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Effects of interventions for improving mental health of health professional students has not been established. This review analysed interventions to support mental health of health professional students and their effects. The full holdings of Medline, PsycINFO, EBM Reviews, Cinahl Plus, ERIC and EMBASE were searched until 15th April 2016. Inclusion criteria were randomised controlled trials of undergraduate and post graduate health professional students, group interventions to support mental health compared to alternative education, usual curriculum or no intervention; and post-intervention measurements for intervention and control participants of mindfulness, anxiety, depression, stress/distress or burnout. Studies were limited to English and short term effects. Studies were appraised using the PEDro scale. Data were synthesised using meta-analysis. Four comparisons were identified: psychoeducation or cognitive-behavioural interventions compared to alternative education, and mindfulness or relaxation compared to control conditions. Cognitive-behavioural interventions reduced anxiety (-0.26; -0.5 to -0.02), depression (-0.29; -0.52 to -0.05) and stress (0.37; -0.61 to -0.13). Mindfulness strategies reduced stress (-0.60; -0.97 to -0.22) but not anxiety (95% CI -0.21 to 0.18), depression (95% CI -0.36 to 0.03) or burnout (95% CI -0.36 to 0.10). Relaxation strategies reduced anxiety (SMD -0.80; 95% CI -1.03 to -0.58), depression (-0.49; -0.88 to -0.11) and stress (-0.34; -0.67 to -0.01). Method quality was generally poor. Evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioural, relaxation and mindfulness interventions may support health professional student mental health. Further high quality research is warranted.

Aim:The aim of this study was to assess the preparedness for management of medical emergencies among dentists in the cities of Udupi and Mangalore in India. Methods and Materials:A self-administered questionnaire was completed by the dental teaching hospital faculty members and private dental practitioners in Udupi and Mangalore, India.Results: Less than half (42.1%) of the dentists reported having received practical training in management of medical emergencies during their undergraduate and postgraduate education. Only about one-third of the respondents felt competent in performing mouth-to-mouth breathing (39.3%), cardiac compression (35.2%), foreign body obstruction relief (32.8%), and in administering IV drugs (34.5%) or supplemental oxygen (27.4%). The most commonly available emergency drugs in treatment areas were oral glucose (82.2%) and adrenaline (65.8%). However, less than one-fourth of the respondents had the following on hand in their treatment facility: oxygen (24.0%), an AMBU bag (17.1%), pocket mask (13.0%), bronchodilator spray (24.7%), diazepam (20.5%), aspirin (20.5%), and glyceryl trinitrate (17.8%). Less than half (39%) of the respondents reported having clinical staff members trained to assist in emergency recognition and management and only 5.8% carried out emergency drills in their workplace. Abstract © Seer PublishingConclusion: Preparedness for management of medical emergencies was found to be inadequate among the surveyed dentists. Clinical significance:The results of the study emphasize the need for improvement of the training of practicing dentists in the management of medical emergencies at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education levels as well as the need for organization of the dental workplace to handle such emergencies.

To examine the alignment between graduating surgical trainee operative performance and a prior survey of surgical program director expectations. Background: Surgical trainee operative training is expected to prepare residents to independently perform clinically important surgical procedures. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of US general surgery residents' rated operative performance for Core general surgery procedures. Residents' expected performance on those procedures at the time of graduation was compared to the current list of Core general surgery procedures ranked by their importance for clinical practice, as assessed via a previous national survey of general surgery program directors. We also examined the frequency of individual procedures logged by residents over the course of their training. Results: Operative performance ratings for 29,885 procedures performed by 1861 surgical residents in 54 general surgery programs were analyzed. For each Core general surgery procedure, adjusted mean probability of a graduating resident being deemed practice-ready ranged from 0.59 to 0.99 (mean 0.90, standard deviation 0.08). There was weak correlation between the readiness of trainees to independently perform a procedure at the time of graduation and that procedure's historical importance to clinical practice (p = 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.41, P = 0.06).Residents also continue to have limited opportunities to learn many procedures that are important for clinical practice. Conclusion:The operative performance of graduating general surgery residents may not be well aligned with surgical program director expectations.

Background Horizontal care, in which clinicians assume roles outside of their usual responsibilities, is an important health care systems response to emergency situations. Allocating residents and fellows into skill-concordant clinical roles, however, is challenging. The most efficient method to accomplish graduate medical education (GME) assessment and deployment for horizontal care is not known. Objective We designed a categorization schema that can efficiently facilitate clinical and educational horizontal care delivery for trainees within a given institution. Methods In September 2019, as part of a general emergency response preparation, a 4-tiered system of trainee categorization was developed at one academic medical center. All residents and fellows were mapped to this system. This single institution model was disseminated to other institutions in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect hospitals nationally. In March 2020, a multi-institution collaborative launched the Trainee Pandemic Role Allocation Tool (TPRAT), which allows institutions to map institutional programs to COVID-19 roles within minutes. This was disseminated to other GME programs for use and refinement. Results The emergency response preparation plan was disseminated and selectively implemented with a positive response from the emergency preparedness team, program directors, and trainees. The TPRAT website was visited more than 100 times in the 2 weeks after its launch. Institutions suggested rapid refinements via webinars and e-mails, and we developed an online user's manual. Conclusions This tool to assess and deploy trainees horizontally during emergency situations appears feasible and scalable to other GME institutions.