Introduction of Insulin Experiential Learning for Medical Students during Clinical Clerkship / 医学教育

In the treatment of diabetes, insulin therapy is becoming increasingly important. However, it is reported that insulin initiation is often delayed due to psychological resistance in patients and physician’s concerns about patient education. One of the reasons for this problem is medical doctors’ inadequate understanding of insulin self-injection and patients’ perspectives. Therefore, we introduced a new strategy for learning this more effectively. We set student doctors as target learners. The learning strategy consists of experiential learning through the use of insulin injection model, in-patient interviews, and small group learning. Our new practice seems to be useful to understand the perception gap between medical professionals and patients.

Analysis on effect of small group learning in the course of introduction to general practice / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Objective To introduce small group learning in the course of introduction to gen-eral practice to cultivate students' ability of active learning and innovation. Methods Totally 221 students of 2008 grade A and B classes were enrolled as teaching objects and were divided into 20 groups. Introduction to general practice was used as learning materials. One week before the class, teacher gave students learning task and A and B classes carried on class discussion respectively. Re-view speaking was conducted by the representatives of groups. Effectiveness was evaluated through the observation,interview,questionnaire survey and answer scoring points. Results Overall support per-centage to small group learning was 91%. Percentages of students who believed that small group learn-ing was beneficial to cultivating the ability of active learning and innovation were 88% and 73% re-spectively. Conclusions Introducing small group learning in the course of introduction to general practice is effective and conductive to training students' ability to study and innovate.

Effects of Case-based Small Group Learning about Care of Infected Children for Daycare Center Teachers

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop and implement a case-based small group learning program on the care of children with infectious disease, and to examine its effects on knowledge, attitude and preventive practice behaviors of daycare center teachers compared to a control group. METHODS: Based on the need assessment, the case-based learning program for the management of infectious children was developed. For this quasi-experimental study, 69 teachers were recruited from 14 child daycare centers in a city located in J province. Thirty four teachers were assigned to experimental group and participated in the case-based small group learning once a week for 5 weeks. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program to perform chi2-test and t-tests. Analysis of covariance was used to treat the covariate of the number of assigned children between experimental and control groups. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significantly higher posttest scores in knowledge, attitude and preventive practice behaviors than those of control group (p<.001). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that case-based small group learning is an effective educational strategy for daycare center teachers to learn infection management through the emphasis of self-reflection and discussion.

Making case discussions work

Case discussions are one of the most common teaching-learning activities being utilized in the education of health professionals. Despite this fact, many teachers are still not equipped with the proper skills needed in the conduct of successful case discussions. They still have uncertainties on how to go about preparing for and conducting case discussions with their students. This article hopes to provide readers with an understanding of the basic concepts related to case discussion, and provide practical tips on how to conduct case discussions useful for both the health professions educators and students. The advantages of case discussions in the development of critical thinking, reasoning, and decision-making, and its versatility of application, whether in small or large group settings, classroom or clinical settings, and for varying levels of students, make it a very viable teaching-learning activity in the unstructured environment of health professionals. Seven practical tips for teachers are given to help in the preparation, planning, and conduct of case discussions. It also emphasized the role of teacher as participant, guide, and evaluator during case discussions.

Interest of Medical Students for Learning about Topics in Social Medicine / 医学教育

Many medical students seem to be more interested in clinical medicine topics than in social medicine topics. Through a problem-based, small-group learning course, we examined whether students' degrees of interest differ between topics and change during learning. At the start of the course, students were more interested in clinical/practical medicine topics than in industrial/environmental health topics. However, after the course their degrees of interest in both types of topic had increased and showed no significant difference. In particular, the degree of interest in sociomedical topics increased. In problem-based learning, knowing students' interests in learning about topics helps improve teaching strategies.

An Analysis of Variance in Students' Self-Evaluation Attitudes for Autonomous Learning / 医学教育

The purpose of this study was to examine statistical methods for assessing variance in students' learning attitudes over 2 months. The students' learning attitudes, measured by tutorial assessment sheets, were analyzed quantitatively by multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Items on the tutorial assessment sheets were divided throughout the practice period into two axes of speculation (behavior and partnership). At the initial and medium-term stages of this practice, the dispersion of student's consciousness for given assessments was able to determine the quantity. We could then determine the quantity of recognizing the importance of topics to learn, and consciousness for learning was a feature often found at the end of this practice.

How are Medical Ethics and Related Themes Treated among Practices of Social Medicine? / 医学教育

One hundred fifty-three activity reports, which were published by departments or divisions of social medicine in Japan from 1991 through 1998 were reviewed to examine how medical ethics and related themes were taught. We examined how many departments and divisions taught medical ethics and related themes each year, and teaching methods were examined in reports from 1998. The number of departments and divisions teaching medical ethics and related themes gradually increased. Instruction in medical ethics was conducted for medical students in the 3rd through 5th years for periods of 3 to 12 months. All instruction employed small-group learning. Most groups learned actively, by conducting such activities as field surveys outside the school.

Effect of Repeated Training in Physical Examination with a New Cardiology Simulator for 1st-year Medical Residents Shortly after Receiving Medical Licenses / 医学教育

We used a new cardiology simulator twice to train lst-year medical residents in physical examination with a specific behavioral objective shortly after they had received their medical licenses. The first training sessions were to teach residents to understand normal heart sounds and to perform physical examinations in the proper order; the second training sessions were to teach recognition of abnormal heart sounds and murmurs. After the first training sessions, all residents could perform physical examinations in the proper order with special attention to the jugular vein, differentiation of systole and diastole by palpating the carotid artery, splitting of S2, and the timing and transmission of heart murmurs. Just after the second training sessions, all residents thought that their physical examination skills and ability to recognize abnormal heart sounds and murmurs had improved. One year later, the residents were accustomed to performing physical examination in the proper order and could recognize gallop rhythms and murmurs of grade 3/6 or higher. Repeated training with specific behavioral objectives could motivate residents to understand both normal and abnormal heat sounds and murmurs.

How Do Students Evaluate Tutorial Education? I. Introduction of Tutorial Education in a Basic-Medicine Course / 医学教育

Tokyo Women's Medical University introduced tutorial education in 1990 for 1st-through 4th-year students. To examine the effectiveness of this system in a basic-medicine course, questionnaires were given to all 2nd-year students. Many students felt that they had become accustomed to performing self-learning tasks through collecting information themselves and discussing their findings in a group; in particular, they found that tutorial education markedly improved their communication skills. A few students thought that this method helped them develop the ability of logical/critical thinking and analytic skills from multiple viewpoints. These findings suggest that an assessment system should be established by which students themselves could recognize the extent to which they have developed their abilities, which was the aim of tutorial education.

Appropriate Group Size for Small-Group Learning / 医学教育

We examined appropriate group size and related factors in a small-group learning system conducted in a single department with sociomedical themes. The students were randomly divided into 4-and 6-person groups, and results of evaluations of the students and teaching staff were compared. The results suggest that the smaller the group, the more committed the students are to studying. Furthermore, teaching staff should participate in group discussion to deal with inactive students or to improve group dynamics.

The Effects of "Introduction to Medical English" for 1st-Year Medical Students / 医学教育

The small-group-learning course “Introduction to Medical English” was introduced to the 1st-year students' curriculum in 1994. The effects of this course were examined by analyzing students questionnaires and by comparing results of the term-end examination. The following results were obtained. 1) Results of the term-end examination (multiple-choice method) showed a normal distribution. 2) Results of the questionnaires suggest that although medical English seemed difficult at first, the course produced a good response from students which conventional courses could not. These results suggest that “Introduction to Medical English” has a valuable role at the start of medical education.

Evaluation of Faculty and Students in Medical Education on the Basis of Small Problem-Based Learning Groups: A Questionnaire Survey of Medical Education Abroad. The Current Situation of the Medical Education Abroad from the Results of the Questionnaire Su / 医学教育

To introduce problem-based learning (PBL) in small groups to medical education in Japan, a questionnaire was sent to 10 foreign medical schools where PBL has been used. Five schools in the United States and one each in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia responded to all 15 questions concerning their educational system, faculty training, faculty evaluation, and student evaluation. The faculty is trained in 7 medical schools, retrained in 4, and self-trained in 5. The faculty is objectively evaluated by students and a faculty committee in seven schools and the results are returned to the faculty. The students are evaluated by self-evaluation, written tests, and oral examination in al schools, and also by peer-evaluation in one school. The evaluation of students directly affects their promotion in all schools but one. Such effective evaluation and feedback systems, including evaluations of the students' learning skills and their attitude toward learning, play important roles in effective PBL.

A Trial of Problem-Based Learning for Small Groups / 医学教育

To train students to study voluntarily, we introduced “voluntary learning” to both 3rd-and 4th-year medical students. Students were divided into small groups of 7 to 9. Each group independently studied a theme, including its sociomedical aspects. According to a self-administered questionnaire survey, most students approved of the learning program, although the themes and grouping of students affected their satisfaction with voluntary learning. Oral presentation of study results seemed to be useful for clarifying the contents of learning. However, oral presentation and communication skills still need improvement. Teaching skills might also be improved. Voluntary learning in small groups would be an effective method for teaching behaviors necessary for active education.