Research in 90sec's

How does the organizational culture affect residents in difficulty? 

In this episode, I feature the paper by Christensen and colleagues who explored the influence of the culture of medical residency training on residents' risk of ending in difficulty.  Rather than asking "what's the problem with the resident?", this papers invites us to also ask "what's in the organizational culture that predisposes residents to mental health breakdowns?".

Full citation:

Christensen MK, Sørensen JK, Jensen RD, Brøndt SG, Norberg K, O'Neill LD, Mortensen LS, Charles P. How to play the game of medical education: Sociocultural analyses of educational difficulties among medical residents. MedEdPublish. 2020 Jun 18;9.

What can be done to enhance training in oncoplastic surgery in developing countries?

In this episode, I continue to feature work by Drs. Brackstone and Mutabi who used lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic to create an innovative virtual surgical training on oncoplastic surgery across Kenya.  While uptake of this technique is increasing in developed countries, developing countries need help to close the training gap and empower women to fight the stigma that comes with breast cancer. 

Visit www.oncoplasticpartnershipworkshop.ca to learn more about this initiative.

What does the future of breast cancer treatment look like?

In this episode, I feature the work from Dr. Muriel Brackstone on promoting and training an innovative surgical technique that allows for treating breast cancer while preserving the appearance of the breast as much as possible.  It is called Oncoplastic Surgery and it is a great alternative in the quest to improve quality of life outcomes for breast cancer patients.

For more insights, watch the DocTalks lecture titled: What the future of Breast Cancer Treatment Looks Like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0xRdRnzwg 

How does the imposter syndrome affect those who are competent?

In this episode, I feature a paper by LaDonna et. al., who debunked the taken for granted assumption that those who do well, know that they do well. According to their findings, it is not that they don't struggle. It is that their struggles remain less visible. And unpacking those struggles might become a much needed educational strategy.

Full citation: 

LaDonna KA, Ginsburg S, Watling C. “Rising to the level of your incompetence”: what physicians’ self-assessment of their performance reveals about the imposter syndrome in medicine. Academic Medicine. 2018 May 1;93(5):763-8.

What does swarm intelligence have to do with building self-healing teams?

In this episode, I feature a paper by our research team that takes on a strongly contested argument - that the collective behaviour of social insects, like ants, could provide inspiration to our thinking about effective teamwork.  In particular, the idea that teams can recover from disruption by becoming interchangeable, as ants do.

Full citation:

Cristancho SM. On collective self‐healing and traces: How can swarm intelligence help us think differently about team adaptation?. Medical Education. 2021; 55(4): 441:447

What does photosynthesis have to do with cars and airplanes?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Wu and colleagues who describe the principles and development of Artificial Leaf technology that aims to mimic plants to convert greenhouse gases into useful fuel for human use. Achieving this goal will constitute a groundbreaking success in combating climate change.

Full citation:

Wu YA, McNulty I, Liu C, Lau KC, Liu Q, Paulikas AP, Sun CJ, Cai Z, Guest JR, Ren Y, Stamenkovic V. Facet-dependent active sites of a single Cu 2 O particle photocatalyst for CO 2 reduction to methanol. Nature Energy. 2019 Nov;4(11):957-68.

What does talking on the phone have to do with learning?

In this episode, I feature a paper by Eppich and colleagues who uncovered the nuances of telephone talk when it comes to learning in medicine.  Their findings revealed how the natural conversational tensions that trainees have to navigate when talking on the phone, also enable them to advocate more effectively for their patients.

Full citation:

Eppich WJ, Dornan T, Rethans JJ, Teunissen PW. “Learning the lingo”: a grounded theory study of telephone talk in clinical education. Academic Medicine. 2019 Jul 1;94(7):1033-9.

How accurate is memory for real-world experiences?

In this episode, I feature the paper by Diamond and colleagues who put to the test memory scientists' estimation of how accurate our memory is. And they demonstrated that while details tend to fade with time, the accuracy of the stories we tell about past events doesn't seem to change, despite what experts have suggested. A fascinated insight to consider as we continue trying to understand the role of memory in aging.

Full citation:

Diamond NB, Armson MJ, Levine B. The truth is out there: Accuracy in recall of verifiable real-world events. Psychological Science. 2020 Dec;31(12):1544-56.

What do 9 years of research tell us about people's journeys through medical school?

In this episode I feature the paper by Balmer and colleagues who conducted a 9-year longitudinal study to track the journeys of medical trainees as they navigated their training. Stories of stability and change were prominent in these students' reflections.

Full citation:

Balmer DF, Teunissen PW, Devlin MJ, Richards BF. Stability and Change in the Journeys of Medical Trainees: A 9-Year, Longitudinal Qualitative Study. Academic Medicine. 2021 Jan 25.

What do our mobility patterns mean for society?

In this episode, I feature the paper by Alessandretti and Lehmann who used GPS location data from 700,000 people to describe the concept of "scale" in human mobility. They explain how these "scales" - from individual buildings to neighbourhoods, cities, regions and countries - are central to understanding societal issues such as socioeconomic interactions, or political and cultural dynamics. Furthermore, they show how our patterns of mobility can also be distinguished from our gender or whether we live in an urban or rural area.

Full citation:

Alessandretti L, Aslak U, Lehmann S. The scales of human mobility. Nature. 2020 Nov;587(7834):402-7.