For a second straight year, the Pritzker School of Medicine and University of Chicago Medicine made their presence felt in the American Medical Association's Accelerating Change in Medical Education Health Systems Science Student, Resident and Fellow Impact Challenge. UChicago again accounted for the most submissions by an institution with four entries in the national competition, and one submission earned Honorable Mention, placing it among the top 6 entries among more than 25 entries from medical schools and centers across the country.
Submissions to the challenge prominently focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on specific healthcare issues. The UChicago submissions also covered a range of topics including misinformation, opioid overdoses, drug use in rural communities, and trauma-informed care. Second-year Pritzker student Naomi Tesema's submission "Utilizing Medical Students as Champions Against Misinformation During a Global Pandemic," which featured the use of infographics to combat COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, earned honorable mention in the competition. Learn more about all of the University of Chicago submissions below and view all submissions here.
Utilizing Medical Students as Champions Against Misinformation During a Global Pandemic
Project lead: Naomi Tesema, MS2
Project: The COVID Educational Support Team, a team of librarians, attendings, residents, fellows and medical students, was created to summarize key literature around vaccines using infographics and visual aids to help inform both clinicians and the community.
Outcomes: The initial infographics on the library site have reached over 700 views. To ensure the vital work of our team will continue, a medical school elective course was created starting in May 2020 for upcoming fourth-year medical students. The thread for the infographics created by students received over 180,000 impressions and 4,000 engagements on Twitter.
A Student-led Response to Impact the Opioid Overdose Crisis
Project lead: Sarah Follman, MD'21, PGY-1 University of Chicago Medical Center (Emergency Medicine)
Project: The goals of our student-led quality improvement initiative were: 1) to provide patients at risk of opioid overdose with naloxone and opioid overdose education, and 2) to provide medical students with exposure to addiction medicine in value-added roles. Through this novel system change, we also hoped to positively impact provider attitudes and practice with training on harm reduction strategies including distribution of take-home naloxone.
Outcomes: During the initiation of the protocol, the working group trained over 90 physicians, 100 nurses, and the entire ED pharmacy staff on the novel systems change. In the first eight months, the group dispensed 117 naloxone kits, and the novel protocol’s naloxone distribution rate surpassed previously published benchmarks. Among 30 students participating,100% reported having more or far more knowledge of the opioid epidemic, 100% reported feeling more or far more comfortable in discussing issues related to substance use.
Experiences with Harm Reduction Services During a Pandemic: Qualitative Interviews with People Who Use Drugs in Rural Illinois
Project lead: Alex Rains, MS2
Project: Through collaboration with a regional harm reduction organization and community members, semi-structured, qualitative interviews based on the Consolidated Framework for Intervention Research and other domains pertaining to COVID-19 were conducted. Interviewees included two groups of people who use drugs — those who access formal harm reduction services and those who do not, but who may access services via peers — to understand barriers and facilitators to access from various perspectives. Interview transcripts were evaluated for recurrent themes related to the experience of the pandemic and of health and social services among the study sample.
Outcomes: Project ongoing. First, and most immediately, findings from this work can highlight the immediate needs of people who use drugs in the Illinois Delta Region. In response, collaborators at local harm reduction organizations can begin to implement appropriate services. Advocacy in the health care field for reducing bias against these populations could serve to improve health care experiences and facilitate engagement with services among this population. Furthermore, adding to the evidence base around harm reduction and its benefits serves to mobilize policymakers in the direction of overdose prevention.
Encouraging Trauma-Informed Care of Sexual Assault Survivors: An Interprofessional Curriculum
Project lead: Kristen Chalmers, MS2
Project: Medical students at the University of Chicago collaborated with sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) and physicians to develop a curriculum for emergency medicine residents, comprised of a didactic lecture, two standardized patient cases, and a forensic pelvic exam simulation.
Outcomes: A pilot of the curriculum led to increases in residents’ self-perceived confidence in taking histories and conducting forensic examinations. Positive feedback from residents has cemented the training into University of Chicago's emergency medicine curriculum. Residents were more likely to agree or strongly agree that they felt confident in their ability to avoid retraumatizing patients through their words and actions.