Medical Student Attitudes Toward Blood Donation in Times of Increased Need

Background In situations of increased need, such as mass casualty incidents (MCIs) and COVID-19, donated blood products are in shortage across the United States. Medical students are a potential pool for blood donors. The aim of this study was to determine overall attitudes of medical students at a single academic institution toward blood donation during times of increased need. Methods Three anonymous REDCap surveys were administered to all medical students at a rural academic institution. Surveys 1 and 2 were administered preceding and after an institution-wide MCI drill, in September and November 2019, respectively. Survey 3 was administered following a student-organized COVID-19 blood drive in June 2020. Multivariable analysis was performed to determine if factors, ie, experience with MCI drills and emergency medical services (EMS) training, were associated with willingness to donate blood. Furthermore, barriers to donation among those not willing to donate were assessed. Results Overall response rate for MCI surveys (surveys 1 and 2) was 38% (mean age 25.2 years and 50% women). 91% (n = 210) of respondents were willing to donate blood. Previous participation in MCI drills and EMS training was not associated with higher willingness to donate blood. Response rate for survey 3 was 15.6% (59.4% women), and 30 (31.3%) respondents indicated they did not volunteer to donate blood during the COVID-19 drive. Most common reasons for not donating were “other,” medical concerns, and being out-of-town. Conclusions Majority of medical students are willing to donate blood during times of increased need and offer a possible solution to increase blood donor pool.

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Medical Student Perspectives on LGBTQ Health

PRiMER ◽

10.22454/primer.2019.288724 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Julie A. Christensen ◽

Travis Hunt ◽

Steven A. Elsesser ◽

Christine Jerpbak

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

Life Experience ◽

Response Rate ◽

Gender And Sexuality ◽

First Year ◽

Sex And Gender ◽

The Impact

Introduction: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community members experience adverse health outcomes at higher rates than non-LGBTQ individuals. We examined the impact of student demographics as well as gender and sexuality didactic instruction on the attitudes of first-year medical students toward LGBTQ patients. Methods: In January 2017, 255 first-year students at an urban allopathic medical school participated in a gender and sexuality health curriculum. We assessed student attitudes regarding LGBTQ patients using anonymous pre- and postintervention surveys. Each item was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: Of 255 possible respondents, we received 244 responses to the preintervention survey (95.7% response rate) and 253 to the postintervention survey (99.2% response rate). Participants were predominantly white (66.8%), heterosexual (94.7%), and cisgender (100%). Respondents who identified as LGBQ were significantly (P<.05) more likely than heterosexual students to agree with the following preintervention statements, among others: (1) Discordance between birth sex and gender is a natural human phenomenon, (2) When meeting a patient for the first time, I feel comfortable asking what pronoun they use, (3) I am able to empathize with the life experience of an LGB/T patient, (4) I am motivated to seek out opportunities to learn more about LGBTQ-specific health care issues. Statistically significant changes in attitudes between time points are seen in 4 out of 15 items. Conclusion: A focused gender and sexuality curriculum appears to impact medical student attitudes regarding LGBTQ patients. Furthermore, recruitment of LGBTQ-identifying medical students may translate into improved workforce motivation to provide health care for LGBTQ patients.

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FMAQ-S: Development of a Short Form of the Family Medicine Attitudes Questionnaire

PRiMER ◽

10.22454/primer.2021.767096 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Hana Kang ◽

Jacob Prunuske ◽

Andrea L. Wendling ◽

Jennifer Edwards-Johnson ◽

Julie P. Phillips

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Family Medicine ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

Short Form ◽

Item Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Criterion Validity ◽

Specialty Choice ◽

Supporting Evidence ◽

Item Discrimination

Introduction: Identifying and training students who choose family medicine careers is essential to meeting primary care workforce needs in the United States. Medical students’ positive attitudes toward family medicine are associated with students’ choice of family medicine as a specialty. This study sought to refine a previously tested questionnaire assessing US medical students’ attitudes toward family medicine by shortening the questionnaire to make it more useful in educational practice and research settings. Methods: We refined our existing 14-item questionnaire by item analysis and validation. We conducted item analysis using a graded response model approach after identifying the unidimensionality of the original scale. We selected items based on their item discrimination parameters and item information levels, and calculated the correlation between specialty choice and family medicine attitudes score to evaluate criterion validity. Results: Exploratory factor analyses indicated the questionnaire is unidimensional. Among the original 14 items, 10 items had high item discrimination parameters and low standard error of measurement. These 10 items contribute the most to distinguishing individuals’ differences in family medicine attitudes and were selected for inclusion in the short-form questionnaire (FMAQ-S). The point-biserial correlation between the short-form scale and students’ choice of family medicine was 0.378, which provides supporting evidence for criterion validity. Conclusion: The FMAQ-S is a concise and validated measure for assessing medical student attitudes toward family medicine. This abbreviated questionnaire can be used by medical educators to identify students for specific programming or interventions intended to support family medicine specialty choice.

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Medical Students Immersed in a Hyper-Realistic Surgical Training Environment Leads to Improved Measures of Emotional Resiliency by Both Hardiness and Emotional Intelligence Evaluation

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.569035 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Allana White ◽

Isain Zapata ◽

Alissa Lenz ◽

Rebecca Ryznar ◽

Natalie Nevins ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotional Intelligence ◽

Medical Students ◽

Simulation Training ◽

Surgical Simulation ◽

The United States ◽

Mass Casualty ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Training Environment ◽

Training Course ◽

Intelligence Scores

BackgroundBurnout is being experienced by medical students, residents, and practicing physicians at significant rates. Higher levels of Hardiness and Emotional Intelligence may protect individuals against burnout symptoms. Previous studies have shown both Hardiness and Emotional IntelIigence protect against detrimental effects of stress and can be adapted through training; however, there is limited research on how training programs affect both simultaneously. Therefore, the objective of this study was to define the association of Hardiness and Emotional Intelligence and their potential improvement through hyper realistic immersion simulation training in military medical students.MethodsParticipants in this study consisted of 68 second year medical students representing five medical schools who were concurrently enrolled in the United States military scholarship program. During a six day hyper-realistic surgical simulation training course, students rotated through different roles of a medical team and responded to several mass-casualty scenarios. Hardiness and Emotional Intelligence were assessed using the Hardiness Resilience Gauge (HRG) and the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I 2.0) respectively, at two time points: on arrival (pre-event) and after completion of the course (post-event).ResultsHardiness and Emotional Intelligence scores and sub scores consistently improved from pre-event to post-event assessments. No difference in training benefit was observed between genders but differences were observed by age where age was more often associated with Emotional Intelligence. In addition, factor analysis indicated that the HRG and EQ-I 2.0 assessment tools measured predominately different traits although they share some commonalities in some components.ConclusionThis study indicates that Hardiness and Emotional Intelligence scores can be improved through immersion training in military medical students. Results from this study support the use of training course interventions and prompt the need for long term evaluation of improvement strategies on mitigating burnout symptoms.

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Voluntary Blood Donation Practice and Associated Factors among Civil Servants in Chiro Town of Western Hararghe Zone, Eastern Ethiopia: a Cross-sectional study

10.21203/rs.2.11580/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Gelana Fekadu Mijena ◽

Sintayehu Nigussie ◽

Tesfaye Gobena ◽

Habtamu Mitiku ◽

Hassen Abdi

Keyword(s):

Mass Media ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Blood Donation ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Civil Servants ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Eastern Ethiopia ◽

Willingness To Donate

Abstract Background Despite blood transfusion has been available for the past 200 years; there is still a significant shortage of blood and blood products especially in low and middle income countries. In 2016 national blood demand of Ethiopia was estimated to be one million units per year, while only 17.4% (173,930) units of blood collected in the same year. Out of 25,400 units of blood requirement per year in West Hararghe, only 2750 units (10.8%) was collected in 2016 and 80% of these were from Civil servants. The aim of the study was to assess voluntary blood donation practice and associated factors among Chiro Town’s civil servants in 2018. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 383 civil servants selected by multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using self-administer and pre-tested questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and binary logistic regression was performed to assess the association between determinant factors and voluntary blood donation practice. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated to identify factors associated with the outcome variables in the multivariable analysis. A P<0.05 and AOR with 95% CI were used to report significance and strength of multivariable association, respectively. Results The life -time voluntary blood donation practice among civil servants was 43.7%(38.3,49.3). Having willingness to donate, [AOR=2.54; 95%CI=1.39, 4.65], being knowledgeable about blood donation [AOR=3.32; 95%CI=2.02, 5.46] and listening to mass media [AOR=1.83; 95%CI=1.01, 3.35] were variables significantly associated with voluntary blood donation practice. Conclusions This study shows poor Voluntary Blood donation practice while, having knowledge, willingness and access to mass media are attributable factors for blood donation practice in the study area.

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Development and Implementation of a Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) for Medical Students

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x19000165 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (02) ◽

pp. 197-202 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Madison B. Kommor ◽

Bethany Hodge ◽

Gregory Ciottone

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Disaster Response ◽

Effective Means ◽

Extreme Environments ◽

The United States ◽

Mass Casualty ◽

Disaster Medicine ◽

Mass Shootings ◽

Student Opinions ◽

Incident Command

Introduction:The recent increase in natural disasters and mass shootings highlights the need for medical providers to be prepared to provide care in extreme environments. However, while physicians of all specialties may respond in emergencies, disaster medicine training is minimal or absent from most medical school curricula in the United States. A voluntary Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) was piloted to fill this gap in undergraduate medical education.Report:Beginning in August of 2017, second- and third-year medical students voluntarily enrolled in DMCS. Students earned points toward the certificate through participation in activities and membership in community organizations in a flexible format that caters to variable schedules and interests. Topics covered included active shooter training, decontamination procedures, mass-casualty triage, Incident Command System (ICS) training, and more. At the conclusion of the pilot year, demographic information was collected and a survey was conducted to evaluate student opinions regarding the program.Results:Sixty-eight second- and third-year medical students participated in the pilot year, with five multi-hour skills trainings and five didactic lectures made available to students. Forty-eight of those 68 enrolled in DMCS completed the retrospective survey. Student responses indicated that community partners serve as effective means for providing lectures (overall mean rating 4.50/5.0) and skills sessions (rating 4.58/5.0), and that the program created avenues for real-world disaster response in their local communities (rating 4.40/5.0).Conclusions:The DMCS voluntary certificate series model served as an innovative method for providing disaster medicine education to medical students.Kommor MB, Hodge B, Ciottone G. Development and implementation of a Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) for medical students.Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(2):197–202

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Factors Associated With Burnout Among US Hospital Clinical Pharmacy Practitioners: Results of a Nationwide Pilot Survey

Hospital Pharmacy ◽

10.1177/0018578717732339 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (11) ◽

pp. 742-751 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

G. Morgan Jones ◽

Neil A. Roe ◽

Les Louden ◽

Crystal R. Tubbs

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Clinical Pharmacy ◽

Response Rate ◽

Univariate Analysis ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Hospital Setting ◽

The United States ◽

Pilot Survey ◽

Clinical Pharmacists ◽

Burnout Rate

Background: In health care, burnout has been defined as a psychological process whereby human service professionals attempting to positively impact the lives of others become overwhelmed and frustrated by unforeseen job stressors. Burnout among various physician groups who primarily practice in the hospital setting has been extensively studied; however, no evidence exists regarding burnout among hospital clinical pharmacists. Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the level of and identify factors independently associated with burnout among clinical pharmacists practicing in an inpatient hospital setting within the United States. Methods: We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional pilot study utilizing an online, Qualtrics survey. Univariate analysis related to burnout was conducted, with multivariable logistic regression analysis used to identify factors independently associated with the burnout. Results: A total of 974 responses were analyzed (11.4% response rate). The majority were females who had practiced pharmacy for a median of 8 years. The burnout rate was high (61.2%) and largely driven by high emotional exhaustion. On multivariable analysis, we identified several subjective factors as being predictors of burnout, including inadequate administrative and teaching time, uncertainty of health care reform, too many nonclinical duties, difficult pharmacist colleagues, and feeling that contributions are underappreciated. Conclusions: The burnout rate of hospital clinical pharmacy providers was very high in this pilot survey. However, the overall response rate was low at 11.4%. The negative effects of burnout require further study and intervention to determine the influence of burnout on the lives of clinical pharmacists and on other health care–related outcomes.

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Measuring the Efficacy of Pathology Career Recruitment Strategies in US Medical Students

Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine ◽

10.5858/arpa.2020-0834-oa ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia V. Hernandez ◽

Dana Razzano ◽

Nicole D. Riddle ◽

John T. Fallon ◽

Humayun K. Islam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Student Perceptions ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

The United States ◽

Job Responsibilities ◽

Pathology Laboratory ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Before And After ◽

Second Year ◽

Medical Student Attitudes

Context.— Multiple articles and surveys in the literature suggest that medical students find a career in pathology undesirable and believe it is disproportionately focused primarily on the autopsy. Objective.— To measure the effect of applied interventions on medical student attitudes about the field of pathology. Design.— This prospective study involving medical students from first through fourth year was conducted as a pilot study in 2 medical schools in the United States. A 2-part anonymous survey regarding interest in pathology as a career and familiarity with the specialty using a 10-point scale was given to first- and second-year medical students before and after they listened to a 10-minute pathology career presentation. The same survey was given to third- and fourth-year medical students before and after a 4-week pathology elective. Results.— A total of 121 and 83 students responded to the survey before and after the intervention, respectively. Of the 121 students who responded to the survey before the intervention, 106 (87.6%) had not spent significant time in a pathology laboratory before the intervention. The majority of responses in interest in career, job responsibilities, and features of pathologists before and after the intervention demonstrated a statistically significant difference (P < .001). We compared survey scores of presentation versus 4-week rotation groups before and after the intervention. Students who experienced the presentation did not differ from students who experienced the rotation in the majority of questions related to interest in career, job responsibilities, and features of pathologists. Conclusions.— Our study suggests that pathology exposure strategies can have a beneficial effect on student perceptions of the field and consideration of a career in pathology. Overall, the presentation intervention on the first- and second-year students seemed to have the greatest effect.

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Medical Student Wellness in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Nationwide Survey

10.21203/rs.3.rs-209110/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Louis Nikolis ◽

Andrea Wakim ◽

William Adams ◽

Prempreet Bajaj

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Nationwide Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Depression And Anxiety ◽

Financial Status ◽

Linear Mixed Effects ◽

Student Wellness

Abstract Background: As United States (US) medical students suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety than the general population, medical student wellness has been studied in recent years. One definition describes wellness as having eight dimensions: Intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational, financial, environmental, and spiritual. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic poses unique challenges for medical students, we aimed to compare medical student wellness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: An informal survey was created to assess the eight wellness dimensions and distributed via Survey Monkey to US allopathic and osteopathic medical students via email and social media. The survey was administered from March 29, 2020 to June 23, 2020. Univariable and multivariable linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the change in students’ overall wellness using an 11-point scale ranging from 0 (least well) to 10 (most well). Generalized estimating equations were used to compare students’ responses to the eight dimensions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: On multivariable analysis, students reported a decline in their overall wellness during COVID-19 (Mdiff = -1.04; p < .001), with Asian respondents reporting almost no change in overall wellness (M = -0.69) compared to White respondents (M = -1.18; p = .049) and Black respondents (M = -1.78; p = .03). Students felt less supported and comfortable with their social (OR = 0.47) and daily (OR = 0.45) environments and expressed decreased satisfaction with their exercise (OR = 0.85), sense of purpose (OR = 0.33), and financial status (OR = 0.75). Students also expressed lower confidence (OR = 0.15) and satisfaction (OR = 0.11) with their medical education and increased anxiety (OR = 3.37) and depression (OR = 2.05).Conclusions: Medical students reported declines in overall wellness and individual wellness dimensions. These findings can be used to implement changes to improve medical student wellness.

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Pharmaceutical Marketing to Medical Students: The Student Perspective

McGill Journal of Medicine ◽

10.26443/mjm.v8i1.376 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Joseph Barfett ◽

Brent Lanting ◽

Julian Lee ◽

Michael Lee ◽

Victor Ng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Financial Incentives ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

The United States ◽

Pharmaceutical Marketing ◽

Student Perspective ◽

Pharmaceutical Companies ◽

Monetary Value ◽

Pharmaceutical Promotion ◽

Medical Student Attitudes

It has been estimated that pharmaceutical companies spend $1.7 billion every year promoting their products to physicians in Canada. At least $21 billion are spent every year on drug promotion in the United States. Although pharmaceutical marketing campaigns are primarily directed toward practicing physicians and residents, medical students are targeted as well. The goal of this study was to assess medical student attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotion in a Canadian academic centre. A questionnaire was designed to assess the attitudes of medical students about pharmaceutical promotion, including the acceptability of receiving various gifts and incentives. The survey was administered to first, second, and fourth-year medical students at the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada). Statistical methods were employed to compare subpopulations of students based on demographic and socioeconomic data. Some 81% of students were not opposed to interacting with drug companies in medical school. Medical students felt comfortable accepting gifts of low monetary value, such as lunches (75%) and penlights (74%), but were willing to accept gifts of higher monetary value if the gifts served an educational purpose, such as textbooks (65%) and drug company-sponsored educational seminars (66%). 17% of students said that if presented with a choice of drugs identical in terms of price, efficacy, and effectiveness, they would prescribe the drug from the company that provided them with financial incentives. Statistical analysis showed no differences in responses among the different years of medical students. There were some differences in responses between medical students who had a doctor parent compared to those who did not have a doctor parent. Medical students are generally not opposed to interacting with or receiving gifts from pharmaceutical companies. Insights gained from this study raises issues that may be of interest to medical educators concerning the attitudes of the future physicians in Canada.

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Stigma in Psychiatry: Impact of a Virtual and Traditional Psychiatry Clerkship on Medical Student Attitudes

Academic Psychiatry ◽

10.1007/s40596-021-01541-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Khalid Bazaid ◽

Kevin Simas ◽

Abdellah Bezzahou

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

Response Rate ◽

Student Response ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Parametric Statistics ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Medical Student Attitudes ◽

The University

Abstract Objective The objective of the study was to assess the change in medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry following a virtual clerkship experience compared to a traditional clerkship experience. Method Ninety-seven medical students from the University of Ottawa were assessed pre- and post-clerkship on the ATP-30 (Attitudes Towards Psychiatry-30) measure. Cohorts of students were categorized as pre-COVID or during-COVID depending on when and how they experienced their clerkship (traditional or virtual). The total student response rate was approximately 48%. A quasi-experimental design was implemented, and non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the data. Results Medical students’ overall attitudes towards psychiatry improved from pre- to post-clerkship, with the type of clerkship experience (traditional or virtual) having no significant impact on the magnitude to which attitudes improved. Conclusion Implementation of a virtual clerkship in psychiatry did not deteriorate medical student attitudes towards psychiatry as a specialty, with both the traditional and virtual clerkship program enhancing students’ attitudes towards psychiatry favorably.

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