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

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.

Design Thinking as a Method for Developing Caregiver (and Other) Interventions

“Design Thinking,” an innovative, human-centric approach to problem-solving, seeks to ensure that design efforts “solve the right problem.” This presentation describes the Design Thinking process and illustrates its use in the context of three design studio sessions with of family caregivers of patients at the Integrated Memory Care Clinic (IMCC), a comprehensive medical home for persons living with dementia. The Design Thinking process entails five steps – Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test – that engage consumers/end-users to identify, as precisely as possible, the issues or concerns that are most important to them and to further identify the possible solutions that seem to most fully address these concerns. The process can be described as one of divergent and convergent thinking. In the first session, the Empathize phase, IMCC caregivers were asked to think as broadly as possible about needs not being met by IMCC. These topics were reviewed more convergently in the second session, the Define phase; here the participants agreed on a shorter, prioritized list of needs to be addressed. In the third session (that combined the Ideate and pre-Prototype stages), participants identified 14 topics (interventions) they felt should be included in this program. Finally, in the Test phase, they assessed the topics and agreed that the most important need IMCC could address would be to provide a comprehensive orientation program for new caregivers. IMCC clinicians concurred with the salience of the problem to be solved and saw addressing it as contributing substantially to the improvement of IMCC clinical care.

Living in Generosity: The Making of a Refugee Resettlement Centre

<p>Generosity naturally reflects the idea of abundance, larger or plentiful. However, generosity as a language in architecture is vaguely understood, as it has neither a particular scheme nor definite form. This thesis focuses on the idea of generosity in architecture by exploring the language of generosity in providing a generous living for refugees resettling in New Zealand. It concerns the condition of living within a refugee resettlement centre when refugees spend their first six-week orientation program to prepare them for a new life in New Zealand. Through design-led research process, the project takes the concept of elementary geometry from children’s drawing of a house and evolves by extracting the language of generosity to form an architecture. Anything that could be simple to us could mean more to others. Hence, the act of provocation in the simplicity of form, scale, scheme, and colour could transform our perception on “generosity”, and thus it gives the potential for architecture to create an ideal condition of living for future refugees resettling in New Zealand.</p>

Living in Generosity: The Making of a Refugee Resettlement Centre

<p>Generosity naturally reflects the idea of abundance, larger or plentiful. However, generosity as a language in architecture is vaguely understood, as it has neither a particular scheme nor definite form. This thesis focuses on the idea of generosity in architecture by exploring the language of generosity in providing a generous living for refugees resettling in New Zealand. It concerns the condition of living within a refugee resettlement centre when refugees spend their first six-week orientation program to prepare them for a new life in New Zealand. Through design-led research process, the project takes the concept of elementary geometry from children’s drawing of a house and evolves by extracting the language of generosity to form an architecture. Anything that could be simple to us could mean more to others. Hence, the act of provocation in the simplicity of form, scale, scheme, and colour could transform our perception on “generosity”, and thus it gives the potential for architecture to create an ideal condition of living for future refugees resettling in New Zealand.</p>

The Impact of a Novel Outdoor Orientation Program on Incoming Medical Students

Background: Undergraduate outdoor orientation programs facilitate students’ transition into college. Research has yet to be conducted on the few programs at medical schools, which may have unique benefits given the specific challenges of transitioning to medical school and high rates of burnout among medical students. Purpose: This mixed methods study examines the impact of one medical school's outdoor orientation program on its participants. Methodology/Approach: A survey was administered immediately following the 2018 trip ( N = 56 responses). Follow-up focus groups were conducted with a sample of the same participants ( N = 18) in 2019. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Participants felt that the program helped ease their transition into medical school, establish a support system, and hone personal development and wellness skills. Many of these effects persisted up to one year later. Implications: These findings are of particular interest to the medical and experiential education communities because many outcomes persisted for at least one year after the original trip and aligned with factors believed to protect against medical student burnout. There is opportunity for additional research as well as expansion of similar programs to other medical schools.

Preparedness for Internship: A Survey of New Interns at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Telangana

INTRODUCTION An internship orientation program is conducted in most of the medical colleges before the beginning of internship program to facilitate the transition between medical student and intern. The present study was initiated to assess the preparedness of interns for the internship program and identifying the areas that require additional training and education. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional study was carried out among 2014 batch interns of Malla Reddy Medical College for Women, Suraram, Hyderabad. Hard copies of the study questionnaire prepared and validated by expert panel was administered to the interns before and after the two-day internship orientation program. The outcomes were measured on 5-point quantitative scale. The raw scores obtained by each student were converted to percentages.The scores less than or equal to 49% were considered low, the scores between 50% to 70% were considered as average and scores above 71% were considered high with respect to level of preparedness for internship. Two open ended questions were asked – additional topics to be included in the program and other suggestions. RESULTS A total of 110 students completed the study. Only 2% of the interns were highly prepared for hospital practice before the orientation program while this number increased to 78% after the program. Interns expressed their desire to learn new topics like basic first aid to minor injuries, management of trauma cases and Road Traffic Accidents and handling of medical emergencies during the orientation program. They also suggested that there should more focus on practical demonstrations and hands on training in skill lab during this program. CONCLUSION here is significant improvement in the preparedness of interns after the orientation program indicated the program helped to boost the confidence of the interns for hospital practice.