scholarly journals Development and Implementation of a Student-Led Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaina Kaye ◽  
Joshua Pathman ◽  
Joseph A. Skelton

Significant contributors to rising health care costs are diseases influenced by lifestyle, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Unfortunately, American medical education devotes disproportionately little time training future doctors in prevention. Approach. With the support of medical education leadership, medical students collaborated with a faculty advisor at Wake Forest School of Medicine to test the feasibility of a broad-based, student-led lifestyle medicine curriculum. After 3 introductory sessions delivered to an entire medical school class, a smaller pilot series with 16 first-year medical students was held after-hours, featuring experiential learning in nutrition and cooking, physical activity, and sleep. The 8 modules were designed to improve student health, wellness, and knowledge of health behaviors. Feedback. The program was implemented into the first-year medical school class. An unforeseen benefit of the pilot was increased student volunteering in community-based wellness activities and research. Two components of success were the hands-on, experiential modules and being student-led. Details on curriculum development, schedule, and content are provided.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Buljan ◽  
Ružica Tokalić ◽  
Matko Marušić ◽  
Ana Marušić

Abstract Background Although numeracy, defined as understanding and handling numbers, is an important skill for the medical profession, it is not clear whether it changes during graduate medical education and whether it can be improved by specific interventions. The objective of this study was to assess objective and subjective numeracy levels at different stages of medical education and explore whether a research methodology/statistics course improves numeracy levels in a longer period. Methods We performed cross-sectional and controlled before-and-after studies. First-year sociology students and first- to sixth-year medical students from the in the cross sectional study and two groups of first-year medical students in a controlled before-and-after study. The intervention was a course on biostatistics and research methodology using blended approach. Numeracy was measured using Subjective Numeracy Scale (Cronbach α = 0.70) and Numeracy Understanding in Medicine instrument (Cronbach α = 0.75). Results Whereas first-year medical students did not differ from first-year sociology students in objective numeracy, medicine students had higher results on subjective numeracy. Students from higher years of medical school had generally higher subjective and objective numeracy scores. In the controlled before-and-after study, the intervention group improved more in subjective numeracy (median difference on a 0–8 scale = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.7 vs − 0.4, 95% CI − 0.4 to − 0.1, P < 0.001) but not in objective numeracy. Conclusions Although the numeracy levels at the beginning of the medical school are within the range of non-medical population, both objective and subjective numeracy improve during the higher years of medical school. Curriculum during medical school may help in numeracy increase, while research methodology training may help to increase subjective but not objective numeracy skills.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e039357
Author(s):  
Sara Sorrell ◽  
Halah Ibrahim

ObjectivesMedical school serves as a critical developmental period for future physicians, during which students begin to form a professional identity. Just as personal appearance, particularly clothing, is an important external expression of one’s personal identity, ‘uniforms’ in healthcare, including white coats and scrubs, symbolise status and a group identity. There are, however, limited studies on the impact of physician attire on medical students’ formation of professional identity. Accordingly, through qualitative analysis of written narratives, we sought to analyse medical students’ experiences of wearing professional physician attire, namely scrubs, and how the uniform impacted their confidence level, performance and behaviours, as well as their identity as future physicians.DesignQualitative analysis of medical student’s written narratives.SettingKhalifa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences (KU CMHS) is a new medical school in the United Arab Emirates, with an inaugural class of 30 students admitted in August 2019. It is the only medical school in the city of Abu Dhabi, and the only school in the country that follows a postgraduate medical curriculum.ParticipantsAll first year medical students at KU CMHS were purposively sampled.MethodsStudents completed a voluntary online anonymous questionnaire. We employed a social identity approach to data analysis. Thematic content analysis was conducted on their narratives to identify themes.ResultsWe identified three major themes, namely (1) emotions, (2) logistics and (3) interpersonal relationships.ConclusionsMedical students form early perceptions regarding physician attire and its impact on their professional identity. Engaging in conversations regarding professional attire with educators or mentors could provide an important opportunity for students to discuss and explore professional identity early in training.


2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Nath ◽  
Rahul Malhotra ◽  
GK Ingle ◽  
Panna Lal ◽  
Chetna Malhotra

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana Tavares ◽  
Sylvia Enns ◽  
José Ricardo Ayres ◽  
Patricia Tempski

Abstract Purpose To analyze the meaning of humanization by first-year medical students as well as to find out about their role models and what were their personal experiences of humanization and dehumanization before entering medical school. Methods The authors performed a qualitative study using narratives of first-year medical students. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The narratives were used as a strategy to stimulate students' reflection and to understand their perspectives and values at the beginning of the medical program. Results The study included 167 participants: 67 females (40.1%) and 100 males (59.9%). The participants' ages ranged from 16 to 38 years. The analysis of the narratives showed three main themes: socio-political and economic aspects of medicine, humanization of healthcare, and dimensions of humanization and dehumanization. In their narratives, the students expressed the desire to become doctors, to help and improve people's lives, and the intention to emulate good role models. Another desire was to contribute to the development of the Brazilian healthcare system. The students considered the humanization of healthcare as an integral vision of the human being that includes perceiving the context and personal history, as well as the complexity, of the human being. The students emphasized the importance of "going beyond the technical dimension" in the relationship between physician and his/her patient. Some students recognized the transdisciplinary aspect of medicine. Conclusions The students in the first-year of the medical program have a clear understanding of the meaning of humanization in medical practice, regardless of their social and economic conditions, age, sex, and religion. The students' narratives expressed their expectations for a more humane society with respect, solidarity, and compassion. The use of narrative is a strategy to develop critical thinking and to better get to know our students: who they are, what they think, and how they feel.


POCUS Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Durbin, MD ◽  
Amer M. Johri, MD ◽  
Anthony Sanfilippo, MD

With the advent of portable hand-held ultrasound units, the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has become increasingly popular amongst a wide array of medical specialists for both diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Canada-wide surveys demonstrate a desire for increased utilization of POCUS in primary medical education. In this study, we aim to assess the efficacy of an ultrasound based anatomy tutorial and the perspectives of a cohort of first year medical students at Queen’s University. Students were recruited, randomized to pre or post-test analysis, and provided with a supplementary lecture on cardiac anatomy utilizing echocardiography studies. In this study, we were unable to demonstrate a difference between understanding of basic cardiac anatomy between groups. However, we were able to report the opinions and perspectives of a small cohort of first year medical students at Queen’s University, illustrating a desire for increased exposure and training towards cardiac POCUS in primary medical education. Further evidence is required to delineate the true value of these experiences.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A Moretti ◽  
Adriana O Camboim ◽  
Caroline A Ferrandez ◽  
Isabela C Etcheverria ◽  
Iaggo B Costa ◽  
...  

Background: Morbidity and mortality reduction in cardiac arrest depends upon early and effective care. Basic life support (BLS) measures encompass a series of procedures to be started outside the hospital usually by trained lay people. Therefore, it is key that lay caregivers retain knowledge and skills late after instruction. However, studies demonstrate loss of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills as early as 30 days after training, pending mostly on the caregiver professional background. In this study, we evaluated medical students’ retention skills at 6 months. Methods: Prospective case-control observational study. Medical students underwent a 40-hour BLS training program. CPR skills were evaluated immediately and 6 months after the course based on individual scores before and after training as well as on categorical stratification as excellent, good or poor. Data were compared using F-test, paired t-test and chi-square for categorical variables. A 95% confidence interval was used with a level of significance of 0.05. Results: Fifty first-year medical students (54% female) aged between 18 and 24 years were enrolled in the BLS training program. Total number of CPR steps accurately performed decreased after 6 months of training (10.8 vs . 12.5; p<0.001). Sex and age were not associated with performance. Categorical evaluation was considered excellent in 78% of the students immediately after training but decreased to 40% in 6 months (p<0.01). Hands-on basic skills were mostly lost within the period. Conclusion: First-year medical students lost hands-on skills after 6 months of training decreasing the efficacy of CPR measures which might affect outcomes of patients in cardiac arrest.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 576-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Brown ◽  
Aditya Nidumolu ◽  
Alexandra Stanhope ◽  
Justin Koh ◽  
Matthew Greenway ◽  
...  

BackgroundQuality Improvement (QI) training for health professionals is essential to strengthen health systems. However, QI training during medical school is constrained by students’ lack of contextual understanding of the health system and an already saturated medical curriculum. The Program for Improvement in Medical Education (PRIME), an extracurricular offered at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicineat McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada), addresses these obstacles by having first-year medical students engage in QI by identifying opportunities for improvement within their own education.MethodsA sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, which combines insights derived from quantitative instruments and qualitative interview methods, was used to examine the impact of PRIME on first-year medical students and the use of QI in the context of education.ResultsThe study reveals that participation in PRIME increases both knowledge of, and comfort with, fundamental QI concepts, even when applied to clinical scenarios. Participants felt that education provided a meaningful context to learn QI at this stage of their training, and were motivated to participate in future QI projects to drive real-world improvements in the health system.ConclusionsEarly exposure to QI principles that uses medical education as the context may be an effective intervention to foster QI competencies at an early stage and ultimately promote engagement in clinical QI. Moreover, PRIME also provides a mechanism to drive improvements in medical education. Future research is warranted to better understand the impact of education as a context for later engagement in clinical QI applications as well as the potential for QI methods to be translated directly into education.


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