Core Cardiology Training Symposium (COCATS) Standards and Board Certifications: Implications for Fellows-in-Training Seeking Employment

The Core Cardiology Training Symposium (COCATS) standards are recommendations endorsed by the American College of Cardiology to assist cardiology fellowship program training directors in curricular design. In addition to seeking COCATS standards as evidence of proficiency in cardiovascular skills, Fellows-In-Training (FITs) often pursue board certifications to maximize their hiring potential. The costs and barriers with COCATS standards and board certification processes are not insignificant, however the degree to which the job marketplace demands them has not been well characterized. The intent of this investigation study was to estimate the demand for COCATS standards and board certification in cardiology job advertisements. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of job listings on the American College of Cardiology’s “Cardiology Careers” page, to establish how often advanced COCATS standards and certifications are requested. Of a total of 314 total cardiology job postings (including 133 academic positions), only eight (2.5%) job postings explicitly noted COCATS standards. Aside from American Board of Internal Medicine subspecialty certification, only 8.60% required certification in another cardiology related board certification. Despite the perception that COCATS standards and subspecialty certifications are vital to the cardiology job application process, our analysis suggests that few job postings require them. Concern regarding COCATS standards and subspecialty certification of FITs may be out of proportion to the relevance of these achievements on the current job market.

Utilizing Psychodynamic Principles to Teach Professionalism to Medical Students Through an Innovative Curriculum

Professionalism is a fundamental expectation of practicing medicine and a core competency in medical education, yet the methods of how to teach and evaluate it are still experimental. Professionalism involves self-reflection, a psychodynamic understanding of the patient's and the doctor's predicament, and conflict resolution, so psychiatrists are uniquely qualified to teach it. This article describes an innovative course that utilizes psychodynamic principles to teach professionalism to medical students. The authors present a novel 2-year curriculum for teaching professionalism to first- and second-year medical students utilizing psychodynamic principles to help develop awareness of others’ feelings and motivations, self-reflection, compassion, empathy, and skills in ethical conflict resolution by means of written and oral narrative exercises. Outcomes are evaluated by the student ratings about the course and the faculty, and by using the test for emotional intelligence (EI), administered as a baseline and then at the end of each year. Each subsequent year the students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in EI scores, student evaluations of the course ranked among the highest in the medical school, clerkship supervisors and residency training directors noted the high degree of professionalism of the students, and the number of student applicants to psychiatry residency were consistently higher than the national average. In addition, this course was awarded the 2018 Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society's Edward B. Harris Medical Professionalism Award for the best professionalism course of U.S. medical schools. Psychodynamic principles are fundamental for teaching medical professionalism at a medical-student level. Professionalism also serves as a way to introduce students to psychiatry early in the curriculum, and psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are uniquely qualified to teach medical professionalism.

P013 IBD 101: AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE FOR FIRST YEAR GASTROENTEROLOGY FELLOWS

Introduction Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) management is changing at a rapid rate, with the emergence of multiple new therapies and evolving care goals. In addition, the quality and quantity of IBD fellowship education is highly variable, based on patient populations and institutional expertise. Therefore, it is crucial to develop improved ways to educate our trainees. Here, we describe an educational initiative designed to familiarize first year gastroenterology (GI) fellows to key concepts in the management of IBD. Methods IBD 101 is a one-day course designed to introduce first-year GI fellows to various clinical topics relevant to the management of IBD. The program was held on September 14, 2019. Fellows from U.S. allopathic GI training programs were selected by their training directors for participation. The course included small group didactic sessions led by expert faculty members and group observed structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), in which fellows observed encounters between expert faculty and standardized patients followed immediately by debrief sessions to reinforce key concepts. The topics included need for surgery in IBD, pregnancy and IBD, escalation of care for acute severe UC, initiating biologic therapy, treatment of mild-moderate IBD, treatment of moderate-severe IBD and managing loss of response to therapy. A review of supplemental opportunities for education in IBD was presented at the conclusion of the course. Pre- and post-course surveys using Likert scoring (1=“strongly disagree” through 4=“strongly agree”) were administered to assess baseline knowledge and educational impact of the course on each addressed topic. Results 55 fellows from 32 programs participated. 49/55 (89%) completed pre- and post-course surveys to assess the educational impact of the program on the didactic sessions and on the group OSCE format. 100% of fellows felt that the course content was appropriate for their scope of clinical practice. Substantial improvement in comfort with all addressed clinical topics was noted (figure 1). In the post-course survey, all fellows reported an improved ability to manage and treat patients with IBD. Comparing career interest in IBD, more participants expressed interest in pursuing a career in IBD after participating (pre: 63% vs post: 75%). 96% of attendees stated that they would strongly recommend this course to future GI fellows. Conclusions This single day course for first-year GI trainees was effective and well-received, and offers a novel intervention to address the challenges of IBD education and training. Follow-up of this cohort of trainees and expansion for next year is planned.

Our State of the Union: Results From the 2017–2018 CCPTP Membership Survey

In honor of the 50th anniversary of The Counseling Psychologist, we present a snapshot of the current state of counseling psychology training in the context of the health service psychology model and competency-based framework of the Standards of Accreditation. Using data from the 2017–2018 Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs membership survey that was completed by 95% of counseling psychology training directors ( N = 76), we describe how counseling psychology programs are meeting accreditation requirements and present their self-reported institutional resources and supports. We also summarize preliminary data on program-specific competencies and master’s-level training—two current training-related issues that may strengthen or weaken counseling psychology professional identity and values. We discuss ways of balancing the demands of training and available resources within the current context of overall rising costs and diminishing resources across higher education.

Assessing Integrative Psychiatry Curriculum Needs

Background Research on incorporating integrative medicine (IM) into medical training is increasing. Programs and organizations around IM have been established, but there has not previously been a needs assessment focused on integrating IM into psychiatry training. Objectives The results of a needs assessment of training directors and faculty, focused on interest and priorities for developing an IM curriculum for psychiatry training programs, are described. Methods Psychiatry Training Directors and faculty were invited to participate in a detailed electronic survey. Areas of inquiry included (a) IM content areas to include in training; (b) IM approaches to specific medical conditions; (c) existing IM content; (d) importance, interest, and strategies for IM training; and (e) availability of wellness programs for trainees. Results Thirty-six respondents from psychiatry training programs completed the survey. Of the training programs represented by the respondents, 50% indicated that they currently had IM content in their curriculum; only 11.8% of them rated their programs’ existing IM content as sufficient. Content areas rated most highly for inclusion in a psychiatry IM curriculum included sleep health, motivational interviewing, and self-care. Respondents indicated incorporating IM into the psychiatry training curriculum (47%) or as an elective (44%) as the desired implementation strategy, with experiential onsite activities demonstrating IM topics (67%) and online modules supplemented by local faculty (58%) as the 2 most desirable learning formats. Significant barriers identified were time constraints, lack of faculty expertise in IM, current lack of curricular requirements for IM competencies, and budgetary limitations. Conclusion Responses to the survey suggest that faculty need support and additional education in implementing IM training. A standardized, online curriculum could help meet that need. Our results also indicate that wellness programs for residents are currently inadequate; bolstering them could help address burnout and increase the knowledge psychiatrists have of IM modalities. The types of institutions represented by faculty interested in further developing IM offerings vary considerably, as do their current efforts to integrate IM into training programs.