ABSTRACT
Background: Aging simulation games are established tools in undergraduate medical education aiming to provide medical students with insights into elderly patient's everyday life and raise awareness for age-related difficulties. At Leipzig University, a 90-min ageing simulation game is part of a compulsory geriatric medicine course in the fifth study year (of six). In the course of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, we replaced the classroom-based simulation with an elementary online version based on four PDF documents containing audio and video links, directives for 'do it yourself' experiences and prompts for reflection. Research question: Is a simple, self-directed online ageing game able to provide students with relevant experiences and insights to enhance their understanding of elderly patients? Methods: Anonymous post-hoc survey among 277 fifthyear medical students eligible for the course in 2020. Descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative analysis of students' free-text responses regarding their main insights from the course. Result(s): Response rate was 92.4% (n=256, ;age =26 years, 60% women). 88% of the students enjoyed working on the course, and 83% perceived it as practice-orientated. 75% reported having gained new personal insights and 60% new professional knowledge. Although 92% reported an enhanced understanding of elderly patients, 85% disagreed that online simulations may generally replace realworld ageing games. PDF documents containing audio and video links directly imitating conditions (visual or hearing impairment) were rated best. Students' main insights from the course (qualitative data) most frequently referred to aspects of professional interaction with geriatric patients, knowledge about conditions/diseases, role reversal, and enhanced empathy. Conclusion(s): Very simple online ageing game equivalents can provide students with relevant insights and raise awareness for elderly patients' needs. They might be alternatively implemented into the education of health professionals where resource-intensive real-world simulations are unfeasible.
ABSTRACT
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Leipzig completely switched to online teaching. Thus, we developed a practice-oriented digital equivalent of a mandatory 2- week general practice (GP) clerkship. The digital clerkship mainly contained clinical cases, visual diagnoses, informational and examination videos, as well as regular possibilities for exchange (e.g. video chat) with associated GP teachers in their practices, faculty members and fellow students. Research question: How did the participants accept, use and evaluate the new format and its single components regarding working enjoyment, learning gain, practical relevance and insights into general practice? How do evaluations differ from those of two previous semesters? Methods: Cross-sectional survey among 4th year (of six) medical students at Leipzig medical faculty completing their digital mandatory GP clerkship between April and June 2020. Additional cohort comparison with evaluations of two previous semesters. Results: Out of 192 students who completed the digital clerkship, 99 participated in the study (51.6%). For the cohort comparison, evaluations from 277 students of the two previous semesters (conventional clerkship) were available. Most participants reported to have enjoyed the online-based clerkship (88%), to have learned a lot (90%), to have gained insights into general practice (77%) and perceived high practical relevance (91%). Two-thirds stated that the new format should complement future clerkships. Clinical cases, visual diagnoses, examination videos and communication with GP teachers were rated best regarding working enjoyment, learning gain, practical relevance and insights into a GP's work. Cohort comparison revealed partially better evaluations regarding knowledge transfer for the digital clerkship while imparting of skills and attitudes was evaluated worse. Conclusion: Our digital teaching formats were well accepted by the students. In particular, learning from selected clinical cases, visual diagnoses, video tutorials, and explicit slots for exchange with GP teachers and faculty members have a high potential to complement future conventional clerkships usefully.