#IAMSE17 – Workshop: Integration of Clinical & Basic Sciences as a Road to Entrustment

During the upcoming IAMSE meeting in Burlington, there will be a number of terrific pre-conference sessions for your consideration.  We are very excited to offer this workshop on the topic of Integration of Clinical and Basic Sciences as a Road to Entrustment, presented by Amy Wilson-Delfosse, Leslie Fall, Ann Poznanski, Tracy Fulton, James Nixon. and Brian Wilcox.

The 2015 Institute of Medicine report on “Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare” notes that diagnosis and diagnostic errors have been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of healthcare. One of the primary roles of medical training programs is to help learners develop medical decision-making skills, and to do so with graduated levels of independence. Effective cognitive integration of the basic and clinical science concepts plays an essential role in enhancing diagnostic accuracy for novice clinicians. Furthermore, deliberate practice in transferring knowledge obtained in one clinical context to solve a new problem, or the same problem in another context, is critical to the development of clinical expertise.

Unfortunately, many students who have demonstrated adequate basic science understanding in the pre-clinical curriculum are often unable to apply this knowledge to clinical problem-solving. Meanwhile, the basic science knowledge of clinical instructors is often encapsulated, challenging their ability to help students integrate basic and clinical science concepts. A process for “unpacking” clinical instructors’ knowledge and reinforcing its connections to clinical decisions would facilitate student activation of their basic science knowledge, improving both diagnostic accuracy and long-term retention. In return, students who are able to use basic science concepts to defend clinical decisions may improve the “diagnostic accuracy” of their clinician preceptors’ entrustment decisions.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Explain the concepts of cognitive integration and knowledge encapsulation
  • Identify basic science concepts that underlie day-to- day clinical decision making
  • Describe how understanding basic science concepts improves clinical decision-making
  • Demonstrate evidence-based strategies to “unpack” knowledge to improve cognitive integration at the bedside.

Following a review of the literature on clinical reasoning, cognitive integration and encapsulation, participants will identify key clinical decision-making points relevant to common clinical scenarios. In collaborative teams of basic scientists and clinicians, workshop participants will discuss underlying basic science concepts which inform these decisions, potential decision-making pitfalls, and the role of basic science application in avoiding patient harm.

Have you already registered for this special workshop at the 2017 IAMSE Meeting? If not, there’s still time to do so! Please register before April 1st to secure workshop participation. For more information on the 2017 IAMSE Meeting and to register, visit iamseconference.org.