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1. As health care professionals, why is your health so important?
My health is essential because my health directly impacts my ability to care for my patients. Without having my own health in check, I may inadvertently put my patients at risk. Therefore my ability to care for myself and ensure positive health affects much more than just myself, so the health of the health care professionals becomes essential. Unfortunately at the same time it is almost assumed that a doctor will inherently have good health, because they are the doctor. These stereotypes sometimes place doctors, who are still human at the end of the day, in an awkward position especially when engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms. While the article quotes doctors more often engage in physical activity and avoid smoking, they also engage in moderate to heavy drinking. Acknowledging the fact that we are all human, that no one is perfect, and that “perfect” health is a standard to work towards on a daily basis is one of the first steps towards dispelling any misbeliefs. Without my health being in line, my patients will suffer, so for my future patients my understanding of self care and how to ensure my own health is very essential.2. Historically, the statement “knowledge is power” has been used to promote healthy lifestyles. In an age of instant information via technology, is this the most accurate statement accurate? Why or why not?
Knowledge is power in many ways, but with our ease of access too much knowledge starts to detract from the power. This is because with knowledge overload we become indecisive and do not realize how best to target our efforts. Take for instance the bodybuilder googling a new program every time they go to the gym, unfortunately they are unlikely to make any sustained progress given the fact that each workout they change what they are doing. Sometimes too much knowledge leads us to being confused as to how best distribute our efforts, leading to an inefficient use of our power or time. Knowledge is power in many ways, but knowing how to use the knowledge is equally essential.3. Describe self-care tools that you use to handle stress and promote your personal health.
Yoga by and large is my most important stress reliever and reminder of the value of my own wellness. Each time I do yoga, especially if it has been a little while since my last session, I am reminded how essential a breath and movement practice is for my own wellbeing. This reminder comes in many forms but primarily is felt through my response to the “breath”, I can feel my body relaxing and the tension I carry being left away. I go into a session stressed and I come out relaxed. It is important for me to be aware of these things as they help the future physician I’ll be to recognize negative emotions I may feel throughout a typical day, but luckily I already have coping mechanisms in place. If I am overwhelmed, I’ll step back and take a deep breath. If the day was heavy, I’ll work out, walk the dogs, or do some yoga so I can “walk it off”. Other tools are hiking, getting out into nature, walking my dogs, listening to music, and sometimes even a nice shower.Hello! My name is Edwin Seldon Davis, but I go by the middle name so please call me Seldon. I am a 4th year medical student out of RVUCOM-SU, originally from NY, and I’ll be headed to Lawton, OK for a FM Residency next year. Excited for what my future career in FM and hopefully Sports Medicine will hold, and very excited to be receiving training in an unopposed community program where the FM residents will be first in line in managing our patients. I am taking this course as my last course in the MIH curriculum and especially because Self-Care is a critical topic far too often neglected in Medical School. I think I was culpable of this as well, but telling myself those first few years that it was okay to miss some sleep because I would “make it up later” or other aspects of my health/wellness that I let slip in favor of a future goal. I recognize now how deleterious those habits can be and how much of a focus health, wellness, and self-care must be engaged in order to create a “daily wellness practice”. My future career plans are to provide full spectrum FM care for a rural environment while also maintaining a sports medicine clinic where I get to focus on MSK pathology, ultrasound techniques and treatment, and utilize my OMT as a treatment tool for my patients!
Based on this article and your own personal and professional healthcare experiences, please identify, summarize and address challenges to the delivery of healthcare, education, and training, and implementation of change in developing countries.
-Challenges to the delivery of healthcare, education, and training are unique in developing countries. These take on and reflect that of the communities needs or difficulties. For instance the difficulties faced by the developing regions across sub-Saharan Africa have different needs than that of an Island nation in the Pacific. What helps someone from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro may not necessarily benefit an equally poverty stricken individual from a more rural environment. Common necessities do shine through however such as the need for developed infrastructure and resources. Even those specifically dedicated towards pandemic response could help a developing country maintain progress and growth rather than be set back by something like the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately though hindsight is usually 2020, which I’ve realized now may be the worst pun ever considering the events of that year.
What is meant by the “hidden curriculum” and how does this effect the learning environment?
-The “hidden” or “informal” curriculum in medicine has many forms. This includes all of the unintended learning experiences that come alongside medical education. Going through the medical education process brings with it changes to ones values, norms, beliefs, skills, and knowledge. I think this is probably an interesting comparison based specifically on where someone trains. In the same vein I think it would be interesting to compare and contrast the underlying values of a medical school in the Northeast with one from the South, or even from California. With different values, beliefs, and norms emphasized in unique settings, cultures, and communities, it brings new meaning to the term personal education.Describe the most effective strategies for faculty development in your context
-Faculty development in my context involves involving the student. One of the things I appreciated the most about my medical school was the consistency with which they approached the students for feedback. Being the second class to go through our Southern Utah campus in particular, we were always allowed a voice that the administration heeded. In my opinion this is above all the most critical strategy towards faculty development in a medical school. Learn how the students want to learn and you can capture the masses.What is the relationship between pandemic disease vulnerability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
-Pandemic disease vulnerability exists in balance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)s. The article specifically references a few SDGs, like those around cities, communities, resource production, and respecting the environment. In respecting and building on the SDGs, we are able to protect ourselves. The article makes this clear with examples such as the COVID-19 rates within our Urban areas, highlighting the necessity of sustainable city planning. Combatting climate change has been highlighted the last few years as well, and for good reason. The article goes on to illuminate the link between our worlds future and our current industrial practices, so for me it comes as a surprise that many big businesses focus on the short term dollar rather than the long term bottom line.What means would be useful for early detection of future zoonotic infections?
-I think after the COVID pandemic we will be more prepared for the next pandemic, or at least I hope. Hopefully recency bias will be overshadowed by the massive impact COVID has had, and from past failures we will glean future successes. While many countries in the past may have underestimated the impact a global pandemic can have, they wont in the future. This forces an emphasis on maintaining the proper public health infrastructure in the future, ready for the moment when crisis strikes. Long lasting public health initiatives mixed with a comprehensive testing, contact tracing, and immediate isolation system can hopefully improve our chances next time.1. In your opinion, how should health leaders respond when government leaders make statements detrimental to the health of the public?
-Health Leaders should be able to concisely and easily debunk or refute any claims detrimental to the health of the public, as that is their role. Their whole purpose is to lead and educate on their expert subject, the subject of public health, so if they “correct” the misinformation provided by other government leaders it should be taken as fact. Unfortunately however when you have a government leader, from one of the strongest positions in the free world, consistently providing contradictory information while disputing the “expertise” of their appointed experts, it becomes difficult for the public to know who to listen to. Health leaders should easily be able to refute falsehoods while educating the public on the truth, without opinion or bias. Government leaders should promote health leaders ability to do so, and should echo similar sentiments as the health leader to promote a unified public health front.2. Explain the role of one recent social movement to prevent or end epidemics.
-A social movement listed in the text is the “Treatment Action Campaign”, and based on the text it is easy to see how a social movement can have the massive rippling impact it can. Without groups like the TAC or others a large proportion of the public may lack the right medium through which to express their concerns. While not always met positively, the government may hinder or editorialize the publics concern, but these groups exist for the public made by the public. With these groups communities can lift each other up whiling shining lights into the darkest regions of their own homes for the world to see. In raising such global awareness the public is able to effectively step around the limitations placed by their own government, to seek assistance not from their own people but globally from the world. In doing so effective change has been made in long-stagnant places, like this chapter has provided.The ideal role for the healthcare educator is one that wears many hats. The ideal healthcare educator must be able to collaborate, provide exemplary care all while serving as a community leader, administrator, and mentor. This ideal healthcare educator must also at the same time act morally, and be ethically just. Preferably cool, calm, and collected under duress and in chaotic situations, and preferably an individual capable of leading by example. With these competencies and qualities a healthcare educator is placed in a unique position primed with possibilities.
1. Describe one strength and one weakness of your own approach to studying for this course. How could you improve both?
One strength I have towards this course is experience, at this point as a fourth year medical student I have accumulated quite an academic history under my belt. I think having spent that much time in formal education made the transition to this course easy and without confusion. Having some experience with the way INMED courses function definitely helped as well. One weakness I have may actually be the same, and because of all those courses I’ve had in the past I have quite a bit of pre-existing knowledge. Sometimes attempting to incorporate new information is difficult just to find a place to fit it in, or a relevance with which to categorize it.
2. Describe the difference between evaluation and feedback and provide one example of each from the same scenario.
Evaluation details an assessment, usually a comparison with other learners performance, but is not geared towards making an effective change. Feedback on the other hand provides specifics to reinforce positives and correct negatives with explanation, allowing the learner to stay on course to meet their goals. An evaluation is like the grade for the physics test, but the feedback is shown in each question in the red pen where you went wrong.
I appreciate the specifics Nilda relays in her post, and think its astronomical that priorities fell so low as to cut budgets on such a critical department. Without a doubt those issues in her post heightened the severity and impact of the COVID19 pandemic.
1. Describe the power of “recency bias” upon strategic health decision making.
Recency bias details that our recent experience becomes the baseline for our future decisions, and as a result we end up defining the future and what we experience based on the past or what we already experienced. Recency bias has massive power on health decision making, and unfortunately human kind as emotionally driven as we are, are prone towards this error. With COVIDs massive presence all of the sudden, much of the world feel they had this pandemic thrust upon them. Now years later it is easy to see why people are burnt out and decreasingly willing to follow CDC guidance. Recency bias helps us keep a focus when it is needed, but can pull us from something critical if we are not careful.
2. Name a financial investment you believe would be especially valuable to ending pandemics. Why do you have this opinion?
This is an extremely difficult question, and if there was an easy answer for this I imagine the last two years would have gone differently. After the headlines and the news titles decrease, we end up forgetting the threat and falling back into our everyday lives. Recency bias helps dictate this and as a result money is focused where the mind is. It is interesting albeit unfortunate that funding rises and falls so easily with public attention. Personally, think it would be nice if we didn’t need a pandemic each time just so the public would care.
I appreciate Nilda’s reference to the Irish and British solution here, and that makes a lot of sense. The UK promoting “Dont feed the beast” pushes people away from their initial reaction of fear, and recognizes the slippery slope of misinformation in producing community chaos. Then the Irish solution takes it another step further with their “Stop, think, check”. These are easy quick solutions that an individual can use on a daily basis to keep themselves safe, but that they can also easily promote to neighbors and friends who may also not understand the damage they are causing behind their facebook posts.
1. Describe at least one serious outcome from dissemination of incorrect information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The easiest and quickest outcome to notice following the dissemination of incorrect COVID-19 information is the lax nature in which some consider a vaccination necessary, or even if following CDC guidance is necessary. The dissemination of incorrect COVI19 information sows discord and confusion leading to individuals further indecision over how to react or who to believe.
2. In your opinion, what safeguards should social media leaders take against COVID-19 misinformation?
Social media leaders are placed in a very peculiar spot between an ethical moral to promote the truth versus their members free speech. Everyone deserves to have an opinion but unfortunately not everyone’s opinion deserves to be shared. I think teams of people need to be tasked at this, with the focus of ensuring some level of consistency, or marking posts with personal opinion or expert verification in order to show who’s posts are based on opinion or science and facts.
Adequate class resources to compensate for needs of the healthcare system are a necessity. They must ensure there are adequate educational resources to compensate for the needs of the healthcare system, the need for nurses is only increasing and they must have a system in place ready to fill that need. Innovation arises from conscious and effective change, and in conclusion this is the task the writers leave the existing Nursing Education leadership with. Suggesting foreign nursing curriculums as a starting point. I think a lot can be learned from your neighbors, both down the street and across the globe, so I’d have to agree. They would likely benefit from some effective feedback, so allowing more students and educators contribute can be key to lasting reform.
1. I really appreciated this section in the book, and I felt as though it made clear some things that I didn’t even know I was confused about. The chapter succinctly places focus on the different components, being the what, the where, then the how. The what indicating what the student is missing in regards to the task at hand, such as the specifics behind order of operations in a math equation. The where being where their performance is going, either positively or negatively, such as the trends in ones work. Imagine a student who has struggled but is consistently working hard and improving vs. a similar student who equally works hard but cannot seem to find improvement. The how then telling the student how they should proceed with their efforts, a best route of attack to learn if you will. Feedback incorporating these components has the potential to create concrete change within a learner, but only as long as it is directed. Without concise directed feedback the learner may struggle in terms of next steps or where to go from here, but with the last component of effective feedback geared towards these transitions the learner may be in luck.
2. Spaced repetition has by and large been the most effective strategy for retention that I have ever used, but the majority of my efforts throughout my academic career took the shape of a diagram of some form or another. I am a very visual learner so planning and mapping out information with a visual diagram heavily appealed to me. For instance this would be a rudimentary circuit of the arteriovenous connections in the forearm and hand. Without drawing it out with the distribution of flow in mind mastering that info for test time would have been more difficult. Spaced repetition however was truly my money maker. Using the program Anki, a flashcard program, to review and refresh the same information again and again going into my board exams was a gamechanger. The reason this was so essential was the time-pressure manner in which I tried to study. I knew I would only have about a minute and a half for each question so in order to stay on time my recall needed to be quick. This is where Anki came in. Seeing the same information again and again allowed me to ingrain the critical aspects of complex pathology and made the information second nature and reflex rather than complex contemplation. Drilling it over months before my tests created the conditions I needed, and I can confidently say I owe some of my USMLE Step 1 success to Anki.
1. Consistency in communication, everyone needs to be on the same page. This needs to at the minimum be maintained from a leadership standpoint. The governing officials federally and locally need to be consistent with their message and communications to the public, and especially when involving a epidemiology-focused agency like the CDC that needs to be acting as the “experts” on scene. We need to treat this like an emergency response, requiring an incident command system in place to maximize our efficiency. Constant feedback from involved parties needs to be considered as well and can help the public feel as though their voice and concerns can be heard, so a safe medium through which feedback can be received is essential.
2. I think a notable recent government action that may have undermined trust in vaccines against COVID-19 was the inconsistencies and issues we have seen in Booster recommendations in terms of if they were or weren’t recommender. Who should or shouldn’t get a vaccine, based on pre-existing conditions or based on prior vaccine? There are so many questions along with the booster recommendations, and the answers without consistency lead to anger and distrust.
I agree with Jacquelyn very much regarding transparency being essential, and that without ongoing transparency in place the process can seem as though its shrouded in secrecy to the public eye. I appreciate Jonathans additions as well and thought it was interesting how the South Korean governments careful hesitation ended up sowing distrust.