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The purpose of this study was to determine how a medical student's self-assessment at the completion of the third-year Ob/gyn clerkship compares with the institution's final grades at Lehigh Valley Hospital. From November 2002 to November 2003 at completion of each six-week Ob/gyn clerkship rotation, 47 medical students assessed themselves on the following parameters: fund of knowledge, personal attitude, clinical problem-solving skills, written/verbal skills, and technical skills. Additionally, they were asked to predict their performance on the NBME Shelf Exam. Their assessments were then compared with their final clerkship grades in each of the above parameters. Chi-squared and Kendall-tau tests were used to analyse the data for degree of agreement and association, respectively. There was a statistically significant weak to moderate, positive correlation between students’ self-assessment and final clerkship grade for written/verbal skills (p  =  0.002, r  =  0.390). A statistically significant agreement between raters was also revealed for written/verbal skills (p  =  0.003). Weak, non-statistically significant, positive relationships were revealed for fund of knowledge, clinical problem-solving and technical skills. A weak, negative, non-significant relationship was revealed for personal attitudes, and there was no statistically significant relationship between students’ prediction of NBME score and categorized true score (p  =  0.717, r  =  0.49). At the end of their Ob/gyn clerkship, third-year medical students are better at assessing their technical and written/verbal skills than their global fund of knowledge and personal attitudes. These results may suggest that students are not aware of their own personal attitudes and communication skills and how they can affect their effectiveness as a physician. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees have increasing opportunities to enroll in managed care plans, and employers tend to favor these plans because of their lower costs. However, lower costs may be the result of selection of healthier patients into managed care plans. This study measured differences in health care utilization across an indemnity plan and a managed care plan, and for all employees together. We found that apparent increases in utilization in both indemnity and managed care plans disappeared when the plans were viewed together, reflecting the migration of sicker patients from indemnity plans to managed care plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many injured patients presenting to Level III/IV trauma centers will be transferred to Level I/II centers, but how these transfers influence benchmarking at Level III/IV centers has not been described. We hypothesized that the apparent observed to expected (O:E) mortality ratios at Level III/IV centers are influenced by the location at which mortality is measured in transferred patients., Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of adult patients presenting to Level III/IV trauma centers in Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2017. We used probabilistic matching to match patients transferred between centers. We used a risk-adjusted mortality model to estimate predicted mortality, which we compared with observed mortality at discharge from the Level III/IV center (O) or observed mortality at discharge from the Level III/IV center for nontransferred patients and at discharge from the Level I/II center for transferred patients (O)., Results: In total, 9,477 patients presented to 11 Level III/IV trauma centers over the study period (90% white; 49% female; 97% blunt mechanism; median Injury Severity Score, 8; interquartile range, 4-10). Of these, 4,238 (44%) were transferred to Level I/II centers, of which 3,586 (85%) were able to be matched. Expected mortality in the overall cohort was 332 (3.8%). A total of 332 (3.8%) patients died, of which 177 (53%) died at the initial Level III/IV centers (O). Including posttransfer mortality for transferred patients in addition to observed mortality in nontransferred patients (O) resulted in worse apparent O:E ratios for all centers and significant differences in O:E ratios for the overall cohort (O:E, 0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.61 vs. O:E, 1.00, 95% confidence interval, 0.92-1.11; p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Apparent O:E mortality ratios at Level III/IV centers are influenced by the timing of measurement. To provide fair and accurate benchmarking and identify opportunities across the continuum of the trauma system, a system of shared attribution for outcomes of transferred patients should be devised.

The intensive care unit (ICU) waiting room is a dynamic place that influences the satisfaction of families of critically ill patients. Waiting-room comfort and amenities are important, because families often spend a great deal of nonvisiting time there. A quality improvement evaluation of the ICU waiting room at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, PA, was conducted. Methods included distribution of an 18-item family survey, ethnographic observations, interviews, and assessment of the physical environment. Findings suggest that the role of the receptionist and access to food and other services were important to families and influenced their assessment of the quality of services provided by the ICU.