ABSTRACT
As cases of 2009 novel H1N1 influenza became prevalent in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton County Public Health called upon the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine to enhance its surge capacity in vaccination administration. Although the collaboration was well organized, it became evident that a system should exist for medical students' involvement in disaster response and recovery efforts in advance of a disaster. Therefore, 5 policy alternatives for effective utilization of medical students in disaster-response efforts have been examined: maintaining the status quo, enhancing the Medical Reserve Corps, creating medical school-based disaster-response units, using students within another selected disaster-response organization, or devising an entirely new plan for medical students' utilization. The intent of presenting these policy alternatives is to foster a policy dialogue around creating a more formalized approach for integrating medical students into disaster surge capacity-enhancement strategies. Using medical students to supplement the current and future workforce may help substantially in achieving goals related to workforce requirements. Discussions will be necessary to translate policy into practice.
Subject(s)
Capacity Building/organization & administration , Community Participation , Disaster Planning/organization & administration , Disasters , Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype , Students, Medical , Attitude of Health Personnel , Capacity Building/methods , Disaster Planning/methods , Humans , Influenza, Human/epidemiology , Influenza, Human/prevention & control , Ohio , Public Health , Schools, Medical , Viral Vaccines , WorkforceABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Computerized digital presentations have become standard in most medical schools without research proving their effectiveness. PURPOSE: The purpose was to determine if differences in (a) subjective evaluation; (b) short-term retention of material; and (c) long-term retention of material occurred with the use of static overheads versus computerized, animated PowerPoint for a presentation to medical students. METHODS: All students rotating on a required clerkship attended a standard lecture presented by 1 faculty member. The content of the presentation remained the same, but the instructional media varied (overheads on even months, animated PowerPoint on odd months). Students completed a posttest and subjective evaluation immediately following the lecture and repeated the posttest 1 year later. Unpaired t tests were used to compare the 2 groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups on any parameter. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, students rated both types of presentation equally and displayed no differences in short- or long-term retention of material.
