Music in medical education: A critical interpretive synthesis

INTRODUCTION

While many have championed the value of music in medical education, research specific to how and why music has been offered in medical education is sparse and there have been few attempts to synthesise the literature.

METHODS

A Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) of 56 texts including published articles, correspondence, abstracts and one thesis published between 1977 and 2022 was undertaken to explore the evidence basis for offering music in medical education.

RESULTS

A total of 52 music-focused programmes/activities were described, encompassing both curricular and extra-curricular, receptive and participatory music activities and a wide range of musical genres. Inductive analysis of data extracted from texts revealed a variety of rationales for the use of music in medical education, which could be grouped within seven interrelated themes: well-being; supportive learning environment; affective engagement; teaching and learning; developing skills for clinical practice; humanism in medicine; and creative expression (identity).

DISCUSSION

The results of this synthesis demonstrate that there remains a gap between what is claimed about the affordances of music and what has been explicitly addressed in medical education research. Despite a paucity of research in this area, the available data support that the affordances of music are 'multiple' and may not be well represented by linear models. Evidence that engagement with music is beneficial for medical students is strongest in relation to the affordances of music for well-being, facilitating a supportive learning environment, affective engagement, memorisation and creative expression (identity). That engagement with music might enhance humanism, including developing skills for clinical practice, requires further investigation. Accounting for student agency and the 'multiple' affordances of music will ensure that future teaching and research are best positioned to benefit medical students' well-being and personal and professional development.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training for Healthcare Professionals: A Scoping Review

SUMMARY STATEMENT

The optimal strategy for training cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for healthcare professionals remains to be determined. This scoping review aimed to describe the emerging evidence for CPR training for healthcare professionals.We screened 7605 abstracts and included 110 studies in this scoping review on CPR training for healthcare professionals. We assessed the included articles for evidence for the following topics: training duration, retraining intervals, e-learning, virtual reality/augmented reality/gamified learning, instructor-learner ratio, equipment and manikins, other aspects of contextual learning content, feedback devices, and feedback/debriefing. We found emerging evidence supporting the use of low-dose, high-frequency training with e-learning to achieve knowledge, feedback devices to perform high-quality chest compressions, and in situ team simulations with debriefings to improve the performance of provider teams.

The Value of Songs for Teaching and Learning Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Competencies: A Systematic Review

We sought to summarize, in a systematic review, the effectiveness of songs to support learning, performance, and recall of quality characteristics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) compression rate, and depth. We systematically reviewed the literature from eight academic indexes from the fields of medicine, nursing, allied health, and education, from 2014 to 2020 to identify studies that evaluated an intervention of song use during CPR training against control and reported outcomes of compression rate and depth. There were 185 studies initially identified for review, eight met criteria for inclusion and analysis. For the critical outcome of compression depth, a pooled song group (n=446) when compared to a non-song group (n=443) demonstrated higher odds of being in the recommended range (OR 3.47). All studies, however, performed an average compression depth shallower than recommended guidelines in each arm. The available literature, we found, utilized heterogenous methodology and was at high risk of bias. When pooled, there were trends towards improved CPR metric performance in groups who were exposed to songs during treatment, though this only reached significance when groups were tested at >30 days from initial exposure. Findings of lower compression rates in the song groups suggest that song selection should favor beats per minute closer to the midpoint of the 100-120 ideal range to allow for variation when used as mental metronomes.