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An evidence‐based medicine approach for case presentations by trainees
Author(s) -
Lycan Thomas W,
Ahmed Tamjeed,
Seegars Mary Beth,
Patel Meera,
Woods Ryan,
Melin Susan A
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the clinical teacher
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1743-498X
pISSN - 1743-4971
DOI - 10.1111/tct.12978
Subject(s) - multidisciplinary approach , medical education , medline , medicine , pdca , evidence based medicine , intervention (counseling) , family medicine , psychology , alternative medicine , quality management , nursing , service (business) , pathology , social science , economy , sociology , political science , economics , law
Summary Background Evidence‐based medicine ( EBM ) is a key aspect of medical training that can be challenging for trainees to learn. Tumour boards ( TB s) are multidisciplinary meetings that are often opportunities for trainees to deliver patient case presentations, which is another integral part of medical education; however, TB s are time intensive, typically lack academic structure and may fail to emphasise EBM . Objective To design a systematic approach to improve both trainee satisfaction and the level of evidence cited at typical academic TB s. Methods From 2017 to 2018, Plan–Do–Study–Act ( PDSA ) methodology was used to develop a systematic approach for medical oncology trainees towards TB s. Statistical testing was used to assess which characteristics of a patient case made it more difficult to apply EBM . Anonymous surveys were distributed to trainees before and after the intervention to assess the educational utility. Results We developed a shared voluntary case database, so that references with higher levels of evidence could be rapidly recalled and applied to similar cases. We then developed EBM ‐focused review sessions to highlight database trends. Both the database and the review sessions had high participation rates (>90% cases had voluntary data entry), and each were reported to have educational value by trainees. Conclusions A two‐step implementation of an easy‐to‐use case database followed by review sessions focused on high‐yield sources of evidence improved trainee satisfaction for TB s, but did not significantly improve the strength of the evidence cited.