Interviews: New Study Aims To Improve Menopause Education For Clinicians -02/13/24
Amanda Clark, MD, MCR, is available for interviews on Thursday, February 15, between 9 and 11 a.m. Contact Kim Mounts to schedule.
It is estimated that more than 50 million women in the U.S. are over 51, the average age that menopause hits. According to The Menopause Society, that number will grow to nearly 90 million by 2060 and these women are expected to spend about one third of their life in menopause. Yet, results of a national survey from the Mayo Clinic, show that most medical residents do not feel adequately prepared to manage patients experiencing menopause.
As a result of this gap in education, “women are not getting the care they need, often struggling needlessly with menopause-related symptoms and without awareness of treatment options,” said Kim Vesco, MD, MPH and lead researcher for a newly released menopause education study by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland, Ore.
To address this problem, Vesco, along with Amanda Clark, MD, MCR, Professor Emerita at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) and senior affiliate investigator at CHR, created a unique, streamlined approach to delivering menopause training, resulting in medical residents experiencing an increase in understanding as well as comfort in managing menopause with their patients.
Students entering medical residency today have grown up in a digital landscape and are accustomed to finding and synthesizing information quickly. There is a need for traditional classroom lectures and lengthy program structures to evolve to meet these changing needs.
“Using a flipped-classroom design departs from the traditional educational structure,” said Kim Vesco, lead researcher. “We designed the curriculum as a series of short, focused podcasts to deliver core content, then followed up with interactive case-based classroom discussion to allow residents to apply the new knowledge.”
The study revealed that medical residents improved their knowledge, comfort, and preparedness to discuss and treat menopause. The residents also noted that the podcast format was convenient and effective when compared with an equivalent amount of reading.
This newly acquired knowledge, including the latest guidelines on hormone and nonhormone therapy, can immediately be used in the health care setting to help inform patient treatment plans based on the current data and evidence-based options.
The study targeted 200 residents from six residency programs at four academic centers and two community-based programs. Residents were studying on one of three areas: obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, or family medicine. Initially, the classroom sessions were conducted in person, but in mid-study, the coronavirus pandemic necessitated a transition to virtual classroom sessions. Thus, the entire program can be delivered virtually, allowing presentation in programs that lack faculty expertise in menopause medicine.
Typically, residency education occurs in ‘silos’ within each specialty, with limited exposure to the unique perspectives of the individual specialties, said Clark. “We were surprised to find that the baseline level of knowledge and knowledge gains were similar for all three specialties and that a multidisciplinary approach was effective for all residents.”
“This study confirms that access to streamlined and convenient curriculum is effective at providing medical residents across disciplines with consistent, understandable and usable training,” said Vesco. “Which we hope allows clinicians to provide their patients with the best quality of care possible.”
Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research has made the Practice Pearls Podcast: Menopause available publicly so busy clinicians anywhere can listen to them at their convenience. The training consists of six episodes ranging from 15-20 minutes.
The Practice Pearls podcasts, transcripts and references are available at the podcast website: https://research.kpchr.org/Portals/0/projects/menopod/index.html
Published study: Resident training to optimize patient-focused menopause mana... : Menopause (lww.com)
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and nonprofit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to about.kp.org.