News from the CDC: chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and standardized patient videos — a novel approach to educating medical students about CFS

Excerpt

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Chronic Viral Diseases Branch houses CDC's chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) research and education program. The program's provider education and outreach initiative has conducted research and implemented activities to educate healthcare professionals about CFS diagnosis and management, including evaluating knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among US providers [1], assessing best methods for CFS continuing medical education (CME) [2], and developing a train-the-trainer program [3]. In 2012, meetings with stakeholders and evaluations of existing outreach efforts informed the program's decision to target medical students and residents as a way to influence CFS education at the beginning of the medical education process. This report describes the background and process for developing a CFS education curriculum using standardized patients and plans to disseminate the curriculum using MedEd Portal. …