Medical case teaching on the web.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about strategies for developing teaching cases and strategies for identifying design features that optimize a learner's interactions with Web-based cases. PURPOSES: We examined design features in Web cases that facilitated interactive and engaging learning. METHODS: Nine collaborators reviewed selected Web cases and documented the presence of features that facilitate interactive learning, including opportunities for information gathering, decision making, and receiving feedback. RESULTS: Eighteen Web sites offered cases. These cases mainly were narrated based on biomedical information without patient voices. The cases were organized in a linear structure from patient presentation to follow-up. Many cases presented only a single case. We found little use of features for augmenting a learner's interaction with cases. Only a handful of cases generated feedback on the basis of the learners' responses. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests ways to improve the development of Web cases. These methods contribute to future research in testing cases for educational effectiveness.

A new oral health elective for medical students at the University of Washington.

BACKGROUND: Oral health is an important but inadequately addressed area in medical school curricula. Primary care practitioners are in an ideal position to help prevent oral disease but lack the knowledge to do so. PURPOSES: We developed an oral health elective that targeted 1st- and 2nd-year medical students as part of a previously described oral health initiative and oral health curriculum. METHODS: To promote interprofessional collaboration, we utilized medical-dental faculty teams for lectures and hands-on peer instruction by dental students for clinical skills. RESULTS: Evaluations revealed positive shifts in attitudes toward oral health and significant gains in oral health knowledge and self-confidence. Students rated the course highly and advocated for further integration of oral health into required medical curricula. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the elective including curriculum development, course evaluation results, and steps for implementing a successful oral health elective into medical education. We highlight interprofessional collaboration and constituency building among medical and dental faculty and administrators.

The evolution of a required research program for medical students at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The concepts and tools clinicians use to understand disease and treat patients are the direct product of basic and applied scientific inquiry. To prepare physicians to participate in this tradition of medical science, the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) created a research requirement in 1981. The objective was to provide students, during their clinical years of medical school, with first-hand experience in hypothesis-driven inquiry and an understanding of the philosophies and methods of science integral to the practice of medicine. A comprehensive curriculum review in 1998-2000 identified several limitations of this requirement. Although many students completed it successfully, others struggled to find mentors, funding, or time as coursework became more demanding. Other students found they had no interest in or aptitude for the research process itself. Accordingly, UWSOM has reaffirmed its commitment to independent inquiry but expanded the ways in which students can meet the requirement. Three research options are now available under the Independent Investigative Inquiry (III) program, generally completed the summer after students' first year of medical school. These are the hypothesis-driven inquiry, a critical review of the literature, or an experience-driven inquiry in community medicine. The goal of UWSOM is to shape new physicians who can manage rapidly changing medical science, information technology, and patient expectations in clinical practice and/or laboratories. The role of III is to teach students to develop personal methods of acquiring new knowledge and integrate it into their professional lives. Faculty support, program oversight, and funding have been increased.