RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AT THE GRAHAM CLINICAL PERFORMANCE CENTER

2015

  • Assessing Resident Physician Melanoma Detection Across Ethnic Groups. Drs. Claudia Hernandez (Dermatology) and Fred Zar (Internal Medicine) are using unannounced standardized patients to assess medical resident skin cancer detection rates and develop new education interventions to improve early detection in skin of color.  The project is funded by an NIH grant to Dr Hernandez. 2012 – 2015.
  • Immersive Touch Module Development:  Drs. Alexandra Vanmeter (Internal Medicine) and Rachel Yudkowsky (DME, GCPC) are working with Drs. Pat Banerjee and Cristian Luciano of the UIC College of Engineering and Immersive Touch Inc to develop new simulator modules and curricula for the Immersive Touch augmented reality/haptic simulator, focusing on Lumbar Puncture and Central Venous Catheter Insertion. 2012 – 2015.
  • Surgical Simulator Development:  Drs Cristian Luciano (College of Engineering), Matt Lineberry (DME) and Rachel Yudkowsky (DME, GCPC) are developing new ways to use augmented reality visualizations to improve surgical training. 2014
  • Core + Clusters Physical Exam: The GCPC and Dale Lorens (DME), Dr Asra Kahn (IM) and Dr Ananya Gangopadhyaya (IM), directors of the Essential of Clinical Medicine (ECM) Program are collaborating with faculty from Columbia, George Washington University, Harvard, University of Connecticut, and Texas Tech to develop a new approach to teaching and assessing the physical exam. 2013 – 2015
  • Development of a Telemedicine Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents: Drs Ananya Gangopadhyaya (IM), Rachel Yudkowsky (DME, GCPC) Jeremy Young (IM) and Mahesh Patel (IM), along with Jerry Stapleton (DME) and Bob Kiser (GCPC), received a grant from the UIC Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) to develop an online curriculum to teach residents to work effectively in an online environment.  The curriculum includes live tele-encounters with standardized patients to allow residents to experience telemedicine and practice telemedicine communication skills. 2014 – 2015.
  • C.A.R.E.S.: Clinicians Acting to Reinforce Empathy Skills.  This pilot project funded by the UIC Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), is designed to strengthen medical students’ empathic skills through the use of acting exercises and techniques. Students learn to identify empathic moments through role-playing both patients and clinicians within simulated clinical encounters. Project collaborators include Drs Josh Nathan, Amber May, Kelly Volpe, Sean Blitzstein and Geri Fox (all from Psychiatry), Dr Fred Zar (IM), GCPC staff Martin Hurm, Bob Kiser, Laura McKenzie, Lynda Shadrake and Shole Milos, and medical student Katherine Bock.  The GCPC team members have been instrumental in developing the course content, including acting exercises and patient characteristics and scenarios, and will teach the course alongside a physician co-educator. 2013  – 2015.

2013

  • Intervening to Prevent Contextual Errors in Medical Decision Making: Drs Saul Weiner, Alan Schwarz, Rachel Yudkowsky, Keith Muccino, and Ilene Harris with Sonal Patel, Frances Weaver, Gunjan Sharma, and Amy Binns-Calvey are assessing the efficacy of a curriculum teaching residents to probe for contextual issues (such as patients’ access to care) that affect patients’ plans of care, using standardized patients in simulated encounters at the GCPC and at the Loyola Clinical Skills Center.  Funded by a VA Education Grant to Dr Weiner. 2012 – 2013
  • Seven Pillars – Dr Timothy McDonald (Risk Management) and colleagues from the UIC Institute for Patient Safety Excellence (IPSE) are completing a demonstration grant to extend the UIC Seven Pillars approach for full disclosure of medical errors to nine local hospitals.  As part of the grant GCPC standardized patients travel to participating hospitals to help hospital staff learn how to respond quickly and effectively to patients and/or family members when unanticipated patient care outcomes occur. Funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
  • Domestic Violence Prevention: Dr Barbara Simmons (Biobehavioral Health Sciences, College of Nursing) used standardized patient methodology to help nursing students learn how to conduct a sensitive medical history with a domestic abuse patient. Funded by a grant from the Verizon Foundation.
  • Investigating psychometric properties of scoring based on live interaction and videotaped observation: Focusing on communication and interpersonal skills.  Dr Yoon Soo Park (DME) and Martin Hurm (GCPC) are investigating whether assessing communication skills as the SP within an encounter produces different results than scoring video-recordings of encounters.  Funded by the Association of Standardized Patient Educators.
  • Surgical Simulator Development:  Drs Cristian Luciano (College of Engineering), Matt Lineberry (DME) and Rachel Yudkowsky (GCPC) are developing new ways to use augmented reality visualizations to improve surgical training.
  • 3-D Animation Development:  Students of the UIC Biomedical Visualization masters program are working with the Graham CPC to create 3-D animations to facilitate students’ recognizing and interpreting clinical findings during a hypothesis-driven physical exam.
  • Resident Handoff Assessment: The GCPC developed a new standardized patient encounter to assess residents’ ability to obtain appropriate patient handoffs and to provide feedback to peer residents.

 

2012

  • Impact of Clinically Discriminating Clinical Findings on the Validity of Performance Test Scores: Drs. Rachel Yudkowsky, Georges Bordage and Janet Riddle are investigating the impact of an innovative checklist design approach on the validity of standardized patient-based performance exams. The checklists focus on hypothesis-driven clinically discriminating findings, thus encouraging and assessing clinical reasoning. Funded by the National Board of Medical Examiners Stemmler Fund, this study is based on the results of a previous Stemmler grant to Drs Yudkowsky and Bordage, also conducted at the GCPC.
  • Do Standardized Patients Alter Their Portrayals to Assist Learners During Clinical Performance Center Encounters? Amy Binns-Calvey and Dr. Rachel Yudkowsky are surveying SPs to explore factors that may lead to inconsistent portrayals during SP encounters.

2011

  • National Board of Medical Examiners Stemmler Fund – Drs Rachel Yudkowsky, Georges Bordage and Janet Riddle are investigating the impact of an innovative checklist design approach on the validity of standardized patient-based performance exams.  This study is based on the results of a previous Stemmler grant to Drs Yudkowsky and Bordage, also conducted at the GCPC. 2010 – 2011.
  • VA Educational Grant – Drs. Saul Weiner, Alan Schwarz, Rachel Yudkowsky, and Keith Muccino, with Sonal Patel, Frances Weaver, Gunjan Sharma, and Amy Binns-Calvey are assessing the efficacy of a curriculum teaching residents to probe for contextual issues that affect patients’ plans of care, using standardized patients in simulated encounters at the GCPC and at the Loyola Clinical Skills Center. 2010 – 2011.
  • KyotoKagaku Inc, Japan – Drs Rachel Yudkowsky, Georges Bordage and Janet Riddle completed the development of a curriculum for the Physiko patient simulator to promote hypothesis-driven physical exam skills. 2010 – 2011

2010

  • Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) – Drs Rachel Yudkowsky, Alan Schwarz, Pat Bannerjee, and Fady Charbel completed a study investigating the use of a virtual reality and haptics simulator to improve neurosurgery residents’ performance of ventriculostomies.  The study is a collaborative project of the Department of Medical Education, Dept of Neurosurgery, College of Engineering, and the UIC Institute for Patient Safety Excellence.

2009

  • Developing a Curriculum for the Physiko Mannequin – Rachel Yudkowsky, Georges Bordage,  Janet Riddle. KyotoKagaku Inc, Japan – curriculum development grant.
  • Practice Makes Perfect: Does Practice on a Virtual Reality/Haptics Simulator Improve Residents’ Ability to Perform a Ventriculostomy? – Rachel Yudkowsky, Pat Banerjee, Fady Charbal, Michael Lemole. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). 2008 – 2009.
  • Enhancing Interprofessional Communication in the Health Professions – Patrick Robinson, Rachel Yudkowsky. UIC Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Curriculum Development Grant. 2008 – 2009.

2008

  • Identifying and Preventing Contextual Errors in Medical Decision Making– Saul Weiner, Alan Schwartz. Veterans Healthcare Administration. 2006 – 2008.
  • Validation of a Hypothesis-Driven Physical Exam Assessment Procedure.  – Rachel Yudkowsky, Georges Bordage. Stemmler Fund of the National Board of Medical Examiners. 2005-2008.