ABSTRACT
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common medical condition in which the patient feels a spinning sensation when making certain head movements. There is evidence to support those free-floating calcium crystals in the semi-circular canals (the inner ear) may be the cause. BPPV can be a disabling condition. It can be easily diagnosed after taking a careful history and performing bedside examinations. BPPV can be treated successfully through a specific set of physical maneuvers leading to the removal of these crystals from the inner ear. We present three cases of BPPV, living in three different countries, treated successfully using telehealth via Zoom. This approach can be a particularly useful consultation stand during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Emergency Medicine didactic teaching has traditionally been delivered through face-to-face (F2F) lectures. However, during the pandemic of COVID-19, the didactic teaching was switched to online through using Microsoft Teams. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of online learning in the knowledge and skills acquisition of millennial learners based within emergency medicine. METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective review of assessment data. Over a period of 10 months (August 2019 to June 2020), each resident was exposed to traditional F2F teaching for a period of four months and then online teaching in a crossover manner. After each method, there were two types of assessments, multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and computer-based objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). A total of 20 MCQs with one correct answer, totaling 20 marks, and 20 OSCEs consisting of an image or a video with five options, each option carrying one mark, totaling 100 marks were used at each assessment point. A student t-test was used to compare the two groups of results. RESULTS: The total number of participants was 49 (n=49). All residents belonged to the millennial generation. Fourteen were female and 35 were male. The mean MCQ 1 score after F2F teaching was 12.16 (SD=1.688), whilst the mean MCQ 2 score after online teaching was 13.40 (SD=1.861). The mean computer-based OSCE 1 score after F2F teaching was 64.45 (SD=5.895), whilst the mean OSCE 2 score after online teaching was 65.57 (SD=5.969). Ten out of 49 students (20.4%) failed the MCQ exam after F2F teaching, whilst 6/49 students (12.2%) failed the MCQ test after online teaching. Seven out of 49 students (14.3%) failed the OSCE exam after F2F teaching, while six out of 49 students (12.2%) failed the OSCE exam after online teaching. There was a statistically significant improvement in the MCQ score after online teaching as compared to F2F teaching (P-value 0.0003), whilst there was no statistically significant change in the OSCE between the two-teaching methods (P-value 0.3513). CONCLUSION: Both F2F and online teaching methods resulted in a significant improvement in the knowledge and skills of emergency medicine residents. Online education resulted in a statistically significant improvement of MCQ score as compared to F2F teaching. The difference in MCQ score may be due to millennial learners, who traditionally benefit proportionately more from self-learning that is primarily online.
ABSTRACT
Multiple papers have been presented to define patient-centered care, with regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council mapping this in their professional standards. Educational institutions clearly value instilling appreciation of patient-centredness in medical training, and attempts have been made to make medical education more patient-centered in practice. Such attempts are often limited to expert patients sharing personal stories, and public involvement in teaching. Despite the drive towards patient-centered care and medical education, there has been no attempt to formally define what patient-centered medical education is and what it means to medical educators globally. This paper proposes a definition of patient-centered medical education that is about the patients, with the patients, and for the patients, to ensure current and future doctors remain sensitive to all of the needs of the people they care for. This should be considered at both the micro and macro community levels.
