Evaluation of the Association of Academic Physiatrists Medical Student Summer Clinical Externship.

ABSTRACT: The Medical Student Summer Clinical Externship is an 8-wk program hosted by the Association of Academic Physiatrists and offered to first year medical students. Various institutions sponsor participants and provide clinical exposure and mentorship opportunities to promote interest in the field. The program has had more than 100 medical student participants. Students were asked to complete a preparticipation and postparticipation survey. Results revealed a statistically significant increase in interest in physiatry and participants' scores for comfort and experience level in obtaining a history of present illness, general physical examination, and managing developmental, musculoskeletal, and neurologic disabilities. The Medical Student Summer Clinical Externship program provides an opportunity for mentorship and exposure to various subspecialties that likely reinforces student interest in those who are predisposed to physiatry. Students' increased comfort level in treating patients with developmental, musculoskeletal, and neurologic disabilities may lead to improvements in the quality of and access to care received by these populations. All participants gain an increased awareness of the scope of practice of physiatry that will hopefully lead to the increased integration of physical medicine and rehabilitation into the care plans and as a standard of care for patients who might greatly benefit.

Case-Based Learning as an Effective Tool in Teaching Pharmacology to Undergraduate Medical Students in a Large Group Setting.

BACKGROUND: The need for case-based learning in basic subjects is being recognized world over. Early clinical illustrations and actual clinical exposure enable students to associate basic science and real patient situations, probably increasing their retention of knowledge. The study was conducted to introduce an alternate method of teaching-learning in pharmacology in a large classroom setting to integrate pharmacology into clinical setting for better learning and understanding of the subject. METHODS: Ninety-four students of second professional MBBS of a medical college in Punjab were divided into 2 groups and were taught a 2-hour topic in pharmacology using case-based learning (CBL) method and didactic lecture (DL) method using a crossover design. Their attendance and written test score at the end of teaching session were compared. Feedback from students and faculty was taken by prestructured questionnaires. RESULTS: There was an increase in students' attendance (P = .008) in CBL sessions but insignificant difference in their performance (P = .98) in the tests. Most (84%) of the students felt that CBL is a better method of teaching-learning than traditional DL. The teaching faculty felt that the students looked more interested and were themselves more motivated for the newer method of teaching. CONCLUSIONS: Case-based learning led to improvement in student motivation, satisfaction, and engagement. Most students and faculty accepted that CBL was an effective learning tool for pharmacology teaching in a large group setting and supported the incorporation of CBL into traditional DL teaching.