Short communicationExploring medical students’ attitudes towards peer physical examination

There is greater emphasis on clinically oriented teaching and early clinical exposure for medical students. There is limitation to practice and perfect the skills on sick patients. Hence, standardized patients are used for practice of clinical skills. However non-availability of trained standardized patients, high cost of employing them poses a challenge to training medical students. The viable alternative is to use the peers for skill training. It can be a potential area of student discomfort or inappropriate behavior by classmates or tutors. Present study assesses the attitude of students towards Peer Physical Examination (PPE). Fifty three third term medical students (23 males and 30 females) were administered a structured and validated questionnaire with 15 questions to assess elements of comfort, professionalism, appropriateness and value of PPE. Students responded to questions using a five-point Likert scale, where 1 = strongly agree, and 5 = strongly disagree.The pattern of response was similar for male and female students. 81.82% were comfortable with PPE for practice of clinical skills. 32.90% were comfortable examining peers of opposite sex. 18.04% felt it was appropriate to perform breast, genital and rectal examinations on peers. 2.17% agreed to volunteer for such examination.Majority of students preferred PPE to standardized patients for practice of clinical skills. PPE was preferred as it provided valuable feedback, better learning experience, and felt examining classmates was comfortable & appropriate. However they felt inappropriate to volunteer or examine breast, inguinal, genital regions of classmate as a part of PPE.

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First-Year Medical Students’ Willingness to Participate in Peer Physical Examination

Teaching and Learning in Medicine ◽

10.1080/10401334.2012.641489 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 55-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Katharine J. Reid ◽

Meshak Kgakololo ◽

Ruth M. Sutherland ◽

Susan L. Elliott ◽

Agnes E. Dodds

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Physical Examination ◽

First Year ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

First Year Medical Students ◽

Peer Physical Examination

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Senior Medical Students’ Attitudes toward Choosing Residency Programs in Primary Care

American Journal of Preventive Medicine ◽

10.1016/s0749-3797(18)31398-9 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 38-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robert R. Franklin ◽

Pamela A. Samaha ◽

Janet C. Rice ◽

Susan M. Igras

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Medical Students ◽

Residency Programs ◽

Students Attitudes

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Required Longitudinal Service-Learning and Its Effects on Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward the Underserved

Medical Science Educator ◽

10.1007/s40670-021-01350-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Monica Rose Arebalos ◽

Faun Lee Botor ◽

Edward Simanton ◽

Jennifer Young

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Service Learning ◽

Student Attitudes ◽

Underserved Populations ◽

Preclinical Phase ◽

School Of Medicine ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Medical Student Attitudes ◽

The University

AbstractAlthough medical students enter medicine with altruistic motives and seek to serve indigent populations, studies show that medical students’ attitudes towards the undeserved tend to worsen significantly as they go through their medical education. This finding emphasizes the need for medical educators to implement activities such as service-learning that may help mitigate this negative trend.All students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Medicine are required to participate in longitudinal service-learning throughout medical school, and a majority of students interact with the underserved at their service-learning sites. Using the previously validated Medical Student Attitudes Towards the Underserved (MSATU), independent sample T-tests showed that students who interact with underserved populations at their sites scored with significantly better attitudes towards the underserved at the end of their preclinical phase. Subjects included 58 medical students with 100% taking the MSATU. This result indicates that longitudinal service-learning, particularly when it includes interaction with the underserved, can be one method to combat the worsening of medical students’ attitudes as they complete their medical education.

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Changing medical students’ attitudes about mental health

Medical Education ◽

10.1111/medu.12195 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 47 (5) ◽

pp. 534-534

Author(s):

Alexandre Pereira ◽

Henry Holanda

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Students Attitudes

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A Theoretical Framework for the Development of Views of One’s Own Aging

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 6-6

Author(s):

Sarah Marrs ◽

Jennifer Inker ◽

Madeline McIntyre ◽

Leland Waters ◽

Tracey Gendron

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Medical Students ◽

Assisted Living ◽

Health Professions ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Mentoring Program ◽

Term Care ◽

Before And After ◽

Students Attitudes

Abstract Senior mentoring programs have been established that provide medical students exposure to a community-dwelling older adult mentor. The goal of these programs is to expose students to healthy older adults, increase knowledge of geriatrics, and prepare them to care for an aging population. However, even while participating in a senior mentoring program, health professions students still demonstrate some discriminatory language towards older adults (e.g., Gendron, Inker, & Welleford, 2018). In fact, research suggests ageist practices occur, intentionally or not, among all health professions and within assisted living and long-term care facilities (e.g., Bowling, 1999; Dobbs et al., 2008; Kane & Kane, 2005). There is reason to believe that how we feel about other older adults is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves as aging individuals. As part of an evaluation of a Senior Mentoring program, we found that students’ attitudes towards older adults were not significantly improved (t (92) = .38, p = .70). To further explore this, we collected subsequent qualitative data. Specifically, we asked students to respond to the open-ended prompt before and after completing their senior mentoring program: How do you feel about your own aging? Our findings have revealed just how complex students’ views towards aging and elderhood are, pointing to a need to develop a theoretical framework for how these views are formed. Thus, the results of this qualitative grounded theory study illustrate the stages of development medical students’ progress through as they come to accept themselves as aging humans.

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Collaborative testing in physical examination skills training and the autonomous motivation of students: a qualitative study

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-021-02618-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jiska A. Patiwael ◽

Anje H. Douma ◽

Natalia Bezakova ◽

Rashmi A. Kusurkar ◽

Hester E. M. Daelmans

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Physical Examination ◽

Training Session ◽

Autonomous Motivation ◽

Skills Training ◽

Psychological Needs ◽

Active Participation ◽

Basic Psychological Needs ◽

Collaborative Testing ◽

Traditional Format

Abstract Background Teaching methods that stimulate the active learning of students make a positive impact on several aspects of learning in higher education. Collaborative testing blended with teaching is one such method. At our medical school, a training session was designed using a collaborative testing format to engage medical students actively in the theoretical phase of a physical examination training, and this session was evaluated positively by our students. Therefore, we extended the use of the format and converted more of the training into collaborative testing sessions. The literature on collaborative testing and the theoretical framework underlying its motivational mechanisms is scarce; however, students have reported greater motivation. The aim of the current study was to investigate student perceptions of a collaborative testing format versus a traditional teaching format and their effects on student motivation. Methods Year four medical students attended seven physical examination training sessions, of which three followed a collaborative testing format and four a traditional format. The students were asked to evaluate both formats through questionnaires comprised of two items that were answered on a five-point Likert scale and five open-ended essay questions. Content analysis was conducted on the qualitative data. The themes from this analysis were finalized through the consensus of the full research team. Results The quantitative data showed that 59 students (55%) preferred collaborative testing (agreed or strongly agreed), 40 students (37%) were neutral, and 8 students (8%) did not prefer collaborative testing (disagreed or strongly disagreed). The themes found for the collaborative testing format were: ‘interaction’, ‘thinking for themselves’, and ‘active participation’. ‘Interaction’ and ‘thinking for themselves’ were mainly evaluated positively by the students. The most frequently mentioned theme for the traditional format was: ‘the teacher explaining’. Students evaluated this theme both positively and negatively. Conclusions The most frequently mentioned themes for the collaborative testing format, namely ‘interaction’, ‘thinking for themselves’, and ‘active participation’, fit within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). Therefore, the collaborative testing format may support the fulfilment of the three basic psychological needs indicated in SDT: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Thus, our findings provide initial support for the idea that the use of collaborative testing in medical education can foster the autonomous motivation of students.

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