ABSTRACT
To assess the effectiveness of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in medical education curricula, a pretest-posttest experimental study design was used to evaluate the impact of participating in VTS workshops on first-year medical students. A total of forty-one intervention and sixty comparative students completed the study which included the analysis of clinical images followed by a measurement of word count, length of time analyzing images, and quality of written observations of clinical images. VTS training increased the total number of words used to describe clinical images, the time spent analyzing the images, and the number of clinically relevant observations.
Subject(s)
Education, Medical , Students, Medical , Curriculum , Humans , Thinking , WritingABSTRACT
Introduction: Since 2017, students applying to emergency medicine residencies must take the AAMC Standardized Video Interview (SVI) to assess their knowledge of professional behaviors and interpersonal and communication skills. Due to the SVI's novelty, there are not many study tools available to prepare for it, outside of the resources provided by the AAMC. Methods: The SVI Self-Study Guide is a PowerPoint document that learners can use to prepare for the SVI independently. It is intended for fourth-year medical students who are applying to emergency medicine residencies and therefore planning to take the SVI. The guide was distributed via email and assessed with a pre- and postquiz measuring subjective feelings of preparedness as well as testing knowledge of professionalism and interpersonal and communication skills. Results: Eleven students were invited to use the SVI Self-Study Guide, of whom 10 and eight took the pre- and postquiz, respectively. There was a statistically significant increase in learners' self-rated feelings of preparedness to take the SVI (p < .05). Although there was no significant change in the average score on four knowledge-based questions (p = .29), the average score increased from 72.50% to 93.25%. Discussion: Overall, there was a higher improvement in feelings of preparedness to take the SVI than in performance on knowledge-based questions. This suggests that learners benefited the most from practicing using the SVI testing format. The SVI Self-Study Guide can be distributed via email to supplement existing resources in preparing for the SVI.
Subject(s)
Emergency Medicine/education , Internship and Residency/standards , Study Guides as Topic/trends , Video Recording/methods , Communication , Education, Medical, Graduate/methods , Education, Medical, Graduate/statistics & numerical data , Educational Measurement/methods , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Knowledge , Perception/physiology , Professional Competence/standards , Professionalism/trends , Reference Standards , Social Skills , Students, Medical/psychologyABSTRACT
The following case report details an in-flight medical emergency (IFME) that occurred during a trans-continental flight while the authors were en route to a medical conference. The report highlights the necessity for an improved approach to the prevention and management of IFMEs.
