Campbell University Research Articles

Cognitive empathy of osteopathic students: a longitudinal study with data comparisons to the Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE).

Establishing an empathic bond of trust with patients is a characteristic that physicians need, because patients feel that physicians are more caring if they sense that they are empathetic. Former cross-sectional studies have shown an erosion of cognitive empathy as medical students progress through their education. This study aims to measure the changes in student cognitive empathy as they progress through their undergraduate osteopathic medical education. Cognitive empathy scores are compared to the nationwide norms established by the Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE) study by Mohammadreza Hojat, PhD, and colleagues. During orientation to medical school, and at the beginning of each subsequent academic year, and just before graduation, the graduating classes of 2017-2019 participated in this longitudinal study by filling out the Jefferson Scale ofEmpathy-Student Version (JSE-S). A total of 345/459 Osteopathic Medical Student (OMS) I-IV students (75.2 % of the graduates) filled out the forms for all five time points. Desired specialty choice and sex were also collected. Specialty choice was divided into Core and Non-Core groups. Core specialties are "people-oriented" and have a large amount of patient contact and continuity of care, while Non-Core specialties are "technical- or procedure-oriented" and have little or no patient contact and/or continuity of care. Men selecting Non-Core specialties had significant drops in JSE-S scores (p=0.001); whereas men who selected the Core specialties did not have a significant decrease. Forwomen, there was no significant drop in JSE-S scores forthose selecting either Core or Non-Core specialties. Whencompared to POMEE norm data, none of the Campbell University School of Medicine students had JSE-S scores thatwere above the 50th percentile. Students selecting Core specialties do a better job of maintaining their cognitive empathy, which aids their ability to establish an empathic bond of trust with patients, when compared to students who desire Non-Core specialties. JSE-S scores not above the POMEE 50th percentile is concerning and indicate either a curricular change to betterenhance empathic communication skills and/or better applicant selection.

Let everyone know they matter

Connie Shipman Newsome, M.P.A., Ed.D., strives to let everyone she crosses paths with in her work know they matter. That includes the faculty; administrators at all levels; students, regardless of their year or class rank; team members; and support staff. Being able to support those people in the campus community is one of the reasons Newsome really enjoys her work as Registrar at the Campbell University School of Law in North Carolina.

Having Heart: Affective and Cognitive Empathy Scores vs. Residency Specialty Match at an Osteopathic Medical School.

Past studies examining the cognitive empathy of medical school graduates grouped the various residency selections vs. parsing them out. This study examines both affective and cognitive empathy scores of osteopathic medical school graduates entering eleven different residency specialties. Participants from the Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM) classes of 2017-2019 completed the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES; measuring affective empathy) and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Student version (JSE-S; measuring cognitive empathy). Empathy scores were compared to residency choice upon graduation. The specialty choices were broken into two groups: Core specialties (i.e., people-oriented) that include Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/Gyn), Pediatrics, and Psychiatry. The remaining specialties are considered Non-Core specialties (i.e., technical/procedure-oriented) and included Anesthesiology, Diagnostic Radiology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Neurology, and Orthopedics. Results are compared to data from the nationwide Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE). Women graduates tended to have larger BEES and JSE-S scores than men. Affective empathy scores were the largest for students selecting Core specialties. Four of these Core specialties were in the top four positions out of the eleven specialties selected by eight or more graduates. None of the eleven specialties was ranked higher than the 50th percentile compared to BEES score norms. Cognitive empathy scores were also the largest for students selecting Core specialties. All five of the Core specialties were in the top six positions out of the eleven specialties. None of the eleven specialties ranked greater than the 39th percentile when compared to OMS-III and OMS-IV POMEE data. Only women entering Psychiatry had a JSE-S score that was greater than the 50th percentile. Osteopathic graduates selecting the five Core specialties have BEES and JSE-S scores that are, usually, larger than students entering Non-Core specialties. For either survey instrument, both Pediatrics and Family Medicine were first and second out of a possible 11 positions, respectively. Most CUSOM graduates had JSE-S scores lower than their peers in other osteopathic medical schools that participated in the POMEE study. When the CUSOM data are compared to allopathic data, there is no clear evidence that osteopathic students have substantially higher affective or cognitive empathy scores than their allopathic peers. Therefore, it appears that medical students who select osteopathy for its tenant of a more holistic approach to patient care are no more empathetic than students studying allopathic medicine. Several suggestions are made on how to potentially increase student empathy during undergraduate medical education.

Assessment of Learning Approaches Utilized by Osteopathic Medical Students

Medical education curricula have been increasingly undergoing changes in recent years to respond to continuous transformations in the professional education landscape. Utilizing and promoting learning approaches that are most effective in helping learners navigate through these ongoing changes, while fostering optimal educational outcomes, are of particular importance. While there are various learning approaches, they can be categorized into three main types: Superficial, Deep, and Strategic. Although Strategic and Deep Learning approaches were often found in the literature to correlate with high performance among medical students, some researchers suggest that promoting the Strategic Learning Approach predominantly may be more effective. The Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM) opened its doors in 2013 with an innovative, hybrid curriculum, combining discipline‐based and organ system‐based courses, fully integrating biomedical and clinical skills‐based learning. With the ultimate goal in facilitating greater academic success among CUSOM students, as well as among all medical students, this Institutional Review Board (IRB)‐approved study aims to determine the predominant type of learning approaches utilized among medical students at CUSOM using a slightly‐modified Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) instrument. Descriptive statistics were used to describe participants’ demographic variables. Categorical variables were reported as frequencies or proportions/percentages. Univariate, multivariable, and multivariate statistical analyses were performed as relevant and necessary. Preliminary data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 24, Chicago, IL). All inferences will be considered statistically significant whenever P‐value ≤0.05 and will be reported with corresponding effect sizes as necessary. A total of 240 osteopathic medical students voluntarily participated in this study, which began at the start of this current academic year. The first‐year students comprised the largest subgroup of respondents, representing 65.8% of all completed instruments. Preliminary findings indicate that Strategic Learning was the principal approach utilized by participants, accounting for 61% among the fourth‐year, 58% among the first‐year, and 52% among the third‐year students. It is interesting to note that the current second‐year student participants utilize the Deep Learning approach predominantly. These preliminary results serve as an important basis for tailored study skills interventions that could facilitate students’ academic success. Further analysis will explore relationship between the predominant learning approaches and metrics of their academic performance.

Re-membering the Mission: Institutional Impacts of an Interdisciplinary Community Outreach Project

University efforts to galvanize work that is often siloed and disconnected across departments is supported by collaborative and creative initiatives. Campbell University’s mission to support community engagement at multiple levels of university life, while also emphasizing faith and vocation, is an example of how one university is modeling this work. This case study on a specific program at Campbell University, the Campbell Youth Theological Institute, demonstrates how remembering the mission and how it connects it to the larger university and is implemented can reenergize faculty and students towards a deeper understanding of faith and vocation, as well as transformational community engagement.

2019 Academy Proceedings

2019 Academy Proceedings

Updated List of Light-Sensitive Oral Medications.

The Campbell University Drug Information Center supports health professionals by providing responses to drug-related inquiries. An inquiry was received by the Drug Information Center for a comprehensive list of oral solutions which should be protected from light. In investigating this request for information, a list of light-sensitive oral prescription drug products published in Hospital Pharmacy in 2009 was identified. This discovery highlighted the need for both an updated list and one which distinguished oral solid products and oral liquid products. The purpose of this project was to update the previously published list and to distinguish between oral solid and liquid dosage forms. The process of updating this list entailed several professional resources. A list of all oral products was obtained and then sorted to clearly identify which products were available in oral solid dosage form only, oral liquid dosage form only, and both dosage forms. Once delineated, the product labels for each medication were scoured for language indicating the product is light sensitive.

EXAMINING THE PRE‐POST MATRICULATION ACADEMIC METRICS AS CORRELATES OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL STUDENT CLINICAL PERFORMANCE

PURPOSEThe clinical years of medical school are critical in the training of medical students. It is a period that informs and shapes their professional decisions. Results from studies have been perverse about students' academic metrics that predict their clinical success. This study seeks to examine the academic performance metrics that are correlates of osteopathic medical students' clinical performance.METHODSThis is an IRB approved study involving a retrospective review of admission and academic performance records of the first‐two graduated student cohorts from the Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine in North Carolina. For categorical variables, summary descriptive measures—frequencies/percentages will be generated while means, standard deviations/ranges computed for continuous variables. Correlational analyses will be conducted between the academic and clinical performance variables. Secondary exploratory analyses will be conducted inferentially as necessary. All statistical inferences will be considered significant whenever, P ≤0.05.RESULTS (Preliminary)Entering science, non‐science and total GPA are positively correlated with third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs. While entering science and total GPA are positively correlated with COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score they are not positively correlated with any of the Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores or COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score or any of the Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores. Entering non‐science GPA is positively correlated with COMLEX‐USA Level 3 ‐ Family Medicine only.While the Physical component of the MCAT is not correlated with enrolled third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs or board exams level 2 or 3, the verbal component is positively correlated with fourth‐year medical school GPAs only. The biology component and the Total MCAT score of the MCAT is positively correlated with both COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score and COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score. The biology component also positively correlate with level 2 family and internal medicine and level 3 emergency and internal medicine scores. The third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs are positively correlated with both COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score and COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score and all Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores.CONCLUSIONPreadmission academic variables are associated with matriculation academic and second and third‐level national board examinations performance of osteopathic medical students. Admission processes should consider the importance of these metrics in student recruitment to maximize their clinical success post‐matriculation.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Combine the best of for‐profit, nonprofit education for stellar online programming

Beth Rubin, Ph.D., has worked in adult and online education at both nonprofit and for‐profit institutions. In her current role as dean of adult and online education at Campbell University, Rubin is in a unique position to have learned from the best of both worlds, and tries to bring that philosophy to her current work. “I've done adult and online learning at a range of both for‐profits and nonprofits, which gives me a different experience base and perspective,” Rubin said.

Minimize online cheating through proctoring, consequences

“The myth that many people in the adult online space buy into is that adults don't cheat. And that is what we call, where I'm from, horse hockey,” said Beth Rubin, Ph.D., dean of adult and online education at Campbell University, and an advisory board member for Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners, a sister publication to Dean & Provost.

Minimize online cheating through proctoring, consequences

“The myth that many people in the adult online space buy into is that adults don't cheat. And that is what we call, where I'm from, horse hockey,” said Beth Rubin, Ph.D., dean of adult and online education at Campbell University, and an advisory board member for Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners.

Combine the best of for‐profit, nonprofit education for stellar online programming

Beth Rubin, Ph.D., has worked in adult and online education at both nonprofit and for-profit institutions. In her current role as dean of adult and online education at Campbell University, Rubin is in a unique position to have learned from the best of both worlds, and tries to bring that philosophy to her current work. “I've done adult and online learning at a range of both for-profits and nonprofits, which gives me a different experience base and perspective,” Rubin said.

Analysis of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Within the Patient Population at a Student-Run Free Clinic.

Uninsured patients living in rural areas of North Carolina have been inordinately affected by the increasing prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the midst of severe budget cuts to treatment programs and a shortage of rural primary care physicians. The Campbell University Community Care Clinic, a self-funded, student-run clinic, provides free health care to uninsured residents of rural Harnett County. As a relatively new clinic serving a unique population, epidemiologic research is paramount to the clinic's continued efficacy. To determine which STDs are present in this patient population and to identify demographic groups at higher risk of contracting STDs. This study was a retrospective analysis of patient medical records from March 1, 2015, to March 6, 2018. Records were evaluated to identify STD cases based on diagnostic information, such as primary diagnoses, positive laboratory results, and clinical indicators. A total of 449 patient records were analyzed, revealing an STD incidence rate of 5.3%, which represents a higher STD frequency than the national average of 2%. Our results identified human papillomavirus infection and gonorrhea as the most frequent STDs (n=7 [29.2%] and n=6 [25%], respectively), followed by chlamydia (n=4 [16.7%]), herpes simplex virus (n=4 [16.7%]), syphilis (n=2 [8.3%]), hepatitis C virus (n=2 [4.2%]), trichomoniasis (n=1 [4.2%]), and HIV (n=1 [4.2%]) infections. Among racial/ethnic groups, Hispanics had a slightly higher relative risk (RR) for STDs by a factor of 1.3 when normalized to the average frequency. Patients aged 26 to 29 and 30 to 39 years had a significantly higher RR for STDs: 2.1 and 2.0, respectively. Furthermore, female patients had an STD frequency 3 times that of male patients. This study reveals noteworthy health risks in a rural uninsured population, including a higher rate of gonorrhea compared with national rates and a higher RR for STDs in certain demographic groups. These findings form a foundation for improvements in care through earlier STD diagnoses, effective treatment, and enhanced patient education.

Comparison of StrengthsQuest Signature Themes in Student Pharmacists and Other Health Care Profession Students

Objective. To determine whether there is a distinctive pattern of StrengthsQuest Signature Themes or leadership domains for Doctor of Pharmacy students compared to students in other health care professional programs. Methods. Students in Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Master of Physician Assistant (PA), Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) programs at Campbell University completed the online Clifton StrengthsQuest assessment and received their Signature Themes. The frequency of individual themes and the leadership domains into which they are sorted by Gallup was analyzed for each program. Results were compared between programs and with national frequencies among undergraduate students. Results. The most common themes in the total population were Learner, Relator, Responsibility, Harmony, and Achiever. Learner and Relator were among the five most frequent themes for all four individual programs while Responsibility and Harmony were among the top five for three programs. The most frequently reported themes in PharmD and PA students (39% and 38% of all themes, respectively) are grouped by Gallup into the executing domain, and into the relationship-building domain for DO and DPT students (35% and 33% of all themes, respectively). The least frequent themes in PharmD, DO and PA students were those grouped into the influencing domain, reported by 10% or fewer students. Conclusion. Numerous similarities were found in theme frequencies among students in four different health care professions, suggesting there is not a distinctive Doctor of Pharmacy Signature Theme profile.

Hidden Figures Light Up Screen: Black Women Who Helped America Win the Space Race

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJenna P. CarpenterJenna Carpenter is the founding dean of engineering at Campbell University in North Carolina. She is passionate about creating a culture of success for women in STEM.

Pantheon of Loss

Pantheon of Loss Sean Prentiss (bio) As a high school junior, my knee sinks into the soft wrestling mat as I unlace my running shoes, kick them off, and remove cotton socks. I undo my belt, unzip my jeans, and slide them off my bony hips. Thirty-by-thirty-inch jeans fall from a twenty-four-inch waist. I remove my sweatshirt, careful not to knock off my glasses, and slide out of my boxers. Chilled from undressing in the windowless Bangor High wrestling room on a cold March day, I rub my hands over my frame, feeling only muscle, bone, and a skin wrapped tightly around both. Naked, I prepare to step onto the scale for maybe the three hundredth time this season. Twice a day, six days a week, every week since October. Some days I’d weigh myself six or eight times to obsessively see if I’ve lost that half a pound needed to make weight. But after today, I won’t step on this scale again until October when my senior year of high school begins. Standing before the scale, I gaze at the flat platform covered in abrasive black tape, the thin neck reaching three feet into the air, the weights adjusting left to right on the balancing bar. As I slide the large weight to the one-hundred-pound slot and the smaller weight to three pounds, I feel an emptiness different from any hunger I lived with for the past four months. Today’s emptiness comes from a season ended sooner than expected. From November through yesterday, I aspired to be the next great Prentiss competing through the end-of-season tournaments, as my father did in the 1950s and ’60s. But I lost that dream yesterday when I lost to Wolf and lost my chance to compete at Regionals and State. Today, I return to the wrestling room as if I have qualified for Regionals, as if I have reason to keep starving and dehydrating, even though, since losing to Wolf twenty-one hours ago, I’ve done little other than eat and drink. Now I’m curious how much weight I’ve gained since my loss yesterday. From the feel of my body, I’d guess a lot. I prepare to step onto the scale, [End Page 141] and—like every other weigh-in—I imagine that if I step lightly I’ll weigh less. But no matter how gently I step, the scale arm whacks against the top of the scale. Normally that sharp thunk causes my stomach to drop as I realize I’ll need to run stairs to shed the last pounds before a match. But today—with no weigh-ins for seven months—I smile and push the small weight from three pounds to six to nine to eleven. The scale doesn’t even consider moving. At 113 pounds, I weigh more than ever before in my life. I push past fifteen and seventeen. By 119, the arm drops before settling against the top. Not only am I above the 103-pound weight class, but I’m at least seven pounds over the next class—112, and I’m about to surpass the 119-pound class. I move the weight to 120 and the scale arm floats. Twenty-six hours ago, I weighed 103 pounds. Today, even after gaining seventeen pounds, moving up three weight classes, and adding 16 percent to my body weight, I stare at my body. My butt sinks inward toward my hip socket. My spine crawls out of my back like gumdrop knolls. All ten ribs curve across my lower chest like fingers reaching for food. In 1997, eight years after my junior year of high school wrestling, three collegiate wrestlers—Jeff Reese from University of Michigan, Joseph LaRosa from Wisconsin-La-Crosse, and Billy Jack Saylor from North Carolina’s Campbell University—died within thirty-three days of each other. One wrestler dying in a decade is an anomaly; three in a month is unprecedented. Most people assume that starvation is what killed LaRosa and Saylor, that starvation caused a glassy-eyed Reese to die as he crawled to the wrestling...

Collaborative Anatomy‐Pathology Project: Integrating Clinical Sciences into the Pre‐Clinical Curriculum

The Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine Collaborative Anatomy‐Pathology (CAP) Project grew out of student interest in disease states encountered during cadaver lab of the first year gross anatomy course. Students wanted to learn more about diseases, even prior to being formally exposed to general and systemic pathology. With the primary objective of encouraging students to integrate the clinical and basic sciences, CAP participants developed case studies based on gross and microscopic evaluation of identified lesions emphasizing clinical implications. In addition, the project fostered interdisciplinary collaboration and taught valuable research, presentation, and design skills.MethodsDuring the 2014–15 and 2015–16 academic years, first year medical students documented and photographed lesions found during gross anatomy dissection. Interested students chose which disease states they would like to further investigate in collaboration with Anatomy and Pathology faculty. Samples of the lesions were collected and processed into H&E stained histologic slides for microscopic examination. To allow for convenient dissemination of results, the slides were also scanned for virtual microscopy. Moreover, two of the case studies demonstrated fixed cadaveric tissue could be used for fluorescence in situ hybridization for karyotypic analysis and serve as a source of DNA suitable for single‐gene level DNA sequencing. Over the course of two academic years, 77 students prepared a total of 27 research posters and presented them at local conferences.ResultsMultiple organ systems were identified as having lesions, many of which became the focus of student led poster presentations. Poster topics included hiatal hernia, ovarian teratoma, lung adenocarcinoma, and various anatomic anomalies. At the conclusion of the 2014–15 academic year 28 participants were surveyed, and twenty respondents (71.4%) either agreed or strongly agreed that the program increased their interest in anatomy (90%), pathology (80%), and research (80%). The majority of participants also noted an increased ability to perform literature searches (85%) and compose a poster suitable for presentation at a scientific session (95%). Intersecting research and practicing medicine is increasingly a focus in medical education, and the CAP Project demonstrated that anatomic dissection can be part of an innovative and integrative teaching strategy to attain that goal. Project findings also suggest that cadaveric embalmed teaching material may be suitable for advanced molecular diagnostics. Future work will focus on using the growing database of resources (gross images, glass and virtual histologic slides, and student posters) to promote research on the prevalence of certain diseases. As many of these samples would not otherwise be collected in a clinical setting, this approach offers a unique window into human health and disease.

Campbell University Student-Run Free Clinic: Osteopathic Medical Care for the Rural Underserved

Campbell University Student-Run Free Clinic: Osteopathic Medical Care for the Rural Underserved

From Research to Clinical Application: Challenges in Regulating Companion Biomarker Tests for “Personalized” Drugs

Copyright: © 2016 Thompson D.K. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. *Corresponding author: D. K. Thompson, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC, USA, Tel: 910-893-7463; E-mail: dthompson@campbell.edu

Frequency of asthma education in primary care in the years 2007–2010

Objective: Recent research suggests that health disparities persist among asthmatic patients and receipt of asthma education, though recent guidelines have highlighted the importance of receiving asthma education. The purpose of this study was to identify trends in the receipt of asthma education as well as to identify disparities in asthma education using the most recently available data in National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2007–2010. Methods: Weighted chi-square tests were conducted to identify associations between asthma education and variables of interest. A weighted multivariate logistic regression model was subsequently constructed to jointly assess the association of factors of interest on receipt of asthma education. Submission to the Campbell University Institutional Review Board resulted in expedited approval. Results: The percentage of patients who receive asthma education remains quite low. After adjusting for all variables of interest: no statistically significant difference in receipt of asthma education between year groups (2007–2008, 2009–2010) was found (odds ratio [OR] 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52–1.34); patients seen by pediatricians (vs. internal medicine physicians) and Hispanic or Latino patients (vs. non-Hispanic or Latino patients) were more likely to receive asthma education (OR 2.72, 95% CI 1.11–6.66 and OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.18–4.60, respectively); and patients not prescribed a controller medication were less likely to receive asthma education than those who were (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.37–0.82). Conclusions: Combined with previously published results, it appears the provision of asthma education continues to be low, despite proven benefits. Additionally, some patient and physician characteristics may be associated with the delivery of asthma education.