Inquiry in the Medical Curriculum: A Pedagogical Conundrum and a Proposed Solution

Navigating Challenging Conversations: The Interplay Between Inquiry and Knowledge Drives Preparation for Future Learning

Introduction

While some physicians hone their skills through informal learning in clinical practice, others do not. There is a lack of understanding of why some physicians seek improvement and how they use the workplace context to build their capabilities. Because physicians rarely pursue formal professional development activities to improve communication skills, examining physician-patient communication offers a powerful opportunity to illuminate important aspects of preparation for future learning in the workplace.

Methods

This qualitative observational study involved over 100 hours of observation of eight pediatric rehabilitation physicians as they interacted with patients and families at an academic teaching hospital in 2018-2020. Detailed field notes of observations, post-observation interviews, and exit interviews were the data sources. Data collection and analysis using a constructivist grounded theory approach occurred iteratively, and themes were identified through constant comparative analysis.

Results

Through their daily work, experienced physicians employ 'habits of inquiry' by constantly seeking a better understanding of how to navigate challenging conversations in practice through monitoring and attuning to situational and contextual cues, taking risks and navigating uncertainty while exploring new and varied ways of practicing, and seeking why their strategies are successful or not.

Discussion

Engaging in communication challenges drives physician learning through an interplay between habits of inquiry and knowledge: inquiry into how to improve their communication supported by existing conceptual knowledge to generate new strategies. These 'habits of inquiry' prompt continual reinvestment in problem solving to refine existing knowledge and to build new skills for navigating communication challenges in practice.

Making sense of adaptive expertise for frontline clinical educators: a scoping review of definitions and strategies

Adaptive expertise has been promoted as an emerging model of expertise in health professions education in response to the inherent complexities of patient care; however, as the concept increasingly influences the structure of professional training and practice, it creates the potential for misunderstandings of the definition and implications of adaptive expertise. To foster a common understanding of the concept, we conducted a scoping review to explore how adaptive expertise has been discussed within health professions education literature. Five databases-MedLine, PubMed, ERIC, CINAHL, and PsycINFO-were searched using the exact term "adaptive expertise", producing 212 unique articles. Fifty-eight articles met inclusion criteria. In the included articles, authors discussed the conceptual implications of adaptive expertise for health professions education, strategies for training for adaptive expertise, and research findings aimed at supporting the development of adaptive expertise or utilizing adaptive expertise as a theoretical framework. The goal of this scoping review is to establish a resource for frontline educators tasked with fostering the development of adaptive expertise in learners through education initiatives. A common understanding of adaptive expertise is essential to ensuring effective implementation in training programs.

Tolerance for Uncertainty and Professional Development: a Normative Analysis

Scholars from a range of disciplines including medicine, sociology, psychology, and philosophy have addressed the concepts of ambiguity and uncertainty in medical practice and training. Most of this scholarship has been descriptive, focusing on defining and measuring ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance or tracking clinicians' responses to ambiguous and uncertain situations. Meanwhile, scholars have neglected some fundamental normative questions: Is tolerance of uncertainty good; if so, to what extent? Using a philosophical approach to these questions, we show that neither tolerance nor intolerance of uncertainty is necessarily a good or bad trait. Rather, both tolerance and intolerance of uncertainty can give physicians advantages while at the same time exposing them to pitfalls in clinical practice. After making this case, we argue that cultivating certain virtues-like courage, diligence, and curiosity-could help clinicians avoid the dangers of excessive tolerance and intolerance of uncertainty. Finally, we suggest that medical educators develop curricula and career counseling beginning with matriculation and proceeding through specialty choice and residency training that explicitly address trainees' responses to clinical uncertainty. These programs should encourage trainees, students and residents, to be mindful of their reactions to uncertainty and help them develop virtues that will allow them to avoid the hazards of extreme tolerance or intolerance of uncertainty.