Medicine Milestones Research Articles

National Internal Medicine Milestone Ratings: Validity Evidence From Longitudinal Three-Year Follow-up.

To evaluate validity evidence for internal medicine milestone ratings across programs for three resident cohorts by quantifying "not assessable" ratings; reporting mean longitudinal milestone ratings for individual residents; and correlating medical knowledge ratings across training years with certification examination scores to determine predictive validity of milestone ratings for certification outcomes. This retrospective study examined milestone ratings for postgraduate year (PGY) 1-3 residents in U.S. internal medicine residency programs. Data sources included milestone ratings, program characteristics, and certification examination scores. Among 35,217 participants, there was a decreased percentage with "not assessable" ratings across years: 1,566 (22.5%) PGY1s in 2013-2014 versus 1,219 (16.6%) in 2015-2016 (P = .01), and 342 (5.1%) PGY3s in 2013-2014 versus 177 (2.6%) in 2015-2016 (P = .04). For individual residents with three years of ratings, mean milestone ratings increased from around 3 (behaviors of an early learner or advancing resident) in PGY1 (ranging from a mean of 2.73 to 3.19 across subcompetencies) to around 4 (ready for unsupervised practice) in PGY3 (mean of 4.00 to 4.22 across subcompetencies, P < .001 for all subcompetencies). For each increase of 0.5 units in two medical knowledge (MK1, MK2) subcompetency ratings, the difference in examination scores for PGY3s was 19.5 points for MK1 (P < .001) and 19.0 for MK2 (P < .001). These findings provide evidence of validity of the milestones by showing how training programs have applied them over time and how milestones predict other training outcomes.

Traditional and Complementary Medicine Milestones in Our Country

Traditional and Complementary Medicine Milestones in Our Country

Preliminary Validity Evidence for a Milestones-Based Rating Scale for Chart-Stimulated Recall.

Minimally anchored Standard Rating Scales (SRSs), which are widely used in medical education, are hampered by suboptimal interrater reliability. Expert-derived frameworks, such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones, may be helpful in defining level-specific anchors to use on rating scales. We examined validity evidence for a Milestones-Based Rating Scale (MBRS) for scoring chart-stimulated recall (CSR). Two 11-item scoring forms with either an MBRS or SRS were developed. Items and anchors for the MBRS were adapted from the ACGME Internal Medicine Milestones. Six CSR standardized videos were developed. Clinical faculty scored videos using either the MBRS or SRS and following a randomized crossover design. Reliability of the MBRS versus the SRS was compared using intraclass correlation. Twenty-two faculty were recruited for instrument testing. Some participants did not complete scoring, leaving a response rate of 15 faculty (7 in the MBRS group and 8 in the SRS group). A total of 529 ratings (number of items × number of scores) using SRSs and 540 using MBRSs were available. Percent agreement was higher for MBRSs for only 2 of 11 items-use of consultants (92 versus 75, P = .019) and unique characteristics of patients (96 versus 79, P = .011)-and the overall score (89 versus 82, P < .001). Interrater agreement was 0.61 for MBRSs and 0.51 for SRSs. Adding milestones to our rating form resulted in significant, but not substantial, improvement in intraclass correlation coefficient. Improvement was inconsistent across items.

Use of a Clinical Pathologic Conference to Demonstrate Residents' ACGME Emergency Medicine Milestones, Aid in Faculty Development, and Increase Academic Output.

The Emergency Medicine Milestones Project, developed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Emergency Medicine, includes competence targets for residents to attain and, ultimately, to exceed American Osteopathic Association and ACGME expectations for residents. The authors sought to use the clinical pathologic conference (CPC) format in their institutions' Emergency Medicine Milestones Project to provide measurable residency academic and faculty development outcomes. The CPC is an event in which a resident presents an unknown case to a discussant in advance of a didactic session to demonstrate an organized approach and decision-making rationale to a differential diagnosis. Feedback forms included the assessment of resident discussants from the perspective of level-5 Milestone achievements in particular. Developing an internal CPC competition with a dedicated core faculty coordinator who provides skill development for both resident and faculty presentation has proven successful. Such a competition can document the level-5 achievements for senior residents, be a source of faculty development, and increase peer-reviewed academic output.

The American Society of Hematology and ASCO Curricular Milestones for Assessment of Fellows in Hematology/Oncology: Development, Reflection, and Next Steps

The American Society of Hematology (ASH)/ASCO Curricular Milestones is a tool for assessment and teaching for fellows in hematology/oncology. The expectations of the Next Accreditation System of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) was developed over years from the creation of the six core competencies in 1999 to the current data-driven outcomes-based system. The current internal medicine subspecialty milestones (ACGME reporting milestones) follow the general rubric of the general internal medicine milestones. The ASH/ASCO curricular milestones were developed from the foundational elements of the specialty, and they are interwoven with the ACGME reporting milestones. The 2017 ACGME Milestones Report shows that the milestones display progression in performance through clear anchors. Educational outcomes are available in many specialties. The internal medicine subspecialties have been given the opportunity to update the ACGME reporting milestones. The ACGME has acknowledged that these milestones may be different for each of the specialties. The program committees of ASH and ASCO agree that revision of the ACGME reporting milestones would decrease the overlap of domains, lack of clarity, and negative language that is present in version 1.0. ASH and ASCO are working with the ACGME and American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) to develop Curricular Milestones, version 2.0.

Are Emergency Medicine Residents Provided Adequate Training in Patient-Centered Communication?: A Resident Survey

CONTEXTEmergency Medicine residents frequently face challenging communication situations. Little is known regarding resident comfort level and amount of training received in managing these types of patient care scenarios. The purpose of this study was to measure the relationships between Emergency Medicine resident comfort levels, reported amount of patient-centered communication training received and correlation between amount of GME training and comfort levels when handling difficult situations in emergency departments.METHODSIn 2016, the authors used the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) listserv to disseminate an online survey to Emergency Medicine residents. Survey content came from the Patient Centered Communication subsection of The American Board of Emergency Medicine Milestones. This survey included five different patient scenarios.RESULTSThere were a total of 306 completed surveys. Residents rated their comfort level as most comfortable in scenarios regarding exhibiting empathy and least comfortable when providing bad news to patients or dealing with drug-seeking patients and difficult family members. Training was most prevalent in the areas of exhibiting empathy and giving bad news and lowest in managing drug-seeking patients and difficult patients.CONCLUSIONSThis survey revealed that Emergency Medicine residents do not consider themselves generally comfortable in multiple communication scenarios and that the amount of training received in these areas is often lacking during residency. A statistically significant positive correlation existed between comfort level and amount of graduate medical training in most areas. Results suggest that increasing the amount of communication training during residency may be of benefit in influencing how comfortably residents handle difficult patient scenarios.

Cardiac regeneration in 2017: Novel paradigms in the fight against heart failure.

Important milestones in cardiac regenerative medicine that will define future research were reached in 2017: demonstration of adult cardiomyocyte renewal capacity, recognition of the importance of the extracellular matrix and the higher regenerative efficacy of repetitive dose protocols, and the publication of human data supporting paracrine effects of stem cell therapies and guidelines from TACTICS, the first international alliance on cardiac regenerative medicine.

Mapping the Balint groups to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education family medicine competencies.

A group who were both experts in Balint and members of the clinical competency committee of residency programs rated narratives that summarized Balint group discussions. Credentialed Leaders of the American Balint Society were invited via email to submit narratives (250 words) about Balint groups that they have led, or were leading, with residents. Results Only four narratives were submitted. Additional cases were recruited through literature review of published Balint discussion cases. A total of 25 cases were rated by the committee. There was agreement between three out of four raters on at least one core milestone in every case. The most frequent milestones were C1 (develops meaningful therapeutic relationships with patients and families), C2 (communicated effectively with patients, families, and public), Prof1 (completes a process of professionalization), and Prof3 (demonstrates humanism and cultural proficiency). Balint groups provided a learning opportunity for a subset of milestones in at least 36% of the cases. Conclusion This pilot research suggests that Balint groups and the discussions of complex and challenging cases provide learning opportunities for multiple family medicine milestones, mainly communication skills and professionalism. Further research is needed to refine the methodology and the rating system.

Competency Assessment in Family Medicine Residency: Observations, Knowledge-Based Examinations, and Advancement.

The Family Medicine (FM) Milestones are competency-based assessments of residents in key dimensions relevant to practice in the specialty. Residency programs use the milestones in semiannual reviews of resident performance from the time of entry into the program to graduation. Using a national sample, we investigated the relationship of FM competency-based assessments to resident progress and the complementarity of milestones with knowledge-based assessments in FM residencies. We used midyear and end-of-year milestone ratings for all FM residents in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited programs during academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. The milestones contain 22 items across 6 competencies. We created a summative index across the milestones. The American Board of Family Medicine database provided resident demographics and in-training examination (ITE) scores. We linked information to the milestone data. The sample encompassed 6630 FM residents. The summative milestone index increased, on average, for each cohort (postgraduate year 1 [PGY-1] to PGY-2 and PGY-2 to PGY-3) at each assessment. The correlation between the milestone index that excluded the medical knowledge milestone and ITE scores was r = .195 (P < .001) for PGY-1 to PGY-2 cohort and r = .254 (P < .001) for PGY-2 to PGY-3 cohort. For both cohorts, ITE scores and composite milestone assessments were higher for residents who advanced than for those who did not. Competency-based assessment using the milestones for FM residents seems to be a viable multidimensional tool to assess the successful progression of residents.

Straight Line Scoring by Clinical Competency Committees Using Emergency Medicine Milestones.

In 2013, milestone ratings became a reporting requirement for emergency medicine (EM) residency programs. Programs rate each resident in the fall and spring on 23 milestone subcompetencies. This study examined the incidence of straight line scoring (SLS) for EM Milestone ratings, defined as a resident being assessed the same score across the milestone subcompetencies. This descriptive analysis measured the frequencies of SLS for all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited EM programs during the 2015-2016 academic year. Outcomes were the frequency of SLS in the fall and spring milestone assessments, changes in the number of SLS reports, and reporting trends. Chi-square analysis compared nominal variables. There were 6257 residents in the fall and 6588 in the spring. Milestone scores were reported for 6173 EM residents in the fall (99% of 6257) and spring (94% of 6588). In the fall, 93% (5753 residents) did not receive SLS ratings and 420 (7%) did, with no significant difference compared with the spring (5776 [94%] versus 397 [6%]). Subgroup analysis showed higher SLS results for residents' first ratings (183 of 2136 versus 237 of 4220, P < .0001) and for their final ratings (200 of 2019 versus 197 of 4354, P < .0001). Twenty percent of programs submitted 10% or more SLS ratings, and a small percentage submitted more than 50% of ratings as SLS. Most programs did not submit SLS ratings. Because of the statistical improbability of SLS, any SLS ratings reduce the validity assertions of the milestone assessments.

Simulation for Assessment of Milestones in Emergency Medicine Residents.

All residency programs in the United States are required to report their residents' progress on the milestones to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) biannually. Since the development and institution of this competency-based assessment framework, residency programs have been attempting to ascertain the best ways to assess resident performance on these metrics. Simulation was recommended by the ACGME as one method of assessment for many of the milestone subcompetencies. We developed three simulation scenarios with scenario-specific milestone-based assessment tools. We aimed to gather validity evidence for this tool. We conducted a prospective observational study to investigate the validity evidence for three mannequin-based simulation scenarios for assessing individual residents on emergency medicine (EM) milestones. The subcompetencies (i.e., patient care [PC]1, PC2, PC3) included were identified via a modified Delphi technique using a group of experienced EM simulationists. The scenario-specific checklist (CL) items were designed based on the individual milestone items within each EM subcompetency chosen for assessment and reviewed by experienced EM simulationists. Two independent live raters who were EM faculty at the respective study sites scored each scenario following brief rater training. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the assessment tool was determined by measuring intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the sum of the CL items as well as the global rating scales (GRSs) for each scenario. Comparing GRS and CL scores between various postgraduate year (PGY) levels was performed with analysis of variance. Eight subcompetencies were chosen to assess with three simulation cases, using 118 subjects. Evidence of test content, internal structure, response process, and relations with other variables were found. The ICCs for the sum of the CL items and the GRSs were >0.8 for all cases, with one exception (clinical management GRS= 0.74 in sepsis case). The sum of CL items and GRSs (p<0.05) discriminated between PGY levels on all cases. However, when the specific CL items were mapped back to milestones in various proficiency levels, the milestones in the higher proficiency levels (level 3 [L3] and 4 [L4]) did not often discriminate between various PGY levels. L3 milestone items discriminated between PGY levels on five of 12 occasions they were assessed, and L4 items discriminated only two of 12 times they were assessed. Three simulation cases with scenario-specific assessment tools allowed evaluation of EM residents on proficiency L1 to L4 within eight of the EM milestone subcompetencies. Evidence of test content, internal structure, response process, and relations with other variables were found. Good to excellent IRR and the ability to discriminate between various PGY levels was found for both the sum of CL items and the GRSs. However, there was a lack of a positive relationship between advancing PGY level and the completion of higher-level milestone items (L3 and L4).

Experience in real clinical practice with new direct acting antivirals in chronic hepatitis C

Introduction and objectiveInclusion of direct-acting antivirals into clinical practice in patients with chronic HCV (CHC) has been a milestone in medicine. Patients and methodsAnalytical, prospective study, involving 126 patients with chronic HCV treated with direct-acting antivirals. Efficacy and safety of treatment and factors associated with failure treatment were evaluated. ResultsAge 54±10. Male (70%). Cirrhosis (60%). Distribution according to genotypes: G1a (31%), G1b (42%); G3 (14%); G4 (13%). Child–Pugh B and C (n=15). Naïve (56%). SVR rate was (87.3%): Child-A (91%), Child-B (75%) and Child-C (60%). The best cure rates were achieved with a 3D/2D±ribavirin (SVR=97.4%; n=39) and sofosbuvir/ledipasvir±ribavirin (RVS=93.1%; n=29) combination. An SVR rate of <90% was achieved with sofosbuvir+simeprevir±ribavirin (SVR=88%, n=25), simeprevir+daclatasvir±ribavirin 73%, n=15). The association of ribavirin to these last three therapeutic options (n=19) improved cure rates (SVR=94.7%, 18/19) compared to its absence (n=39; SVR=77%). Improvement in MELD (40%). Output transplant list (20%). Substitutions associated with resistors NS3: G1a (positions 80K; n=5); G1b and G4 (position 168 and 36; n=4), while for NS5a: G1a (position 30; n=2) and G1b and G3 (position 93; n=3). Variables associated with failure in multivariate analysis (p<0.05): presence of ascites, G3 and ribavirin dosage <600mg/day. DiscussionThe presence of genotype 3, ascites or dosage of ribavirin <600mg/day were associated with higher failure rates. The use of ribavirin >600mg/day in cirrhotic G1 or G3, who will be treated with sofosbuvir+simeprevir or daclatasvir is recommended where no baseline resistance test is available.

Using an alumni survey to target improvements in an emergency medicine training programme

IntroductionThe Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the governing body responsible for accrediting graduate medical training programme in the USA. The Emergency Medicine Milestones (EM-Milestones) were developed by...

Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey.

Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey.

Characteristics and Outcomes of an Innovative Train-in-Place Residency Program.

Physicians who make a midcareer specialty change may find their options for formal training are limited. Here, we describe a train-in-place program, with measureable outcomes, created to train midcareer physicians who desire formal training in occupational medicine. We evaluated educational outcomes from a novel residency program for midcareer physicians seeking formal training and board certification in occupational medicine. Physicians train in place at selected clinical training sites where they practice, and participate in 18 visits to the primary training site over a 2-year period. Program components include competency-based training structured around rotations, mentored projects, and periodic auditing visits to train-in-site locations by program faculty. Main outcome measures are achievement of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Occupational Medicine Milestones, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine competencies, performance on the American College of Preventive Medicine examinations, diversity in selection, placement of graduates, and the number of graduates who remain in the field. Since inception of this program in 1997, there have been 109 graduates who comprise 7.2% of new American Board of Preventive Medicine diplomates over the past decade. Graduates scored competitively on the certifying examination, achieved all milestones, expressed satisfaction with training, and are geographically dispersed, representing every US region. Most practice outside the 25 largest standard metropolitan statistical areas. More than 95% have remained in the field. Training in place is an effective approach to provide midcareer physicians seeking comprehensive skills and board certification in occupational medicine formal training, and may be adaptable to other specialties.

Thermoresponsive poly(glycidyl ether) brushes on gold: Surface engineering parameters and their implication for cell sheet fabrication.

Cell sheet engineering as a scaffold-free approach towards tissue engineering resembles a milestone in regenerative medicine. The fabrication of confluent cell sheets maintains the extracellular matrix of cells which serves as the physiological cell scaffold. Thermoresponsive poly(glycidyl ether)s are highly cell-compatible and brushes thereof promote cell adhesion and growth without modification with additional cell adhesive ligands. Thus, a direct correlation of temperature-dependent serum protein adsorption and cell response with surface design parameters such as grafting density and molecular weight became accessible. Hence, surface engineering parameters of well-defined poly(glycidyl ether) monolayers for reproducible cell sheet fabrication have been identified. These design guidelines may also prove beneficial in the development of other brush-like thermoresponsive coatings for cell sheet engineering.

Experiencia en práctica clínica real con los nuevos antivirales de acción directa en hepatitis crónica C

Introduction and objectiveInclusion of direct-acting antivirals into clinical practice in patients with chronic HCV (CHC) has been a milestone in medicine. Patients and methodsAnalytical, prospective study, involving 126 patients with chronic HCV treated with direct-acting antivirals. Efficacy and safety of treatment and factors associated with failure treatment were evaluated. ResultsAge 54±10. Male (70%). Cirrhosis (60%). Distribution according to genotypes: G1a (31%), G1b (42%); G3 (14%); G4 (13%). Child-Pugh B and C (n=15). Naïve (56%). SVR rate was (87.3%): Child-A (91%), Child-B (75%) and Child-C (60%). The best cure rates were achieved with a 3D/2D±ribavirin (SVR=97.4%;n=39) and sofosbuvir/ledipasvir±ribavirin (RVS=93.1%; n=29) combination. An SVR rate of <90% was achieved with sofosbuvir+simeprevir±ribavirin (SVR=88%, n=25), simeprevir+daclatasvir±ribavirin 73%, n=15). The association of ribavirin to these last three therapeutic options (n=19) improved cure rates (SVR=94.7%, 18/19) compared to its absence (n=39;SVR=77%). Improvement in MELD (40%). Output transplant list (20%). Substitutions associated with resistors NS3: G1a (positions 80K; n=5); G1b and G4 (position 168 and 36; n=4), while for NS5a: G1a (position 30; n=2) and G1b and G3 (position 93; n=3). Variables associated with failure in multivariate analysis (p<0.05): presence of ascites, G3 and ribavirin dosage<600mg/day. DiscussionThe presence of genotype 3, ascites or dosage of ribavirin<600mg/day were associated with higher failure rates. The use of ribavirin>600mg/day in cirrhotic G1 or G3, who will be treated with sofosbuvir+simeprevir or daclatasvir is recommended where no baseline resistance test is available.

The Impact of Using Mean Versus Mode When Assessing Resident Competency.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestone Project was implemented in 2014 to standardize assessments and progression of residents. While it is recommended that milestones not be used as tools for direct assessments of resident competency, many programs have used or adapted milestone tools for this purpose. We sought to explore use of the most frequent milestone level at which a resident was evaluated (ie, the mode), and compared this to the standard practice of using the arithmetic mean for summarizing performance. We reviewed all Family Medicine Milestone evaluations from 1 program for the first 2 academic years of milestone implementation. Mean and mode scores were calculated across 24 unique residents, 841 evaluation forms, and 5897 measurements. The proportion of overestimation errors (where the mean is at least 0.5 larger than the mode) and underestimation errors (where the mean is at least 0.5 less than the mode) were then compared across resident training year and subcompetency. For the 24 residents, an estimation error occurred in 175 of 792 of the comparisons (22%). Of these errors, 118 (67%) were overestimation errors. First-year residents accounted for 55% (96 of 175) of all estimation errors. All subcompetencies had some estimation errors, with 6 having greater than 5%. If the trend for using the milestones as stand-alone assessment tools is to continue, aggregating data by using frequency distributions and mode would be a more stable and appropriate approach given their nominal or, at best, ordinal nature.

Comparison of Male vs Female Resident Milestone Evaluations by Faculty During Emergency Medicine Residency Training

Although implicit bias in medical training has long been suspected, it has been difficult to study using objective measures, and the influence of sex and gender in the evaluation of medical trainees is unknown. The emergency medicine (EM) milestones provide a standardized framework for longitudinal resident assessment, allowing for analysis of resident performance across all years and programs at a scope and level of detail never previously possible. To compare faculty-observed training milestone attainment of male vs female residency training. This multicenter, longitudinal, retrospective cohort study took place at 8 community and academic EM training programs across the United States from July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2015, using a real-time, mobile-based, direct-observation evaluation tool. The study examined 33 456 direct-observation subcompetency evaluations of 359 EM residents by 285 faculty members. Milestone attainment for male and female EM residents as observed by male and female faculty throughout residency and analyzed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression modeling. A total of 33 456 direct-observation evaluations were collected from 359 EM residents (237 men [66.0%] and 122 women [34.0%]) by 285 faculty members (194 men [68.1%] and 91 women [31.9%]) during the study period. Female and male residents achieved similar milestone levels during the first year of residency. However, the rate of milestone attainment was 12.7% (0.07 levels per year) higher for male residents through all of residency (95% CI, 0.04-0.09). By graduation, men scored approximately 0.15 milestone levels higher than women, which is equivalent to 3 to 4 months of additional training, given that the average resident gains approximately 0.52 levels per year using our model (95% CI, 0.49-0.54). No statistically significant differences in scores were found based on faculty evaluator gender (effect size difference, 0.02 milestone levels; 95% CI for males, -0.09 to 0.11) or evaluator-evaluatee gender pairing (effect size difference, -0.02 milestone levels; 95% CI for interaction, -0.05 to 0.01). Although male and female residents receive similar evaluations at the beginning of residency, the rate of milestone attainment throughout training was higher for male than female residents across all EM subcompetencies, leading to a gender gap in evaluations that continues until graduation. Faculty should be cognizant of possible gender bias when evaluating medical trainees.

Towards functional antibody-based vaccines to prevent pre-erythrocytic malaria infection

ABSTRACTIntroduction: An effective malaria vaccine would be considered a milestone of modern medicine, yet has so far eluded research and development efforts. This can be attributed to the extreme complexity of the malaria parasites, presenting with a multi-stage life cycle, high genome complexity and the parasite’s sophisticated immune evasion measures, particularly antigenic variation during pathogenic blood stage infection. However, the pre-erythrocytic (PE) early infection forms of the parasite exhibit relatively invariant proteomes, and are attractive vaccine targets as they offer multiple points of immune system attack.Areas covered: We cover the current state of and roadblocks to the development of an effective, antibody-based PE vaccine, including current vaccine candidates, limited biological knowledge, genetic heterogeneity, parasite complexity, and suboptimal preclinical models as well as the power of early stage clinical models.Expert commentary: PE vaccines will need to elicit broad and durable immunity to prevent infection. This could be achievable if recent innovations in studying the parasites’ infection biology, rational vaccine selection and design as well as adjuvant formulation are combined in a synergistic and multipronged approach. Improved preclinical assays as well as the iterative testing of vaccine candidates in controlled human malaria infection trials will further accelerate this effort.