Development of a community orientation program (COP) as a community-based medical education method for undergraduate medical students: an experience from India

Abstract Background Intra-regional cultural and linguistic differences are common in low- and middle-income countries. To sensitise undergraduate medical students to the social and contextual determinants of health to achieve the ‘health for all’ goal, these countries must focus on innovative teaching methods. The early introduction of a Community Orientation Program (COP) as a Community-based Medical Education (CBME) method could be a game changing strategy. In this paper the methods, evaluation, and implication of the COP in an Indian setting are described. Methods The curriculum of the COP was developed based on the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) model for educational intervention. In this learner-centric and supervised educational program, the key aim was to focus on developing students’ communication skills, observation power and enhancing their motivation for learning through collaborative learning. To meet the objectives of the COP, a situated learning model under the constructivism theory was adopted. Results Between 2016 and 2019, 557 students were trained through the COP by visiting more than 1300 households in ten villages. To supplement the students’ observations in the community, more than 150 small group discussions, a health education programme for the community and summary presentations were conducted. The students’ feedback indicated the need to improve the clinical examinations demonstration quality and increase the number of instruments for clinical examinations. More than 80% of students felt that the program would assist them to improve their communication skills, their understanding of the various socio-demographic factors associated with the common diseases, and it will enable them to respect the local culture during their clinical practice. Conclusions Early initiation of the COP as a CBME method in the undergraduate medical curriculum in an Indian setting has shown promising results. Further evidence is required to adopt such a program routinely for under-graduate medical teaching in the low- and middle- income settings.

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Development of a Community Orientation Program (COP) as a Community-Based Medical Education method for undergraduate medical students: An experience from India

10.1101/2021.02.07.21251321 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bayapa Reddy Narapureddy ◽

Shakeer Patan Kahn ◽

C Sravana Deepthi ◽

Sirshendu Chaudhuri ◽

KR John ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Feedback Mechanism ◽

Learning Theories ◽

Regulatory Body ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Community Based ◽

Early Introduction ◽

Community Orientation ◽

Motivation For Learning

AbstractBackgroundIntraregional cultural and linguistic differences are common in the Low- and Middle-income countries. They must focus on innovative teaching for the undergraduate (UG) medical students to make them sensitive to the social and contextual determinants of health to achieve the health for all goal. The early introduction of community-based medical education could be a game changing strategy.ObjectivesTo describe the methods, evaluation, implication, and challenges of a Community Orientation Programme (COP) adopted for the Indian Medical Graduates (IMG). Methods: The COP was arranged for the first-year UG students, including the community and the local administration. The program was divided into phases like-initial preparation, theoretical sessions, field visits, group activities, data analysis, and dissemination of the findings. In this learner-centric, supervised educational program, the key aim was to focus on developing students’ communication skills, observation power and enhancing their motivation for learning new things through collaborative learning. A mixture of adult learning theories like behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, sociocultural theory, critical theory, and humanism included keeping the students’ needs, cultural differences, and varying motivational levels. A structured feedback mechanism from the students was developed to identify the gaps.ConclusionThe COP has provided a holistic learning framework for the students based on several complementary learning theories in the Indian context. It has touched upon most of the national- and institutional-level objectives envisioned by the regulatory body for the IMGs. All stakeholders should promote such programs and solve the challenges collectively.

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The Effectiveness of Social Media Use as a Supplement Media of Clinical Skills Lab Learning for Undergraduate Medical Students in Low- and Middle-Income Countries during COVID-19 (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.30677 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zahira Noor Fathiyya ◽

Muhammad Reza Utama ◽

Yelvi Levani ◽

Yuli Wahyu Rahmawati

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Social Media ◽

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Clinical Skills ◽

Learning Method ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Skills Lab

BACKGROUND Before COVID-19, it was recommended that medical education be conducted using the blended learning method in order to achieve an effective learning experience. However, it seems that distance learning is currently the best alternative to the previous learning method. Clinical skills lab activities, which are one of the learning methods in medical education, must adapt because they cannot be administered in-person. Social media has been proven giving a potential to supplement formal medical education for undergraduate student. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to examine the effectiveness of media social use as a supplement for clinical skills lab learning on undergraduate medical students in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS We designed a protocol for creating a systematic review on the effectiveness of social media as a supplement media in clinical skills lab learning for undergraduate medical students in LMIC during COVID-19. We will be extracting information from appropriate sources online obtained from journal websites’ databases guided by the PRISMA-S checklist in accordance with the research problem. The included sources include randomized controlled trials, systematic review, and meta-analysis published between 2020-2021. RESULTS This manuscript is still a protocol and has not been implemented. CONCLUSIONS In this systematic review, we will discuss the effectiveness of social media as a clinical skills lab learning for undergraduate medical students in LMIC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Community based medical education: A learning experience of Pakistani Undergraduate Medical Students at Medical Camps.

The Professional Medical Journal ◽

10.29309/tpmj/2021.28.12.6165 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (12) ◽

pp. 1857-1861

Author(s):

Zahid Kamal ◽

Muhammad Mohsin Ali ◽

Manaqibb Zain Ali ◽

Muhammad Naeem Rustam ◽

Saeed Zafar Khan

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical Curriculum ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Categorical Variables ◽

Continuous Variables ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Community Based

Objective: To determine impact of community based Medical Education on learning of undergraduate medical students. Study Design: Non-comparative, Prospective study. Setting: Irfania Ophthalmic Medical Camp, Lahore. Period: July 2019. Material & Methods: 70 students participated in a 4 hour interactive session, where they took a focused history, performed relevant clinical examination, and counseled patients regarding their disease. At the end, feedback was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 23, with mean ± SD determined for continuous variables and frequency with percentage for categorical variables. Results: Majority of the participants were female fourth year medical students. 97.1% found the camp system more efficient for learning, while 94.3% thought it should be included in future ophthalmic curricula. 81.5% of the participants were of the opinion that the camp had had a positive impact on their communication skills regarding taking focused history and counseling patients. Conclusion: In a country like Pakistan with a high burden of ophthalmic diseases and a developing medical curriculum, medical camps are essential for training and skill learning for undergraduate medical students, and should be included in the medical curriculum.

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Community based medical education as a driver for enhancing intra-professional communication skills for medical students

MedEdPublish ◽

10.15694/mep.2016.000051 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Jane Hampson

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Professional Communication ◽

Community Based

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Evaluation of E-Learning for Medical Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.11622 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Sandra Barteit ◽

Dorota Guzek ◽

Albrecht Jahn ◽

Till Bärnighausen ◽

Margarida Mendes Jorge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Health Workers ◽

Medical Doctors ◽

Study Quality ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

E Learning ◽

Learning Interventions ◽

Low And Middle Income

BACKGROUND E-learning in medical education can contribute to alleviating the severe shortages of health workers in many low- and middle-income countries. In the past few decades, the rapid development of technologies resulted in an abundance of new resources, including personal computers, smartphones, handheld devices, software and the Internet – at constantly decreasing costs. Consequently, educational interventions increasingly integrate e-learning to tackle the challenges of health workforce development and training. However, evaluations of e-learning interventions still lack clear methodology to assess the effectiveness and the success of e-learning for medical education, especially in those countries where they are most needed. OBJECTIVE Our specific research aim was to systematically describe currently used evaluation methods and definitions for the success of medical e-learning interventions for medical doctors and medical students in low- and middle-income countries. Our long-term objective is to contribute to generating effective and robust e-learning interventions to address critical health worker shortages in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS Seven databases were searched for e-learning interventions for medical education in low- and middle-income countries, covering publications ranging from January 2007 to June 2017. We derived search terms following a preliminary review of relevant literature and included studies published in English which implemented e-learning asynchronously for medical doctors and/or medical students in a low- or middle-income country. Three reviewers screened the references, assessed their study quality, and synthesized extracted information from the literature. RESULTS We included 52 studies representing a total of 12294 participants. Most of the e-learning evaluations were assessed summatively (83%) and within pilot studies (73%), relying mainly on quantitative evaluation methods using questionnaire (45%) and/or knowledge testing (36%). We identified a lack of evaluation standards for medical e-learning interventions, as methods varied considerably in the evaluation of their medical e-learning interventions with a high variation in study quality (general low study quality, based on study quality scales MERSQI, NOS and NOS-E), study period (ranging from 5 days up to 6 years), assessment methods (6 different main methods) and outcome measures (a total of 52 different outcomes), as well as in the interpretation of intervention success. The majority of studies relied on subjective measures and self-made evaluation frameworks, resulting in low comparability and validity of evidence. Most of the included studies reported success in their e-learning intervention. CONCLUSIONS The evaluation of e-learning interventions needs to produce meaningful and comparable results. Currently, a majority of evaluations of e-learning approaches to educate medical doctors and medical students is based on self-reported measures that lack adherence to a standard evaluation framework. While the majority of studies report success of e-learning interventions – suggesting the potential benefits of the e-learning – the overall low quality of the evidence makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Methods development, study design guidance, and standardization of evaluation outcomes and approaches for e-learning interventions will be important for this field of education research to prosper. Methodological strength and standardization are particularly important, because the majority of the existing studies evaluate pilot interventions. Rigorous evidence on pilot success can improve the chances of scaling and sustaining e-learning approaches for health workers.

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