Moderated by Jessica Jones

PRESENTATION 1 - Barriers to Help-seeking in Medical Students with Anxiety    
Helen Kaiser    
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville

PURPOSE One in three medical students experience anxiety. Anxiety levels in medical students are higher than the general population of young adults yet medical students are less likely to seek health care to treat mental health issues than the general population. Medical students carry high levels of self-stigma about their own mental health and fear negative consequences from seeking care. The purpose of this study was to examine the student population at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville (USCSOMG) for anxiety levels, and determine the self-stigma attitudes this population carries.

METHODS USCSOMG students were anonymously surveyed using the GAD7, and open-ended questions that asked student's their opinions on barriers to mental health care in medical students. The open-ended questions were categorized by the authors into Time, Cost, Stigma, and Difficulty in seeking care. Anxiety levels were compared to categorical responses.

RESULTS 141 students responded to the GAD7, and 31% reported moderate-severe anxiety levels. 117 students responded to open-ended questions. The students with minimal-mild anxiety reported stigma as a barrier of care at higher (37% compared to 21%, respectively) rates than students with moderate-severe anxiety levels. In comparison, students with moderate-severe anxiety levels reported time, cost, and difficulty in seeking care at higher rates.

CONCLUSION Despite free and accessible mental health care, medical students at USCSOMG still have anxiety at rates higher than the general population. Stigma was reported as the largest barrier to care in students with minimal-mild anxiety, while students with moderate-severe anxiety reported stigma at a lower rate, but cost, time, and difficulty in seeking care at higher rates. This work will help to provide interventions to the barriers of care, so medical students can better utilize mental health care resources.
 

PRESENTATION 2 - A Week to Flourish and Reflect on Professional Identity: "Tec Week"    
Silvia Olivares    
Tecnologico de Monterrey

PURPOSE Professional identity requires the dynamic evolution of the individual, who forms relationships and assumes roles in various professional groups and contexts. Tec Week is an educational strategy that aims to shape professional identity while developing competencies through reflection, experimentation, and daily life experiences. This study aimed to identify the students' perceived value of their experiences during Tec Week to form professional identities and gain skills.

METHODS A qualitative method was selected with focus groups comments analyzed by emergent coding topics. It was gathered data from 33 students in two focus groups. The analysis of the information was carried out by coding emerging topics.

RESULTS The coding of students' comments about the Tec Week activities and workshops evidenced the value of specific phases of professional identity developed from self-knowledge and collaboration in connected networks. students appreciate the experience as they achieve introducing themselves to their own personal and professional identities. The Tec Weeks contemplated in this study offer various experiences that help students develop their transversal competencies and self-knowledge of their abilities. 

CONCLUSIONS The training approach of the Tec Weeks is oriented to personal and professional growth in topics of introspection, recognition of the other, and social impact, strengthening each student's professional identity. With this proposal, competencies are promoted to influence human flourishing.

PRESENTATION 3 - Medical Student Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic    
Cathryn Caudill    
Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine University of Pikeville

PURPOSE Americans experienced a mental health crisis alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that medical students had proven more vulnerable than the general population to poor mental health prior to the pandemic, we sought to measure indicators of their mental health during the pandemic's peak.

METHODS United States allopathic and osteopathic medical students were invited to complete an anonymous mental health survey screening for depression, anxiety, burnout, suicidal ideation, and increased substance use during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (late December 2020 through early January 2021). Potential relationships were explored between these mental health indicators and demographic and environmental factors, such as COVID-19 exposure, type of medical school curriculum, and utilization of mental health resources.

RESULTS Of 960 medical students completing the full mental health survey, 25.1% (n=241) screened positive for depression, 40.4% (n=388) screened positive for anxiety, 21.3% (n=201) met criteria for at least one dimension of burnout, 19.0% (n=182) started or increased substance use, and 7.2% (n=69) experienced suicidal ideation.  Significant differences (p?0.01) in measures of mental health were associated with female gender, those who had utilized mental health care resources, those with a personal COVID-19 diagnosis, and those who knew someone who died of COVID-19.

CONCLUSION Rates of depression did not change for medical students during the pandemic, as they did for other populations, and rates of burnout and suicidal ideation were lower than expected.  Substance use and anxiety among medical students were higher than pre-pandemic levels. Medical students who were female, those who had utilized mental health care resources, those with a personal COVID-19 diagnosis, or those who knew someone who died of COVID-19 were identified as particularly vulnerable groups.

PRESENTATION 4 - Professional development advising in undergraduate medical education: the importance of informed and individualized support    
Leslie Ruffalo    
Medical College of Wisconsin 

PURPOSE Professional development is central to students' success through medical school, yet there is no generally accepted model to best integrate these aspects in the medical school curricula. In response, our institution implemented the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) course. The CPD course spans the third and fourth year of medical school with the goal of ensuring students' continued professional development towards meeting our school's global competencies for medical students. The objective of this study was to evaluate students' experiences and perceptions regarding the impact of their CPD director on their medical education experience, specifically the students' one-on-one interactions with their director.

METHODS Students are assigned to a CPD faculty director who monitors the student's progression along our school's global competencies, rotation evaluations, and OSCE performance. The CPD director and student also engage in discussions regarding specialty choice. Medical students complete a survey at the end of the third and fourth year that serves as the CPD course's summative evaluation. The survey measures students' satisfaction on multiple CPD components; including their relationship with their director. We used statistical software to analyze quantitative data. We analyzed open-ended questions using content analysis techniques.

RESULTS Of the 1,203 evaluation reports submitted since 2016, 828 (70%) students indicated that they "strongly agreed" or "agreed" that their CPD director's feedback was useful. 908 (75%) of students "strongly agreed" or "agreed" that their CPD director was accessible during times of need. 986 (82%) students rated their CPD director as "outstanding" or "very good".

CONCLUSIONS Professional development is an important component of medical education and requires the use of innovative strategies. Our CPD course highlighted the value of one-on-one mentoring and feedback on competency progression and individualized advice on meeting students' career goals.