Choosing Wisely for Medical Education: Six Things Medical Students and Trainees Should Question

Development of the SPREAD framework to support the scaling of de-implementation strategies: a mixed-methods study

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to increase the understanding of the scaling of de-implementation strategies by identifying the determinants of the process and developing a determinant framework.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This study has a mixed-methods design. First, we performed an integrative review to build a literature-based framework describing the determinants of the scaling of healthcare innovations and interventions. PubMed and EMBASE were searched for relevant studies from 1995 to December 2020. We systematically extracted the determinants of the scaling of interventions and developed a literature-based framework. Subsequently, this framework was discussed in four focus groups with national and international de-implementation experts. The literature-based framework was complemented by the findings of the focus group meetings and adapted for the scaling of de-implementation strategies.

RESULTS

The literature search resulted in 42 articles that discussed the determinants of the scaling of innovations and interventions. No articles described determinants specifically for de-implementation strategies. During the focus groups, all participants agreed on the relevance of the extracted determinants for the scaling of de-implementation strategies. The experts emphasised that while the determinants are relevant for various countries, the implications differ due to different contexts, cultures and histories. The analyses of the focus groups resulted in additional topics and determinants, namely, medical training, professional networks, interests of stakeholders, clinical guidelines and patients' perspectives. The results of the focus group meetings were combined with the literature framework, which together formed the supporting the scaling of de-implementation strategies (SPREAD) framework. The SPREAD framework includes determinants from four domains: (1) scaling plan, (2) external context, (3) de-implementation strategy and (4) adopters.

CONCLUSIONS

The SPREAD framework describes the determinants of the scaling of de-implementation strategies. These determinants are potential targets for various parties to facilitate the scaling of de-implementation strategies. Future research should validate these determinants of the scaling of de-implementation strategies.

The Effectiveness of an Interprofessional Education Course in Teaching the Importance of Choosing Wisely and Resource Stewardship: A Pilot Study

Objectives Rising health care costs and an increase in unnecessary testing have sparked interest in resource stewardship (RS) and subsequently the Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign. Currently, all Canadian medical schools have student representatives for CWC; however, the same is not true in other health professions. Interprofessional care learned through interprofessional education (IPE) can lead to better patient outcomes. This study assessed whether an IPE course for health profession students was effective in teaching undergraduate students both interprofessional competencies and CWC principles. Methods An approximately seven-hour-long, four-session course was administered to Dalhousie University health profession students (N= 30). A validated survey for IPE competencies and a general survey about CWC principles were administered to assess the course. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the general CWC views, and paired samples t-tests were employed to compare pre- and post-IPE competencies. Results The full survey was completed by 25 (83%) students. Of these, 52% were female, within five health disciplines, and 13 (52%) had heard of CWC prior. Overall, the students agreed that CWC was important and relevant to their profession. They also reported significant improvements in multiple IPE competencies, including communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, patient-/family-centered care, conflict management/resolution, and team function. Conclusion Participants in our pilot Choosing Wisely IPE course valued the importance of the CWC campaign and reported improvement in multiple IPE competencies. This adaptable, simple, and low-cost course may be an effective way to integrate RS teaching across multiple health professions.

Diagnostic workup of early-stage breast cancer: can we choose more wisely?

INTRODUCTION

Current international guidelines, including the Choosing Wisely Initiative, recommends against the routine use of systemic imaging studies or tumor markers in early-stage breast cancer. Accumulating data suggests that adherence to these guidelines is low. We aimed to investigate the execution of unnecessary diagnostic tests among Israeli breast cancer patients and identify factors associated with their performance.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was conducted involving a database of early breast cancer patients treated at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. A survey was distributed among Israeli surgeons and oncologists specializing in breast cancer treatment.

RESULTS

The study included early breast cancer patients (n = 178), who have no indication for completing systemic evaluation. Nearly half of the patients (76, 42%) were referred to 128 unjustified diagnostic studies, with the most common referral comprising a PET-CT (n = 39 30.5%). As expected, none of the tests led to any change in either disease staging or alteration in clinical management. Variables associated with systemic evaluation included younger age (61.8% for < 50 years vs 38.9% for > 50 years, p = 0.02), diagnosis by palpable mass compared to screening mammography (26.9% vs 52.9% p = 0.043, respectively) and higher tumor grade (33.7% vs 52.2% p = 0.02, respectively). In concordance with the findings of the database, the physicians' survey revealed low adherence to guidelines and a role of the treating physicians' subjective feelings. Doctors were more likely to recommend unnecessary studies when presented with a clinical case as an image, than to an informative question.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data indicate a high rate of non-adherence to guidelines, physicians recommending extensive systemic evaluation for women with early breast cancer. These deviations from the guidelines are associated with subjective factors, some of them being physician-dependent. Initiatives aimed at improving adherence to guidelines, and specifically to guidelines recommending "doing less" should therefore include not just knowledge-based education but also encourage conversation about what is appropriate and necessary.

Teaching Laboratory Stewardship in the Medical Student Core Clerkships Pathology-Teaches

CONTEXT.—

Current health care spending is unsustainable, and there is a need to teach high-value care principles to future physicians. Pathology-Teaches is an educational intervention designed to teach laboratory stewardship early in clinical training, at the level of the medical student in their core clinical clerkships.

OBJECTIVE.—

To assess the pilot implementation of case-based educational modules in 5 required core clerkships at our institution.

DESIGN.—

The online cases were developed by using a multidisciplinary approach. In the Pathology-Teaches educational module, students make decisions regarding the ordering or interpretation of laboratory testing within the context of a clinical scenario and receive immediate feedback during the case. The intervention was assessed by using pretest and posttest. Student feedback was also collected from end-of-rotation evaluations.

RESULTS.—

A total of 203 students completed the Pathology-Teaches pilot, including 72 in Family Medicine, 72 in Emergency Medicine, 24 in Internal Medicine, 24 in Neurology, and 11 in Obstetrics-Gynecology (OB-GYN). Pathology-Teaches utility was demonstrated by significantly increased improvement between pretest and posttest scores (mean, 63.1% versus 83.5%; P < .001; Hedge g effect size = 0.93). Of the 494 students who completed the Pathology-Teaches questions on the end-of-rotation evaluation, 251 provided specific feedback, with 38.6% (97 of 251) rating the activity as "extremely valuable" or "very valuable," and 41.4% (104 of 251) as "some/moderate value." Qualitative feedback included 17 positive comments with 6 requests to scale up or include more cases, 16 constructive comments for improvement mainly regarding the technical aspects, and 5 negative comments.

CONCLUSIONS.—

Pathology-Teaches effectively teaches stewardship concepts, and most students perceived value in this educational intervention.

How to Teach Laboratory Stewardship in the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum?

OBJECTIVES

Promotion of high-quality care at a lower cost requires educational initiatives across the continuum of medical education. A needs assessment was performed to inform the design of an educational tool with the goal of teaching laboratory stewardship to medical students.

METHODS

The needs assessment consisted of semistructured interviews with core clerkship directors and residency program directors at our institution, a national survey to the Undergraduate Medical Educators Section (UMEDS) of the Association of Pathology Chairs, and a review of existing online resources that teach high-value care.

RESULTS

Two major themes emerged regarding opportunities to enhance laboratory stewardship education: appropriate ordering (knowledge of test indications, pretest/posttest probability, appropriateness criteria, recognition of unnecessary testing) and correct interpretation (understanding test specifications, factors that affect the test result, recognizing inaccurate results).

CONCLUSIONS

The online educational tool will focus on the curricular needs identified, using a multidisciplinary approach for development and implementation.

Learners as Leaders: A Global Groundswell of Students Leading Choosing Wisely Initiatives in Medical Education

Resource stewardship and reducing low-value care have emerged as urgent priorities for health care delivery systems worldwide. However, few medical schools' curricula include adequate content to allow learners to master the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to contribute to this transformation toward value-based health care. This article describes a program to launch student-led curriculum enhancement initiatives in 7 countries. The program, called STARS (Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship), was inspired by Choosing Wisely, a campaign by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation that seeks to promote conversations on avoiding unnecessary medical tests, treatments, and procedures.The initial STARS model, which originated in Canada in 2015, included a leadership summit, where students from multiple medical schools learned about Choosing Wisely principles, leadership, and advocacy. These students then led grassroots efforts at their local medical schools with faculty and other students to raise awareness and advocate for changes related to resource stewardship. Student-led efforts resulted in the integration of Choosing Wisely principles into case-based learning, the creation of student interest groups and electives, the launch of social media campaigns, and the organization of special presentations by local experts.The rapid spread of similar programs in 6 other countries (Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States) by 2018 suggests that STARS resonates across multiple settings and signals the potential for such a model to advance other important areas in medical education. This article documents results and lessons learned from the first 4 years of the program.

Imprinting on Clinical Rotations: Multisite Survey of High- and Low-Value Medical Student Behaviors and Relationship with Healthcare Intensity

BACKGROUND

Physician behaviors are important to high-value care, and the learning environment medical students encounter on clinical clerkships may imprint their developing practice patterns.

OBJECTIVES

To explore potential imprinting on clinical rotations by (a) describing high- and low-value behaviors among medical students and (b) examining relationships with regional healthcare intensity (HCI).

DESIGN

Multisite cross-sectional survey PARTICIPANTS: Third- and fourth-year students at nine US medical schools MAIN MEASURES: Survey items measured high-value (n = 10) and low-value (n = 9) student behaviors. Regional HCI was measured using Dartmouth Atlas End-of-Life Chronic Illness Care data (ratio of physician visits per decedent compared with the US average, hospital care intensity index, ratio of medical specialty to primary care physician visits per decedent). Associations between regional HCI and student behaviors were examined using unadjusted and adjusted (controlling for age, sex, and year in school) logistic regression analyses, using median item ratings to summarize reported engagement in high- and low-value behaviors.

KEY RESULTS

Of 2623 students invited, 1304 (50%) responded. Many reported trying to determine healthcare costs (1085/1234, 88%), but only 45% (571/1257) reported including cost details in case presentations. Students acknowledged suggesting tests solely to anticipate what their supervisor would want (1143/1220, 94%), show off their ability to generate a broad differential diagnosis (1072/1218, 88%), satisfy curiosity (958/1217, 79%), protect the team from liability (938/1215, 77%), and build clinical experience (533/1217, 44%). Students in higher intensity regions reported significantly more low-value behaviors: each one-unit increase in the ratio of physician visits per decedent increased the odds of reporting low-value behaviors by 20% (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04-1.38; P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Third- and fourth-year medical students report engaging in both high- and low-value behaviors, which are related to regional HCI. This underscores the importance of the clinical learning environment and suggests imprinting is already underway during medical school.

Choosing Wisely in Pediatric Internship

Background. The Choosing Wisely (CW) campaign informs physicians and the public about safety and quality in medical practice. Objective. To evaluate a CW campaign in a medical internship in pediatrics. Methods. An interventionist study with teachers of medicine and pediatric internship students in which the Delphi technique was applied using online questionnaires. Specialists identified 3 unnecessary situations that commonly occur in clinical practice. Following the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) model evaluation, a group of students who participated in the educational interventions was compared with another group that was not exposed to the campaign. Results. Most students evaluated the CW campaign content as excellent (64%) or very good (31.6%). The level of successes in the OSCE evaluation was higher in the exposed group when compared with the nonexposed group (P = .001). Conclusions. The CW campaign improved the clinical skills of pediatric internship students.

Choosing Wisely Canada Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) campaign: a descriptive evaluation

BACKGROUND

Resource stewardship is being increasingly recognized as an essential competency for physicians, but medical schools are just beginning to integrate this into education. We describe the evaluation of Choosing Wisely Canada's Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) campaign, a student-led campaign to advance resource stewardship education in medical schools across Canada.

METHODS

We evaluated the campaign 6 months after its launch, in November 2015. STARS students were administered a telephone survey eliciting a description of the initiatives that they had implemented or planned to implement at their schools to promote resource stewardship, and exploring their perceptions of facilitators of and barriers to successful implementation of their initiatives. We used a mixed-methods approach to analyze and summarize the data.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven (82%) of the 33 eligible students representing all 17 medical schools responded. In 14 schools (82%), students led various local activities (e.g., interest groups, campaign weeks) to raise awareness about resource stewardship among medical students and faculty. Students contributed to curriculum change (both planned and implemented) at 10 schools (59%). Thematic analysis revealed key program characteristics that facilitated success (e.g., pan-Canadian student network, local faculty champion) as well as barriers to implementing change (e.g., complex processes to change curriculum, hierarchical nature of medical school).

INTERPRETATION

This student-led campaign, with support from local faculty and Choosing Wisely Canada staff, led to awareness-building activities and early curricula change at medical schools across Canada. Future plans will build on the initial momentum created by the STARS campaign to sustain and spread local initiatives.