Involving postgraduate's students in undergraduate small group teaching promotes active learning in both

An evaluation of two small group learning strategies among third-year medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Small group learning (SGL) is a discussion-based teaching strategy that can improve critical thinking, analytical skills, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. This study aimed to evaluate student satisfaction in two SGL models among third-year medical students enrolled in a blood and lymphoid systems II course at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 318 students were divided into 12 groups, and each group had one facilitator. All included students and groups were exposed to both the central summary (CS) model and the individual facilitator summary (IFS) model (both SGLs). A questionnaire was developed to evaluate student rating of learning activities, perceived benefit, timing, workload, and satisfaction. Medical students rated the IFS model superior to the CS model for four of five parameters [confidence in performing and interpreting a laboratory test (83.6% vs. 78.8%), guidance for self-learning (52% vs. 39.5%), increased understanding of a disease (87.7% vs. 72.1%), and application of knowledge (77.4% vs. 70.2%), respectively]. Moreover, the IFS model was rated as having more suitable timing and workload and better satisfaction than the CS model. The results of this study suggest a strong preference for the IFS model over the CS model among medical students.

Developing Cognitive Skills Through Active Learning: A Systematic Review of Health Care Professions

Objective

To systematically review current literature to determine whether active learning is more successful than passive learning at producing cognitive skills in health care professions students.

Data Sources

An electronic search was conducted in 4 databases: EBSCO-CINAHL, EBSCO-Sport Discus, Educational Resources Information Center, and PubMed. Search terms included: millennial AND health education, active learning AND knowledge retention, flipped classroom AND learning outcomes, problem based learning AND learning outcomes, problem based learning AND student confidence, active learning AND critical thinking, higher order thinking AND active learning.

Study Selection

We included studies if they were published in English between 2007 and 2017 and evaluated outcomes of an active learning intervention. Studies of nonhealth care disciplines, practicing health care practitioners, or studies that did not address the primary research questions were excluded.

Data Extraction

Study design, health care discipline, intervention used, assessment measures, outcome(s) measures, main results, and conclusions were extracted from each article, as appropriate.

Data Synthesis

Articles were categorized based on capacity to answer 1 or both of the research questions. Conclusions were summarized according to the learning technique used and its effectiveness in regard to studied learning outcome. Out of 85 studies on lower-order cognition, 61 (72%) indicated active learning techniques were effective at achieving improved recall, understanding, and/or application of course material. Of 69 studies on higher-order cognition, 58 (84%) supported active learning over passive instruction for improving students' confidence in or performance of analytical, evaluative, and creative skills.

Conclusions

Active learning produces gains to both lower- and higher-order cognition at levels equal to, and more often, greater than the use of passive learning methods. Despite this evidence, we believe more high-quality, well-designed prospective studies using validated assessment measures are needed to endorse the value of these methods in producing cognitive skills.

The perspectives of physiotherapists on managing nonspecific low back pain following a training programme in cognitive functional therapy: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

It has long been acknowledged that nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) is associated with a complex combination of biopsychosocial (BPS) factors, and recent guidelines advocate that the management of back pain should reflect this multidimensional complexity. Cognitive functional therapy (CFT) is a behaviourally oriented intervention that targets patients' individual BPS profiles. Although the efficacy of CFT has been demonstrated in primary care, little evidence exists about the training requirements of this approach.

METHODS

Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 physiotherapists working in primary care, who had undergone a formal training programme in CFT. A purposive sampling method was employed to seek the broadest perspectives. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview transcripts and capture the emergent themes.

RESULTS

Five main themes emerged: (i) the learning challenge; (ii) self-reported changes in confidence; (iii) self-reported changes in communication practice; (iv) self-reported changes in attitudes and understanding; (v) the physiotherapists felt that CFT was more effective than their usual approach for NSCLBP but identified barriers to successful implementation, which included a lack of time and difficulties in engaging patients with strong biomedical beliefs.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggested that training in CFT has the capacity to produce self-reported changes in physiotherapists' attitudes, confidence and practice. The provision of such training has implications in terms of time and costs; however, this this may be warranted, given the physiotherapists' strong allegiance to the approach compared with their usual practice.

Perception of content and non-content expert facilitators of PBL according to students' performance levels

OBJECTIVE

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centred learning system that involves multidisciplinary fields focused on problem solving. Facilitators of PBL are not necessarily content experts but little is known on how this concept has affected the outcomes of PBL sessions in learning Medical Biochemistry. We aimed to evaluate the impact of having the content expert as a facilitator in conducting PBL.

METHODS

A total of 150 first and second year medical students from the University Kebangsaan Malaysia were interviewed with a validated set of questions to acquire their views on the roles of facilitators in PBL in learning Medical Biochemistry. Their achievement were evaluated through their essay marks derived from various PBL packages.

RESULTS

All respondents agreed that PBL sessions associated with Medical Biochemistry are best appreciated when conducted by a content-expert facilitator. Their exam marks reflected well on their perception.

CONCLUSION

PBL sessions related to Medical Biochemistry is best facilitated by Biochemistry lecturers as the content experts.