ACE Publications and Resources

2022: Valuing the Contributions of Medical Educators

Teaching is an integral part of the medical profession as apprenticeship is essential prior to independent practice. Although education is an arm of the tripartite mission of academic medical centers, there is often inequity in the value ascribed to and resources allocated for educators. This has become more apparent with shifting priorities in health care systems, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and greater emphasis on revenue generation. Educators derive meaning from and are passionate about their roles. During the recent pandemic, they have quickly and valiantly converted curriculum to online platforms, adapted to hybrid models of teaching, and maintained flexibility to accommodate ongoing schedule changes.  However, there remains an inequity in compensation, disparity in protected time allocation, and shortfall in recognizing teaching effort. This, in turn, negatively impacts educator wellness, engagement in training our future physicians, and the learning environment. Educational value units (EVUs) have been proposed as a metric to assess effort in teaching and other scholarly productivity, akin to relative value units for clinical work. Much still needs to be done, however, to establish a broad, equitable process of measuring educational effort. Partnering with departmental and institutional leadership, there are also other creative initiatives that can be developed to recognize and value educators. In this session, members of the Alliance for Clinical Education (ACE) will introduce the topic of EVUs, discuss alternative efforts to recognize educators, and share examples of successfully implemented institutional approaches. The objectives of this session were to:

• Discuss an approach to implementing a metric for educational effort.
• Describe two practical ways to value teaching.
• Advocate for recognition of educators.

2018: Pass-Fail in Medical School and the Residency Application Process and GME Transition

With the continued move to adopt a competency based medical education mindset in undergraduate medical education, coupled with concerns about student burnout, more medical schools are moving toward a Pass-Fail standard for grading.  While such a standard has an appeal for a competency based program (i.e., one either meets a standard or does not), it meets up against the hard reality of the competitive residency application process.  Residency, and fellowship, program directors are often faced with a large number of applications and either relatively limited information, or information such as the Medical Student Performance Evaluation that they may not fully trust.  Faced with a need to rank applicants, program directors are left with emphasizing those elements of performance that are more easily measured—scores on licensing and other examinations, even if they recognize the limitations in such information. The objectives of this session were to:
-Recognize the current trends in grading in UME and the challenges this may present in the residency application process;
Describe approaches to enhancing the quality of information gathered and reported in UME; and
Describe at least one method to enhance the residency review and/or selection process for medical students who come from programs that do not use traditional grades.

2018:  Are Red Flags Incompatible with a Successful Match?

ACE prepared a poster presentation for the meeting.  We were able to have discussions with participants at the reception as well as capture survey data as part of the poster.

The poster is available to review by clicking here.

2016:  Cultural Barriers to Effective Learning

Participants in this session will identify and discuss strategies to address cultural barriers impacting the learning environment. As individuals transition into professional programs, the expectations is that they make the leap to being an adult learners. This is an important theoretical construct that may be unknown to learners from different cultures as well as the millennial generation.  The objectives of this session were to:
-Discuss cultural barriers that may exist in various learning environments;
-Identify how adult learning theory can be applied to cultural differences; and
-Devise methods of enhancing the learning environment to be more culturally inclusive.

2015: Transition to Residency: Who’s Responsible?

The transition from medical school to residency training has come under scrutiny.  There is a push for competency-based medical education, but few medical educators have frameworks that are easily understood by clinical educators as well as trainees.  This session addressed the efforts to develop milestones and competencies that could be applied in medical student education.

2013: Evaluation and Grading in Clerkships: Current State and Future Directions

For its plenary session at the AAMC meeting, the Alliance for Clinical Education explored the possibility of inter-school standards for evaluating students. In principle, common standards of assessment across schools could make it easier for residency directors to select among candidates for their GME programs, and create less reliance on things like USMLE scores. Viewpoints on this question were presented in a “pro” and “con” fashion with ample time for discussion among the attendees at the session.

2011: Who Cares About the 4th Year of Medical School?

The fourth year of medical school has long been discussed as an area where curricular renewal is needed. Some argue in favor of leaving it as an open time for students to select any courses they want, while others believe that there should be a more structured curriculum. Efforts are also being made by some disciplines to formalize at least parts of the pre-residency training (such as the subinternships) and to recommend specific courses in the senior year for students going into their specialties.

2009: Integrating Electronic Health Records into Undergraduate Medical Education: Challenges and Opportunities

Electronic Health Records (EHR) are powerful tools for optimizing patient care delivery, and many academic centers are incorporating EHR into teaching settings. However, there have been relatively few studies reporting the effect of EHR on the education of medical students, and the optimal integration of EHR into undergraduate medical education has not been well described or documented. As a result, a national survey was conducted of clerkship directors in an attempt to better understand the challenges and opportunities of integrating EHR into daily teaching of medical students.

2007: Portfolios in Clinical Medical Education –One Method to Foster Inter-clerkship Growth

Student portfolios are becoming increasingly common in undergraduate medical education. The literature reveals that portfolios are used for many different purposes including stimulating reflection and tracking development of competencies. Portfolios range from small endeavors, designed by a single discipline for a very specific purpose to major undertakings, backed by institutional resources. Several institutions are incorporating patient encounter logs into a portfolio. Many portfolios are multi-disciplinary, allowing the opportunity for collaboration among specialties.

2005: Evaluation and Feedback During Clerkships: Solutions from the National Clerkship Organizations

The goal of this workshop was to present a spectrum of perspectives on evaluation and feedback of medical students across the third-year core clerkships. The session provided general background information including the LCME standards for evaluation and feedback. Next, each panel presenter discussed their national clerkship organization recommendations and resources. In addition, each presenter discussed some strategies currently in use at their own institution. The session ended with a discussion on legal issues involved in evaluation and feedback, followed by questions and comments from the audience.