also highlights the underrepresentation of women and minorities among leadership positions in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Evidence-Based Medicine Training in United States-Based Physiatry Residency Programs.

Although the physiatric community increasingly embraces evidence-based medicine (EBM), the current state of EBM training for trainees in physiatry is unclear. The purposes of this article are to report the results of the Association of Academic Physiatrists' surveys of physiatry residency programs in the United States, to discuss the implications of their findings, and to better delineate the "baseline" upon which sound and clear recommendations for systematic EBM training can be made. The two Association of Academic Physiatrists surveys of US physiatry residency programs reveal that most survey respondents report that they include EBM training in their programs that covers the five recommended steps of EBM core competencies. However, although most respondents reported using traditional pedagogic methods of training such as journal club, very few reported that their EBM training used a structured and systematic approach. Future work is needed to support and facilitate physiatry residency programs interested in adopting structured EBM training curricula that include recommended EBM core competencies and the evaluation of their impact.

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the ISPRM World Congress and Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists: Orlando, Florida March 4-9, 2020.

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the ISPRM World Congress and Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists: Orlando, Florida March 4-9, 2020.

Recommendations for Enhancing Sports Medicine Fellowship Training.

Physical medicine and rehabilitation-trained physicians are increasingly interested in caring for patients with musculoskeletal and sports disorders. Sports medicine fellowships are designed to provide competency in sports medicine and musculoskeletal care. The authors, with endorsement from the Association of Academic Physiatrists, provide a framework and tools that Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accredited sports medicine fellowship programs can use to enhance and meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program requirements. Based on the position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, we propose recommendations for Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited sports medicine programs to achieve standards of excellence. We also provide recommendations for research requirements during the course of a sports fellowship. With the proposed recommendations, a sports medicine fellowship program can achieve excellence and enhance fellowship training by increasing proficiency in physical medicine and rehabilitation-based skills relevant to sports and musculoskeletal medicine. Given the multidisciplinary nature of musculoskeletal and sports medicine, it is also key that fellowship programs (regardless of the department that they are accredited through) have faculty members that represents these disciplines and accept applicants with residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medicine.

Leading Practices and Future Directions for Technical Standards in Medical Education.

The medical profession first addressed the need for technical standards (TS), defining the nonacademic requirements deemed essential for participation in an educational program, in guidelines published by the Association of American Medical Colleges in 1979. Despite many changes in the practice of medicine and legal, cultural, and technological advances that afford greater opportunities for people with disabilities, the profession's approach to TS largely has not changed over the ensuing four decades. Although physicians with disabilities bring unique perspectives to medicine and contribute to a diverse physician workforce of culturally competent practitioners, they remain underrepresented in the profession.As part of an initiative sponsored by the Association of Academic Physiatrists, the authors describe the need for an updated TS framework, outlining interval changes in the legal and regulatory climate, medical practice, and medical education since the initial TS guidelines were put forth. They conclude by offering eight recommendations and two functional approaches to TS that are consistent with now-prevalent competency-based medical education constructs.The profession's commitment to diversity and inclusion should extend explicitly to people with disabilities, and this stance should be clearly communicated through medical schools' TS and procedures for requesting accommodations. To this end, schools should consider the principles of universal design to create policies and assessments that work for all learners, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for after-the-fact accommodations. A thoughtful and concerted effort along these lines is long overdue in medical education.

Association of Academic Physiatrists Women's Task Force Report.

The Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) convened a women's task force in 2016, and the members agreed on a list of metrics that would permit retrospective data review pertaining to the representation and inclusion of women physicians in the society. Examples of categories examined included leadership positions (i.e., board membership, board presidents, committee membership, committee chairs, and resident fellow physician chairs), conference presentations (i.e., annual meeting session proposals, annual meeting faculty, annual meeting plenary speakers), and recognition awards (i.e., recognition award nominations and recipients). The findings highlight areas in which the Association of Academic Physiatrists has been successful in supporting gender equity and other areas in which women physiatrists have been underrepresented. The task force worked with the Board of Trustees to construct an action plan, asking the respective committees to address areas of underrepresentation. A volunteer from each committee was deemed a "diversity steward" and going forward will work directly with the task force as a liaison to document an action plan and collect data. The board plans to transparently report progress to members and other stakeholders, and the task force aims to publish a follow-up report within the next 5 years.

Association of Academic Physiatrists Federal Funding of Disability and Rehabilitation Research Position Statement.

The Association of Academic Physiatrists seeks to advocate for policies that are supportive of academic rehabilitation, with elected officials, agency leaders, and other policy makers. Accordingly, the Association of Academic Physiatrists' Public Policy Committee identifies policy issues of importance to the organizational mission, conducts background research on those issues, and develops position statements that articulate the organization's position. These position statements require approval by the Board of Trustees and are used to support advocacy efforts by Association of Academic Physiatrists' members. Federal funding for disability and rehabilitation research is an important issue for the Association of Academic Physiatrists and its members. This position statement addresses the need for greater federal funding in this area, better coordination of the agencies providing funding, and an appropriate balance of merit-based funding with funding targeted to building capacity in critical rehabilitation-relevant methodology and content areas.

Women Physicians Are Underrepresented in Recognition Awards From the Association of Academic Physiatrists.

Determine representation by gender for individual recognition awards presented to physicians by the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP). Cross-sectional survey was used. Lists of individual recognition award recipients for the 27-yr history of the AAP awards (1990-2016) were analyzed. The primary outcome measures were the total numbers of men versus women physician award recipients overall and for the past decade (2007-2016). No awards were given to women physicians for the past 4 yrs (2013-2016) or in half of the award categories for the past decade (2007-2016). No woman received the outstanding resident/fellow award since its inception (2010-2016). There was a decrease in the proportion of awards given to women in the past decade (2007-2016, 7 of 39 awards, 17.9%) as compared with the first 17 yrs (1990-2006, 10 of 46 awards, 21.7%). Furthermore, compared with their proportional membership within the specialty, women physicians were underrepresented for the entire 27-yr history of the AAP awards (1990-2016, 17 of 85 awards, 20%). According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the proportion of full-time female physical medicine and rehabilitation faculty members was 38% in 1992 and 41% in 2013. Women physicians have been underrepresented by the AAP in recognition awards. Although the reasons are not clear, these findings should be further investigated.

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

AAPM Welcomes Its 28th President: Martin Grabois, MD

The American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) is pleased to announce Martin Grabois, MD, as the Academy's 28th President. Dr. Grabois assumed his new position at AAPM's Annual Meeting held last month in Palm Springs, CA. Dr. Grabois has recently served as the Academy's Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee, among other numerous leadership positions throughout the past 30-plus years. Currently, Dr. Grabois is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston. He has served as President of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Association of Academic Physiatrists, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, International Rehabilitation Medicine Association, American Pain Society, and the Foundation for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He has conducted over 200 invited presentations worldwide and are published widely including editor or coeditor of books, book chapters, publications …

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Abstracts of Scientific Papers and Posters Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Academic Physiatrists

Effects of Wheelchair Sports on Respiratory Muscle Strength and Thoracic Mobility of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

The mission of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation is to promote excellence in education, scientific research and evidence-based clinical practice. ​ American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation focuses on the practice, research and educational aspects of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Monthly issues keep physiatrists up-to-date on the optimal functional restoration of patients with disabilities, physical treatment of neuromuscular impairments, the development of new rehabilitative technologies, and the use of electrodiagnostic studies. The Journal publishes cutting-edge basic and clinical research, clinical case reports and in-depth topical reviews of interest to rehabilitation professionals. Topics include prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal conditions, brain injury, spinal cord injury, cardiopulmonary disease, trauma, acute and chronic pain, amputation, prosthetics and orthotics, mobility, gait, and pediatrics as well as areas related to education and administration. Other important areas of interest include cancer rehabilitation, aging, and exercise. The Journal has recently published a series of articles on the topic of outcomes research. This well-established journal is the official scholarly publication of the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP).