"MEDC's Learning Space" - A Step-by-step Learning Program at Gifu University to Help Leaders Grow / 医学教育

Over the past 20 years, the Center for Medical Education Development Center, Gifu University has been working on training medical educators across the country. The Center offers a wide variety of programs to meet participants’ various needs and levels, targeting medical educators and administrative staff in various fields such as dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. This paper introduces the “Medical Education Starter Kit,” “Fellowship Program,” and “Master’s Course of Health Professions Education” among the programs. The objectives, target participants, and features of each program are outlined, including future prospects.

Academic administrative staff feel difficulty when dealing with health-care professional students / 医学教育

<p>　This study examined the cases of the difficult encounters with problematic students that academic administrative staffs in the health professions education institutons faces. 185 cases were obtained from the 143 administrative staffs who participated in the training program for academic administrative staffs training from 2013 to 2015. Although there are 136 cases (73.5%) related to the problem students, some cases existed which problems were from the system or faculty members. In order to dealing with difficult encounters appropriately in the health care professional training institutions, the cooperation between teachers and academic administrative staffs is indispensable.</p>

Across institutions and professional borders: Three-year journey for extracurricular course development for interprofessional education with multi-institutions / 医学教育

<p>　This paper reports how Gifu University has been developing an extracurricular course for interprofessional education (IPE) in collaboration with multi-institutions for three years. Since the planning and implementation of such an IPE course have not been described exhaustively, we summarize our experience and the outcomes based on the analysis of a questionnaire survey involving the participants, including students and faculty members.</p>

Facilitation of web-based internet PBL: What is an adequate group size?

Background: Development in internet technology enables e-learning at the higher education level. We have developed the Internet PBL-Tutorial System/Rakuichi that allows multi-directional communication among participants with web-based bulletin boards. Although this system has been successful in medical education at the undergraduate level, we sought to encourage “readonly members” to participate more fully in the program. Methods: To this end, we compared the posting frequency among three strategies: (1) students and tutors had an off-site meeting to promote face-to-face communication during the course, (2) several classes were allowed to watch the discussion in other classes in the second half of the course, (3) three classes (5 – 6 students each) in one topic were combined into one class (16 students) in the second half. Results: No meaningful effects were observed for strategies (1) or (2). However, the posting frequency increased 50 % for strategy (3). Conclusion: Facilitation of communication among participants was achieved by increasing the number of student participants. We predicted that an optimal number of students in each class in internet-based PBL would be ~20 people.

Staff and faculty development in the coming decades: / 医学教育

　Modern medical education stresses the importance of staff／faculty development and its evaluation. The Medical Education Development Center of Gifu University has been accredited by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a National Collaboration Center and has held Seminar and Workshop on medical education 50 times over 14 years towards achieving the mission of staff／faculty development in Japan. Through the analysis of the characteristics of participants and the topics of the workshops and seminars held by the Medical Education Development Center, the history and future of staff／faculty development were examined. The key points suggested to predict the direction of staff／faculty development in the education of health professionals were: acquisition of comprehensive teaching competence, various learning strategies, the importance of work place and practicality, collaborative learning beyond boundaries, scholarly discussion to integrate international and domestic evidence, continuing professional development, and evaluation based on learning stage.

Differences in medical students’ emotional intelligence and empathy according to academic year and sex / 医学教育

Objectives: To clarify differences in medical students’ emotional intelligence and empathy among 4 school years and sex.<br>Methods: A cross-sectional study of 370 medical students in years 1, 2, 4, and 6 was performed with Japanese versions of 2 self-reported questionnaires: the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Short Form （TEIQue-SF） and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy–Student Version （JSPE-S）.<br>Results: Total scores of the TEIQue–SF tended to decrease in higher school years. However, the total score of the JSPE-S was significantly increased in year 6 but was decreased in year 4. Male students had higher TEIQue–SF scores, and female students had higher JSPE-S scores. Of the 4 factors of the TEIQue–SF compared （well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability）, only sociability was higher in males. No differences were found among school years. The scores of the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE-S showed a weak correlation. Of the factors of the TEIQue–SF, only self-control showed no correlation with the JSPE-S.<br>Discussion and Conclusion: These results suggest that the emotional intelligence of both male and female medical students tends to decline. The increase in JSPE-S scores in year 6 suggests that medical interview training is effective. Furthermore, training is important both to enhance emotional intelligence and to teach self-control skills.

Validity and reliability of the Japanese versions of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy / 医学教育

  Emotional intelligence and empathy are crucial in patient–physician relationships and clinical outcomes. It has been reported that both emotional intelligence and empathy decrease as students advance through medical school. This study aimed to validate Japanese versions of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Short Form （TEIQue–SF）, developed by Petrides and Furnham （2001）, and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy （JSPE）, developed by Hojat et al. （2001）.<br>1）The TEIQue–SF and JSPE were translated and administered to 370 medical students. Valid responses were obtained from 321 students（88%）.<br>2）Cronbach’s alpha for internal reliability was high for both the TEIQue–SF （0.87） and the JSPE （0.89）. All item total score correlations were positive for both the TEIQue–SF （range, 0.29 to 0.64） and the JSPE （range, 0.27 to 0.72）.<br>3）Cronbach’s alpha was smaller if an item was deleted than if all items were included for both the TEIQue–SF （0.84–0.85） and the JSPE （0.81–0.86）.<br>4）Factor analysis of both the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE revealed that the Japanese versions had some structural differences from the original versions. However, criterion–related analysis showed that the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE were highly correlated with the NEO–Five Factor Inventory, a measure of the Big Five personality traits.<br>5）These findings provide support for the construct validity and reliability of the Japanese versions of the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE when used for medical students. Further investigation is needed.

Development Process of Medical Education Assets Library （MEAL） / 医学教育

  Committee for Information Infrastructure in the 16th term of JSME Board Members was newly created to edit Medical Education White Book issued every four years and to provide sooner and more comprehensive information infrastructure provision. MEAL was opened as a website for medical education information since August 2011. MEAL consists of glossary, articles, books and more resources using a system like Wiki or Blog on the Web. By such technological progress, not only one–way information provision from JSME but also bidirectional communication between JSME members and committees／board members became available. Internationally, similar websites are known, such as MedEdPORTAL by AAMC （Association of American Medical Colleges）, and expected to be new scholarly information added to journals.

Reflection on the Past 30 Medical Education Seminars and Workshops Held by the Medical Education Development Center / 医学教育

The Medical Education Development Center has organized seminars and workshops for medical education 30 times from 2000 through 2008 throughout Japan. The participants have numbered more than 3200 and have included educators, physicians, students, and simulated patients. The topics of seminars and workshops have included problem-based learning tutorial systems, medical interview skills, objective structured clinical examinations, evidence-based medicine, coaching technology, simulations, and community medicine in response to educational needs. A questionnaire survey of 1793 participants of the 11th to 30th seminars and workshops (response rate, 85.6%) showed a high degree of satisfaction (4.33±0.13 of 5 points). Invited lecturers and directors from throughout the country often organized these workshops. The results of workshops are reported in our annual monograph, "Trends in Medical Education."

Simulated patient programs at 5 Scottish medical schools: Report of site visits in Scotland / 医学教育

1) We visited 5 Scottish universities (the Universities of Aberdeen, St Andrews, Dundee, Glasgow, and Edinburgh) to observe and learn about simulated-patient programs and communication-skills training.<BR>2) Each medical school has developed its own approach for using simulated patients in training and for giving feedback to medical students.<BR>3) In Scotland, where all medical schools adhere to“Tomorrow's Doctors”and“the Scottish Doctor Curriculum Outcomes, ”curriculum styles vary greatly, but the differences are celebrated.The simulated-patient programs are integrated into each program in a way unique to each school.

Experience with 10 Seminars and Workshops for Medical Education / 医学教育

We have organized the Seminar and Workshop for Medical Education (SWME) 10 times from 2000 through 2003. More than 1, 200 persons have participated, including teachers, physicians, students, and simulated patients. The themes of the SWME have included a problem-based learning tutorial system, medical interview skills, objective structured clinical examinations, medical ethics, advanced cardiac life support/basic life support, evidence-based medicine, coaching technology, medical English education, and crisis management education. Invited lecturers from throughout the country organized most of these workshops. Advantages of the SWME are two-fold:(1) improving the medical teaching skills of each participant and (2) scouting for good young lecturers. Workshop reports are published in our annual monographs and other materials. The present paper is a historical review of the SWME and also describes the nationwide scope of faculty development.

A Preliminary Validation of Computer-Based Testing by the Common Achievement Tests Organization in Japan: An Early Report / 医学教育

The Common Achievement Tests Organization performed the first nationwide trial of computer-based testing (CBT) used to assess students entering the clinical phase of medical education. Seventy-seven medical schools participated in the trial. We compared performance on the national CBT with performance on preclinical tests administered at Gifu University School of Medicine. Despite some methodologic differences between the national CBT and our system, the overall results correlated well. Students who did poorly on the national CBT also did poorly on Gifu University's preclinical test. Correlation of these two performance scales suggests that nationwide CBT could be used to accurately assess preclinical skills.

A Study of the Tutorial System at Gifu University School of Medicine. Part 2: Evaluation by Physicians in Community Hospitals / 医学教育

To assess the effectiveness of a problem-based learning tutorial system introduced at Gifu University School of Medicine in 1995, we conducted a questionnaire survey of medical knowledge, attitudes about learning, communication ability, and social behavior in sixth-year medical students. The questionnaire was given to instructors and attending physicians at community hospitals who were involved in clinical education. Many of the evaluators felt that students who trained with the tutorial system showed improved understanding, a more active attitude toward learning, and a better attitude toward patients than did students who received traditional, lecture-based education.