Developing Entrustable Professional Activities as the Basis for Assessment of Competence in an Internal Medicine Residency: A Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND

Graduate medical education programs assess trainees’ performance to determine readiness for unsupervised practice. Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are a novel approach for assessing performance of core professional tasks.

AIM

To describe a pilot and feasibility evaluation of two EPAs for competency-based assessment in internal medicine (IM) residency.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

Post-graduate year-1 interns (PGY-1s) and attendings at a large internal medicine (IM) residency program.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Two Entrustable professional activities (EPA) assessments (Discharge, Family Meeting) were piloted.

PROGRAM FEASIBILITY EVALUATION

Twenty-eight out of 43 (65.1 %) PGY-1 s and 32/43 (74.4 %) attendings completed surveys about the Discharge EPA experience. Most who completed the EPA assessment (10/12, 83.8 %, PGY-1s; 9/11, 83.3 %, attendings) agreed it facilitated useful feedback discussions. For the Family Meeting EPA, 16/26 (61.5 %) PGY-1s completed surveys, and most who participated (9/12 PGY1s, 75 %) reported it improved attention to family meeting education, although only half recommended continuing the EPA assessment.

DISCUSSION

From piloting two EPA assessments in a large IM residency, we recognized our reminder systems and time dedicated for completing EPA requirements as inadequate. Collaboration around patient safety and palliative care with relevant clinical services has enhanced implementation and buy-in. We will evaluate how well EPA-based assessment serves the intended purpose of capturing trainees’ trustworthiness to conduct activities unsupervised.     

Stapled hemorrhoidopexy: a technique for applying the crucial purse string suture (MAMC Technique)

BACKGROUND: Stapled hemorrhoidopexy for prolapsing hemorrhoids has been found to be associated with lesser postoperative pain and consequently earlier mobilization and return to work, in comparison to conventional hemorrhoidectomy. Purse string application remains a crucial step to ensure adequate lifting of the anal mucosa and this step is technically tedious in the presence of large hemorrhoids obscuring the vision using the standard purse string applicator. The proposed method in our technique makes this crucial step more reliable, easier, and safe in the hands of the beginner and the experienced surgeon alike. METHODS: Thirty healthy adults (21 males and 9 females) with grade 3 or 4 hemorrhoids underwent stapled hemorrhoidopexy at a large university referral hospital in New Delhi. Purse string application was the first step in the entire procedure even before the application of the circular anal dilator. The purse string was applied using authors' method herein after referred to as Maulana Azad Medical College "(MAMC) technique" after the name of the institution. Rest of the procedure was completed as described by Longo et al. RESULTS: The mean operative time was 26 minutes (range 16 to 40 min). The mean visual analog scale (VAS) pain score on day 1 was 1.6 (range 0 to 3). The mean hospital stay was 1.1 days (range 1 to 2 d). There was no major intraoperative complication and one case each of postoperative urinary retention and residual hemorrhoid, there was no recurrence, anal stenosis, or anal incontinence after a mean follow up of 15 months (range 3 to 24 mo). CONCLUSIONS: The procedure described is safe, easy to learn, and technically sound, enabling the application of the crucial purse string at the desired distance from the dentate line, in the correct submucosal plane with closely placed bites and at the same transverse level.     

Laparoscopic ventral hernia meshplasty with "double-breasted" fascial closure of hernial defect: a new technique

BACKGROUND: Absence of recurrence, seroma, and pain eludes the laparoscopic surgeon managing ventral and incisional hernias. Multifactorial etiology (i.e., obesity, comorbidity, and dyscollagenemia) is a challenge. Surgeons have risen to this challenge by providing laparoscopic ventral hernia repair (LVHR). Stability of mesh in a standard LVHR is attributed to Pascal's Principle (PP). PP, based upon concentration of forces at the point of least resistance, has been classically applied in hydraulic jacks to move large masses. Application of PP in LVHR is thus misplaced where the hernial defect becomes a point of concentration of intra-abdominal forces. This makes the mesh inherently unstable. For a stable mesh aided by PP, benefits of defect closure needed to be explored. METHODS: Between January 2000 and December 2004, 30 nonsmoker patients with incisional, primary ventral, and recurrent ventral hernias were operated on. Laparoscopic closure of the defect augmented with intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM), as done in standard LVHR, was preformed. RESULTS: Thirty patients with 34 defects of a mean "closed defect" length of 5.7 cm (range, 3-10) were operated on. Mean operative time was 90 minutes (range, 75-110). There were no conversions, visceral injury, postoperative visible bulge, or seroma. No painkiller except Paracetamol was required. There was no recurrence in a mean follow-up of 58 months (range, 26-84). Restored abdominal contour was achieved by all the patients. CONCLUSION: Closure of hernial defect augmented with IPOM is a safe, patient friendly, and scientific way of doing LVHR.     

Monoclonal antibody "gold rush"

The market, sales and regulatory approval of new human medicines, during the past few years, indicates increasing number and share of new biologics and emergence of new multibillion dollar molecules. The global sale of monoclonal antibodies in 2006 were $20.6 billion. Remicade had annual sales gain of $1 billion during the past 3 years and five brands had similar increase in 2006. Rituxan with 2006 sales of $4.7 billion was the best selling monoclonal antibody and biological product and the 6th among the top selling medicinal brand. It may be the first biologic and monoclonal antibody to reach $10 billion annual sales in the near future. The strong demand from cancer and arthritis patients has surpassed almost all commercial market research reports and sales forecast. Seven monoclonal antibody brands in 2006 had sales exceeding $1 billion. Humanized or fully human monoclonal antibodies with low immunogenicity, enhanced antigen binding and reduced cellular toxicity provide better clinical efficacy. The higher technical and clinical success rate, overcoming of technical hurdles in large scale manufacturing, low cost of market entry and IND filing, use of fully human and humanized monoclonal antibodies has attracted funds and resources towards R&D. Review of industry research pipeline and sales data during the past 3 years indicate a real paradigm shift in industrial R&D from pharmaceutical to biologics and monoclonal antibodies. The antibody bandwagon has been joined by 200 companies with hundreds of new projects and targets and has attracted billions of dollars in R&D investment, acquisitions and licensing deals leading to the current Monoclonal Antibody Gold Rush.     

The minimal instrumentation requirements for Hoechst side population analysis: stem cell analysis on low-cost flow cytometry platforms

The Hoechst side population (SP) technique is a critical method of identifying stem cells and early progenitors in rodent, nonhuman primate, and human hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic tissues. In this technique, the cell-permeable DNA-binding dye Hoechst 33342 is loaded into the cell population of interest; stem cells and early progenitors subsequently pump this dye out via an ATP-binding cassette membrane pump-dependent mechanism, resulting in a low-fluorescence "tail" (the SP) when the cells are analyzed by flow cytometry. This population contains stem cells and early progenitors. One significant drawback of this method is the requirement of an UV laser to excite the Hoechst 33342. Unfortunately, flow cytometers equipped with UV sources are expensive to own and operate and are not readily available to many laboratories or institutions. In the interests of designing a less expensive flow cytometric system for stem cell analysis, we determined the minimum UV excitation and instrumentation requirements for measuring Hoechst SP. Less than 3 mW of UV laser output was required for adequate resolution of Hoechst SP on two cuvette-based flow cytometers, one of which was a simple, inexpensive benchtop analyzer (the Quanta Analyzer; NPE Systems). Furthermore, Hoechst SP could also be adequately resolved on this epifluorescence-based cytometer platform using two nonlaser UV sources, a mercury arc lamp with a UV bandpass filter and a UV-emitting light-emitting diode. These results suggest that an economical flow cytometric system can be designed that is capable of resolving Hoechst SP, with a cost far lower than most UV laser-equipped commercial systems. An inexpensive system of this type would make Hoechst SP analysis available to a much broader group of stem cell investigators.     

Detection of tumor cells in body cavity fluids by flow cytometric and immunocytochemical analysis

Measurement of electronic volume versus DNA content of nuclei can be used to discriminate between normal and malignant cells. Epithelial membrane antigen immunocytochemistry (EMA-ICC), a helpful ancillary test in body cavity fluids, is not universally accurate for detecting malignancy in effusions. The current study was undertaken to determine if multiparametric flow cytometry (based on simultaneous analysis of light scatter, nuclear volume, DNA, and nuclear protein content) in combination with (EMA-ICC) could be used for the detection of malignant cells in peritoneal and pleural fluids. We studied 130 body cavity fluids (68 peritoneal and 62 pleural fluids) by conventional cytology and multiparametric laser flow cytometry. EMA-ICC was performed using EMA antibodies and L-SAB detection system (DakoCytomation, Carpinteria, CA). EMA-ICC had significantly higher sensitivity than conventional cytology (79% versus 59%, P = 0.016) and ploidy (79% versus 38%, P = 0.001). Cytology had significantly higher specificity than ploidy (97% versus 82%, P = 0.012). The differences in specificity between EMA-ICC and ploidy (87% versus 82%, P= 0.607) or EMA-ICC and cytology (87% versus 97%, P = 0.109) were not statistically significant. However, assuming serial testing, sensitivity increased significantly for the combinations of cytology and EMA-ICC (79.4%, P = 0.016) and cytology and ploidy (73.5%, P = 0.004) as compared to cytology alone (58.8%). Also, the combination of cytology and ploidy had a higher sensitivity than ploidy alone (73% versus 38%, P < 0.0001). However, the sensitivity associated with the three tests used in serial (85.3%) was not significantly different from the sensitivities corresponding to the combination of cytology and EMA-ICC (79%) or cytology and ploidy (73%). Multiparametric flow cytometry utilizing high resolution DNA, nuclear volume, protein measurement, and ICC, in combination with cytomorphology, may be a valuable tool for rapid identification of malignant cells in body cavity fluids.