In 2022, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) began requiring residency programs to provide instruction and experience in pain management for internal medicine trainees. Residency program directors were surveyed in 2019 about whether and how they provide instruction and experience to residents in safe opioid prescribing (SOP) and treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). Most programs required didactic learning, but few required clinical experience. Given that the ACGME requirement is now in place, the researchers suggest many programs may be ill-prepared to meet the requirement.

… tangible reduction of structural racism in health care. … Calhoun A, Genao I, Martin A, et al. Moving beyond implicit bias in antiracist …

This survey of internal medicine attending and resident physicians found that few received instruction on reporting diagnostic errors or discussing diagnostic errors with patients. The authors recommend improving training in order to enhance reporting and communication about diagnostic errors.

Patients are increasingly being encouraged to take an active role in ensuring their own safety, but doing so will require close partnership between patients and their physicians. However, this survey of hospitalized patients and their physicians revealed fundamental gaps in patients' knowledge of their illness, with nearly 40% of patients being unaware of their diagnosis and 90% being unaware of potential medication side effects. Physicians tended to overestimate patients' understanding of their diagnosis and the plan of care. This study's findings are supported by prior research in the emergency department and outpatient setting. A case of suboptimal communication contributing to patient harm is discussed in this AHRQ WebM&M commentary.