OBGU-4062 - The Politics and Art of Medical Storytelling

OBGU-4062 - The Politics and Art of Medical Storytelling

Elective Title: The Politics and Art of Medical Storytelling
Course Number: OBGU-4062
Elective Type: career Duration/Weeks: 4 Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Year 2
Additional Requirements: C-forms required, send form to Brandie Denton (bldenton@utmb.edu) or Ellie Cherryhomes (eccherry@utmb.edu).
Responsible Faculty Director: Shannon Guillot-Wright, PhD Periods Offered: 6,7,10 excluding holiday period 8 
Coordinator: Other Faculty:
Location to Report on First Day:
TBA

Goals
Students will learn to harness effective storytelling for the strategic benefit of improving health policy. They will explore the theory and practice of medical storytelling, learn how to transform the use of research evidence for the public and policymakers, create jargon-free stories using photovoice or digital storytelling, and showcase stories to a public audience or policymakers using new media. The course will provide opportunities to learn from research, engage with experts in the field, and develop personal storytelling skills.

Objectives
Students are asked to explain how stories are a tool for influence, describe the current state of scientific and medical storytelling, develop a plan of action to create a story, and design a social impact story for the public or policymakers using new media techniques.

Description of course activities
Storytelling is a bridge between private experience and public discourse, individual passion and shared views. Stories can connect, bind, and change self and others, self and state, and self and systems. Students will be asked to engage in theory and practice by exploring the politics, ethics, and art of storytelling. The course will conclude by having students create photovoice or digital storytelling projects using scientific evidence. The stories will then be publicly showcased using new media forms, including an already-produced podcast, existing social media platforms, or high-trafficked websites.

Type of students who would benefit from the course
Students interested in communicating complex scientific ideas to policymakers and the public and students who enjoy technology and critical thinking along with students interested in public, global, and community health and health humanities.

Weekly Schedule
  Clinical Activities (estimated schedule)  
Day of Week   AM   PM
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

 Average number of patients seen per week: None
 Call Schedule: N/A

Research Activities (estimated schedule)
Activity Hours per Week
Faculty Contact-Time
Self-Directed Study
Data-Collection/Analysis
Other

Method of Student Evaluation
1.  Clinical Observation
  A. Where are students observed on this elective?
    Inpatient Service   Ambulatory   Surgery   Standardized patients
Patients simulators   Other
  B. Frequency - How often are students observed clinically?
    once at the end of the course
  C. Format - What method(s) are used to document the student's clinical performance?
    Daily oral feedback   End of period oral feedback   Written feedback
Other

2.  Oral Presentation
  A. Audience - To whom does the student present?
    Students will present their projects to the class as well as upload projects onto new media platforms (e.g., podcast; website).
  B. Frequency / Duration of Presentation(s)?
    Presentation to the class is 20 minutes on the final day of the course
  C. Format - What guidelines are set for the student's presentation?
    Students choose their project topic and media platform. They will then present their final stories to the class in-person and to the public/policymakers using media.
  D. Assessment - Who assesses the student's presentation performance?
    Self-assessment   Peer assessment   Faculty assessment
  E. Method of content selection
    Current cases  Student-selected topic   Assigned topic

3.  Written Assignment (H&P's, notes, papers, abstracts, etc.)
  A. Frequency of written assignment(s)?
    1 draft storyboard or short essay in Week 2; 1 final storyboard or short essay in Week 3
  B. Format - What guidelines are set for the student's written work?
    Students choose between a storyboard or short essay depending on their final project.
  C. Length of written assignment(s)?
    Abstract   Annotated bibliography   1 - 2 page paper   3+ page paper
  D. Are recent references required?   No    If yes, how are they selected?
   
  E. Method of content selection - e.g. student-selected, relate to cases, etc.?
    Student-selected
  F. Audience - Who assesses the student's written performance?
    Peer Assessment     Faculty Assessment     Other

4.  Examination
  Format
    Oral   Written multiple choice   Written essay / short answer   OSCE
Other

5.  Extra Course Activities
  What expectations do you have for the student to demonstrate participation in the elective (e.g. small group activities, seminars, thoughtful questions, providing resources, journal club, resident lecture attendance)?
    Seminar and small group activities; reading all required assignments before class; thoughtful discussions and questions

6.  Additional Costs
  Please list any additional costs and/or purchases (books, materials, movies to watch, etc.) that are required for this course. Include an estimated total cost. If there are no additional costs, please enter "None".
    None

7.  Other Modes of Evaluation
  Please explain below.
   

8.  If this course is an Acting Internship, please complete the following:
  A. Objectives for the AI should relate directly to the Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). Each AI should describe how the four key Year-4 EPAs that our school has identified as being Year-4 skills are assessed. The Year-4 objectives are:
1. Entering and discussing orders/prescriptions.
2. Give or receive patient handover to transition care responsibility.
3. Recognizing a patient requiring urgent or emergent care and initiating management.
4. Obtaining informed consent for tests and procedures.
Specify how the student will be given formative feedback on their clinical skills.
   
 
B.
Year-4 students should demonstrate mastery of EPAs they developed in the clerkship year, including recommending and interpreting common diagnostic and screening tests, and performing general procedures of a physician. They should be able to demonstrate masterfully and independently skills they mastered in Years 2-3, including efficiently performing comprehensive admission-notes and succinct daily progress notes and perform accurate, concise, and hypothesis-driven clinical presentations, form clinical questions and retrieve evidence to advance patient care. They should be able to demonstrate basic understanding of and beginning mastery of collaborate as a member of the interprofessional team and identify system failures and contribute to a culture of safety improvement.

List advanced clinical skills that a student will be assured an opportunity to practice.
   
 
C.
How specifically will this AI build on developing skills from the clerkship year to prepare students for internship?
   
 
D.
What opportunities will typically be available to all students who take this AI (procedures, required presentations, etc.)? What opportunities may be available based on patient load/presentation or student initiative (ie. Writing a case report)?
   
 
E.
An AI should have expectation of a minimum of 32 hours per week of clinical responsibilities. Duty hours should be capped at ACGME limits for an intern, thus up to 24 hours followed by 4 hours of activities related to patient safety, education, and handoff. Students cannot work more than 80 hours per week averaged over 4 weeks. They can only have 1 day off in a 7-day work week with 8 hours off between shifts.

Clinical responsibilities will vary depending on specialty, but how is the student functioning with work commensurate to a PGY1 with an appropriate level of training?
   
 
F.
How is the student demonstrating drawing clinical conclusions and/or developing a management plan and documentation as an intern would do?
   
 
G.
How and by whom will midpoint feedback be provided to the student? How will you remediate deficiencies identified at midpoint?
   
 
H.
Acting Internship students often seek letters of recommendation following their experience. How many different Faculty will work directly with the student and have knowledge of the student's abilities to detail in a written evaluation? Describe the degree of supervision and interaction with faculty vs. residents or other providers and how feedback will be obtained if more direct work is with residents or other providers.