Browsing by keyword "*Students, Medical"
Now showing items 1-9 of 9
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APA summit on medical student education task force on informatics and technology: steps to enhance the use of technology in education through faculty development, funding and change managementOBJECTIVE: This article provides an overview of how trainees, faculty, and institutions use technology for acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes for practicing modern medicine. METHOD: The authors reviewed the literature on medical education, technology, and change, and identify the key themes and make recommendations for implementing technology in medical education. RESULTS: Administrators and faculty should initially assess their own competencies with technology and then develop a variety of teaching methods that use technology to improve their curricula. Programs should decrease the general knowledge-based content of curricula and increase the use of technology for learning skills. For programs to be successful, they must address faculty development, change management, and funding. CONCLUSIONS: Willingness for change, collaboration, and leadership at all levels are essential factors for successfully implementing technology.
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Basic skills for working with smokers: a pilot test of an online course for medical studentsBACKGROUND: Online learning can be an excellent method for presenting clinical skills to address health behaviors. METHODS: Medical students pilot tested a skills-building course consisting of an online component and a practical application. RESULTS: A total of 38 students were registered, 25 (66%) completed the online component, and 22 (58%) completed both course components. Students reported they were adequately trained to administer the brief 5A intervention to patients who smoke and they intended to deliver the intervention routinely. CONCLUSIONS: Online skills-building courses can have a positive effect on students' knowledge and skills and can be used across health behaviors promote healthy lifestyles.
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Effects of review on medical students' recall of different types of neuroanatomical contentBACKGROUND: Review of previously learned content is central to formal medical education and continuing lifelong learning; however, little is known about the review process itself. This study examined ways in which structured review impacted students' recall and use of different types of neuroanatomical information, categorized as general constructs, fundamental content, and advanced content. METHOD: Seven months after completing first-year neuroscience, medical students were given equivalent short-answer tests requiring description of pathways and localization of lesions both before and after a review of clinically related neuroanatomy. Scores that reflected the three different types of information were compared. RESULTS: Prereview, students recalled General Constructs of neuroanatomy, with little additional Fundamental or Advanced Content. Postreview, Fundamental Content and Advanced Content scores both increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Reviews appear to enhance recall of related content, not only isolated facts. The review process may thus have unrealized potential as an educational strategy in medical training.
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Enhancing medical students' communication skills: development and evaluation of an undergraduate training programBACKGROUND: There is a relative lack of current research on the effects of specific communication training offered at the beginning of the medical degree program. The newly developed communication training "Basics and Practice in Communication Skills" was pilot tested in 2008 and expanded in the following year at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany. The goal was to promote and improve the communicative skills of participants and show the usefulness of an early offered intervention on patient-physician communication within the medical curriculum. METHODS: The students participating in the project and a comparison group of students from the standard degree program were surveyed at the beginning and end of the courses. The survey consisted of a self-assessment of their skills as well as a standardised expert rating and an evaluation of the modules by means of a questionnaire. RESULTS: Students who attended the communication skills course exhibited a considerable increase of communication skills in this newly developed training. It was also observed that students in the intervention group had a greater degree of self-assessed competence following training than the medical students in the comparison group. This finding is also reflected in the results from a standardised objective measure. CONCLUSIONS: The empirical results of the study showed that the training enabled students to acquire specialised competence in communication through the course of a newly developed training program. These findings will be used to establish new communication training at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf.
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Evaluation of missing data in an assessment of professional behaviorsBACKGROUND: The National Board of Medical Examiners is currently developing the Assessment of Professional Behaviors, a multisource feedback (MSF) tool intended for formative use with medical students and residents. This study investigated whether missing responses on this tool can be considered random; evidence that missing values are not random would suggest response bias, a significant threat to score validity. METHOD: Correlational analyses of pilot data (N = 2,149) investigated whether missing values were systematically related to global evaluations of observees. RESULTS: The percentage of missing items was correlated with global evaluations of observees; observers answered more items for preferred observees compared with nonpreferred observees. CONCLUSIONS: Missing responses on this MSF tool seem to be nonrandom and are instead systematically related to global perceptions of observees. Further research is needed to determine whether modifications to the items, the instructions, or other components of the assessment process can reduce this effect.
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Explanations of basic medical information by students: what lay people find effectiveDuring basic science courses, medical students are often required to explain complex scientific and medical information to faculty and to each other as they study and complete examinations. Later, as physicians, these students will often be in the position of explaining similar, complex information to patients. By practicing how to explain medically relevant basic science information to lay people (potential patients) early in their training, students may gain valuable skills and preparation for their future roles as physicians.
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Obtaining patient permission for student participation in obstetric-gynecologic outpatient visits: a randomized controlled trialOBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to compare a scripted verbal query with a detailed written permission slip in obtaining patient satisfaction and permission for student involvement in outpatient obstetrics-gynecologic visits. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, controlled study was performed using a questionnaire to compare current practice to the study groups. The chi(2) test was used to calculate P values; P<.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Patient demographics and satisfaction were similar among the three groups: 86% of controls and 79% of study groups agreed to student participation (P=.056). All preferred having the nurse ask permission (86% vs 86%) versus the physician (34% vs 25%) or the student (6% vs 3%). Permission was independent of student gender, visit purpose, or previous exposure to students. CONCLUSION: Patients want a nonphysician to ask permission for student participation independent of method of request, visit purpose, student gender, or previous experience with students. Physician or student requests for consent may unduly influence participation.
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Promoting self-directed learning skills in residency: a case study in program developmentSelf-directed learning (SDL) skills are essential for the formation and ongoing competence of today's physicians who work in the context of expanding scientific knowledge and changing health care systems. In 2007-2008, the authors developed a program to promote SDL in the Brown University Family Medicine Residency. Through an iterative process, the project team juggled learning theories (i.e., Knowles' SDL model, Collins' cognitive apprenticeship model, and Quirk's expertise development model) with curricular goals, instructional options, and local constraints to design a practical and theoretically robust intervention.The intervention that emerged from this process features a faculty physician serving as a learning coach who meets individually each month with all second-year residents to assist them in generating learning goals, reflecting on their learning experiences, and practicing evidence-based medicine (EBM) skills. An electronic portfolio serves as a documentation tool that supports reflection; residents record their goals and reflections in the portfolio, which also contains their formative assessments, procedure logs, and special projects. To address the hidden curriculum, the program designers took special care to avoid increasing faculty and resident workload and created a forum for discussion and group reflection. Program evaluation combines qualitative and quantitative methods, such as surveys of and interviews with residents and faculty, to assess changes in residents' SDL and EBM skills and in the program's educational culture. The authors use Kern and colleagues' six-step model for curriculum development to describe both the unfolding of this complex project and the choices that resulted in the current program design.
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Tracking the longitudinal stability of medical students' perceptions using the AAMC graduation questionnaire and serial evaluation surveysBACKGROUND: This study examined the longitudinal stability of students' perceptions by comparing ratings on similar survey items in three sequential evaluations: end-of-clerkship (EOC), AAMC graduation questionnaire (GQ), and a postgraduate survey (PGY1). METHOD: For the classes of 2000 and 2001, ratings were compiled from EOC evaluations and comparable items from the GQ. For both cohorts, selected GQ items were included in the PGY1 survey and these ratings were compiled. Matched responses from EOC versus GQ and PGY1 versus GQ were compared. RESULTS: Proportions of "excellent" ratings were consistent across EOC and GQ surveys for all clerkships. Comparison of GQ and PGY1 ratings revealed significant differences in only seven of 31 items. CONCLUSION: Student perceptions as measured by GQ ratings are notably consistent across the clinical years and internship. This longitudinal stability supports the usefulness of the GQ in programmatic assessment and reinforces its value as a measure of student satisfaction.
