BMC medical education
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BMC medical education · Jan 2009
Puzzle based teaching versus traditional instruction in electrocardiogram interpretation for medical students--a pilot study.
Most medical professionals are expected to possess basic electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation skills. But, published data suggests that residents' and physicians' EKG interpretation skills are suboptimal. Learning styles differ among medical students; individualization of teaching methods has been shown to be viable and may result in improved learning. Puzzles have been shown to facilitate learning in a relaxed environment. The objective of this study was to assess efficacy of teaching puzzle in EKG interpretation skills among medical students. ⋯ Teaching EKG interpretation with puzzles is comparable to traditional teaching and may be particularly useful for certain subgroups of students. Puzzle session are more interactive and relaxing, and warrant further investigations on larger scale.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2009
An investigation of theory-practice gap in undergraduate paramedic education.
Bachelor of Emergency Health (Paramedic) (BEH) students at Monash University undertake clinical placements to assist with the transition from student to novice paramedic. Anecdotally, students report a lack of opportunity to practise their clinical skills whilst on placements. The barriers to participation and the theory-practice gap have not been previously documented in Australian paramedic literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the theory-practice gap for paramedic students by linking education and skill level to case exposure and skills praxis during clinical placements. ⋯ This study demonstrates that the majority of students were satisfied with their clinical placement experience; even though they were exposed to < 50% of cases that allowed skills practice. Identifying these educational barriers will assist in improving the quality and theory-practice gap of paramedic clinical education.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2009
Predicting performance using background characteristics of international medical graduates in an inner-city university-affiliated Internal Medicine residency training program.
IMGs constitute about a third of the United States (US) internal medicine graduates. US residency training programs face challenges in selection of IMGs with varied background features. However data on this topic is limited. We analyzed whether any pre-selection characteristics of IMG residents in our internal medicine program are associated with selected outcomes, namely competency based evaluation, examination performance and success in acquiring fellowship positions after graduation. ⋯ Background IMG features namely, age and USMLE scores predict performance evaluation and in-training examination scores during residency training. In addition enhanced research activities during residency training could facilitate fellowship goals among interested IMGs.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2009
LetterTeaching trainers to incorporate evidence-based medicine (EBM) teaching in clinical practice: the EU-EBM project.
Evidence based medicine (EBM) is considered an integral part of medical training, but integration of teaching various EBM steps in everyday clinical practice is uncommon. Currently EBM is predominantly taught through theoretical courses, workshops and e-learning. However, clinical teachers lack confidence in teaching EBM in workplace and are often unsure of the existing opportunities for teaching EBM in the clinical setting. There is a need for continuing professional development (CPD) courses that train clinical trainers to teach EBM through on-the-job training by demonstration of applied EBM real time in clinical practice. We developed such a course to encourage clinically relevant teaching of EBM in post-graduate education in various clinical environments. ⋯ This curriculum will help senior clinicians to identify and make the best use of available opportunities in everyday practice in clinical situations to teach various steps of EBM and demonstrate their applicability to clinical practice. Once fully implemented, the ultimate outcome of this pilot project will be a European qualification in teaching EBM, which will be used by doctors, hospitals, professional bodies responsible for postgraduate qualifications and continuing medical education.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2009
Evaluation of a thoracic ultrasound training module for the detection of pneumothorax and pulmonary edema by prehospital physician care providers.
While ultrasound (US) has continued to expedite diagnosis and therapy for critical care physicians inside the hospital system, the technology has been slow to diffuse into the pre-hospital system. Given the diagnostic benefits of thoracic ultrasound (TUS), we sought to evaluate image recognition skills for two important TUS applications; the identification of B-lines (used in the US diagnosis of pulmonary edema) and the identification of lung sliding and comet tails (used in the US diagnosis of pneumothorax). In particular we evaluated the impact of a focused training module in a pre-hospital system that utilizes physicians as pre-hospital providers. ⋯ This brief training module resulted in significant improvement of image recognition skills for physicians both with and without previous ultrasound experience. Given that rapid diagnosis of these conditions in the pre-hospital system can change therapy, especially in systems where physicians can integrate this information into treatment decisions, the further diffusion of this technology would seem to be beneficial and deserves further study.