PhysioCamp: Cultivating Leaders Throughout Medical School

To prepare medical students for leadership roles, medical student organizations should provide longitudinal leadership opportunities spanning the entire duration of the medical school curriculum. These long-term roles need to be adaptable to medical students' changing and busy schedules, provide a robust structure for communication, improve access to resources and mentors, and allow autonomy for individual decisions to facilitate effective engagement as a leader. We describe the design of a student-led organization, PhysioCamp, which facilitates opportunities for longitudinal medical student leadership through an internship program for high school graduates.

A pilot study: Transitioning into a new graduate midwife - perspectives about a unique student-led practice

OBJECTIVE

To explore midwifery students' (and as new graduates') experiences and level of satisfaction about a student-led midwifery model of care.

METHODS

This was a qualitative study to elicit rich descriptive data from the participants. Thematic analysis was used. The students were interviewed at the end of their final year of study and they were subsequently interviewed at the end of their graduate year.

RESULTS

Two overarching themes were identified from the qualitative findings from the first and second interviews including the students building and sustaining important relationships and transitioning from a student to new graduate.

CONCLUSIONS

The midwifery students valued the opportunity to spend one year in a student-led model of care so that they could build and sustain important relationships with women and their team including the mentor midwife as new graduates. The students developed confidence by being respected by midwives and enabled them to advocate for women.

Design Your Exam (DYE): A novel active learning technique to increase pharmacy student engagement in the learning process

Background

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative e-learning solutions should be implemented to deliver knowledge to healthcare students remotely. Presently, there is a paucity of studies in the literature that have examined student-designed assessments in the classroom.

Objectives

To examine the educational outcomes comparing the Design Your Exam (DYE) activity versus instructor-designed end-of-class (EOC) quizzes and explore student perceptions and preferences for each teaching modality.

Methods

Lectures in the Industrial Pharmacy course were delivered to students by two different approaches: instructor-designed EOC assessments and student-designed DYE. The designed learning model was evaluated via an anonymous questionnaire for quality assurance and future course improvement.

Results

Mean exam performance for content taught using the instructor-designed EOC quizzes and DYE activity were 74.4% and 71.9%, respectively (p = 0.092). Average student attendance for lectures taught using instructor-designed EOC quizzes and the DYE activity were 77.6% and 72.1%, respectively (p = 0.524). A post-course survey showed that 72.2% preferred the instructor-designed EOC, 5.6% preferred DYE activity, and 16.7% preferred a combination of the activities. Respondents reported that the EOC quizzes helped them to understand the lecture material and kept them focused during the lecture and that the DYE was useful in developing their personal interaction skills.

Conclusion

DYE is a novel active learning model that can be incorporated into student courses as an alternative to traditional didactic lectures. Further development of the DYE technique, such as including supportive audio-visual resources, is necessary in order to increase student acceptance.

Characteristics of Asylum Seekers in Collaborative Assessment Program

The Capital District Asylum Collaborative (CDAC) is an organization that provides psychiatric and medical evaluations to be used as forensic evidence to support asylum applications. Our study assesses the demographics and traumas experienced by CDAC clients. In this retrospective study, 23 completed affidavits for clients evaluated through CDAC between the years 2016 and 2020 were analyzed for demographics, trauma experience, and psychiatric diagnosis given. Most clients experienced at least 4 different forms of trauma. Nearly 78% of clients experienced beating to the body, 43% were raped, 56.5% experienced other forms of sexual abuse or humiliation, 47.8% experienced forced separation from family, and 39.1% experienced illness and poor access to care. Majority of clients were diagnosed with comorbidities most commonly major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. This analysis has provided us guidance on how to establish continuing care options for future clients evaluated at CDAC.

The Feasibility of Virtual Reality and Student-Led Simulation Training as Methods of Lumbar Puncture Instruction

BACKGROUND

There is limited data assessing simulation and virtual reality training as a standardized tool in medical education. This feasibility study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality training and a student-led simulation module in preparing medical students to perform a lumbar puncture.

METHODS

Twenty-five medical students completed a pre-intervention survey, and a baseline video recorded lumbar puncture procedure on a task trainer. Students were randomly distributed into the virtual reality group, or the curriculum's standard student-led procedural instruction group. Participants were then given 45 min to practice the lumbar puncture procedure. After the intervention, all participants were video recorded again as they performed a post-intervention lumbar puncture and completed a post-intervention survey. Pre- and post-intervention videos were scored using a critical action checklist in conjunction with time needed to complete the procedure to evaluate proficiency.

RESULTS

At baseline, there were no major statistically significant differences between groups. Assessing overall post-intervention performance, both groups showed improvement in aggregate score (p < 0.001) and time required to complete (p = 0.002) the lumbar puncture. Following interventions, the student-led group improved over the virtual reality group in a variety of metrics. The student-led group increased their aggregate score by 3.49 and decreased their time to completion by 34 s over the VR group when controlling for baseline measures.

CONCLUSIONS

Both virtual reality and student-led simulation training were useful training modalities, with hands-on simulation showing better results versus virtual reality training in this setting.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-020-01141-6.

Efficacy of quality improvement and patient safety workshops for students: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

While the Association of American Medical Colleges encourages medical schools to incorporate quality improvement and patient safety (QI/PS) into their curriculum, medical students continue to have limited QI/PS exposure. To prepare medical students for careers that involve QI/PS, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement chapter at an allopathic medical school and school of allied health professions initiated self-directed learning by offering student-led workshops to equip learners with skills to improve the quality and safety of healthcare processes.

METHODS

In this prospective cohort study, workshops were hosted for medical students between 2015 and 2018 on five QI/PS topics: Process Mapping, Root-Cause Analysis (RCA), Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycles, Evidence Based Medicine (EBM), and Patient Handoffs. Each workshop included a hands-on component to engage learners in practical applications of QI/PS skills in their careers. Change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors was assessed via pre- and post-surveys using 5-point Likert scales, and analyzed using either the McNemar test or non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Surveys also gathered qualitative feedback regarding strengths, future areas for improvement, and reasons for attending the workshops.

RESULTS

Data was collected from 88.5% of learners (n = 185/209); 19.5% of learners reported prior formal instruction in these topics. Statistically significant improvements in learners' confidence were observed for each workshop. Additionally, after attending workshops, learners felt comfortable teaching the learned QI/PS skill to colleagues (mean pre/post difference 1.96, p < 0.0001, n = 139) and were more likely to pursue QI/PS projects in their careers (mean pre/post difference 0.45, p < 0.0001, n = 139). Lastly, learners demonstrated a statistically significant increase in knowledge in four out of five skills workshop topics.

CONCLUSION

Few medical students have formal instruction in QI/PS tools. This pilot study highlights advantages of incorporating an innovative, student-directed modified 'flipped classroom' methodology, with a focus on active experiential learning and minimal didactic instruction.

Evaluation of a student-led midwifery group practice: A woman's perspective

BACKGROUND

.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate women's experiences of a student-led midwifery group practice.

DESIGN

A mixed methods design was used to examine women's experiences and level of satisfaction about a student-led midwifery model of care. An on-line survey elucidated women's levels of satisfaction and experiences with the student-led midwifery group practice. The online survey was sent to all women (n = 25) who were receiving care from third year Bachelor of Midwifery students in 2018 via email up to 6 weeks postnatally. The online survey was distributed in the first instance to obtain baseline information about the importance of this student-led midwifery group practice and so the survey information was linked to the in-depth interview in the analysis for the purpose of identifying if the women were primiparous or multiparous. Women (n = 9) were invited to participate in an in-depth interview by self-opting on the survey and this extra data provided a richer understanding about the level of satisfaction about woman-centred care led by midwifery students. Retrospective data were also collected from the Maternity database - E-Maternity about birth outcomes.

SETTING

A tertiary teaching public hospital in New South Wales (NSW).

PARTICIPANTS

Fifteen women participated in an online survey. Five primiparous and four multiparous women opted to be involved in the in-depth interviews on the online survey.

MEASUREMENTS AND FINDINGS

Analysis in SPSS provided descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages of data including birth outcomes. Simple correlations enabled associations to be established between levels of satisfaction, individualised care, quality of care, benefits and anxiety during pregnancy. The overarching themes from the qualitative findings identified the students' presence for the women as the most important component of the women's journey. The four main themes that emerged from the study included: familiarity of the caregiver, staying informed on the journey, feeling supported and reassured by their expertise, and control and decisions over birth events.

KEY CONCLUSIONS

For a variety of reasons, women valued the presence of the students throughout their childbearing journey, including valuing the woman's private space during labour and her time with her partner. This combination of pedagogical approaches provides an alternative to the current placement approach, which includes working shifts in all areas of maternity. This approach will better support midwifery students to achieve the skills necessary to provide a continuity of care experience (CoCE) amongst a small team by a student-led midwifery group practice that is supported by a registered midwife in the antenatal clinic. The midwifery student is able to develop a relationship with the woman as a component of the CoCE under the guidance of a registered midwife and this is an important underpinning of the philosophy of woman-centred care.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

This model of care provides evidence that women do value the students' support and presence throughout their experience and that the benefits of this model should be offered to all women as a normal component of their midwifery care.

Advancing the understanding of research during medical education through collaborative learning: the Collaboration of Practitioners and Researchers Seminar Series

BACKGROUND

The Collaboration of Practitioners and Researchers Seminar Series is student-led program comprised of seminars delivered jointly by medical and graduate students on a topic in medicine of mutual interest to an audience of both medical and graduate students.

METHODS

Following its inaugural year in 2016-2017, we evaluated changes in attendees' perceived understanding of translational research through an electronic survey and semi-structured interviews with attendees.

RESULTS

Study participants rated their understanding of translational research and comfort with interacting with students from the other program higher following attending seminars. Participants believed that the seminars helped in breaking barriers between medical and graduate students.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that this seminar series positively impacted attendees' understanding of translational research and attitudes towards collaboration between medical and graduate students. We believe that similar initiatives may be of value in fostering new opportunities for collaboration between medical and graduate students at other institutions.

Engaging Medical Students in Leadership Development

Leadership development plays a critical role in preparing collaborative, systems-based physicians. Medical schools across the globe have dedicated significant effort towards programming for medical student leadership development. Students report a variety of existing leadership opportunities, ranging from formal didactics to leadership positions within the community. Students identify lack of time, funding, and the hierarchy of medicine as significant barriers for engaging in leadership opportunities. Students favor a formal leadership curriculum coupled with hands-on opportunities to practice leadership skills. In order to train medical students to be engaged physician leaders, it is imperative to foster practical opportunities for leadership development.

Engaging Medical Students in Leadership Development

Leadership development plays a critical role in preparing collaborative, systems-based physicians. Medical schools across the globe have dedicated significant effort towards programming for medical student leadership development. Students report a variety of existing leadership opportunities, ranging from formal didactics to leadership positions within the community. Students identify lack of time, funding, and the hierarchy of medicine as significant barriers for engaging in leadership opportunities. Students favor a formal leadership curriculum coupled with hands-on opportunities to practice leadership skills. In order to train medical students to be engaged physician leaders, it is imperative to foster practical opportunities for leadership development.

Implementation of an interviewing skills workshop for pharmacy students

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

To describe the implementation and effect of an interviewing skills workshop (ISW) on student confidence on various interviewing techniques.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

A student directed ISW was offered to student pharmacists of all years within the doctor of pharmacy curriculum. There were five stations that student pharmacists rotated through every 12 min: a panel interview, group interview, teleconference interview, video conference interview, and a case station where student pharmacists were given a clinical or ethical case. Stations were staffed by faculty, alumni, and pharmacy residents. Student pharmacists completed a survey directly following the workshop to rate their confidence with the stations prior to and after the activity. Feedback on the activity was solicited from the student pharmacists and those who participated as interviewers.

FINDINGS

Twenty-eight student pharmacists participated in the ISW with an 85.7% response rate to the survey (n = 24). All students reported wanting to pursue a career requiring a residency and found the ISW to be beneficial. Average student confidence improved significantly from neutral to confident. Students reported positive themes of feedback and practice while requesting more time for each session and practice with group interviews and ethical situations. Interviewers noted building positive relationships with students and other faculty members. Opportunities for improvement included timing and providing more background information about the student pharmacists.

SUMMARY

A student-led ISW was found to be beneficial in improving confidence in student pharmacists. Student pharmacists' confidence increased in all types of interviews and with the clinical case.

Engaging students in a community of learning: Renegotiating the learning environment

Promoting student engagement in a student led environment can be challenging. This article reports on the process of design, implementation and evaluation of a student led learning approach in a small group tutorial environment in a three year Bachelor of Nursing program at an Australian university. The research employed three phases of data collection. The first phase explored student perceptions of learning and engagement in tutorials. The results informed the development of a web based learning resource. Phase two centred on implementation of a community of learning approach where students were supported to lead tutorial learning with peers. The final phase constituted an evaluation of the new approach. Findings suggest that students have the capacity to lead and engage in a community of learning and to assume greater ownership and responsibility where scaffolding is provided. Nonetheless, an ongoing whole of course approach to pedagogical change would better support this form of teaching and learning innovation.

Implementing and sustaining a mentorship program at a college of pharmacy: The Keys to Successful Mentorship

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate mentor and mentee opinions of The Keys to Successful Mentorship, a longitudinal student-led mentorship program established at a college of pharmacy.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

In 2008, a mentorship program was created whereby first year pharmacy students (mentees) were paired with third year pharmacy students (mentors). An anonymous survey was administered to second (P2) and fourth (P4) year pharmacy students identifying strengths and weaknesses of the program.

FINDINGS

Results of the survey administered to the P2 and P4 pharmacy students revealed that there was a strong desire to take part in the mentorship program. Of the respondents, 77% of P2 and 70% of P4 students stated the mentorship program aided in their professional growth. Mentors disagreed significantly more than mentees that participation in the program should be optional. Qualitative findings suggested that the program assisted students in building professional relationships and networks, better prepared them for experiential training, and helped with post-graduate decisions.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of a longitudinal student-led mentorship program was supported by student pharmacists and may aid in their professional development.