ABSTRACT
Background: This study reviews and appraises the articles published about anesthesiology education in 2020. The objective is to highlight high-quality evidence while showcasing articles with innovative ideas and high relevance to the practices of the anesthesiology education community. Methods: Three Ovid MEDLINE databases, Embase.com, ERIC, PsycINFO, and PubMed were searched, followed by a manual review of articles published in the highest impact factor journals in both the fields of anesthesiology and medical education. Abstracts were double screened, and quantitative articles were subsequently scored by 3 randomly assigned raters. Qualitative studies were scored by 2 raters. Two different rubrics were used for scoring quantitative and qualitative studies. In addition, reviewers rated each article on its overall quality to create an additional list of top articles based solely on the opinion of the reviewers. Results: A total of 2,491 citations were identified through the search criteria and the manual review. Of those, 61 articles met the inclusion criteria (57 quantitative and 4 qualitative). The top 12 quantitative papers and the top qualitative papers with the highest scores are reported and summarized. Conclusions: We found that teaching clinical procedures continues to be a topic of interest, with more studies of improved rigor identified. New trends in wellness studies and increasing attention to distance learning and technology-assisted instructional methods were additional topics covered over the year.
ABSTRACT
E-learning strategies have become an important part of biomedical education. However, why and how medical students select hardware tools and software formats during their preclinical education has not been sufficiently evaluated. These aspects should be considered when designing or offering new e-learning modalities to learners. Two medical school classes at a major US medical school were surveyed about their use of e-learning resources during their first year of medical school or their preparation for their first licensing examination (USMLE® Step 1), respectively. Their responses were analyzed for patterns and significant changes. Students' answers indicated that computers and tablets were considered the most important hardware devices to support students' learning. During the first year, students often preferred resources that were tailored to the specific courses in their curriculum. In contrast, some preferences changed when students prepared for the USMLE Step 1, with students shifting almost exclusively to a solitary learning strategy using commercial e-learning resources. Across all phases of medical school education queried, peer advice was the major determinant influencing e-learning resource selection with faculty only playing a minor role. Videos were the most popular e-learning modality, and students cited efficient acquisition of knowledge and preparation for examinations as major reasons for e-learning tool utilization. These factors should be considered when offering e-learning resources to medical students during different phases of their preclinical training.
