Development of an evidence-based medicine mobile application for the use in medical education

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a methodology that is being incorporated into more medical school curricula. Boston University School of Medicine was one of early adopters of Evidence Based Medicine in the United States. A growing concern in the medical community was that the complexities of applying EBM might be lost when students enter into their clinical rotations, thus there is a need for development of a tool to help reinforce the EBM principles. METHODS: The research team in collaboration with the designers of the Finding Information Framework, a custom-made EBM finding information tool, worked to develop a mobile application to help reinforce the framework for medical students. The app was designed with both Apple and PC operating systems in mind. Key features that were identified from current literature to provide the most user-friendly mobile application. Thus, the research team specifically utilized iOS and Android platforms as both platforms have a centralized app store, possess the highest volume of medical apps available, and are most widely used in the United States by medical students. RESULTS: The Finding Information Framework was a custom-made tool developed to guide new users of EBM, and help them to apply the principles in practice. The mobile application served an added convenience by allowing easy access and fast utilization of the EBM tools. The app was designed on an Android platform first due to its open-source OS and ease in app development to new programmers. Initially, the user-friendly web-based tool, App Inventor (AI), powered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology was evaluated to program the pilot Android app. Using both the AI Component Designer and the Block Editor, several problems were encountered in AI, such as the simplicity of the program and the lack of freedom in design. This moved the project to create the app natively and with a collaborative effort with the BU's Global App Initiative club. Initially, a wireframe was built using Balsamiq. Subsequently, the Android app was built using Android SDK and the iOS app was built in XCode with Objective C; both platforms had design sections prepared in Sketch, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. The last and final step was to obtain Boston University branding privileges for the app. CONCLUSION: The research team identified necessary features based on research to build a user-friendly, professional mobile application of an information mastery framework that can be used off-line. The app is called FIF as it is the title of the information mastery tool designed by BUSM EBM-VIG. With a clear mobile interface, it will be beneficial to the learning and training of medical students in EBM

ILIAD Training Enhances Medical Students' Diagnostic Skills

journal articleBiomedical Informatic

Fitting the Means to the Ends: One School’s Experience with Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Curriculum Evaluation During Curriculum Change

Curriculum evaluation plays an important role in substantive curriculum change. The experience of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) with evaluation processes developed for the new Integrated Medical Curriculum (IMC) illustrates how evaluation methods may be chosen to match the goals of the curriculum evaluation process. Quantitative data such as ratings of courses or scores on external exams are useful for comparing courses or assessing whether standards have been met. Qualitative data such as students’ comments about aspects of courses are useful for eliciting explanations of observed phenomena and describing relationships between curriculum features and outcomes. The curriculum evaluation process designed for the IMC used both types of evaluation methods in a complementary fashion. Quantitative and qualitative methods have been used for formative evaluation of the new IMC courses. They are now being incorporated into processes to judge the IMC against its goals and objectives

Data Collection Instrument for Full Accreditation Surveys

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education’s (LCME) Data Collection Instrument for the UNM Health and Science Center. This third party accreditation gives exhaustive information on the HSC and its consistency with established standards

A Survey of Information Sources Used for Progress Decisions about Medical Students

Although many medical schools have adopted a variety of methods to assess student competency, the extent to which these innovations have changed how decisions about student progress are made is not clear. This paper describes a survey of 126 accredited allopathic U.S. medical schools to determine which information sources are used for decisions related to medical student progress and graduation. Respondents were asked to indicate up to three information sources used for seven specific decisions about student progress. The results indicate that multiple choice questions (MCQs) and faculty ratings remain the most frequently used information sources. Clinical skills education in the pre-clinical curriculum is the area with the broadest use of assessments for progress decisions. Several explanations are suggested for the primacy of MCQs and faculty ratings in student decisions, including familiarity for faculty and students, ease of implementation and the resources required for the adoption of other assessment strategies

La formation procédurale par simulation au pré-externat pour réduire l’anxiété et renforcer la confiance des étudiants par rapport à leurs habiletés techniques

Introduction: Pre-clerkship procedural skills training is not yet a standard across Canadian medical school curricula, resulting in limited exposure to procedures upon entering clerkship. While simulated skills training has been documented in the literature to improve performance in technical ability, anxiety and confidence have yet to be investigated despite their documented impact on performance and learning. This study therefore aims to evaluate the effect of pre-clerkship procedural skills training on medical student anxiety and confidence. Methods: A procedural skills training program was designed based on an evidence-based near-peer, flipped classroom model of education. Ninety-two second-year medical students volunteered for the study. Fifty-six were randomized to the training group, and 36 were randomized to the control group. Students in the training group attended seven procedural skills tutorials over seven months. The control group represented the average medical school student without standardized procedural training. Student anxiety and confidence were assessed at the beginning and end of the program using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Confidence Questionnaires. Results: Students who participated in the procedural skills program demonstrated greater reductions in their state anxiety and greater improvements in confidence compared to the control group. Conclusion: Longitudinal procedural skills training in the simulation setting has demonstrated improvements in anxiety and confidence among pre-clerkship medical students. These added benefits to training have the potential to ease medical students’ transition into clerkship, while also contributing to a safer and more effective clinical experience. Therefore, future integration of standardized pre-clerkship procedural skills training within medical school curricula should be considered.Introduction : Les cursus de pré-externat des facultés de médecine canadiennes ne prévoient pas systématiquement de formation sur les habiletés techniques avant, si bien qu’à leur arrivée à l’externat, les étudiants ont une exposition limitée aux gestes techniques. Tandis que l’amélioration des aptitudes techniques par la simulation est bien documentée, il n’y a aucune étude sur l’effet de ces simulations sur l’anxiété et la confiance malgré leur impact avéré sur la performance et l’apprentissage. Cette étude vise donc à évaluer l’effet d’une formation sur les habiletés techniques au pré-externat sur l’anxiété et la confiance des étudiants en médecine. Méthodes : Une formation sur les habiletés techniques a été conçue sur la base d’un modèle d’enseignement fondé sur les données probantes, par les quasi-pairs suivant une approche de classe inversée. Quatre-vingt-douze étudiants en deuxième année de médecine ont participé à l’étude sur une base volontaire. Cinquante-six d’entre eux ont été répartis au hasard dans le groupe qui devait recevoir la formation, et 36 dans le groupe contrôle. Les étudiants du groupe qui a reçu la formation ont assisté à sept tutoriels étalés sur une période de sept mois. Le groupe témoin représentait l’étudiant en médecine moyen sans formation normalisée axée sur les habiletés techniques. L’anxiété et la confiance des étudiants ont été évaluées au début et à la fin du programme à l’aide du questionnaire State Trait Anxiety Inventory (questionnaire sur l’anxiété chronique et réactionnelle) et d’un questionnaire sur la confiance. Résultats : Chez les étudiants qui ont participé au programme de formation sur les habiletés techniques, la baisse de l’anxiété et l’amélioration de la confiance en soi ont été plus importantes que chez les étudiants du groupe contrôle. Conclusion : La formation longitudinale axée sur les habiletés techniques en contexte de simulation a eu des effets positifs en ce qui concerne l’anxiété et la confiance chez les étudiants en médecine au pré-externat. La formation offre l’avantage supplémentaire de faciliter la transition des étudiants en médecine vers l’externat, tout en contribuant à rendre l’expérience clinique plus sûre et plus efficace. Il serait donc intéressant pour les facultés de médecine d’intégrer dans le cursus une formation normalisée axée sur les habiletés techniques au pré-externat

A novel way to increase the likelihood of hiring high quality medical educators

BACKGROUND: In recent years, medical and physician assistant (PA) education has moved towards a competency based model. This model encourages teaching students to “know how” to use what they learn in practice rather than simply gain a large knowledge base. This allows students to garner a deeper understanding of the material. Active learning strategies such as flipped classroom and interactive learning, have gained great support in recent years. These models have helped further the ability of universities to move towards these competency based education models. At the core of these newer teaching and learning modalities are the instructors themselves. They play a vital role in not only what a student learns, but how well they learn it. LITERATURE REVIEW: A literature review highlights both the importance of hiring quality instructors as well as the importance of their ability to fulfill these new teaching models. There have been numerous studies on how effective teaching influences a student’s performance in the classroom. To date, there has not been any research on how to increase the probability of hiring an effective instructor from day one. PROPOSED PROJECT: The objective of this study is to develop a tool that would help employers screen for potentially less qualified candidates. The proposed tool is a questionnaire that would be filled out by potential employees and would raise a red flag if a potentially concerning answer choice was selected. The validity of this questionnaire will be tested by comparing current physician assistant didactic and clinical instructors’ scores on the questionnaire, to their respective student evaluations. CONCLUSION: It is predicted that a “red flag” score on/this questionnaire will correlate with poor instructor scores on student evaluations. Successful validation and deployment of this tool would allow students to be instructed by the best possible instructors, bettering their education

The Effects of ILIAD on Medical Student Problem Solving

journal articleBiomedical Informatic