Health and Physical Education Commons^™

Effect Of Repeated/Spaced Formative Assessments On Medical School Final Exam Performance, Edward K. Chang, Paul F. Wimmers

Health Professions Education

Formative assessments, especially if spaced, encourage effective study habits such as retesting. The individual and combined effect of weekly formative assessments and cumulative assessments on final exam performance was studied. Methods: Students were placed into 6 groups by weekly formative assessment performance and practice exam utilization/ performance. Students who scored below the median on weekly assessments comprised groups 1/3/5. Groups 2/4/6 scored above the median. Groups 1/2 did not use the practice exam. Groups 3/4 scored below the median on the practice exam while Groups 5/6 scored above. Multiple comparisons were made using ANCOVA. Results: Adjusted analysis showed weekly assessment …

Clinical Capability Self-Appraisal As Indicative Of Preparedness For Future Medical Practice. A Graduates' Perspective, Afsheen Zafar, Ahmed Rehman

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Pakistan is experiencing a wave of change in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The changes have led to emergence of an outcomes-based curriculum. However the extent to which an outcomes-based curriculum prepares the medical graduates for clinical practice has not been well studied. The aim of the present study was therefore to identify perception of the medical graduates of the extent to which an outcomes-based curriculum in Pakistan has prepared them for hospital practice. Methods: In September 2015, recent graduates of Islamic International Medical College in Pakistan were asked to fill in the modified Clinical Capability Questionnaire to assess their …

Development And Validation Of The Motivation For Tutoring Questionnaire In Problem-Based Learning Programs, Salah Eldin Kassab, Nahla Hassan, Shimaa El-Araby, Abdel Halim Salem, Saleh Ali Alrebish, Ahmed S. Al-Amro, Hani A. Al-Shobaili, Hossam Hamdy

Health Professions Education

Purpose: There are no published instruments, which measure tutor motivation for conducting small group tutorials in problembased learning programs. Therefore, we aimed to develop a motivation for tutoring questionnaire in problem-based learning (MTQ-PBL) and evaluate its construct validity.

Methods: The questionnaire included 28 items representing four constructs: tutoring self-efficacy (15 items), tutoring interest (6 items), tutoring value (4 items), and tutoring effort (3 items). Tutors (n¼158) from three problem-based medical schools in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain rated their perceptions for each item on a 7-point Likert scale. Statistical analyses included examining the factor structure of the questionnaire, the differences …

3d Anatomy Models And Impact On Learning: A Review Of The Quality Of The Literature, Samy A. Azer, Sarah Azer

Health Professions Education

Background: The aims of this study were to identify studies exploring three-dimensional (3D) anatomy models and their impact on learning, and to assess the quality of research in this area. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Web of Knowledge databases were searched using the following keywords "3D anatomy", "three dimensional anatomy," "3D virtual reality anatomy," "3D VR anatomy," "3D anatomy model, “3D anatomy teaching", and “anatomy learning VR” . Three evaluators independently assessed the quality of research using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). Results: Of the 94,616 studies identified initially, 30 studies reported data on the impact of …

The Influence Of Peer Feedback On The Acquisition Of Physical-Examination Skills, Bernard Martineau, Sìlvia Mamede, Christina St-Onge, Linda Bergeron

Health Professions Education

Studies have suggested that having students observe peers while acquiring physical-examination (PE) skills fosters the acquisition of the psychomotor skills required to conduct a PE. One difficulty, however, has been to disentangle the effect of peer observation from peer feedback, both of which occur when students learn in groups. This study investigated the influence of peer feedback on learning the neurolocomotor physical exam for low-back pain. 120 second-year medical students were randomly assigned to a peer-feedback group (n¼61) or a no-peer-feedback group (n¼53), during a regular learning activity with a standardized-patient instructor. Students first practised the NLE in groups of …

The Problem With Problems In Problem-Based Learning: Difference Between Problem Explaining Versus Problem Solving, Lisette Wijnia

Health Professions Education

In problem-based learning (PBL), small groups of students are presented with a problem before they receive any other curriculum input on that topic.1,2 Although PBL is a popular educational method in the health professions and other domains, its effectiveness has been heavily debated. An important point of debate is whether or not it is effective to let students engage in problem-solving activities at the start of the learning process with limited prior knowledge.3 According to cognitive load theory (CLT), novice learners always require explicit instruction that explains all the targeted concepts and procedures without a need for learners to infer …

Development And Initial Testing Of An Instrument For Evaluating Needs And Inferring Readiness Of Research Supervisors: A Mixed Methods Approach, Amani Al-Muallem, Margaret Elzubeir, Christopher Roberts, Mohi Magzoub

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Skilled supervisors are crucial to the development of new researchers. A variety of institutional perspectives exist regarding prerequisites for effective research supervision, yet little is known about this subject from perspectives of research supervisors themselves. Mixed methods designs offer the potential to integrate various data collection and analyses procedures to rigorously investigate complex social constructs such research supervision and to design tools to evaluate needs and readiness. The present study aimed to develop and initially test an instrument that explores needs and readiness of research supervisors using an integrative mixed methods design. Methods: Drawing on a blend of socio-cognitive …

The Influence Of Time Pressure And Case Complexity On Physicians' Diagnostic Performance, Dalal A. Alqahtani, Jerome I. Rotgans, Nasr Eldin Ahmed, Ibrahim A. Alalwan, Mohi Eldin M. Magzoub

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Practicing medicine is a cognitively demanding task that consists of the ability to assess the patient, judge the nature of his or her complaints, and make an appropriate diagnosis. A number of factors have the potential to affect the physician's diagnostic performance negatively. Two of these factors are time pressure and case complexity. However, the empirical evidence that supports this negative influence is scant. This study experimentally investigated the effect of time pressure and the complexity of clinical cases on diagnostic accuracy. Method: Thirty-seven senior internal medicine residents participated in this study. These residents were randomly allocated to two …

Problem-Based Learning: An Overview Of Its Process And Impact On Learning, Elaine H.J. Yew, Karen Goh

Health Professions Education

In this review, we provide an overview of the process of problem-based learning (PBL) and the studies examining the effectiveness of PBL. We also discuss a number of naturalistic and empirical studies that have examined the process of PBL and how its various components impact students’ learning. We conclude that the studies comparing the relative effectiveness of PBL are generally consistent in demonstrating its superior efficacy for longer-term knowledge retention and in the application of knowledge. Studies on the process of PBL, however, are still inconclusive as to which component(s) of PBL most significantly impact students’ learning, although causal studies …

Decision Making In Different Care Settings: Do Undergraduate Students Already Care?

Health Professions Education

Purpose: The process of decision making in medical practice has been studied extensively. However, the influence of different care settings on that process has not been examined to date. Do undergraduate medical students already adjust their decisions to the varying conditions of two different care settings? Methods: Starting on August 12th until September 23rd 2015 a complete semester cohort of students in their 5th year of medical studies attending a practical course in primary care at the University of Muenster was asked to answer questions about 6 paper cases on usual patient encounters. All students received the same cases. However, …

Saudi Internal Medicine Residents' Perceptions Of The Objective Structured Clinical Examination As A Formative Assessment Tool, Salwa Alaidarous, Tarig Awad Mohamed, Emad Masuadi, Siraj Wali, Abdullah Almalki

Health Professions Education

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties first implemented the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) as part of the final year Internal Medicine clerkship exam during the 2007–2008 academic year. This study evaluated Internal Medicine residents' overall perceptions of the OSCE as a formative assessment tool. It focused on residents' perceptions of the OSCE stations' attributes, determined the acceptability of the process, and provided feedback to enhance further development of the assessment tool. The main objective was to assess Internal Medicine resident test-takers' perceptions and acceptance of the OSCE, and to identify its strengths and weaknesses through their feedback. Sixty six …

Preparing Foundation-Year Students For Medical Studies In A Problem-Based Learning Environment: Students' Perceptions, Xiangyun Du, Walid Massoud, Nadia Ali Al-Banna, Ayad M. Al-Moslih, Marwan Farouk Abu-Hijleh, Hossam Hamdy, Farhan Sachal Cyprian

Health Professions Education

Purpose: To contribute to the field of preparing new students for their medical studies and to investigate how foundation-year medical students perceive the progression of appropriate learning skills for studying in a PBL medical curriculum via the support of a course aiming at facilitating students with these skills. Methods: A 10-point scale online questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was used for data collection. 50 out of the 59 (19 males and 31 females) students responded and self-evaluated a list of learning skills according to the course objectives before and after the course. Cronbach's alpha was used to test for internal …

Do Communities Of Practice Enhance Faculty Development?, Lum Kai Mun Abigail

Health Professions Education

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic literature review was to find out how communities of practice (CoP) work for faculty development, discover if CoP have demonstrated their effectiveness and identify factors that could influence effectiveness of CoP to inform future design and delivery of CoP for faculty development. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted in October 2015 for studies published between 1 January 1991–30 October 2015. To find out if CoP have demonstrated their effectiveness adequately, an overview of study designs, sample and sources of data used in relation to the framework for assessing value in CoP by Wenger …

The Relevance Of Neuroscientific Research For Understanding Clinical Reasoning, Jerome. I. Rotgans, Naomi Low-Beer, Lucy Victoria Rosby

Health Professions Education

The current debate on clinical reasoning revolves primarily around Dual-Process Theory. This theory suggests that there are two distinctively separate cognitive systems underlying thinking and reasoning; commonly referred to as System 1 and System 2.1 System 1 is considered intuitive, fast and reliant on automatic activation of “illness scripts” stored in memory and leading to effortless pattern recognition. System 2 on the other hand is considered analytic, slow, deliberate, and systematic. The clinical reasoning literature is divided; one group of researchers defending System 1 reasoning as the hallmark of expert decision-making, whereas the other camp of researchers considers System 2 …

The Effect Of Patients' Appearance On Doctors’ Diagnostic Decision Making: Do Poor People Get Poorer Medical Care?, Fathia Mohamed, Silvia Mamede, Manahil Mohamedani, Ibrahim Al Alwan, Mohi Eldin M. Magzoub, Henk G. Schmidt

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Health inequalities are of great concern to health providers. Studies on the influence of social class on diagnostic performance are rare and inconclusive. We investigated whether patients’ appearance (poor versus rich) affects physicians thinking and their ability to reach a correct diagnosis. Method: Forty-six internal medicine residents participated in this purposely designed computerized study. Every participant solved four case scenarios with one of two versions of a patient's picture for each scenario. In this study simulated patients’ pictures were used to play the role of poor and dirty patients in one condition and rich and clean in another condition. …

Role Of Suez Canal University, Faculty Of Medicine In Egyptian Medical Education Reform, Somay Hosny, Yasser El Wazir, Mohamed El Kalioby, Ola Farouk, Mona Ghaly

Health Professions Education

There are currently 22 public and 2 private medical schools in Egypt, which graduate around 10,000 physicians annually. While Kasr Al-Eini (Cairo University) is the oldest one; established in 1827, the Suez Canal Faculty of Medicine (FOM/SCU) is the first to adopt an integrated, student centered, problem- and community-based curriculum since its inauguration in 1978. Apart from Port Said medical school, which was established in 2013, the remaining medical schools either generally adopt the conventional teacher-centered and subject-based curricula or starting to introduce changes in their curricula in order to fulfill the National Academic Reference Standards (NARS), published in 2008 …

Big Five Personality Traits And Assertiveness Do Not Affect Mastery Of Communication Skills, Jeroen Kuntze, Henk T. Van Der Molen, Marise Ph. Born

Health Professions Education

Background: Mastering communication skills is often emphasized as an important aspect of job or academic performance. However, research into the relationships between personality factors and these skills is scarce. Purpose: This study investigated whether the big-five personality factors and assertiveness predict mastery of communication skills before and after following communication skills training. Method: The skills level of 143 psychology students was assessed after two communication skills courses, namely a basic and an advanced communication skills training. Personality factors were assessed with the Five Factor Personality Inventory and the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior. Results: Participants showed substantial progress in their mastery …

Experiential Learning, Spatial Visualization And Metacognition: An Exercise With The “Blank Page” Technique For Learning Anatomy, Helen L. Naug, Natalie J. Colson, Daniel Donner

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Undergraduate students in the allied health science disciplines are normally required to complete a human anatomy course in their first year. Such courses, while popular, present challenges in that the content requires students to engage different approaches to learning. Recent literature reflects an increased interest in active, experiential learning activities to improve the learning of anatomy and physiology, but activities that focus on the development of metacognitive skills and visual-spatial thinking have been lacking. To address these inadequacies we developed a plasticine modeling and drawing activity in a tutorial room devoid of resources and visual cues referred to as …

How Biomedical Misconceptions May Arise And Affect Medical Students' Learning: A Review Of Theoretical Perspectives And Empirical Evidence, Elmi Badenhorst, Nadia Hartman, Sílvia Mamede

Health Professions Education

The debate on whether biomedical knowledge contributes significantly to the clinical reasoning process is on-going. Despite this debate, one cannot underestimate that subjects such as anatomy and physiology play a key role in the understanding of the human body. Misconceptions that exist or arise in biomedical subjects, such as physiology and anatomy, can impact on the learning processes of medical students. The present paper presents an overview of research in the field of biomedical misconceptions and consists of two parts. First, the authors draw on three theoretical frameworks, constructivism, concept formation and element interactivity in complex reasoning, to offer insight …

The Effects Of Problem-Based-Learning On The Academic Achievements Of Medical Students In One Japanese Medical School, Over A Twenty-Year Period, Masayuki Niwa, Takuya Saiki, Kazuhiko Fujisaki, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Phillip Evans

Health Professions Education

Purpose: This investigation considered the cognitive outcomes, expressed by the academic achievement scores in basic and clinical sciences and the National Licensing Examination results of medical undergraduates. Method: Cognitive outcomes were compared using the academic achievement scores in basic and clinical science and the National Medical Licensing Examination pass rates, during the two periods pre- and post-PBL. Results: The scores, were significantly higher post-PBL. Scores in clinical science were significantly higher in both male and female students post-PBL. Before PBL, the scores for female students were higher, whereas no difference between males and females was observed post-PBL. Discussion: The results …

Emotionally Difficult Experiences Faced By Medical Students During Training, Telma Kremer, Sílvia Mamede, Jarbas S. Roriz Filho, Álvaro J. Madeiro Leite

Health Professions Education

Purpose: To investigate (1) emotions-triggering situations faced by medical students; (2) their prevalence across training; (3) whether they aroused student's emotions, and (4) whether students' reactions varied across training. Method: A pilot study analysed 60 written reports from 4th-year medical students from the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, regarding recent emotionally difficult training experiences. Six types of emotions-triggering situations were chosen. A diary of a fictitious student reporting each situation was prepared, with two different endings – either a neutral or an emotional development. In a web-survey, 188 medical students evaluated those diary-entries (3 in a neutral; 3 in an …

Erratum To “Research Advances In Conformity To Peer Pressure: A Negative Side Effect Of Medical Education” [Health Prof. Educ. 2015; 1(1): 19–23], T. N. Beran, J. Crofton

Health Professions Education

The author regrets that the co-author name was missing in the article. The name of the co-author is J. Crofton.

From Clinical Center To Academic Institution: An Example Of How To Bring About Educational Change, Hanan M. Al-Kadri, Ibrahim A. Al Alwan, Mohamed S. Al-Moamary, Youssef A. Al Eissa, Bandar A. Al Knawy

Health Professions Education

Background: The usual scenario for change management in the medical education field is an academic institution creating a patient care facility. The opposite change is however rather rare and challenging. There is not much in the medical education literature on experiences of change management that provides sufficient support to readers who are involved in such process of change. Methods: We analyzed the experience of a clinical institution that has changed into an academic one. The methods used were archival analysis and interviews with those involved. The raw data were analyzed using a framework derived from the change management literature. Results: …

Self-Explanation, An Instructional Strategy To Foster Clinical Reasoning In Medical Students, Martine Chamberland, Sílvia Mamede

Health Professions Education

Clinical reasoning is a critical and complex skill that medical students have to develop in the course of their training. Although research on medical expertise has successfully examined the different components of that skill, designing educational interventions that support the development of clinical reasoning in students remains a challenge for medical educators. The theory of medical expertise describes how students' medical knowledge develops and is progressively restructured during their training and in particular through clinical exposure to patient problems. Instructional strategies to foster students’ learning from practice with clinical cases are scarce. This article describes the use of self-explanation as …

Effectiveness Of A Dental Students Stress Management Program, Abdullah M. Alzahem, Henk T. Van Der Molen, Benjamin J. De Boerc

Health Professions Education

The dental education stress effects and sources were explored thoroughly in the literature, but the effectiveness of stress management programs received less attention. This study introduced a new stress management program, named Dental Education Stress Management (DESM) program. It showed its effectiveness in a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-follow-up-control group design. The new program was based on the principle of psychoeducation and consisted of three 90-min sessions, to teach dental students how to better deal with their stress symptoms and to reduce their general stress level. Two instruments were used to assess the level of stress of the dental students, namely the Dental …

Accrediting The Md Programme In Sultan Qaboos University: Process, Earned Benefits, And Lessons Learned, Sulayma Albarwani, Muna Al-Saadoon, Omar Al-Rawas, Saif Al-Yaarubi, Rashid Al-Abri, Lamk Al-Lamki, Musbah Tanira

Health Professions Education

The MD Programme of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, has been accredited recently. The College has been preparing for this event for more than ten years and wishes to share its experience with other regional medical colleges. The process of accreditation per se took less than three years to complete and most of the time was spent to prepare for the process; to build-up capacity in addition to implementing curricular reforms and other requirements that were needed to comply with accreditation standards. In the end of this exercise, the College has earned many benefits as …

From Assessment Cocktail To Assessment Symphony: The Development Of Best Assessment Practices, Hanan M. Al-Kadri

Health Professions Education

Introduction of the best possible assessment practices is a requirement for any institution seeking to foster excellence in its students. Assessment practices have been assumed to drive students' learning. However the extent of which this driving role of assessment negatively or positively influences attainment of curriculum objectives and educational outcomes is not well known. In an effort to improve assessment practices, assessment has moved from an era of strict implementation of assessment of learning and a dominance of the psychometric theory into a focus on assessment for learning. In the latter view, a cocktail of assessments is proposed to enhance …

Validation Study Of A General Subject-Matter Interest Measure: The Individual Interest Questionnaire (Iiq), Jerome I. Rotgans

Health Professions Education

Importance: Interest is considered a significant educational construct. A validated instrument that can reliably be used to measure interest across different subject domains is however not available. Objective: To report the findings of two studies that were conducted to test the validity and reliability of a newly designed Individual Interest Questionnaire (IIQ). Design: Study 1 was a construct validation study involving three independent high school samples from different disciplines. In Study 2 the predictive validity of the IIQ was tested by examining how well the IIQ predicts cognitive engagement and on-task behaviors and attitudes of students. Participants: A sample of …

On The Use And Misuse Of Lectures In Higher Education, Henk G. Schmid, Stephanie L. Wagener, Guus A.C.M. Smeets, Lianne M. Keemink, Henk T. Van Der Molen

Health Professions Education

Background: The purpose of this article was to review the literature on lecture effectiveness and to suggest avenues for improvements. Methods: Selective literature review with an emphasis on active learning in the classroom setting. Results: Conventional lectures are effective only to a limited extent in attaining important curriculum objectives. They do not promote critical thinking; student attendance tends to be low and so is cognitive engagement; furthermore, the idea that lectures should and can cover all essential subject matter is false. Moreover, empirical literature on what students actually learn from lectures is lacking. A most fundamental problem of lectures is …

Delivering Effective Continuous Medical Education In Saudi Arabia: Some Critical Issues, Mohammad A. Alkhazim, Alaa Althubaiti, Hala Al-Ateeg, Munirah Alkhwaiter, Manal M. Alnasser

Health Professions Education

Continuous Medical Education (CME) is growing fast in Saudi Arabia as part of health practitioner's commitment to professionalism. It furnishes the means to maintain the practitioner's ability to provide quality and safe patient care. However, major issues regarding the process of conducting CME in the country have not been investigated before. The purpose of this study is to describe the CME practice in Saudi Arabia. Method: The method utilized in this qualitative study was focus groups. Leaders of CME departments in various hospitals in Riyadh area participated in the study. Hospitals were categorized to different levels according to their governing …