Medical Education Projects Presented at Forum

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix gathered at the 2^nd annual Research Office for Medical Education (ROME) Forum to present unique and novel projects in medical education research.

The Forum is ROME’s annual showcase event, where faculty, staff, fellows, residents and students formally present their latest medical education research and scholarship in a collegial and interactive way through poster and oral presentations.

Paul Standley, PhD, associate dean of Curricular Affairs and Program Evaluation, said the forum fits ROME’s mission”to share research and scholarship with other medical education researchers, thereby affording lots of opportunities for feedback on one’s research, as well as identify future collaborators.”

The event, which took place April 9, included more than 30 posters and three oral presentations. A keynote presentation from David Sklar, MD, editor-in-chief of Academic Medicine, stimulated discussion and networking among the campus community.

The oral presentations were:

• Harnessing the Power of Clinical Informatics Tools to Support Competence-Based Medical Education, presented by Sarada Panchanathan, MD, a clinical associate professor in Biomedical Informatics and Child Health. 
• Home Visits during Internal Medicine Residency: Reinforcing the Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Patient Care, presented by Jayne Peterson, MD, an associate professor in Internal Medicine.
• Comparing the Effects of Narrative Nonfiction and Literary Fiction on Empathy Retention in Medical Students, presented by Aishan Shi, a fourth-year medical student.

“Research in medical education continues to push the boundaries of medical education by formally testing alternative ways to deliver various curricula and other medical education-centric initiatives,” Dr. Standley said. “The projects often test new and improvised ways to design, develop, implement and/or continuously improve medical education, using best practices and evidence-based strategies, in order to continually adapt to modern medicine and its learners.”

Dr. Standley founded ROME with Amoreena Trigg, MEd, a coordinator of Curricular Affairs at the medical school, to develop an office on campus that provides mentorship, hypotheses development, assistance with Institutional Review Board approval, data gathering, biostatistical analysis and manuscript writing for staff, faculty, residents and students.

“The importance of this event is to create a platform for researchers to display and discuss their medical education research to a wide audience of community members and experts,” Trigg said. “Researchers will receive formal and informal feedback and comments on their research, and attendees can learn more about curricular inquiries and changes that are occurring across our campus and our affiliated hospitals.”

The event concluded with an award ceremony, where the three top posters received recognition for their work. They were:

• Christina R Bergin, MD – The SPLIT Interview and Visit Process: Further Innovations in Residency Recruitment.
• Kiley B. Vander Wyst, MPH – Development and Implementation of a Learner Research Fund at a Free-Standing Children's Hospital.
• Jordan Coulston, MD – Using Weekly Feedback to Assess Entrustment and Motivate Residents: A Successful Pilot.

After the forum, the office will continue to provide support to the research projects presented at the event. Depending on the research and phase of completion, ROME provides assistance with study design, data collection, statistical analysis, as well as travel and publication funding.