Augmenting the critical care data base of junior medical students with an emergency medicine lecture curriculum: A controlled study

Innovation Concept: Canadian medical students completing their Emergency Medicine (EM) clerkship rotations must develop approaches to undifferentiated patients. Increasingly used in postgraduate EM education, Open Educational Resources (OERs) are a convenient and flexible solution to meeting medical student educational needs on their EM rotation. We hoped to supplement Canadian medical student EM education through the development of ‘ClerkCast’, a novel OER and podcast-based curriculum on CanadiEM.org. Methods: We utilized the Kern Six Step approach to curriculum development for ‘ClerkCast’. A general needs assessment involved a review of available OERs and identified a lack of effective EM OERs specific for medical students. A specific online needs assessment was used to determine which EM topics required further education for medical students. The survey was shared directly with key Canadian medical student and undergraduate medical educator stakeholder groups, and distributed globally through the CanadiEM social media networks. Results of the needs assessment highlighted shared perceptions of educational needs for medical students, with an emphasis on increased need for education on critical care and common EM presentations. We used the topics determined to be highest priority for the development of our first ten episodes of ‘ClerkCast’. Curriculum, Tool or Material: Podcast episodes are released from CanadiEM biweekly. Episodes are 30 to 45 min in length, and focus on cognitive approaches to a common EM presentation for medical students. Content is anchored on medical student interactions with a staff or resident EM co-host. Podcasts are supplemented by infographics and blog posts highlighting the key points from each episode. Learners are also encouraged to interact with the content through review quizzes on a provided question bank. Quality assurance of the content is provided by physician co-hosts who review episode scripts both prior to recording. Post-production feedback is elicited via comments on the curriculum's host website, CanadiEM.org, and through direct email correspondence to the ClerkCast address. Conclusion: With an ever increasing number of OERs in EM and critical care, the systematic development of new resources is important to avoid redundancies in content and medium while also addressing unmet learner needs. We describe the successful use of the Kern Six Steps for curriculum development for the creation of our novel EM OER for Canadian medical students, ‘ClerkCast’.

Download Full-text

International Journal of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine

10.23937/2474-3674 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Critical Care

Download Full-text

The effects of four years of a training programme aimed to teach anesthesiology and critical care to medical students

10.26226/morressier.57108e33d462b80290b4b058 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Dana Tomescu

Keyword(s):

Critical Care ◽

Medical Students ◽

Training Programme

Download Full-text

Scholarly Journal of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care

10.36959/592 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Critical Care ◽

Scholarly Journal

Download Full-text

Fact file 1: Critical care and emergency medicine

10.1093/oso/9780198792079.003.0014 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Daisy Fancourt

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Critical Care ◽

Sports Medicine ◽

Orthopaedic Surgery ◽

Extreme Environment ◽

Disaster Medicine ◽

Medical Attention ◽

Life Threatening ◽

Medical Disciplines ◽

The Brain

Emergency medicine involves the care of patients who require immediate medical attention. The specialty encompasses a broad range of medical disciplines, including anaesthesia, cardiology (a field related to the heart), neurology (a field related to the brain), plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery (surgery relating to the bones or muscles), and cardiothoracic surgery (surgery relating to the heart, chest, or lungs). There are also a number of subspecialties including extreme environment medicine, disaster medicine and sports medicine. Related to emergency medicine is the specialty of critical care medicine, which is concerned with the care of patients with life-threatening conditions often treated in intensive care settings....

Download Full-text

Feasibility of cardiac output measurements in critically ill patients by medical students

The Ultrasound Journal ◽

10.1186/s13089-020-0152-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Geert Koster ◽

Thomas Kaufmann ◽

Bart Hiemstra ◽

Renske Wiersema ◽

Madelon E. Vos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiac Output ◽

Critical Care ◽

Medical Students ◽

Critically Ill ◽

Critically Ill Patients ◽

Left Ventricular ◽

Percentage Error ◽

Poor Agreement ◽

Cardiac Output Measurements

Abstract Background Critical care ultrasonography (CCUS) is increasingly applied also in the intensive care unit (ICU) and performed by non-experts, including even medical students. There is limited data on the training efforts necessary for novices to attain images of sufficient quality. There is no data on medical students performing CCUS for the measurement of cardiac output (CO), a hemodynamic variable of importance for daily critical care. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the agreement of cardiac output measurements as well as the quality of images obtained by medical students in critically ill patients compared to the measurements obtained by experts in these images. Methods In a prospective observational cohort study, all acutely admitted adults with an expected ICU stay over 24 h were included. CCUS was performed by students within 24 h of admission. CCUS included the images required to measure the CO, i.e., the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) diameter and the velocity time integral (VTI) in the LVOT. Echocardiography experts were involved in the evaluation of the quality of images obtained and the quality of the CO measurements. Results There was an opportunity for a CCUS attempt in 1155 of the 1212 eligible patients (95%) and in 1075 of the 1212 patients (89%) CCUS examination was performed by medical students. In 871 out of 1075 patients (81%) medical students measured CO. Experts measured CO in 783 patients (73%). In 760 patients (71%) CO was measured by both which allowed for comparison; bias of CO was 0.0 L min−1 with limits of agreement of − 2.6 L min−1 to 2.7 L min−1. The percentage error was 50%, reflecting poor agreement of the CO measurement by students compared with the experts CO measurement. Conclusions Medical students seem capable of obtaining sufficient quality CCUS images for CO measurement in the majority of critically ill patients. Measurements of CO by medical students, however, had poor agreement with expert measurements. Experts remain indispensable for reliable CO measurements. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; registration number NCT02912624

Download Full-text

Evaluating the effectiveness of a single-day simulation-based program in psychiatry for medical students: a controlled study

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-021-02708-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Nadia Younes ◽

Anne Laure Delaunay ◽

M. Roger ◽

Pierre Serra ◽

France Hirot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Factor Structure ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Controlled Study ◽

Simulated Patients ◽

Control Group ◽

Retest Reliability ◽

Knowledge And Attitudes ◽

Simulation Group ◽

Test Retest Reliability

Abstract Background Training in psychiatry requires specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are obtainable by simulation, of which the use is only recent and still needs further development. Evidence is accumulating on its effectiveness but requires further validation for medical students. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a single-day optional teaching program in psychiatry by simulation for medical students and validate a scale measuring Confidence in Psychiatric Clinical Skills (CPCQ), as part of the assessment. Methods This was a controlled study in a French University that compared (using paired-sample Student t-tests) knowledge and attitudes (university grades and CPCQ scores) before, just after teaching with simulated patients, and 2 months later. Satisfaction with the program (including the quality of the debriefing) was also investigated. The CPCQ scale was validated by assessing the factor structure, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Finally, a comparison was run with a control group who received the usual psychiatric instruction using covariance analyses. Results Twenty-four medical students were included in the simulation group and 76 in the control group. Just after the simulation, knowledge and attitudes increased significantly in the simulation group. Satisfaction with the training and debriefing was very high. The CPCQ scale showed good psychometric properties: a single-factor structure, acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.73 [0.65–0.85]), and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.71 [0.35–0.88]). Two months after the simulation, knowledge and attitudes were significantly higher in the simulation group than the control group, despite a lack of difference in knowledge before the simulation. Conclusions Adding a simulation program in psychiatry to the usual teaching improved the knowledge and confidence of medical students. The CPCQ scale could be used for the evaluation of educational programs.

Download Full-text