Audience response systems may help build confidence and competence in diagnosing and managing asthma

Abstract

Background: Correct interpretation of lung function tests is essential for diagnosis and management of common respiratory diseases. Medical students enrolled at Barts and the London, QMUL, receive a series of teaching sessions describing management of respiratory diseases prior to attendance on respiratory wards. However, a proportion of students struggle to apply managment algorithms to aid clinical decision making in real-life patients. Previous studies suggest that audience response systems (ARS) may aid decision making. We hypothesized that the use of an ARS may improve confidence and competency amongst medical students when undertaking clinical decisions or interpreting lung function tests. Methods: Chest physicians and medical science lecturers collectively designed a new teaching session using an ARS, Mentimeter, which required students to manage a patient that was referred to the respiratory clinic. In a step-wise manner, students were presented with the patient’s medical and physical history, followed by lung function results. At each stage of the presentation, students were questioned to assess their clinical decision making/interpretation of lung function results. Students’ view of the interactive teaching session using ARS were surveyed using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: Following the ARS teaching session, 70 and 97% of students strongly agreed/agreed that they felt more confident in analysing spirometry data and developed a better understanding of clinical-decision making in asthma management, respectively. Discussion: Utilising an ARS can help build medical students’ confidence and clinical decision making, and insights for future clinical study.