Formal SAT programs exist for 43 of 99 U.S. medical school respondents. Such programs should be instituted in all schools that use their students as teachers. National teaching competencies, best curriculum methods, and best methods to conduct skills reinforcement need to be determined. Finally, the SAT programs' impacts on patient care, on selection decisions of residency directors, and on residents' teaching effectiveness are areas for future research.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people in health care and their recommendations for physicians. Six focus groups were conducted with LGBTQI people (N = 48) in four U.S. cities between October 2013 and April 2014. Five overarching themes emerged regarding patients' suggestions for providers: be comfortable with LGBTQI patients; share medical decision-making; avoid assumptions; apply LGBTQI-related knowledge; and address the social context of health disparities. These core competencies differed in meaningful ways from competencies created by national organizations such as the Association of American Medical Colleges. Community-derived competencies stressed the importance of collaborative patient-physician partnerships, particularly in the setting of hormone prescription for transgender patients, and prioritized addressing social determinants of health and focusing on marginalized subpopulations and stigmatized needs of the community. Limitations, particular of sampling, were considered. Community input could improve medical education interventions to reduce health disparities in marginalized communities.

After controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, and school, students reported worsening perceptions toward the medical school learning environment, with the worst perceptions in the 3rd year of medical school as students begin their clinical experiences, and some recovery in the 4th year after Match Day. The drop in MSLES scores associated with the transition to the clinical learning environment (-0.26 point drop in addition to yearly change, effect size = 0.52, p < .0001) is more than 3 times greater than the drop between the 1st and 2nd year (0.07 points, effect size = 0.14, p < .0001). The largest declines were from items related to work-life balance and informal student relationships. There was some, but not complete, recovery in perceptions of the medical school learning environment in the 4th year. Insights: Perceptions of the medical school learning environment worsen as students continue through medical school, with a stronger decline in perception scores as students' transition to the clinical learning environment. Students reported the greatest drop in finding time for outside activities and students helping one another in the 3rd year. Perceptions differed based on gender and race/ethnicity. Future studies should investigate the specific features of medical schools that contribute most significantly to student perceptions of the medical school learning environment, both positive and negative, to pinpoint potential interventions and improvements.

BackgroundImplementation science (IS) is the study of methods that successfully integrate best evidence into practice. Although typically applied in healthcare settings to improve patient care and subsequent outcomes, IS also has immediate and practical applications to medical education toward improving physician training and educational outcomes. The objective of this article is to illustrate how to build a research agenda that focuses on applying IS principles in medical education.ApproachWe examined the literature to construct a rationale for using IS to improve medical education. We then used a generalizable scenario to step through a process for applying IS to improve team-based care.PerspectivesIS provides a valuable approach to medical educators and researchers for making improvements in medical education and overcoming institution-based challenges. It encourages medical educators to systematically build upon the research outcomes of others to guide decision-making while evaluating the successes of best practices in individual environments and generate additional research questions and findings.ConclusionsIS can act as both a driver and a model for educational research to ensure that best educational practices are easier and faster to implement widely.

This study presents initial field-test evaluation feedback on training materials designed to help prepare paraeducators to assist in the provision of special education in inclusive schools. Feedback was collected from 213 paraeducators who participated in the course, Paraeducator Entry-Level Training for Supporting Students with Disabilities, 105 who participated in the course, Supporting Students with Challenging Behaviors: A Paraeducator Curriculum, and the 23 instructors who taught a combined total of 20 sections of these courses in a variety of formats (e.g., face-to-face, interactive TV, intensive summer institute). Findings indicated that paraeducators gained new knowledge, perspectives, and skills that had direct application in their work. Both paraeducators and course instructors rated the materials favorably and provided feedback to improve them. Implications are offered for infusing paraeducator content into school-based staff development as well as training programs for prospective special and general education teachers.