BACKGROUND: The glass ceiling in academic medicine has resulted in lower pay and fewer career advancement opportunities for women. Creating change relies on preparing early-career women for positions of leadership, but most leadership programs focus on faculty, not trainees. The present exploratory qualitative study investigates how to prepare women medical students to be leaders in academic medicine.
METHODS: Focus groups with medical students and faculty who identify as women were conducted at an academic medical center in the West. A total of 25 individuals (10 students and 15 faculty) participated. Recordings of focus groups were transcribed and coded using thematic analysis until saturation of themes was achieved.
RESULTS: Codes were organized into three themes: obstacles, support systems, and self-presentation. Obstacles identified included the subthemes microaggressions, macroaggressions, a lack of female role models in leadership, and personal characteristics such as the ability to self-promote and remain resilient. Support systems included sponsorship, allyship, mentorship, networking, and gender-specific role modeling subthemes. Self-presentation involved learning behaviors for demonstrating leadership and exuding confidence, being strategic about career moves, resiliency, and navigating social norms.
CONCLUSIONS: The key themes of obstacles, support systems, and self-presentation are targets for systemic and individualistic improvement in leadership development.

Wayne State University (WSU) emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary education by having students participate in an Interprofessional Team Visit (IPTV) program. A 60-minute virtual visit is conducted to assess adults aged over 50 years within the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Metro Detroit) community. This project was designed to prepare healthcare students in evaluating the mental, physical, and social health aspects of assigned patients based on specific disciplinary assessments. Upon completion of assessments, the interdisciplinary team provided the patient with resources based on the team and the patient\'s agreed-upon area of concern. Twenty-eight IPTV teams, consisting of a medical and occupational therapy student and a healthcare professional student from another discipline studying at WSU, were randomly created. The IPTV resource guides created by each team were reviewed and sorted into two categories based on the health or social need of the individual patient. The data identified three main areas of interest, which included medication management, diet and exercise plans, and the use of technology to stay connected to medical professionals, friends, and family. The purpose of this report is to assess the IPTV program\'s findings and analyze patients\' concerns based on health or social needs and the resources presented to them.

Background There has been increased attention given to understanding the uses of medical cannabis (MC) for symptom management of various medical conditions. Physicians receive minimal training in medical school and rely mostly on anecdotal evidence; by proxy, medical students generally do receive formal training in MC. It is unknown how medical students perceive MC, including its efficacy, appropriateness in medicine, its possible adverse effects, and its value for patients. This study investigated medical students\' perceived knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward MC to better understand their knowledge about and attitudes toward MC.  Method Using a semi-structured interview guide, eight focus groups were conducted with 83 medical students via Zoom virtual meeting platform (Zoom Video Communications, Inc., San Jose, California, United States) in June 2022. The interviews were guided by the following content areas: (1) beliefs about cannabis\' therapeutic utility, (2) perceived knowledge about MC, (3) the role of the physician regarding MC, (4) concern for cannabis\' adverse effects, and (5) MC education in the school curriculum. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, an iterative, systematic process of coding patterns, and emerged themes in the interview data to explore medical students\' perceptions about MC. Themes were validated based on whether each theme captured distinct parts of the interview data and whether their content cohered meaningfully. Results Four themes emerged from the focus group interviews investigating medical students\' perceptions of MC: (1) erroneous beliefs about MC, (2) unreliable sources of information, (3) mixed attitudes toward legalization, and (4) desire for MC education while in medical school. Attitudes regarding MC in general, including legalization, varied by United States state of origin of the student and exposure to MC (e.g., use by family member).  Conclusion MC seems to be a significant issue for medical trainees who might be required to recommend it to patients and manage coexisting therapies. Cultivating new knowledge about students\' perceptions and perceived knowledge about medicinal options and dosing of MC is critical for medical educators as they design undergraduate curricular initiatives for future physicians.

Background E-cigarette use, or vaping, is known to be associated with potentially life-threatening lung injury, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 2,807 hospitalizations and 68 deaths in the United States due to e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury. Vaping is also a risk factor for and is implicated in the spreading of COVID-19. Despite the consequences of vaping, the views and training of medical students regarding vaping is unclear. This study sought to investigate the knowledge and perception of vaping amongst future health care providers. Methods An anonymous, online survey was administered to 259 first through fourth year medical students at Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine via a secure website link in October 2019 and January 2020. The survey consisted of two sections. All participants answered section one, involving nine questions. This first section addressed sociodemographic characteristics, personal views on vaping, rating and impact of vaping medical education, and whether students had ever tried vaping. If students had ever vaped, they proceeded to section two of the survey including nine additional questions. Students that reported no past vaping use ended the survey and did not proceed to section two. Section two focused on evaluating vaping habits of users by questioning age of first usage, use frequency and nature, reasons for first trying and/or continuing to use, plans for quitting, personal impact of use, and current use. Data was analyzed with frequency and percentage distributions. Results Most respondents were of age 18-25 years (66.8%) and female (60.2%). Almost all students (96.5%) were aware of the negative health consequences of vaping. More than two thirds of students (68.7%) rated their vaping medical education as inadequate and the majority (76.1%) indicated their medical school curriculum did not impact their view on the matter. Most students (71.0%) reported a more negative stance on vaping due to recent news and media. Of the respondents, over two thirds (37.5%) vaped at least once and were labeled \"vapers.\" The most commonly stated reason for first trying vaping was recreational (60.8%). Half of vapers (50.5%) admitted to vaping in the past year and most vapers (90.6%) did not think their vaping impacted others. Current vaping use was reported in almost one-third of vapers (32.3%) despite knowing its dangers, and several (6.3%) did not consider vaping dangerous. Conclusion The findings from this pilot study conducted at a single medical school indicate possible deficiencies in vaping education, at least as perceived by the respondents and demonstrated by their vaping-related actions. It is unknown if the stated vaping views and practices of these medical students would be positively impacted by better vaping education or if these practices are generalizable to other students. However, the data suggests there is a need to consider more extensive analyses of medical school curriculums with respect to vaping education and training of students in these and related areas. Recommendations to enhance medical school curriculums include vaping-focused respiratory and gastrointestinal lectures, problem-based case studies on vaping, standardized patient encounters, and a community education program taught by medical students.