Carle Illinois Faculty

The ability to apply knowledge gained in neuroscience coursework to a clinical scenario is found to be difficult by many medical students. Neuroscience is both important for future clinical practice and an area frequently tested on USMLE Step 1 examinations.

Given barriers to learner assessment in the authentic clinical environment, simulated patient encounters are gaining attention as a valuable opportunity for competency assessment across the health professions. Simulation-based assessments offer advantages over traditional methods by providing realistic clinical scenarios through which a range of technical, analytical, and communication skills can be demonstrated. However, simulation for the purpose of assessment represents a paradigm shift with unique challenges, including preservation of a safe learning environment, standardization across learners, and application of valid assessment tools. Our goal was to create an interactive workshop to equip educators with the knowledge and skills needed to conduct assessments in a simulated environment.

Interprofessional collaboration improves patient outcomes. Many institutions lack access to learners from other health care professions, limiting the feasibility of many published interprofessional curricula. We created a video-based workshop to fill the need for an introductory interactive interprofessional activity for third-year medical students (MS 3) in their internal medicine clerkship, in which other health care students and standardized patients were not readily accessible.

Residents have been known to report a lack of self-efficacy in their ability to provide care for limited English proficiency (LEP) patients. Interpreters must be utilized to help navigate these patient encounters, but many institutions do not have a curriculum focused on utilizing interpreters effectively.