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Learning outcomes from a biomedical research course for second year osteopathic medical students.

ABSTRACT: A ubiquitous dilemma in medical education continues to be whether and how to integrate research competencies into the predoctoral curriculum. Understanding research concepts is imbedded in the six core competencies for physicians, but predoctoral medical education typically does not explicitly include research education. In an effort to quickly report academic research findings to the field, this is the second in a series of articles reporting the outcomes of a research education initiative at one college of osteopathic medicine. The first article described the competency model and reported baseline performance in applied understanding of targeted research concepts. This second article reports on the learning outcomes from the inaugural year of a course in basic biomedical research concepts.This course consisted of 24 total hours of classroom lectures augmented with web-based materials using Blackboard Vista, faculty moderated student presentations of research articles, and quizzes. To measure changes in applied understanding of targeted research concepts in the inaugural year of the course, we administered a pretest and a posttest to second year students who took the course and to first year students who took an informatics course in the same academic year.We analyzed 154 matched pretests and posttests representing 56% of the 273 first and second year students. On average, the first year (53) and second year students (101) did not differ in their mean pretest scores. At posttest the second year students showed significant improvement in their applied understanding of the concepts, whereas the first year students' mean posttest score was lower than their mean pretest score.This biomedical research course appears to have increased the second year students' applied understanding of the targeted biomedical research concepts. This assessment of learning outcomes has facilitated the quality improvement process for the course, and improved our understanding of how to measure the benefits of research education for medical students. Some of the course content and methods, and the outcome measures may need to be approached differently in the future to more effectively lay the foundation for osteopathic medical students to utilize these concepts in the clinical setting.

SUBMITTER: Cruser dA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2914734 | biostudies-other | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Learning outcomes from a biomedical research course for second year osteopathic medical students.

Cruser des Anges dA Brown Sarah K SK Ingram Jessica R JR Podawiltz Alan L AL Dubin Bruce D BD Colston John S JS Bulik Robert J RJ

Osteopathic medicine and primary care 20100708

<h4>Background</h4>A ubiquitous dilemma in medical education continues to be whether and how to integrate research competencies into the predoctoral curriculum. Understanding research concepts is imbedded in the six core competencies for physicians, but predoctoral medical education typically does not explicitly include research education. In an effort to quickly report academic research findings to the field, this is the second in a series of articles reporting the outcomes of a research educat ...[more]

PMID: 20609258

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Project description:In the model medical curriculum HannibaL at Hannover Medical School (MHH, Hannover, Germany), communication skills in taking case histories and disclosing diagnoses (breaking bad news) are assessed through an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). This is part of the examinations which at the MHH represent the equivalent to the First Part of the Medical Examinations. The second year doctor-patient communication course preparing for these examinations was evaluated during the 2009/10 academic year.Using questionnaires specific to the learning objectives, learning needs were assessed, pre-post comparisons of self-assessed competencies were performed and key teaching methods were evaluated (5-point Likert scales, "5"=fully agree). At T0 (start of the course) 267 students participated (response rate: 93.7%), of which 180 filled out the T1 questionnaire during the last session of the course (67.4%). Within-subject analyses of variance and paired t-tests were conducted.The highest learning needs were found for the "to show how"-items regarding history taking and disclosing diagnoses (M=4.4). The T1-T0 comparisons showed the greatest improvements for history taking ("to know how": mean difference = +1.7, "to show how": +1.8, p<.0001 as with all tests) and the "to know how"-item regarding the disclosure of diagnoses (+1.6), followed by the "to show how"-items on disclosing a diagnosis (+1.4), shared decision making (+1.2), self-assessing one's own strengths/weaknesses (+1.0) and confidently approaching new patients (+0.7). Students with T0 values of 1 or 2 on the respective scales improved on average by 2.2 points across all items, students with the value of 3 by 1.1, and from 4 or 5 by 0.1. Methodically, the use of simulated patients was rated the most helpful (M=4.8, 87% with the scale value 5). This doctor-patient communication course is associated with substantial improvements regarding all key learning objectives. Regarding methods, the deployed simulated patients (2-4 per 10-student-course group in 3 of the 7 course sessions, respectively) were rated the most helpful. The present evaluation calls for both further development of the doctor-patient communication curriculum at the MHH and joint activities across medical schools, which are discussed at the end of the paper.

Project description:Students commencing their medical training arrive with different educational backgrounds and a diverse range of learning experiences. Consequently, students would have developed preferred approaches to acquiring and processing information or learning style preferences. Understanding first-year students' learning style preferences is important to success in learning. However, little is understood about how learning styles impact learning and performance across different subjects within the medical curriculum. Greater understanding of the relationship between students' learning style preferences and academic performance in specific medical subjects would be valuable.This cross-sectional study examined the learning style preferences of first-year medical students and how they differ across gender. This research also analyzed the effect of learning styles on academic performance across different subjects within a medical education program in a Central Asian university. A total of 52 students (57.7% females) from two batches of first-year medical school completed the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire, which measures four dimensions of learning styles: sensing-intuitive; visual-verbal; active-reflective; sequential-global.First-year medical students reported preferences for visual (80.8%) and sequential (60.5%) learning styles, suggesting that these students preferred to learn through demonstrations and diagrams and in a linear and sequential way. Our results indicate that male medical students have higher preference for visual learning style over verbal, while females seemed to have a higher preference for sequential learning style over global. Significant associations were found between sensing-intuitive learning styles and performance in Genetics [β = -0.46, B = -0.44, p < 0.01] and Anatomy [β = -0.41, B = -0.61, p < 0.05] and between sequential-global styles and performance in Genetics [β = 0.36, B = 0.43, p < 0.05]. More specifically, sensing learners were more likely to perform better than intuitive learners in the two subjects and global learners were more likely to perform better than sequential learners in Genetics.This knowledge will be helpful to individual students to improve their performance in these subjects by adopting new sensing learning techniques. Instructors can also benefit by modifying and adapting more appropriate teaching approaches in these subjects. Future studies to validate this observation will be valuable.

Project description:BackgroundPreparing today's undergraduate students from science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and related health professions to solve wide-sweeping healthcare challenges is critical. Moreover, it is imperative that educators help students develop the capabilities needed to meet those challenges, including problem solving, collaboration, and an ability to work with rapidly evolving technologies. We piloted a multidisciplinary education (ME) course aimed at filling this gap, and subsequently assessed whether or not students identified achieving the course objectives. In the course, undergraduate students from engineering, pre-nursing (students not yet admitted to the nursing program), and pre-professional health (e.g., pre-med and pre-physician's assistant) were grouped based on their diversity of background, major, and StrengthsFinder® proficiencies in a MakerSpace to create tangible solutions to health-related problems facing the community. We then used qualitative content analysis to assess the research question: what is the impact of undergraduate multidisciplinary education offered in a MakerSpace on student attitudes towards and perceptions of skills required in their own as well as others occupations?ResultsWe discovered these students were able to identify and learn capabilities that will be critical in their future work. For example, students appreciated the challenging problems they encountered and the ability to meet demands using cutting-edge technologies including 3D printers. Moreover, they learned the value of working in a multidisciplinary group. We expected some of these findings, such as an increased ability to work in teams. However, some themes were unexpected, including students explicitly appreciating the method of teaching that focused on experiential student learning through faculty mentoring.ConclusionsThese findings can be used to guide additional research. Moreover, offering a variety of these courses is a necessary step to prepare students for the current and future workforce. Finally, these classes should include a focus on intentional team creation with the goal of allowing students to solve challenging real-world problems through ethical reasoning and collaboration.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Our college introduced an integrated learning program (ILP) for first year undergraduates with an aim to develop, implement and evaluate a module for CNS in basic sciences and to assess the feasibility of an ILP in phase I of medical education in a college following traditional medical curriculum. METHODS: The idea of implementing ILP for Central Nervous System (CNS) in phase one was conceived by curriculum development committee drawn from faculty of all phases. After a series of meetings of curriculum development committee, inputs from basic science and clinical departments, a time table was constructed. Various teaching learning methods, themes for integrated didactic lectures, case based learning and clinical exposure were decided. Basic science faculty were made to participate actively in both case based learning and hospital visits along with clinical experts. The completed program was evaluated based on structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Sixty percent students rated the program good to excellent with reference to appreciation, understanding and application of basic science knowledge in health and disease. Seventy eight percent felt that this program will help them perform better in later days of clinical training. However sixty percent students felt that ILP will not help them perform better at the first professional examination. Seventy two per cent of faculty agreed that this program improved understanding and application of basic science knowledge of students. Ninety percent of faculty felt that this program will help them perform better in later days of clinical training. CONCLUSION: The adoption of present integrated module for CNS and the use of multiple teaching learning methods have been proven to be useful in acquisition of knowledge from the student satisfaction point of view. Students and faculty expressed an overall satisfaction towards ILP for CNS. The study showed that it is possible to adopt an integrated learning module in the first year of medical course under a conventional curriculum.

Project description:Background: Exponential increases in the development of medical knowledge, the expansion of areas where medicine develops its activities, the emergence of new pathologies ( e.g., COVID-19), novel diagnostic methods and therapeutic strategies, together with the appearance of multiple communication and information technologies, determined that the education of future physicians required targeted training in scientific methodology. Methods: The design and execution of a course in scientific methodology in the curriculum of Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay, is described. The course is carried out at an advanced stage of the medical studies for all the students, in which they develop a 10-month research project supervised by the medical school faculty. Students undergo all stages of a research endeavor: generation of hypothesis, elaboration of a research protocol, submission to the Research Ethics and Animal Welfare Committees, data recollection, analysis, interpretation and publication of the results. Results: The course is undertaken at the Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay, the main university of the country, with high numbers of students enrolled. The course involves the participation of 600 students and up to 300 professors per year, which implies a huge institutional effort Conclusions: The scientific methodology course resulted in one of the most important incorporations of the current 2008 curriculum. Local students, faculty and international evaluators have qualified this activity as an educational breakthrough, being a gratifying and productive experience. The course represented the first exposure of medical students to the research methodology, scientific literature and publication rules, and emphasized the dynamic nature of medical knowledge within modern medical education. Moreover, for some students it constituted the onset of academic research careers. An additional positive outcome was the reactivation of some faculty research projects, in a way that largely exceeded the boundaries of the course.

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Learning outcomes from a biomedical research course for second year osteopathic medical students.

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Learning outcomes from a biomedical research course for second year osteopathic medical students.

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