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IntroductionPatients living with a disability experience an illness trajectory that may be uncertain. While navigating clinical uncertainty has been well-researched, health professionals’ intolerance of uncertainty for patients living with disabilities has yet to be explored. We examined the relationship between medical students’ intolerance of uncertainty with their attitudes towards people living with disabilities to better inform curricular efforts.MethodsWe employed a survey-based design consisting of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS) and Disability Attitudes in Healthcare (DAHC) Scale to medical students upon completion of core clerkships (end of third-year of training). Data were de-identified. Mean DAHC and IUS scores were compared with published values via t-test. Linear regression was used to examine IUS/DAHC scores for anonymized students. Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to assess correlation between IUS and DAHC scores.ResultsResponse rate was 97% (268/275 students). Mean IUS score did not differ from previously cited medical student scores, but mean DAHC score was significantly higher than previously cited scores. We observed a statistically-significant relationship between IUS and DAHC scores. Students with greater intolerance of uncertainty had lower scores for disability attitudes [F(1,243) = 8.05, value of p R2-value of 0.032, suggesting that 3% of DAHC score variance can be explained by IUS score changes.ConclusionWe identified a weak negative correlation between IUS and DAHC scores in medical students. Further research is needed to clarify findings and identify best practices that equip trainees with skills to care for patients with uncertain illness trajectories and patients living with disabilities.

Managing the uncertainty of clinical practice represents a significant source of stress for clinicians, including medical students transitioning into the clinical workplace. Self-compassion, a strategy to better cope with stress and burnout, may represent a skill that can be leveraged to better prepare learners for the uncertainty inherent in clinical practice. A negative correlation between intolerance of uncertainty and self-compassion has been demonstrated in undergraduate students and in the general population. An examination of this relationship in medical students may help inform future curricular development for addressing burnout in undergraduate medical education. We electronically administered the Intolerance of Uncertainty Short Scale and the Self-Compassion Short Form to 273 third-year medical students from a single institution and analyzed data via regression. A significant negative correlation was found between intolerance of uncertainty and self-compassion (p 0.0001). Students with higher levels of self-compassion showed lower levels of intolerance of uncertainty. This is consistent with findings in other populations. Our findings offer a starting point for designing training experiences that strengthen student self-compassion to enhance their ability to reconcile the uncertainty they will encounter in clinical practice.

Introduction Diagnostic uncertainty abounds in medicine, and communication of that uncertainty is critical to the delivery of high-quality patient care. While there has been training in communicating diagnostic uncertainty directed towards residents, a gap remains in preparing medical students to understand and communicate diagnostic uncertainty. We developed a session to introduce medical students to diagnostic uncertainty and to practice communicating uncertainty using a checklist during role-play patient conversations. Methods This virtual session was conducted for third-year medical students at the conclusion of their core clerkships. It consisted of prework, didactic lecture, peer role-play, and debriefing. The prework included reflection prompts and an interactive online module. The role-play featured a patient complaining of abdominal pain being discharged from the emergency department without a confirmed diagnosis. Students participated in the role of patient, provider, or observer. Results Data from an anonymous postsession survey (76% response rate; 202 of 265 students) indicated that most students (82%; 152 of 185) felt more comfortable communicating diagnostic uncertainty after the session. A majority (83%; 166 of 201) indicated the session was useful, and most (81%; 149 of 184) indicated it should be included in the curriculum. Discussion This virtual session requires few facilitators; has peer role-play, eliminating the need for standardized patients; and is adaptable for in-person teaching. As its goal was to introduce an approach to communicating diagnostic uncertainty, not achieve mastery, students were not individually assessed for proficiency using the Uncertainty Communication Checklist. Students felt the session intervention was valuable.

Patient panels are an inspiring, highly rated educational tool to complement course goals and objectives for students in medical education programs. The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges on the ability to successfully host in-person patient panels. These challenges resulted in the need to pivot in-person patient panels to online platforms, while still ensuring the quality and intimacy of patient narratives. In this 12 tips article, we share lessons learned in transitioning patient panels in our health systems science curriculum to an online experience for students enrolled in a pre-clinical medical education program.

“Minimal group” paradigms investigate social preferences arising from mere group membership. We asked whether demand characteristics contribute to children’s apparent minimal group bias in a preregistered experiment (N = 160). In a group condition, we attempted to replicate findings of bias following assignment to minimal groups. A second closely matched no-group condition retained potential demand characteristics while removing group assignment. Parallel bias in the no-group condition would suggest that demand characteristics contribute to findings of apparent ingroup bias. Three main findings emerged. First, in the group condition, ingroup preference emerged in one of three bias measures only. Second, this preference emerged even though participants evaluated ingroup/outgroup photos varying in race/ethnicity between trials. Third, the measure that yielded ingroup preferences in the group condition produced no parallel bias in the no-group condition, consistent with the view that mere membership in a group, not experimental demand, leads to minimal ingroup preferences.