Deeper Learning through Service: Evaluation of an Interprofessional Community Service-Learning Program for Pharmacy and Medicine Students

Abstract   Background  This Community Service-Learning Project (CSLP) at the University of Saskatchewan is designed to help students develop patient-centred care practices in urban underserved settings.  First-year medical and pharmacy students partner interprofessionally to both learn and serve, working with community-based organizations (CBOs) that primarily serve either low-income or newcomer residents of Saskatoon. Since the CSLP’s pilot year in 2005-2006, 98 first-year medical and pharmacy students have participated in the CSLP.       Methods and Findings  We evaluated the outcomes and processes of the CSLP since the 2006-2007 year, using mixed methods: end-of-project questionnaires; document analysis looking for key and recurrent themes; end-of-project semi-structured interviews with CBO coordinators and clients. We examined students’ experiences, including satisfaction, achievement of learning objectives, learning processes, and perceived outcomes. Students’ main learning outcomes related to client-centered approach, interprofessional attitudes and skills, and personal development. Various learnings related to program processes are reported.   Conclusions  Our evaluation reinforced findings from the literature on both interprofessional education and community service-learning, as well uncovering some new findings.   Students described a transformative learning experience that helped them begin to develop understanding and skills to work more effectively with clients in urban underserved settings

Vers une meilleure compréhension des besoins en mentorat ches les étudiants en médecine : Une approche fondée sur la théorie de l'autodétermination

Introduction: Mentorship programs are ubiquitous in medical education. However, few emphasize equal development for learners and mentors, or incorporate clinical skills, which may be important for promoting medical students’ self-determination. Central to this consideration are the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, described by Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Grounded in SDT, this study assesses the extent that meeting these needs, in a near-peer mentoring program, impacts learners’ and mentors’ motivation and perceived competence about learning and teaching of clinical knowledge, respectively. Methods: Medical students from the University of Saskatchewan, who participated in its near-peer mentoring program (PULSE: Peers United in Leadership & Skills Enhancement), were invited to complete an anonymous survey. Regression was used to determine how the program’s learning climate impacted learners’ and mentors’ psychological need satisfaction and perceived competence within their mentorship role. Results: Learners and mentors both rated PULSE as highly needs-satisfying. In turn, this was associated with greater perceived competence about learning and teaching of the material. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that mentoring programs in medical education, which support learners’ basic psychological needs, may promote their motivation and perceived competence—both about learning and also teaching of clinical skills. The implications of these results are discussed from an SDT perspective, with respect to mentoring programs in medical education.Introduction: Les programmes de mentorat sont très répandus en éducation médicale. Ceux qui mettent l'accent sur un statut égal des apprenants et des mentors ou qui intègrent des compétences cliniques pouvant favoriser l'autodétermination des étudiants en médecine sont toutefois rares. Les trois besoins psychologiques fondamentaux décrits par la théorie de l'autodétermination (TAD), à savoir l'autonomie, la compétence et l'appartenance, sont au cœur de cette préoccupation. Fondée sur la théorie de l'autodétermination, la présente étude évalue dans quelle mesure la satisfaction de ces besoins, dans le cadre d'un programme de mentorat par les quasi-pairs, a un impact sur la motivation et la compétence perçue des apprenants et des mentors en matière d'apprentissage et d'enseignement des connaissances cliniques. Méthodes: Les étudiants en médecine de l'Université de Saskatchewan, qui ont participé au programme de mentorat par les quasi-pairs (PULSE: Peers United in Leadership & Skills Enhancement), ont été invités à remplir de façon anonyme un sondage. Des analyses de régression ont été réalisées pour déterminer l'impact du climat d'apprentissage dans le programme sur la satisfaction des besoins psychologiques des apprenants et des mentors et sur la compétence perçue de ces derniers dans leur rôle de mentors. Résultats: Les apprenants et les mentors ont estimé PULSE comme hautement satisfaisant pour leurs besoins. Cela a été associé à une plus grande compétence perçue en ce qui concerne l'apprentissage et l'enseignement des contenus. Conclusions: Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que les programmes de mentorat en éducation médicale qui soutiennent les besoins psychologiques fondamentaux des apprenants peuvent renforcer leur motivation et leur compétence perçue, à la fois pour l'apprentissage et pour l'enseignement des compétences cliniques. Les incidences de ces résultats pour les programmes de mentorat par les pairs en éducation médicale sont analysées du point de vue de la TAD

L’Initiative sur les compétences cliniques des quasi-pairs : Un projet pilote de mentorat pour les étudiants en médecine

Implication Statement  We created a near-peer mentoring program in pre-clerkship, which gave medical students the opportunity to work together, teach others, and practice their clinical skills. It uniquely connects first year “learner-mentees” and second year “instructor-mentors” in semi-structured learning environments, from October to April. Beyond supporting intrinsic motivation, skills development, and collaboration, students gained experience in teaching, an important skill for physicians.Énoncé des implications de la recherche Nous avons créé un programme de mentorat par les pairs au préexternat, qui a donné aux étudiants en médecine l’occasion de travailler ensemble, d’enseigner aux autres et d’améliorer leurs habiletés cliniques. Ce programme met en contact de façon unique les « apprenants-mentorés » de première année et les « instructeurs-mentors » de deuxième année et les placent dans des environnements d’apprentissage semi-structurés tout au long de l’année universitaire. En plus de favoriser la motivation intrinsèque, le développement des habiletés et la collaboration , ce programme a permis aux étudiants de se pratiquer à enseigner , une importante habileté pour les médecins. 

Student perceptions of the care of children: impacts of pre-clerkship pediatric and primary care clinical teaching

Background: Pediatric clinical skills teaching sessions provide an early opportunity for students to be exposed to the medical care of children. This report describes second and third year medical students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards working with children before and after the pediatric clinical skills teaching sessions, and the experiences of those students precepted by pediatricians only compared to those students working with a combination of pediatricians and family physicians.Method: A 13 question survey was voluntarily completed before and after teaching sessions.  Written reflective assignments were qualitatively analyzed for key themes. Response rate averaged 68% with class sizes of 84 and 85 students.Results: Students’ perceptions of the care of children were generally very positive.  Some differences were found based on gender, phase of study and prior clinical exposure to pediatric care.  Pre and post responses were similar, regardless of preceptor specialty. Students with family physician preceptors identified the themes of prevention, health promotion and multidisciplinary care in their reflections. Conclusions: Students had already formed positive attitudes toward the medical care of children and intended to care for children in their future practice. Further research is needed into the effects of pre-clerkship experiences in the care of children on choice of medical specialty

A student-led clerkship primer: a near-peer orientation to clerkship

Implication Statement The transition between pre-clerkship and clerkship can be difficult for medical students. Near-peer teaching may fill knowledge gaps within curricular clerkship orientation, leveraging recent, relatable, and up-to-date experiences from near-peers. These benefits have not been formally evaluated in the context of a clerkship orientation. We therefore created the Clerkship Primer, a near-peer teaching initiative that aimed to introduce incoming clerks to clerkship through a curricular session facilitated exclusively by senior clerkship students. Sessions had high satisfaction among students. This pilot project suggests that curricular near-peer teaching is a valuable component of clerkship orientation

A student-led clerkship primer: a near-peer orientation to clerkship

Implication Statement The transition between pre-clerkship and clerkship can be difficult for medical students. Near-peer teaching may fill knowledge gaps within curricular clerkship orientation, leveraging recent, relatable, and up-to-date experiences from near-peers. These benefits have not been formally evaluated in the context of a clerkship orientation. We therefore created the Clerkship Primer, a near-peer teaching initiative that aimed to introduce incoming clerks to clerkship through a curricular session facilitated exclusively by senior clerkship students. Sessions had high satisfaction among students. This pilot project suggests that curricular near-peer teaching is a valuable component of clerkship orientation

A behavioral database for masked form priming

Reading involves a process of matching an orthographic input with stored representations in lexical memory. The masked priming paradigm has become a standard tool for investigating this process. Use of existing results from this paradigm can be limited by the precision of the data and the need for cross-experiment comparisons that lack normal experimental controls. Here, we present a single, large, high-precision, multicondition experiment to address these problems. Over 1,000 participants from 14 sites responded to 840 trials involving 28 different types of orthographically related primes (e.g., castfe–CASTLE) in a lexical decision task, as well as completing measures of spelling and vocabulary. The data were indeed highly sensitive to differences between conditions: After correction for multiple comparisons, prime type condition differences of 2.90 ms and above reached significance at the 5% level. This article presents the method of data collection and preliminary findings from these data, which included replications of the most widely agreed-upon differences between prime types, further evidence for systematic individual differences in susceptibility to priming, and new evidence regarding lexical properties associated with a target word’s susceptibility to priming. These analyses will form a basis for the use of these data in quantitative model fitting and evaluation and for future exploration of these data that will inform and motivate new experiments

Assessing individual determinants of health: the development of a health determinant instrument for use in a community health centre

Bibliography: p. 143-152

Meredith McKague's Quick Files

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