Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Medical Students Toward Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Medicine in Singapore.

OBJECTIVE: Despite rising incidences of global disasters, basic principles of disaster medicine training are barely taught in Singapore's 3 medical schools. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current levels of emergency preparedness, attitudes, and perceptions of disaster medicine education among medical students in Singapore. METHODS: The Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) was provided to enrolled medical students in Singapore by means of an online form, from March 6, 2020, to February 20, 2021. A total of 635 (25.7%) responses were collated and analyzed. RESULTS: Mean score for overall familiarity was low, at 1.50 ± 0.74, on a Likert scale of 1 for not familiar to 5 for very familiar. A total of 90.6% of students think that disaster medicine is an important facet of the curriculum, and 93.1% agree that training should be provided for medical students. Although 77.3% of respondents believe that they are unable to contribute to a disaster scenario currently, 92.8% believe that they will be able to contribute with formal training. CONCLUSIONS: Despite low levels of emergency preparedness knowledge, the majority of medical students in Singapore are keen for adaptation of disaster medicine into the current curriculum to be able to contribute more effectively. This can arm future health-care professionals with the confidence to respond to any potential emergency.

Is Virtual Team-Based Learning Feasible and Effective in Teaching Neurolocalisation?

We investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of virtual team-based learning (TBL) in teaching neurolocalisation (NL) in a sample of 18 student volunteers. Student satisfaction and knowledge outcomes were evaluated using the modified TBL Student Assessment Instrument and Extended Matching Questionnaire (EMQ), respectively. Mean student satisfaction rating was good at 3.9 out of 5.0 (SD 0.3). Participants achieved high mean EMQ scores of 84.2% (SD 2.9) with moderate correlation between individual assessment scores and EMQ scores (ρ = 0.587, p = 0.01). Virtual TBL is feasible for teaching NL with good student satisfaction and knowledge outcomes.

Differential effects of team-based learning on clinical reasoning.

BACKGROUND: Clinical reasoning (CR) is the ability to integrate information, knowledge and contextual factors for patient care. Few studies have explored effects of team-based learning (TBL) on neurological CR. This study compared simplified TBL (sTBL) against interactive lectures (IL) for teaching CR in neuroanatomical localisation (NL) and neurological emergencies (NE), assessed using a validated Script Concordance Test (SCT). METHODS: A crossover study was conducted with third- and fifth-year undergraduates, randomly assigned to two groups, from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in Singapore. Group 1 was taught NE with sTBL and NL with IL, whereas Group 2 was taught NL with sTBL and NE with IL. Teaching was conducted sequentially over 3 h followed immediately by the SCT. The primary outcome was the difference in mean SCT scores of NE and NL taught with sTBL versus IL. FINDINGS: A total of 179 students (Group 1, n = 81; Group 2, n = 98) participated. Mean NL SCT scores for students taught with sTBL were significantly higher compared with IL (64.8% vs. 61.7%, mean difference 3.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.6%-5.5%, p = 0.013); effect size was 0.38. Mean NE SCT scores were similar between students taught with sTBL or IL (66.6% vs. 67.0%, mean difference -0.4%, 95% CI -2.2% to 3.1%, p = 0.75). CONCLUSIONS: sTBL was superior to IL for teaching NL, whereas both methods were comparable for teaching NE. TBL may be suitable for teaching more complex neurological topics involving diagnostic reasoning through development of problem representation, hypothesis generation and illness script selection.

The role of training in student examiner rating performance in a student-led mock OSCE.

INTRODUCTION: Peer assessments are increasingly prevalent in medical education, including student-led mock Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE). While there is some evidence to suggest that examiner training may improve OSCE assessments, few students undergo training before becoming examiners. We sought to evaluate an examiner training programme in the setting of a student-led mock OSCE. METHODS: A year­2 mock OSCE comprised of history taking (Hx) and physical examination (PE) stations was conducted involving 35 year­3 (Y3) student examiners and 21 year­5 (Y5) student examiners who acted as reference examiners. Twelve Y3 student-examiners attended an OSCE examiner training programme conducted by senior faculty. During the OSCE, Y3 and Y5 student examiners were randomly paired to grade the same candidates and scores were compared. Scores for checklist rating (CR) and global rating (GR) domains were assigned for both Hx and PE stations. RESULTS: There was moderate to excellent correlation between Y3 and Y5 student examiners for both Hx (ICC 0.71-0.96) and PE stations (ICC 0.71-0.88) across all domains. For both Hx and PE stations, GR domain had poorer correlation than CR domains. Examiner training resulted in better correlations for PE but not Hx stations. Effect sizes were lower than the minimum detectible effect (MDE) sizes for all comparisons made. DISCUSSION: Y3 student examiners are effective substitutes for Y5 student examiners in a Y2 mock OSCE. Our findings suggest that examiner training may further improve marking behaviour especially for PE stations. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to further evaluate the effects of dedicated examiner training.

Patient-centred and not disease-focused: a review of guidelines and multimorbidity.

INTRODUCTION: Single-disease clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are not designed to consider patients with multiple chronic conditions, or multimorbidity. Applying multiple CPGs to a single patient may create an overwhelming treatment burden resulting in poor adherence and clinical outcomes. No studies on the cumulative treatment burden from multiple CPGs have been done in Singapore. We described the treatment burden on a hypothetical patient with six chronic conditions when multiple CPGs were applied, and appraised each CPG with respect to the patient-centred care of older adults with multimorbidity. METHODS: A treatment plan was developed for a hypothetical 72-year-old woman with asthma, depression, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and osteoarthritis according to the latest CPG recommendations. Treatment burden was quantified in terms of time spent, cost, and the number of appointments and medications. Each CPG was appraised with respect to the care of older adults, patients with multimorbidity and patient-centred care. RESULTS: Following the CPGs strictly, an average of about two hours was spent daily taking 14 different medications and following 21 non-pharmacological recommendations. Her out-of-pocket payment was SGD 104.42 monthly despite a near 90% subsidy on healthcare bills. Patient-centred care of older adults with multimorbidity was inadequately addressed in all six CPGs. CONCLUSION: When six CPGs were cumulatively followed, the treatment burden was time-consuming, costly and disruptive. Patients' goals and preferences must guide prioritisation of care such that treatment burden remains minimally disruptive to their lives. Developing future CPGs to deliver patient-centred rather than disease-focused care will be crucial to the management of multimorbidity.