This week, we share something good that came out of the pandemic, take a deep dive into target trial emulation, and look at a cannabis case study.
Penn State Medical School Tweaks Psychiatry Curriculum
The COVID-19 pandemic altered our daily routine almost overnight. It moved remote work into the mainstream, turned “essential workers” into modern-day heroes, and caused what many fear are lifelong disruptions to the youngest among us.
It also forced medical schools to suddenly reinvent how they teach their craft. The Penn State College of Medicine, in one stark example, revamped its psychiatry clerkship to ensure students kept learning – despite wide-ranging restrictions. The college quickly suspended in-person clinical experiences in a bid to keep everyone safe. As a result, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health set up an alternative curriculum that paired virtual learning with limited in-person training.
The new curriculum included virtual case discussions, telepsychiatry simulations, and self-guided learning modules. All of this provided students exposure to psychiatric assessment and patient interaction remotely. And as conditions improved, students gradually made their way back to clinical settings under strict safety protocols (with limited direct patient care experiences).
For the most part, the students responded well to the revised curriculum. Evaluations revealed that faculty teaching effectiveness – along with student feedback – didn’t waver from pre-pandemic levels.
It’s also worth mentioning that a sizable percentage of students “strongly agreed’ that they formed meaningful relationships with their instructors and still played an important part of patient care.
The pandemic proved just how resilient – and flexible – medical educators are, with telehealth emerging as a life-changing tool for both students and patients. And as telemedicine expand its reach, medical education must keep evolving so that the next generation of caregivers are equipped with the necessary skills to navigate an increasingly digital healthcare landscape.
IN OTHER PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROLOGY NEWS
Chittaranjan Andrade, MD, writes in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry this week about the benefits of target trial emulation.
The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders reports on a case of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in a young marijuana user.
JCP also has some unsettling research into racial disparities in mood stabilizer prescriptions.
And PCC submission wonders if there’s a place for hypnosis in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
And don’t forget to check in on the latest in our ongoing series on Emerging Approaches in Schizophrenia.
