An Alternative Attempt at a Fully Online Practical Training in Physiology / 医学教育

Saitama Medical School offers practical training in physiology to second-year medical students. Due to the increase in COVID-19 infections, one of the courses, “Nerve Excitation and Conduction” was conducted as remote practical training in 2021. The remote practical training was conducted with the same content as face-to-face practical training. In this course, students watched experimental videos. then they used Zoom and Google Slides to analyze and discuss the reconstructed data which they had obtained the previous year. As a result, the remote practical training provided a uniform training opportunity unlike the face-to-face practical training. Thus, we believe that the learning effectiveness of remote practical training was sufficient, although some improvements are needed. Educational content for fully online practical training is highly useful.

Exploration of Teaching Methods for "Case Report Writing" in Medical Schools / 医学教育

This report presents a case report writing activity, consisting of didactic lectures and actual writing instruction, conducted for medical students since 2013. This activity is based on previous studies discussing the educational significance of writing case reports and the author’s experience. It is structured in a way that not only teaches students how to write but also motivates them. In the lecture, the educational significance of writing case reports will first be emphasized. It will also explain that various aspects of academic skills, as well as clinical skills such as diagnostic reasoning, can be enhanced through the activity. The lecture will begin with topics designed to motivate students toward case writing. First, the “new points” of a case and its clinical significance will be identified. The process is divided into four parts to facilitate learning actual case writing. The purpose and “what to do” are clearly demonstrated with examples of published case reports to avoid excessive cognitive load on the students. In addition, when teaching actual writing, we document meta-linguistic examples and provide direct corrective feedback to facilitate the transfer of writing skills. The key to sustaining the educational activities will be to archive lectures and create an educational environment that encourages students to think and write independently about their clinical experiences.

Development of a Training Program on the Proper Use of Over-the-Counter Drugs for Pharmacy Pharmacists / 社会薬学

The importance of promoting self-medication is increasing, and the active participation of pharmacies is required to support this. We developed a training program based on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model, which is a motivational design process to train pharmacists who support the proper use of OTC drugs, and for insurance pharmacists who usually perform dispensing work. In the six months of training, we conducted six sessions for insurance pharmacists on the subject of colds and constipation. In addition to conducting lectures and exercises on OTC drugs, we provided pharmacists with an opportunity to practice the training content during their daily work, and discuss solutions to the problems that they encountered. Of the eight participants who attended all workshops and were part of the final evaluation, seven provided OTC drugs after considering whether it was necessary to provide them. A total of six advised patients who came to the pharmacy to have their prescription medications dispensed that there were OTC medications that they should be careful about taking. These results suggest the usefulness of this training program based on the ARCS motivational design model.

Practical Training in Pharmaceutical Rehabilitation Services at Medical School Using Video and Reflection / 医学教育

At Saitama Medical University, practical training in pharmaceutical service and rehabilitation services is conducted. Due to the spread of COVID-19 infection in 2020, it was difficult for third-year medical students to practice in the actual medical field. For this reason, students have been provided a remote practical training in pharmaceutical service and rehabilitation services, such as watching videos of working situations and interviews for pharmacist, physical therapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist, group works using Zoom, and exchanging questions and answers with those professions. Although student’s levels of readiness were diverse, they could learn more deeply about the roles and perspectives they had not learned previously, compared to conventional practical training. In addition to this effect, the program provided more opportunities for students to deepen their learning. Therefore, in the future, we would like to consider implementing a training program that provides both virtual and onsite experiences.

Experiential Training in Elementary and Junior High School Education through the Creation of Health Guidance Videos / 医学教育

At Saitama Medical University, elementary and junior high school experiential training was conducted to give students experience with health promotion, health guidance, and communication with different generations. In the 2020 FY, each small group was in charge of different grades and themes. They created a 10-minute health guidance video remotely. By doing the video project remotely, students could take time to do group work and deepen their understanding of the theme and children of the target grade. It also became easier to teach students how to use the PC tools needed for the task. The students learned not only the knowledge necessary for health guidance, but also how to concretely assess the target person and convey information as consciously as possible. It is important to nurture within students an attitude of seriously engaging in the training despite not physically going to school. For this reason, communication with the school is important.