Advances in medical education and practice
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Relatively little has been written on Medical Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, although there are over 170 medical schools in the region. A number of initiatives have been started to support medical education in the region to improve quality and quantity of medical graduates. These initiatives have led to curricular changes in the region, one of which is the introduction of Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME). ⋯ CBME has emerged as an important change in medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa with schools adopting it as an approach to transformative medical education. Makerere University and the University of Ibadan have successfully adopted CBME and show that CBME can be implemented even for the low-resourced countries in Africa, supported by external investments to address the human resources gap.
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Procedural skills have historically been taught at the bedside. In this study, we aimed to increase resident knowledge of uncommon emergency medical procedures to increase residents' procedural skills in common and uncommon emergency medical procedures and to integrate cognitive training with hands-on procedural instruction using high- and low-fidelity simulation. ⋯ Based on survey results, the procedure series improved our residents' perceived understanding of and perceived ability to perform uncommon and more technically challenging procedures. Further, results suggest that the use of a cognitive curriculum model as developed by Manthey and Fitch is adaptable and could be modified to fit the needs of other medical specialties.
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To explore the barriers and incentives that affect primary care providers who precept students in outpatient clinics in the US. ⋯ This survey represents an opportunity to study a change in focus for a cohort of busy clinicians who were mostly new to teaching but not new to clinical practice. The survey provides further insight into clinician educators' perceptions regarding the education of a variety of different learners. The results align with data from previous studies in that time pressures and productivity demands transcend specific programs and learner backgrounds. This information is critical for future clerkship directors and hospital administrators in order to understand how to increase support for potential preceptors in medical education.
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Assessment of clinical competencies by direct observation is problematic for two main reasons the identity of the examinee influences the assessment scores, and direct observation demands experts at the exact location and the exact time. Recording the performance can overcome these problems; however, managing video recordings and assessment sheets is troublesome and may lead to missing or incorrect data. ⋯ A local software solution may also ease the need for customization to local needs and integration into existing user databases or project management software. We developed an integrable web-based solution for easy assessment of video-recorded performances (ISEA).
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The open access University of Texas Dermatology Interest Group blog was established in 2004 for the purposes of increasing communication and collaboration between medical students and dermatology faculty, residents, and alumni, as well as to promote educational opportunities and the missions for which the interest group was created. This blog is unique because of its longevity and continuous postings directed toward the educational and professional needs of medical students and residents. ⋯ Statistical analyses of the responses demonstrated that the utilization of web-based tools and the blog were valuable resources for students, especially for blog subscribers, those more involved in an interest group, and those reading the blog for a longer period of time. The usefulness and impact of this method of communication and dissemination of information in medical education may encourage other student groups, faculty advisors, and educators to implement similar educational tools at their institutions.