Medical students’ attitudes towards early clinical exposure in Iran

Objectives: A good conceptual understanding of physiology is very important to build a strong foundation for medical students. It is a daunting job for teachers to emphasise the clinical relevance of basic science subjects as exposure to patients invariably starts after these subjects have been taught. With the introduction of early clinical exposure in the newly revised Indian undergraduate medical curriculum, this problem can be addressed to a certain extent. We developed an integrated simulation module for teaching cardiovascular physiology to pre-clinical students as a part of early clinical exposure. Materials and Methods: We included 145 medical students of a Private Medical College of a Deemed to be University in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. The teaching module covered the topics of cardiovascular physiology such as functional anatomy, cardiac cycle, normal electrocardiogram (ECG), arrhythmia, arterial pulse examination, heart sounds and hands-on cardiovascular examination using a variety of simulators. The assessment was done by pre-test and post-test. A retro-pre questionnaire was used to assess their self-perceived knowledge gain and level of clinical skills. Feedback on overall experience was collected from the participants. Results: The student feedback showed that learning experience was life-like (98.6%), effective, innovative and enjoyable (99.3%) and making the overall experience of learning easier (95.2%). It also improved participation, communication (93.8%), clinical skills and a better understanding of patient care (99.3%). The results of the retro- pre questionnaire to assess their self-perceived knowledge gain (95%) and level of clinical skills (96%) were highly satisfactory. The assessment of knowledge domain showed 100% of the students achieved pass percentage (>50%) with significant difference among pre- and post-test scores. Faculty (100%) opined that simulation-based teaching resulted in effected learning. Conclusions: The use of simulation-based teaching in cardiovascular physiology as part of early clinical exposure leads to enhanced learning and clinical application. This will stimulate interest in subject and promote better learning.

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A Task Based Learning (TskBL) strategy in preclinical medical education

AJP Advances in Physiology Education ◽

10.1152/advan.00173.2020 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roopashree Mallya ◽

Animesh Jain ◽

Bhagyalakshmi K ◽

Arun Shirali ◽

Sneha B Shetty ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Test Scores ◽

Control Group ◽

First Year ◽

Small Group Teaching ◽

Tutorial Group ◽

Clinical Exposure ◽

Post Test ◽

First Year Medical Students ◽

Early Clinical Exposure

Preclinical Task based learning (TskBL) is a simulated learning approach in which focus for students is a real task done by a medical professional. TskBL includes standardized patient encounters and is helpful to provide Early Clinical Exposure. Our study aimed at planning, implementing and assessing TskBL among first year Medical students and comparing it to conventional method of tutorials in Physiology MBBS curriculum.This is a non-equivalent group quasi experimental study approved by Institutional ethics committee. TskBL was conducted for five topics among first year medical students of Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore for three academic years. Participants Â were divided into a TskBL group and a control group. Both groups attended the theory classes in Physiology, practical sessions and clinical examinations concerning the tasks. Following this, TskBL group underwent TskBL and control group underwent tutorials. Pre and post-test assessments were conducted using the MCQ test and Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE).The mean TskBL scores for MCQ (exception:Hypertension) and OSCE (exception Anemia) were significantly higher than the tutorial group. Pre test and post test scores revealed significantly higher MCQ and OSCE scores for TskBL. Tutorial group did not show a significant improvement in test scores for all the tasks.TskBL strategy could be used for many other topics are likely to be encountered by the students during clinical attachments. Small group teaching can include TskBL over tutorials to provide early clinical exposure in medical schools.

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