Teaching and learning in medicine
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Good teaching requires spontaneous, immediate, and appropriate action in response to various situations. It is even more crucial in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials, as the tutors, while directing students toward the identification and attainment of learning objectives, must stimulate them to contribute to the process and provide them with constructive feedback. PBL tutors in medicine lack opportunities to receive feedback from their peers on their teaching strategies. Moreover, as tutorials provide little or no time to stop and think, more could be learned by reflecting on the experience than from the experience itself. We designed and evaluated a faculty development approach to developing PBL tutors that combined self-reflection and peer feedback processes, both powerful techniques for improving performance in education. ⋯ Peer coaching was considered feasible and useful to improve tutors' facilitation skills. Evaluating the program made it possible to assess tutors' needs and the reasons underlying their difficulties, and this in turn provided the basis for advanced workshops. Nonetheless, aspects related to logistics and the time constraints of such an individualized approach, as well as the cultural appropriation of peer coaching, might be obstacles that need to be addressed.
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Clinical educators at U.S. academic health centers are frequently disadvantaged in the academic promotion system, lacking needed faculty development, mentoring, and networking support. ⋯ Curriculum building is a dynamic process of ongoing evaluation and modification. Our program benefited from designing an integrated and focused curriculum, developing educational principles to guide program improvements, creating curricular tools to help learners organize and document their efforts, supporting project-based learning with expert mentoring, and facilitating peer and faculty networking and collaboration. A national, longitudinal faculty development program can support growth in academic knowledge and skills, promote professional networking, and thereby enrich educators' career opportunities.
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Inappropriate social media behavior can have detrimental effects on students' future opportunities, but medical students are given little opportunity to reflect upon ways of integrating their social media identities with their newly forming professional identities. ⋯ Opportunities for discussion and reflection are essential for transformational learning to occur, enabling understanding of other perspectives. Incorporating student-submitted social media examples heightened student interest and engagement. The social media environment is continually changing, so curricular approaches should remain adaptable to ensure timeliness and relevance. Including online professionalism curricula focused on implications and best practices helps medical students develop an awareness of their electronic professional identities.
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Minorities continue to be underrepresented as physicians in medicine, and the United States currently has a number of medically underserved communities. MEDPREP, a postbaccalaureate medical school preparatory program for socioeconomically disadvantaged or underrepresented in medicine students, has a stated mission to increase the numbers of physicians from minority or disadvantaged backgrounds and physicians working with underserved populations. This study aims to determine how MEDPREP enhances U.S. physician diversity and practice within underserved communities. ⋯ MEDPREP increases the number of disadvantaged and underrepresented students entering and graduating from medical school, choosing primary care specialties, and working in medically underserved areas. MEDPREP may therefore serve as a model for increasing physician diversity and addressing the needs of medically underserved communities.
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Construct: We investigated the extent of the associations between medical students' clinical competency measured by performance in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) during Obstetrics/Gynecology and Family Medicine clerkships and later performance in both undergraduate and graduate medical education.