Skills Of Medical Students Research Articles

Социокультурная идентичность кыргызского народа в контексте толерантности

The requirement of the federal state educational standard (FSES 3++) for the formation of communicative competence of medical students actualizes the task of developing effective tools for its assessment at the present stage of development of medical education. The aim of the study is to study methodological approaches in foreign practice to assessing the communication skills of medical students for the subsequent development of consistent tools for assessing communicative competence in medical educational organizations of the Russian Federation. Material and methods. To search foreign literature in an electronic database in English (PubMed), the following keywords were identified: assessment tools, communication skills, medical school, medicine, communication models in medicine, medical students. Inclusion criteria: the age of authentic sources should not exceed the last 20 years and the presence in the database of access to full-text articles. In accordance with the specified criteria, 10 publications were selected and analyzed, which present the results of studies that reflect methodological approaches to the assessment of communication skills in the foreign practice of medical education. Results. Various models and methods are used to assess communication skills in the foreign medical community. They are differing significantly in content, psychometric properties and ease of use. According to the study, the Kalamazoo Communication and Communication Skills Assessment (KCS) model, the methodological basis of which is a patient-centered approach, has the highest scores for these indicators. According to experts, the KCS criteria are a reliable basis for guidance on the choice of tools for assessing the communicative competence of students at all levels of medical education. Conclusion. The development of reliable and valid assessment tools for assessing the communicative competence of future doctors in Russian medical education is possible, taking into account the best world practices, subject to the justification and agreement in the professional community of the list of the main elements of the doctor’s communication, criteria for their assessment, measurement scales, their design and focus, as well as compliance with the requirements of practicality and ease of use.

Impact Of Communication Skills Training in Postgraduate Medical Education

Background: Effective communication is a key feature of optimal doctor-patient relationship. As the postgraduate curriculum lacks standardized teaching and assessment, this study aimed to assess effectiveness of training program on communication skills of postgraduate medical students. Materials and methods: A prospective interventional study was conducted among first year postgraduate medical students from different clinical specialty. Training program included introduction to principles of communication with basics of doctor-patient relationship, administering informed consent, breaking bad news and counselling patients with HIV/cancer. Pre-test and post-test skill assessment by Faculty and postgraduate (PG) self-rating was carried out using KEECC-A Assessment tool for seven core communication competencies. Perception of students on training program was collected via feedback questionnaire. Results: Forty-three postgraduate medical students participated. Statistically significant increase in communication skills scores post training was observed with mean post-test assessment scores of 24.26±2.94, p<0.001(faculty rating), 25.19±3.76, p<0.001(PG self-rating) and high degree of internal consistency was found. Students perceived the training program as valuable and highlighted its importance as a part of curriculum. Conclusion: Training program significantly enhanced communication skills of postgraduate medical students. Integration of standardized teaching and assessment of communication skills is essential for better healthcare practice and optimal doctor-patient relationship.

Performance of PBL-Based Image Teaching in Clinical Emergency Teaching.

At present, with the rapid increase of emergency knowledge and the improvement of people's requirements for medical quality, the traditional teaching mode cannot fully meet the needs of emergency teaching in the new era. This paper is aimed at improving the clinical emergency teaching mode by problem based learning (PBL) teaching method and improving the comprehensive ability of clinical emergency of medical students. This article proposes a problem-based PBL imaging teaching method, combining the characteristics and content of clinical emergency courses, focusing on students, highlighting the problem-solving process, and improving students' creative thinking ability. To cultivate students' interest in clinical learning, develop their self-learning ability, train their teamwork and communication skills, and cultivate their ability to set, question, and solve questions, so as to promote medical students' overall comprehensive ability to integrate specialized knowledge and clinical practice. In this paper, the PBL teaching method and the traditional teaching method of comparative experiments show that the PBL teaching method can more effectively highlight the characteristics of clinical emergency medicine teaching mode and make full use of the limited emergency teaching resources, so as to improve the quality of clinical emergency teaching. Compared with the traditional teaching mode, the theoretical knowledge and clinical operation skills of medical students under the PBL teaching mode are improved by 13%. Autonomous learning ability, communication ability, and creative thinking ability have also been relatively improved.

Performance of Problem-Based Learning Based Image Teaching in Clinical Emergency Teaching.

At present, with the rapid increase of emergency knowledge and the improvement of people’s requirements for medical quality, the traditional teaching mode cannot fully meet the needs of emergency teaching in the new era. PBL is a project-based teaching that allows students to have a deeper understanding of content knowledge and to better apply what they have learned to their lives. This paper aims to improve the clinical emergency teaching mode by PBL teaching method, and improve the comprehensive ability of clinical emergency of medical students. This article proposes a problem-based PBL imaging teaching method, combining the characteristics and content of clinical emergency courses, focusing on students, highlighting the problem-solving process, and improving students’ creative thinking ability. To cultivate students’ interest in clinical learning, develop their self-learning ability, train their teamwork and communication skills, and cultivate their ability to set, question and solve questions, so as to promote medical students’ overall comprehensive ability to integrate specialized knowledge and clinical practice. In this paper, the PBL teaching method and the traditional teaching method of comparative experiments show that the PBL teaching method can more effectively highlight the characteristics of clinical emergency medicine teaching mode, and make full use of the limited emergency teaching resources, so as to improve the quality of clinical emergency teaching. Compared with the traditional teaching mode, the theoretical knowledge and clinical operation skills of medical students under the PBL teaching mode are improved by 13%, Autonomous learning ability, communication ability and creative thinking ability have also been relatively improved.

Learning Through Listening: A Scoping Review of Podcast Use in Medical Education.

To improve understanding of podcast use in medical education by examining current research on descriptive attributes and educational outcomes, highlighting implications of the current evidence base for educational practices, and identifying research gaps to guide future investigation. The authors conducted a scoping review, searching PubMed and Embase databases in June-July 2020 for English-language studies of audio-only medical education podcast use in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. The authors excluded studies without original data or with nonphysician data that could not be separated from physician data. From included studies, the authors extracted data regarding descriptive outcomes (e.g., podcast use, content areas, structure) and educational outcomes (classified using Kirkpatrick's 4 levels of evaluation). Of 491 unique articles, 62 met inclusion criteria. Descriptive outcomes were reported in 44 studies. Analysis of these studies revealed podcast use has increased over time, podcasts are a top resource for resident education, and podcasts are being incorporated into formal medical curricula. Educational outcomes were reported in 38 studies. The 29 studies that assessed learner reaction and attitudes to podcasts (Kirkpatrick level 1) showed learners value podcasts for their portability, efficiency, and combined educational and entertainment value. The 10 studies that assessed knowledge retention (Kirkpatrick level 2) showed podcasts to be noninferior to traditional teaching methods. The 11 studies that assessed behavior change (Kirkpatrick level 3) showed improved documentation skills in medical students and self-reported practice change in residents and practicing physicians after listening to podcasts. None of the studies reported system change or patient outcomes (Kirkpatrick level 4). Future research should focus on the optimal structure of podcasts for learning, higher-level outcomes of podcasts, and the implementation of podcasts into formal curricula. Podcasts may prove to be essential tools for disseminating and implementing the most current, evidence-based practices.

A scoping review: virtual patients for communication skills in medical undergraduates

BackgroundCommunication is an essential competence for medical students. Virtual patients (VP), computerized educational tools where users take the role of doctor, are increasingly used. Despite the wide range of VP utilization, evidence-based practical guidance on supporting development of communication skills for medical students remains unclear. We focused this scoping review on VP affordance for student learning especially important in the current environment of constrained patient access.MethodsThis scoping review followed Arksey & O’Malley’s methodology. We tested and used a search strategy involving six databases, resulting in 5,262 citations. Two reviewers independently screened titles, full texts (n= 158) and finally performed data extraction on fifty-five included articles. To support consideration of educational affordance the authors employed a pragmatic framework (derived from activity theory) to map included studies on VP structure, curricular alignment, mediation of VP activity, and socio-cultural context.ResultsFindings suggest that not only the VP itself, but also its contextualization and associated curricular activities influence outcomes. The VP was trialled in the highest proportion of papers as a one-off intervention (19 studies), for an average duration of 44.9 minutes (range 10-120min), mainly in senior medical students (n=23), notably the largest group of studies did not have VP activities with explicit curricular integration (47%). There was relatively little repeated practice, low levels of feedback, self-reflection, and assessment. Students viewed VPs overall, citing authenticity and ease of use as important features. Resource implications are often omitted, and costings would facilitate a more complete understanding of implications of VP use.ConclusionStudents should be provided with maximal opportunity to draw out the VPs’ full potential through repeated practice, without time-constraint and with curricular alignment. Feedback delivery enabling reflection and mastery is also key. The authors recommend educators to explicitly balance computerized authenticity with instructional design integrated within the curriculum.

Refreshing medical students’ intravenous-cannulation skills: a blinded observer three-arm randomised comparison of mental imagery, part-task trainer simulation and written instructions

IntroductionIntravenous cannulation is a core competence in medicine, but is considered challenging to learn. This study investigates the effectiveness of three educational strategies used to refresh the intravenous cannulation skills...

A comparison of nutritional status in patients with neuroblastoma in Rwanda and United Kingdom: a cross-sectional observational study conducted by the OxPLORE collaboration

BackgroundCancer is a major global health concern and a leading cause of death in paediatric populations worldwide. Malnutrition contributes to a poor prognosis and remains the most common comorbidity leading to death in children with cancer. This retrospective study was developed through Oxford Paediatrics Linking Oncology Research with Electives (OxPLORE)—a medical student-led collaboration of paediatric surgeons and oncologists from low- and middle-income (LMIC) and high-income (HIC) countries. The aim of this study was twofold; firstly, to investigate the nutritional status and outcomes of neuroblastoma paediatric patients in two OxPLORE centres. Secondly, to facilitate the development of research skills of medical students as part of the OxPLORE initiative.ResultsNine neuroblastoma patients were identified (YY, n = 4, XX, n = 5) over the study period. Nutritional status was poorer in YY patients (median z-score − 1.57 cf. − 0.7, t = 1.16, p = 0.28), which correlated with poorer survival in the YY cohort (75%), as compared to the XX cohort (100%). YY patients were older at presentation than the XX cohort (57 cf. 13 months, t = 1.959 p = 0.09). Further, tumour presentation was at a later stage in the YY group (75% stage IV).ConclusionThis collaboration has shown a correlation in disparities in nutritional status and outcome of neuroblastoma in paediatric populations in YY and XX. These findings can inform institutional quality improvement. Further, this pilot study has highlighted the potential for medical students to undertake international research collaborations.

A quasi-experimental study to compare the acquisition of basic clinical skills in novice medical students taught by George and Doto’s five-step method compared to those taught by the traditional approach (SODOTO)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the acquisition of basic clinical skills by George and Doto’s five step method compared to the Traditional SODOTO approach, and to ascertain the perception of the students regarding these diverse methods. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four 2nd MBBS 1st semester students posted in the Department of Medicine at GMERS, Gotri, were enrolled for the study. After teaching the theory, both groups were taught per abdomen (P/A) examination and respiratory system (R/S) examination – one system by the five-step method and the other by the SODOTO approach. Skill acquisition was tested by pre-validated checklists. Finally, feedback was collected on the perception of students using a pre-validated questionnaire. The data were analysed using GraphPad. Results: There was an average 20% improvement (P < 0.001) in the group taught by the five-step method compared to the one taught by the traditional approach (P/A – 45.14/60 [5.64] vs. 57.86/60 [1.83] [Group B vs. Group A]) (R/S examination – 26.17/40 [6.65] vs. 34.79/40 [3.56] [Group A vs. Group B]). Conclusion: George and Doto’s five-step method has been found to be more effective than the traditional SODOTO approach.

Training in communication and emotion handling skills for students attending medical school: Relationship with empathy, emotional intelligence, and attachment style

ObjectiveTo describe the Emoty-Com training, its impact on medical students’ attitudes towards doctors’ emotions and to explore the association between students’ empathy, emotional intelligence (EI), and attachment style (AS) with post-training performance scores. MethodsThe 16-hour Emoty-Com training was delivered to all second-year medical students of Verona and Milan (Italy) Universities. At pre-training, students filled out three questionnaires assessing empathy, AS and EI and responded to three questions on attitudes towards doctors’ emotions in the doctor-patient encounter. The same three questions and a final evaluation test were proposed at post-training. Results264 students participated in the study. The training reduced students’ worry about managing emotions during doctor-patient relationships. Gender was associated with specific subscales of empathy, EI, and AS. Final performance scores were associated with students’ attitudes towards emotions but not with empathy, EI, and AS. ConclusionThe Emoty-Com training increased students’ self-efficacy in handling their own emotions during consultations. Students' performance scores were related to their attitude towards doctors’ emotions in clinical encounters. Practice ImplicationsThe Emoty-Com training suggests ways to teach and evaluate emotion-handling skills for medical students. Possible links between empathy, EI, AS, and the attitudes towards doctors’ emotions during the years of education are highlighted.

Exploration the role of a clinical supervisor to improve the professional skills of medical students: a content analysis study

Background and purposeClinical supervision supports learners and paves the way for effective and efficient learning in clinical settings. This study aimed to explain the responsibilities of clinical supervisors in clinical education wards to improve the professional skills of medical students.Materials and methodsIn this qualitative study, we used the conventional content analysis approach. The sample consisted of 16 faculty members of medical sciences and medical graduates of Iranian universities. Purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The Graneheim and Lundman method (2004) analyzed the data.ResultsFrom the analysis of interviews, 2 themes, 8 categories, and 18 subcategories were obtained. “Clinical supervisor responsibilities” as a theme includes the categories: “Creating motivation in learner”, “Learner’s need recognition”, “Performance evaluation”, “Creating learning opportunities”, and “Professional ethics education”. And, the sub-categories were: “Creating a supportive atmosphere”, “Task assignment”,“Understanding training needs”, “Understanding individual needs”, “Periodic evaluation”, “Proper feedback’, “Reduce work stress”, “Learner engagement’ , “Learning Facilitation”, “Attention to the patient’s treatment”, and “Ethical observance in relation to patients”.As the second theme “Clinical supervisor characteristics” included the categories of: “Scientific competence”, “Leading role”, and “Ethical model”. Their sub-categories are clustered as: “Knowledge of educational concepts”, “Mastery of professional concepts”, “Effective communication skills”, “Understanding managerial concepts”, “High resilience”, “Career commitment “, and “social commitment” .ConclusionsThe clinical supervisor will improve the professional skills of medical students, which will improve the quality of services provided, train efficient graduates, and provide a safe and relaxing environment that leads to patient satisfaction.

The Evaluation of Empathy and Communication Skills in Medical Students: A Descriptive Study

Empati ve iletişim, hasta-hekim ilişkisinde önemli bir faktör olup klinisyenler için temel mesleki özellikler olarak kabul edilir ve tıbbi uygulamalar üzerinde olumlu etkileri vardır. Bu nedenle tıp öğrencilerinde empatinin ve iletişim becerilerinin değerlendirilmesi tıp eğitimi için önemlidir. Çalışmanın amacı tıp fakültesi ilk ve son sınıf öğrencilerinin empati ile iletişim beceri düzeylerini değerlendirmek, etkileyen faktörleri belirlemektir. Bu tanımlayıcı çalışmada tıp fakültesi 1. ve 6. sınıf öğrencilerine sosyodemografik bilgi formu, İletişim Becerileri Envanteri (İBE) ile Jefferson Doktor Empati Ölçeği-Öğrenci Versiyonunu (JSPE-S) içeren bir anket formu uygulandı. Çalışmaya katılan 294 öğrencinin yaş ortalaması 20,93±3,01 (17-30) yıldı. Katılımcıların %58,2’si (n=171) birinci sınıfta ve %66,3’ü (n=195) kadın cinsiyetteydi. Sırasıyla JSPE-S ve İBE puan ortalaması 106,04±14,19 ve 159,47±14,74 puan olarak bulundu. Kadınların iletişim beceri ve JSPE-S puanı, erkek öğrencilerin iletişim beceri ve JSPE-S puanından anlamlı olarak yüksekti (p=0,003; p=0,012). İlk ve son sınıf öğrencilerin iletişim beceri puanları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki saptanmazken (p=0,953), 1. sınıf öğrencilerinin JSPE-S puanı, son sınıf öğrencilerinin puanından anlamlı olarak yüksekti (p

Impact of a Hybrid-Virtual Teaching Model on the Physical Examination Skills of Fourth-Year Medical Students.

A required fourth-year advanced core neurology-physical medicine and rehabilitation clerkship was adapted to hybrid format (2-wk remote; 2-wk in-person) during the COVID-19 pandemic. With teaching of the neurological physical examination being shifted to the remote component, we sought to determine whether this negatively affected student performance on an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, particularly the physical examination component. Mean pandemic-era total Objective Structured Clinical Examination scores ( n = 79, 85.1 ± 7.3) were similar to prepandemic era ( n = 137, 83.5 ± 6.0, P = 0.082). Pandemic-era physical examination scores were slightly higher than prepandemic (86.9 ± 6.5 vs. 84.9 ± 6.6). Despite conversion of the clerkship to a hybrid curriculum, the performance of the students on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination and the physical examination were unchanged. Reasons for this lack of change may include the constructiveness and integration of the case-based virtual demonstrations combined with in-person learning or the flexibility of the virtual course to allow students more time to prepare for the Objective Structured Clinical Examination and the physical examination. Our findings demonstrate that a hybrid-virtual model can be used to teach foundational skills such as the basics of the physical examination, while allowing faculty to address higher-order skills such as integration of clinical data with medical knowledge.

Prevalence of Impostor Phenomenon and its Association with Depression among MBBS Students of Muzaffarnagar Medical College at Uttar Pradesh state of India

Background: The impostor phenomenon and is an internal experience of intellectual phoniness that those who feel fraudulence and worthlessness have despite outstanding academic or professional accomplishment. Medical students should have less impostor tendencies to become successful medical practitioners. This study was carried out on medical students of batch 2018 and 2019, to determine the prevalence of the impostor phenomenon and its association with depression among MBBS students of Muzaffarnagar Medical College.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 students. Clance’s impostor phenomenon scale and CES-D were used to assess Impostor characteristics and depression respectively. Data was collected using the offline survey method.Results: This study conducted on 100 students of Muzaffarnagar Medical College and Hospital showed that 39% of students had severe impostor tendencies, out of which 46% were females and 54% were males. Moderate impostor tendencies were found to be 53% (56% in females and 44% in males). The mild impostor tendencies were present in 8% of participants. During the study, it was found that 28% of participants had severe impostor tendencies along with severe depression including 57% females and 43% males.Conclusions: Proper measures are required to be taken to enhance the skill, confidence, and decision-making of medical students to avoid problems of anxiety and depression in their future life. This will also lead to an improvement in the quality of medical services as if a medical student will be healthy, only then they can help in serving people better and building a healthy nation.

Non-technical Skills for Medical Students: Validating the Tools of the Trade.

The Medical Students’ Non-Technical Skills (Medi-StuNTS) is a behavioural marker scheme (BMS) designed to assess non-technical skills (NTS) in medical students in emergency simulations. This study aimed to assess the evidence for validity and usability of Medi-StuNTS by naive, near-peer educators. Nine doctors assessed four students in simulations of common medical emergencies. The scores were used to assess inter-rater reliability, inter-class correlation, and observability. Students and assessors completed questionnaires that assessed the tool’s usability and consequence.Inter-rater agreement across all skill elements was “high” with rWG scores >0.8. An inter-class correlation was “good” with ICC3K kappa scores of 0.86 and 0.89 overall, when measured per simulation and per skills element respectively. Overall skill observability was high (>80%) except for coping with stress. Assessors found the tool “difficult to use” but “useful for feeding back in a constructive way”. Students appreciated the comprehensiveness of the feedback as well as knowing what to expect during debriefs.This study has shown that the Medi-StuNTS BMS has good usability and evidence of validity in naive assessors and near-peer educators. It shows the particularly good internal structure and overall beneficial consequences. Further study will be necessary to understand how best to deploy it in formative and summative contexts.

Reliability of the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) for assessing non-technical skills of medical students in simulated scenarios

ABSTRACT Purpose Caring for critically ill patients requires non-technical skills such as teamwork, communication, and task management. The Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) is a brief tool used to assess non-technical skills. The investigators determined inter- and intra-rater reliability of the BARS when used to assess medical students in simulated scenarios. Method The investigators created simulation scenarios for medical students during their pediatric clerkship. Content experts reviewed video recordings of the simulations and assigned BARS scores for four performance components (Situational Awareness, Decision-Making, Communication, and Teamwork) for the leader and for the team as a whole. Krippendorff’s alpha with ordinal difference was calculated to measure inter- and intra-rater reliability. Results Thirty medical students had recordings available for review. Inter- and intra-rater reliability for performance components were, respectively, Individual Situational Awareness (0.488, 0.638), Individual Decision-Making (0.529, 0.691), Individual Communication (0.347, 0.473), Individual Teamwork (0.414, 0.466), Team Situational Awareness (0.450, 0.593), Team Decision Making (0.423, 0.703), Team Communication (0.256, 0.517), and Team Teamwork (0.415, 0.490). Conclusions The BARS demonstrated limited reliability when assessing medical students during their pediatric clerkship. Given the unique needs of this population, a modified or new objective scoring system for assessing non-technical skills may be needed for medical students.

The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510): does the child have Pompe disease?

Current literature describes that art can be used to teach observation skills in medical students. In this way, many medical schools have developed formal observational training on works of art to improve their students' visual diagnostic skills. In this context, this description presents unprecedented evidence that Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) may have represented a rare neuromuscular disorder, known as Pompe disease (accumulation of lysosomal glycogen primarily in the heart, skeletal muscles, and the nervous system) in one of the characters that make up Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist (1490-1500). Observational study. The painting reveals that the Infant Jesus has facial features consistent with some of the main clinical manifestations of Pompe disease (poor head control, facial weakness with open mouth posture, tongue protrusion, and eyelid ptosis). These results may indicate that Botticelli in 1500 may have made the first pictorial representation of Pompe's disease that was only described in the medical literature in 1932. Furthermore, this description demonstrates the importance of the medico-artistic field for the study of any disease during the Renaissance period, which will be essential for the learning process of visual diagnostic.

Student characteristics associated with interpersonal skills in medical consultations

BackgroundThe quality of medical care depends on effective physician–patient communication. Interpersonal skills can be improved through teaching, but the determinants are poorly understood. We therefore assessed the factors associated with the interpersonal skills of medical students during simulated medical consultations.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of fourth-year medical students participating in simulated consultations with standardized patients. Each video-recorded medical consultation was independently assessed by two raters, using a cross-cultural adaptation of the Four Habits Coding Scheme (4-HCS) into French. We then collected information on demographics and education-related characteristics. The relationship between the overall 4-HCS score and student characteristics was modeled using univariable and multivariable linear regression.ResultsOur analytical sample included 165 medical students for analysis. The factors significantly associated with 4-HCS score were gender (β = − 4.8, p = 0.011) and completion of an international clinical placement (β = 6.2, p = 0.002) or a research laboratory clerkship (β = 6.5, p = 0.005). Education-related characteristics, multiple-choice examinations in the first to third preclinical years, and number of medicine or surgery clerkships were not significantly associated with 4-HCS score.ConclusionsUndergraduate students with higher level of interpersonal skills during video-recorded medical consultations with standardized patients are more likely to be female, to have completed international clinical placement as part of the ERASMUS exchange program or research laboratory clerkship.

Enhanced confidence and ultrasound‐performance skills of medical students: A comparative study with and without prior videographic ultrasound exposure

INTRODUCTIONPoint‐of‐care ultrasonography (POCUS) is commonly used in many modalities of medicine. However, there is a lack of standardized protocol for integrating POCUS into preclinical medical education. Previous literature has detailed the benefits of POCUS in clinical diagnoses and reasoning, but many medical students still lack exposure to POCUS. At California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM), medical students will be exposed to POCUS in their preclinical years. We aim to compare the confidence levels and ultrasound‐performance skills of medical students with and without prior videographic ultrasound exposure.HypothesisPrior videographic ultrasound exposure will improve the confidence and ultrasound‐performance skills of medical students during a live ultrasound workshop compared to those without videographic exposure.MethodsParticipants will be divided into two groups. One group will watch a 5–10‐minute procedural video about ultrasound‐guided peripheral intravenous (IV) access prior to ultrasound training, while the other group will be ultrasound‐naive prior to ultrasound training. Ultrasound training will be led by three other medical students who are trained and approved by ultrasound physicians. After demonstrations, participants will practice ultrasound‐guided IV access on a practice pad. Instructors will grade students on the spot on their ability to perform ultrasound‐guided IV access correctly. The parameters measured will be proper positioning of the ultrasound probe, insertion of the needle, ultrasound probe movement, puncturing of the vein, and overall technique. The two study groups will then take surveys on their perceived performance and overall confidence levels.ResultsResults from participants will be scored using two measures. Firstly, their self‐reflection surveys will measure their level of confidence and perceived ultrasound‐performance skills. Secondly, on‐the‐spot grading by instructors will provide information on participants’ actual ultrasound‐performance skills. A standardized grading scheme will ensure fairness among different instructors and participants.ConclusionComparison of the effectiveness of an additional videographic ultrasound component prior to live demonstration will be elucidated. This study will help create elements within existing ultrasound curriculae that will enhance the confidence and ultrasound‐performance skills of preclinical medical students.

A Pilot Anatomy‐based Teacher Training Curriculum for Medical Students

BackgroundNumerous medical education training programs are currently implemented internationally to train residents and future academic physicians for teaching duties, many of which use peer‐teaching in anatomy as a major component. The length of these programs and the degree to which they provide both teaching practice and generalized training in medical educational competencies varies widely. Conversely, teacher training programs aimed at anatomy graduate students have a robust balance of in‐class practice and out‐of‐class professional development but take place over a longer timescale. With unscheduled curricular time at a premium in most medical programs, developing comprehensive training courses that can be administered over an accelerated timescale and provide generalizable professional skills in medical education is essential.InterventionIn summer of 2021 I implemented a 6‐week pilot program for developing practical teaching and medical education skills in undergraduate medical students. The program consisted of an in‐class component where students performed daily peer teaching in a summer graduate‐level anatomy course and out‐of‐class professional development including training on educational methods, peer evaluations of student‐made materials, and reflective exercises.Assessment5 students were enrolled in the pilot program, 3 of which completed a 1‐5 Likert Scale, IRB‐approved survey after completion. The 22‐question survey measured pre‐and‐post program perceived confidence in 4 skill categories: anatomy knowledge (4 questions), teaching and assessment (5 questions), communication (9 questions), and educational research and innovation (4 questions). Although current survey sample lacks enough statistical power for formal nonparametric tests, initial student responses indicate improved self‐reported confidence in all 4 areas. Educational research and innovation showed the highest average increase (+2.4), followed by teaching and assessment (+2) anatomy knowledge (+1.58) and communication (+1.47).Significance & ConclusionWith the caveat that limited data are available, students’ perceived confidence increased in all skill areas following participation in the training program. Additional longitudinal follow up will be needed to further determine the utility derived from the course pre‐and‐post residency. If successful, this course may serve as a model for both medical student and anatomical educator training courses that can be deployed on shorter timescales.