Translanguaging to enhance reading comprehension among first-year medical students

Since the turn of the century there has been an increase in the use of translanguaging in multilingual learning contexts. Many researchers have shown how translanguaging enhances multilingual students’ ability to understand academic content. This experimental study provides empirical evidence that translanguaging can enhance reading comprehension. An experimental group and a control group were used to establish whether there was a significant difference between the performances of the two groups after reading an academic text. Using the t-test analysis, the results show a significant difference in the performance of the control group and the experimental group. These findings prompt us to conclude that translanguaging is an effective strategy that enhances reading comprehension.

Gender Disparities in Symptoms of Depression After Medical School Exams and Student Coping Strategies for Postexam Depression Symptoms

CONTEXT Little research exists to determine if medical students experience symptoms of depression after examinations and if symptoms vary by gender. OBJECTIVES Determine if is there a difference between male and female medical students in the number of symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) experienced after exams, as well as which coping strategies are used by students to alleviate depression symptoms. METHODS An anonymous and secure survey was sent via university email to first, second, and third-year medical students after exams for 2 consecutive exam periods. Surveys that were not fully completed were excluded from the analysis. RESULTS A total of 162 out of 550 students completed the survey for a response rate of 30%. Overall, a greater proportion of female students experienced more symptoms of depression compared to males. This was statistically significant for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition symptoms of MDD: depressed mood, anhedonia, changes in sleep, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration after exams compared to their male counterparts. Male first-year medical students experienced higher rates of depression compared to their third-year counterparts. Most students exhibited coping strategies that helped them feel less depressed. The 3 most common coping strategies reported were: reaching out to social support networks, physical activity/exercise, and engaging in hobbies. CONCLUSIONS Both gender and year in a medical school play a role in the number of symptoms of depression experienced after medical school exams. Recognizing that examinations can be a trigger of depressive symptoms in medical students, particularly female and first-year students, has important implications on student mental health. Helping students recognize these symptoms and employ healthy coping strategies may further help alleviate these symptoms. Long-term consequences of experiencing symptoms of depression after recurrent exams in medical school are unknown and require further research.

Role of Community Placement Programmes in Development of Professional Basic Skills Among First-Year Medical Students

Various methods have been implemented in the medical field to foster professional basic skills among students. Nevertheless, the contribution of a community placement programme (CPP) with regard to first year of medical students is still unclear. The study objective is to explore how CPP contributes to the development of professional basic skills among students within this group. This qualitative study was conducted between January 2017 and March 2018. Two batches of the first-year medical students with a total of 24 students were involved in the study. The data were gathered using reflective journals which were written from a one-day English camp that was held at the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Medical Sciences. A total of 24 reflective journals have been used as data sources which were then analysed using ATLAS.ti software version 8.0 based on the open, axial and selective coding process. The result has shown that professional skills were established through three themes and eight categories. The themes were personal skills (e.g., time management, self-management, self-confident, social adjustment, internal motivation and communication skill), leadership skills (e.g., teamwork) and scientific skills (e.g., proposal writing skills). CPP is an agenda to nurture the medical students’ professional basic skills. Therefore, such an agenda must continue to be included in medical education.

Attitude of the first year medical students towards medicine as career: Motivations and apprehensions of being a doctor

The choice of a career as a doctor is a complex personal decision influenced by a multitude of factors. These include family background, role models, media, and personal experiences. The present study was done with the objectives to know the reasons for first-year medical students for joining MBBS and their apprehensions. A cross-sectional study carried out among first-year students of batch 2018, 2019, and 2020 of a Medical College of North India. The data was collected within 10 days of admission in MBBS. A total of 278 students were given pre-designed and pre-validated questionnaire after informed consent. Out of multiple reasons for being doctor respect in society was the largest, i.e. 83%, while 72% joined because of high earning by the doctor. More than 80% had a professional image of the doctor as a calm, helping and well-groomed person, while 60% thought doctors don’t listen properly, and 57% had a perception that doctors are not much concerned about the problems of patient. Sixtyeight percent (68%) thought media doesn’t portray a good image of doctors. According to students outrage in the community and lack of trust for doctors were the major reasons for violence against doctors. Munnabhai MBBS, Anand and Patch Adams, Sanjeevani and House MD were the movies and series motivated most students to be a doctor. Respect in society was the prime motivator to be a doctor among students still they feel media doesn’t justify the image of doctors. Movies and television series can be used to keep the students high in morale and excitement.

Enhancing existing medical school curricula with an innovative healthcare disparities curriculum

Background Effective healthcare disparities curricula seek to train physicians who are well equipped to address the health needs of an increasingly diverse society. Current literature on healthcare disparities curricula and implementation focuses on courses created independent of existing educational materials. Our aim was to develop and implement a novel resource-conserving healthcare disparities curriculum to enhance existing medical school lectures without the need for additional lectures. Methods This non-randomized intervention was conducted at the University of California Los Angeles. The curriculum was offered to all first-year medical students in the class of 2021 (n=188). With institutional approval, a new healthcare disparities curriculum was created based on the Society of General Internal Medicine’s core learning objectives for effective healthcare disparities curricula (J General Internal Med 25:S160–163, 2010). Implementation of the curriculum made use of “teachable moments” within existing medical school lectures. Teachable moments were broad lecture topics identified by the research team as suitable for introducing relevant healthcare disparities content. The new lecture-enhancing healthcare disparities curriculum was delivered with the related lecture via integrated PDF documents uploaded to an online learning management system. Students were encouraged to complete pre- and post- course assessments to examine changes in disparities knowledge and self-rated confidence in addressing disparities. Matched χ2 tests were used for statistical analysis. Results Participating students (n=92) completed both pre- and post-course assessments and were retrospectively stratified, based on self-reported use of the new lecture enhancing curriculum, into the “high utilizer” group (use of materials “sometimes” or “very often,” n=52) and the comparison “low utilizer” group (use of the materials “rarely” or “very rarely,” n=40). Students who self-identified as underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in medicine were more likely to utilize the material (41% of the high utilizers vs. 17% of the low utilizer group, p<.01). Post-course knowledge assessment scores and self-reported confidence in addressing healthcare disparities improved only in the high utilizer group. Conclusions Integrating new guideline based curricula content simultaneously into pre-existing lectures by identifying and harnessing teachable moments may be an effective and resource-conserving strategy for enhancing healthcare disparities education among first year medical students.