Medical teacher
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While most medical schools have students teach other students, few offer formal education in teaching skills, and fewer provide teaching theory together with experiential teaching practice. Furthermore, curriculum evaluation of teaching education is lacking. ⋯ Reinforcing educational theory with practical teaching experience under direct faculty supervision promotes teaching competency for graduating medical students. The intertwined didactic plus practical model can be applied to various teaching contexts to fulfil the mandate that medical schools train graduates in core teaching knowledge, skills and attitudes in preparation for their future roles as clinical teachers.
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Electives have the potential to have a very positive impact on the professional development of medical students. Education about issues in global health is widely regarded as a neglected area in the undergraduate curricula of many medical schools. Linking learning outcomes for global health to the elective offers a possible solution that avoids adding additional teaching to crowded courses. ⋯ This commentary advocates caution as many potential learning outcomes are better addressed elsewhere and setting detailed outcomes erodes the essence of the elective - student choice.
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Concern has been expressed in recent times whether medical schools have adapted sufficiently to cater for the increasing demand of physician-scientists. Studies have shown that research involvement at the undergraduate level is vital to accommodate this growing need. Enhanced communication skills, improved problem-solving abilities and better future employment opportunities are among the other many benefits of undergraduate research (UR). Herein, we report projects run by a unique student driven undergraduate research committee (URC) at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia aimed at providing the future generation of physicians training opportunities for pursuing a research intensive career. ⋯ Research involvement by medical students is an essential need of the twenty-first century and models like URC could provide crucial platform for research training to the new generation of physician-scientists.
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This research provides an educational perspective on simulation-based medical education by implementing both the characteristics of meaningful learning and the concepts of facilitating, training, and learning processes. ⋯ In running these courses in the future, facilitators should concentrate on those characteristics that were only somewhat supported.