About

Christine A. Babcock is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, within the Department of Medicine. She is affiliated with the university's research network and can be contacted via cbabcock@bsd.uchicago.edu. Her professional role involves advancing research in medicine, contributing to the academic and clinical community at the University of Chicago. The department is located at 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 6092, Chicago, IL 60637.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Medical education
• Family medicine
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Emergency medicine

Selected publications

• Bringing New Tools to Resident Training: Integrating Lessons From Science Communication and Real-World Practice

  Journal of Graduate Medical Education · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Qualitative Study of the Underrepresented in Emergency Medicine Resident Application Experience

  Western Journal of Emergency Medicine · 2024

  • Medicine
  • Family medicine
  • Emergency medicine
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Principle-Based Negotiating for Resources and Funds in Graduate Medical Education

  Journal of Graduate Medical Education · 2024-08-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Application in Parallel to U.S. Residency Training Programs in Multiple Specialties: Trends and Differences by Applicant Educational Background, 2009–2021

  Academic Medicine · 2024 · 3 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Medicine
  • Family medicine

  PURPOSE: The medical education community is pursuing reforms addressing unsustainable growth in the number of residency applications per applicant and application costs. Little research has examined the prevalence or contributions of parallel applications (application to residency in multiple specialties) to this growth. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of Electronic Residency Application Service data provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges was conducted. The percentage of applicants applying to ≥ 1 specialty, mean number of specialties applied, number of submitted applications, and percentage of applicants to each specialty who were parallel applying were determined. MD, DO, and international (U.S. international medical graduate [IMG] and IMG) applicants were included. RESULTS: The sample contained 586,246 applicant records from 459,704 unique applicants. The percentage of applicants who parallel applied decreased from 41.3% to 35.4% between 2009 and 2021. DO applicants were the only group for whom the percentage parallel applying increased (30.6% vs 32.1%). IMG (60.4% vs 49.1%) or USIMG applicants (69.6% vs 63.1%) were groups with the greatest percentage of applicants parallel applying each year (2009-2021). The mean number of specialties applied to when parallel applying also decreased from 2.96 in 2009 to 2.79 in 2021, overall. Between 2009 and 2021, mean number of applications increased for all applicant types among both single-specialty applicant and parallel-applying applicants. Among applicants who were single-specialty applying, mean number of applications grew from 38.6 in 2009 to 74.6 in 2021 and from 95.2 to 149.8 for parallel-applying applicants. CONCLUSIONS: All applicant groups experienced decreases in percentages parallel applying except for DO applicants. Parallel application appears to be common and slowly declining, and does not appear to significantly contribute to increasing numbers of applications per candidate. Efforts to control the growth of applications per applicant should continue to focus on applicants' numbers of applications submitted to each specialty.

  PublisherDOI

• Bias in Assessment Needs Urgent Attention—No Rest for the “Wicked”

  JAMA Network Open · 2022-11-21 · 8 citations

  letterOpen accessSenior author

  While assessment is a core function of medical education, concerns remain about equity in assessment. In this issue of JAMA Network Open, a large study highlights the inequity in assessment with respect to gender. 1 Mamtani et al 1 completed a multicenter study analyzing more than 10 000 narrative comments from 277 emergency medicine (EM) faculty of 283 EM residents. They found that women residents were more likely to be assessed by both faculty men and women as performing below level compared with their peers, with a common theme being lack of confidence with procedural skills. Disparities between faculty women and men in the quantity and quality of feedback provided were also found. For example, compared with men, faculty women were more likely to give narrative comments (vs no comments) that were also specific (vs nonspecific comments). The strengths of this study include a large sample size, multisite nature, and rigorous examination of narrative evaluations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Medical student self‐assessment as emergency medicine residency applicants

  AEM Education and Training · 2021 · 5 citations

  • Medical education
  • Psychology
  • Family medicine

  BACKGROUND: Emergency medicine (EM) applicants are encouraged to consider their own "competitiveness" when deciding on the number of applications to submit. Program directors rank the Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) as the most important factor when reviewing an applicant. Accurate insight into how clinical performance is reflected on the SLOE could improve medical students' ability to gauge their own competitiveness. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the accuracy of students' self-assessment by SLOE evaluation measures when compared to the SLOE completed by faculty after their EM clerkship. METHODS: Participants of this multicenter study included fourth-year medical students who had completed their EM clerkship and were applying to EM residency. Students completed a modified SLOE to reflect rankings they believed they would receive on their official SLOE. Additionally, students completed a survey assessing their knowledge of the SLOE, their perception of feedback during the clerkship, and their self-perceived competitiveness as an EM applicant. Correlation between the rankings on the student-completed SLOE and the official SLOE was analyzed using the Kendall correlation. RESULTS: Of the 49 eligible students, 42 (85.7%) completed the study. The correlation between scores on the student-completed and official SLOE were significantly low (r < 0.68) for each item. The majority of students agreed that they were satisfied by the quantity and quality of feedback they received (31/42, 73.8%). Few students agreed that they knew how many applications to submit to ensure a match in EM (7/42, 16.7%). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that students did not accurately predict their rankings on the official SLOE at the end of an EM rotation and had little insight into their competitiveness as an applicant. These findings highlight opportunities to mitigate the burden on students and programs caused by the increasing number of applications per applicant. Further research is needed as to whether strategies to increase insight into competitiveness are effective.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Resident Supervision and Patient Care: A Comparative Time Study in a Community‐Academic Versus a Community Emergency Department

  AEM Education and Training · 2019-03-19 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: The objective was to compare attending emergency physician (EP) time spent on direct and indirect patient care activities in emergency departments (EDs) with and without emergency medicine (EM) residents. METHODS: We performed an observational, time-motion study on 25 EPs who worked in a community-academic ED and a nonacademic community ED. Two observations of each EP were performed at each site. Average time spent per 240-minute observation on main-category activities are illustrated in percentages. We report descriptive statistics (median and interquartile ranges) for the number of minutes EPs spent per subcategory activity, in total and per patient. We performed a Wilcoxon two-sample test to assess differences between time spent across two EDs. RESULTS: The 25 observed EPs executed 34,358 tasks in the two EDs. At the community-academic ED, EPs spent 14.2% of their time supervising EM residents. Supervision activities included data presentation, medical decision making, and treatment. The time spent on supervision was offset by a decrease in time spent by EPs on indirect patient care (specifically communication and electronic health record work) at the community academic ED compared to the nonacademic community ED. There was no statistical difference with respect to direct patient care time expenditure between the two EDs. There was a nonstatistically significant difference in attending patient load between sites. CONCLUSIONS: EPs in our study spent 14.2% of their time (8.5 minutes/hour) supervising residents. The time spent supervising residents was largely offset by time savings related to indirect patient care activities rather than compromising direct patient care.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Branding and Recruitment: A Primer for Residency Program Leadership

  Journal of Graduate Medical Education · 2018-06-01 · 23 citations

  articleOpen access

  Residency programs are complex entities with significant diversity in mission, culture, and structure. During the application process, applicants assess these features to determine whether the given program would be a good fit for them. In some specialties, students' self-assessment of program-specific fit is included in personal statements.1 Without deliberate thought and action on behalf of program leadership, applicants may miss (or misinterpret) important features of a program, resulting in a less precise judgment of fit. Branding, a construct for describing and developing mental associations that influence behavior,2 may be used by programs to clearly define and effectively communicate their unique features and identity to applicants.Branding may seem foreign to the domain of resident recruitment, but the focus on program aims as part of the self-study process outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has significant overlap with branding, including the consideration of how a program differentiates itself from others.3 While this area has not been studied empirically, use of branding principles when completing the interrelated activities of self-study and residency recruitment may facilitate improvement in both areas.In this perspective, we outline the operational elements of branding as adapted from a conceptual framework developed by Botti,4 provide a rationale for using these concepts in recruitment, and offer advice for initial steps in residency program branding.Kapferer defined a brand as “a sign or set of signs certifying the origin of a product or service and differentiating it from the competition.”2 While a brand is often thought of as simply an entity's reputation, there are many other factors at play. An awareness and understanding of these factors allow leaders to have greater control in building and maintaining their brand.There are 5 key elements of branding applicable to residency program recruitment: (1) brand identity; (2) brand image; (3) brand positioning; (4) brand experience; and (5) brand auditing.4 Each element is described below and further characterized in the figure and the table. Similar to the importance of alignment across elements of curriculum design (eg, goals and objectives, educational strategies, assessments),5 alignment between the 5 elements of branding is essential to successful branding.Brand identity is a construct that incorporates an organization's mission, vision, and values. Applied to a residency program, brand identity is the set of associations that defines a program, differentiates it from others in the specialty, and makes it relevant to specific target groups. Leadership is responsible for reflecting on these constructs and incorporating pertinent concepts (eg, history, current stakeholders and target groups, goals) to develop a strong identity. Brand identity may also incorporate external associations, such as geography, institutional affiliations, and the local community. Establishing a clear identity is the most important step in brand development because it will be used to guide all other branding efforts.Brand image is the external counterpart to brand identity. Instead of being developed by leadership, brand image is the external perception of the organization (eg, in the case of residency recruitment, what associations are elicited in the minds of applicants when they think about the program). This perception may be influenced by many factors, including messaging from the program, messaging among external parties, or circumstantial factors.Brand image may be independent of product experience. For example, consumers who have never worn Nike shoes may have opinions about the brand. Residency applicants may also hold beliefs about training programs with which they have had no direct experience. Brand image may also be independent of brand identity, and a program may have an image that is not intended by its leaders. For example, an online message board may describe a program's service versus education balance in a way that is far from the view and intention of program leadership.Brand positioning is the deliberate action of leadership to align the views of outside stakeholders with those of local leadership. This process typically “focuses on the product itself,”2 in contrast to the organization as a whole and may involve drawing comparisons with other products to emphasize the strengths of the given product. For example, a residency program may highlight rotations with underserved populations in an attempt to align applicants' impressions (ie, brand image) with an organizational identity that values service to disadvantaged communities. Brand positioning ensures the alignment between brand identity and brand image.Brand experience, described in the framework of Brakus et al, includes the sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral impressions of a consumer when using a product or service.6 For residency programs, product experiences entail visiting students on rotations, applicants interviewing for a position, and residents recruited into the program. Consideration and attendance to each of these factors during the recruitment process will optimize the experience for applicants and matriculants.Brand auditing is the process of reviewing each aspect of a brand and identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Brand auditing can be thought of as being similar to curriculum evaluation. Once areas for improvement and threats have been identified, actions can be taken to strengthen alignment among elements.The benefits of branding extend far beyond identifying strengths and creating messages around them. A strong brand can shape culture, unify efforts, and align internal and external stakeholders. Through deliberate discussion of the program history and aspirations in the identity development process, a meaningful vision and mission can emerge that truly resonates with faculty and residents. This shared mental model and sense of purpose can positively affect internal and external stakeholders. Branding also can help focus decision-making (eg, does the proposed change strengthen our program's brand?).In addition, use of a structured framework can help identify gaps in branding efforts. Without critical review, a program with a strong identity may fail to appreciate its brand image—how the program is perceived by an external audience. Another program with good brand positioning may not provide a positive brand experience, by failing to ensure applicants are, for example, physically comfortable (sensory), inspired by opportunities (affective), cognitively engaged (intellectual), and motivated to act (behavioral).The implications of branding are far-reaching; while the majority of examples provided are in the context of residency recruitment, any individual with relevant resources or influence is an important consumer of the residency program's brand. Examples include alumni who may donate money or time, faculty members who choose their level of engagement, and hospital leaders who make resource allocation decisions. A strong organizational identity that is shared by others and associated with positive experiences can have a positive effect far beyond recruitment.The first step in residency program branding is performing a brand audit. After an honest assessment of each brand aspect outlined above, ensure the brand identity is appropriate and clear. This identity should then be shared with all representatives of the brand using clear and concise language that is easily reproducible when individuals are referencing the program. Clarity and simplicity of messages will help with consistency in delivery. Following establishment and dissemination of brand identity, any lack of alignment between branding elements should be assessed and addressed.Additional recommendations include:Strong branding can unify a residency program and celebrate its distinctiveness from others in the same specialty. Using this framework, program leaders can apply branding principles to clarify and communicate the program's uniqueness and relevance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Acute Care Referral Systems in Liberia: Transfer and Referral Capabilities in a Low-Income Country

  Prehospital and Disaster Medicine · 2017-07-27 · 18 citations

  article

  Introduction Following two decades of armed conflict in Liberia, over 95% of health care facilities were partially or completely destroyed. Although the Liberian health system has undergone significant rehabilitation, one particular weakness is the lack of organized systems for referral and prehospital care. Acute care referral systems are a critical component of effective health care delivery and have led to improved quality of care and patient outcomes. Problem This study aimed to characterize the referral and transfer systems in the largest county of Liberia. METHODS: A cross-sectional, health referral survey of a representative sample of health facilities in Montserrado County, Liberia was performed. A systematic random sample of all primary health care (PHC) clinics, fraction proportional to district population size, and all secondary and tertiary health facilities were included in the study sample. Collected data included baseline information about the health facility, patient flow, and qualitative and quantitative data regarding referral practices. RESULTS: A total of 62 health facilities-41 PHC clinics, 11 health centers (HCs), and 10 referral hospitals (RHs)-were surveyed during the 6-week study period. In sum, three percent of patients were referred to a higher-level of care. Communication between health facilities was largely unsystematic, with lack of specific protocols (n=3; 5.0%) and standardized documentation (n=26; 44.0%) for referral. While most health facilities reported walking as the primary means by which patients presented to initial health facilities (n=50; 81.0%), private vehicles, including commercial taxis (n=37; 60.0%), were the primary transport mechanism for referral of patients between health facilities. CONCLUSION: This study identified several weaknesses in acute care referral systems in Liberia, including lack of systematic care protocols for transfer, documentation, communication, and transport. However, several informal, well-functioning mechanisms for referral exist and could serve as the basis for a more robust system. Well-integrated acute care referral systems in low-income countries, like Liberia, may help to mitigate future public health crises by augmenting a country's capacity for emergency preparedness. Kim J , Barreix M , Babcock C , Bills CB . Acute care referral systems in Liberia: transfer and referral capabilities in a low-income country. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(6):642-650.

  PublisherDOI

• Emergency department management of priapism [digest].

  PubMed · 2017-01-22 · 1 citations

  article

  Priapism is a genitourinary emergency that demands a thorough, time-sensitive evaluation. There are 3 types of priapism: ischemic, nonischemic, and recurrent ischemic priapism; ischemic priapism accounts for 95% of cases. Ischemic priapism must be treated within 4 to 6 hours to minimize morbidity, including impotence. The diagnosis of ischemic priapism relies heavily on the history and physical examination and may be facilitated by penile blood gas analysis and penile ultrasound. This issue reviews current evidence regarding emergency department treatment of ischemic priapism using a stepwise approach that begins with aspiration of cavernosal blood, cold saline irrigation, and penile injection with sympathomimetic agents. Evidence-based management and appropriate urologic follow-up of nonischemic and recurrent ischemic priapism maximizes patient outcomes and resource utilization. [Points & Pearls is a digest of Emergency Medicine Practice].

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Christian Theodosis

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  55 shared

• Corey B Bills

  University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

  51 shared

• Ji-Min Kim

  Chungnam National University

  50 shared

• C.S. Olopade

  University of Chicago

  50 shared

• Melodie Kinet

  University of Chicago

  50 shared

• J. Michael Millis

  University of Chicago

  49 shared

• Madeleine Turner

  Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

  49 shared

• Olufunmilayo Olopade

  University of Chicago

  49 shared