Many Latino families avoid drinking tap water because they fear it causes illness. Unnecessary use of bottled and filtered water is costly and may result in adverse dental health outcomes. Physicians should provide guidance to families regarding the safety, low cost, and dental health benefits of drinking tap water.

Faculty development has been identified as a critical need if we hope to advance competency-based education. Despite the small number of participants at a single institution, the model presented here has the possibility for making a significant contribution to future faculty development initiatives for two reasons. First, by supporting the time of the scholars, the program makes a statement about the value of medical education and the recognition that it requires a skill set to become an educator. While the need for requisite skill sets has long been recognized for training sub-specialists, this has not been the case for those taking on major roles in education and training. Second, despite a rich literature, little has been published about the effects on the learners of those who participated in the faculty development programs. By supporting a cadre of individuals to acquire the skills needed to be an educator as well as the skills needed to perform educational research to study the impact of applying those skills, this project serves as a model for developing a much needed community of medical education leaders.

Giving difficult news to patients represents a common dilemma for health care professionals. Based on three decades of research, various authors have proposed guidelines outlining the ideal setting, delivery, and timing. Existing publications focus on patients of European descent and may not be applicable in cross-cultural settings. We explored perceptions of Spanish-speaking mothers who have a child with Down syndrome and how they preferred to receive the news of their child's diagnosis. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 14), which were coded and analyzed by thematic networks to identify common themes. Six significant themes emerged: Cultural Belief System, Communication, Support/Lack of Support, Feelings Engendered, Medical Issues, and Medical System. One overarching theme of mother-child bonding encompassed all sub-themes. The mothers desired the news in a more positive, balanced light and with more complete explanations about the condition. Mothers felt excluded from the diagnostic process and wanted to be better informed about the need for diagnostic studies. Participants used religious beliefs to explain the reason for their child's condition. Many factors influenced Latina mothers' ability to bond initially with their children with Down syndrome. Ideally, these factors should be acknowledged during informing interviews to assist Latino families in adjustment.

Introduction: Knowledge and skill development related to communication must incorporate both affective and behavioral components, which are often difficult to deliver in a learning activity. Using theater techniques and principles can provide medical educators with tools to teach communication concepts. Methods: This 75-minute faculty development workshop presents a variety of techniques from theater and adapts them for use in medical education. Using examples related to diversity and inclusion, this session addresses general educational and theater principles, role-play, sociodrama, applied improvisation, and practical aspects of involving theater partners. The session materials include a PowerPoint presentation with facilitator notes, interactive activities to demonstrate each modality, and an evaluation. The sessions can be extended to longer formats as needed. Results: Forty-five participants at Learn Serve Lead 2016: The AAMC Annual Meeting attended the 75-minute session. We emailed 32 participants 5 months after the conference, and eight responded. Participants reported that their confidence level in using theater techniques as a tool for medical education increased from low-to-medium confidence presession to high confidence postsession. All survey respondents who were actively teaching said they had made changes to their teaching based on the workshop. All commented that they appreciated the active learning in the session. Many indicated they would appreciate video or other follow-up resources. Discussion: Principles and techniques from theater are effective tools to convey difficult-to-teach concepts related to communication. This workshop presents tools to implement activities in teaching these difficult concepts.

Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT) is an increasingly recognized cause of neurological morbidity and mortality within the pediatric population. Unlike its manifestation in the adult population, CSVT in children has a broad and often multifactorial cause. Our case describes an 18-month-old young boy presenting to the emergency department twice during a 48-hour period with vomiting and lethargy. The child was found to have a sagittal sinus venous thrombosis caused by severe dietary iron deficiency anemia. Severe iron deficiency anemia has been linked to CSVT formation in several recent case reports.