Promoting clinical reasoning in undergraduate Family Medicine curricula through concept mapping: a qualitative approach.

Clinical reasoning is a crucial skill for physicians, enabling them to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical application. The gap between basic sciences and clinical practice persists as a challenge, with traditional teaching methods yet to effectively bridge it. Concept maps (CMs), visual tools for organizing and connecting knowledge, hold promise for enhancing clinical reasoning in the undergraduate medical curriculum. However, further research is required to ascertain if CMs facilitate clinical reasoning development in medical students transitioning from basic sciences to clinical practice. This study aims to delineate how CMs can facilitate clinical reasoning in patients with multimorbidity within undergraduate Family Medicine curricula, as perceived by students and tutors, and to understand the implementation process and resources required. This exploratory qualitative study formed a part of an action research project. While introducing an educational intervention to 5th-year medical students, we conducted a qualitative evaluation. Subsequently, semi-structured group interviews were conducted with students, and a focus group was conducted with tutors. Three main educational impacts were identified: integration of clinical information, support for patient management and care plan, and collaborative learning. Key aspects for successful CM implementation included clear instructions for map construction, using user-friendly software, allocating sufficient time for the task, encouraging group discussion of CMs, and incorporating tutor feedback. CMs are pedagogical tools that facilitate clinical information integration and support management and treatment plans, helping students better understand multimorbidity patients and promoting some components of clinical reasoning in undergraduate medical education.

The effectiveness of concept mapping as a tool for developing critical thinking in undergraduate medical education - a BEME systematic review: BEME Guide No. 81.

BACKGROUND: Concept maps (CMs) visually represent hierarchical connections among related ideas. They foster logical organization and clarify idea relationships, potentially aiding medical students in critical thinking (to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe). However, there are inconsistent claims about the use of CMs in undergraduate medical education. Our three research questions are 1) What studies have been published on concept mapping in undergraduate medical education; 2) What was the impact of CMs on students' critical thinking; 3) How and why have these interventions had an educational impact? METHODS: Eight databases were systematically searched (plus a manual and an additional search were conducted). After eliminating duplicate entries, titles and abstracts and full-texts were independently screened by two authors. Data extraction and quality assessment of the studies were independently performed by two authors. Qualitative and quantitative data were integrated using mixed-methods. The results were reported using the STructured apprOach to the Reporting In healthcare education of Evidence Synthesis statement and BEME guidance. RESULTS: Thirty-nine studies were included from 26 journals (19 quantitative, 8 qualitative and 12 mixed-methods studies). CMs were considered as a tool to promote critical thinking, both in the perception of students and tutors, as well as in assessing students' knowledge and/or skills. In addition to their role as facilitators of knowledge integration and critical thinking, CMs were considered both a teaching and a learning methods. CONCLUSIONS: CMs are teaching and learning tools which seem to help medical students develop critical thinking. This is due to the flexibility of the tool as a facilitator of knowledge integration, as a learning and teaching method. The wide range of contexts, purposes, and variations in how CMs and instruments to assess critical thinking are used increases our confidence that the positive effects are consistent.

Diversifying stem cell debates: Including Muslim contexts and perspectives.

Greater transcultural and transdisciplinary engagement within Muslim contexts and deliberate inclusion of diverse Muslim voices in the development of international guidelines is required to improve understanding of the state of stem cell science, strengthen thinking about attendant ethical complexities, enhance compliance, deepen public deliberation, increase trust, and strengthen practice standards.

Revisiting the role of concept mapping in teaching and learning pathophysiology for medical students.

Concept mapping methodology is a way of representing knowledge described as a useful tool in medical education. It was introduced in the pathophysiology curricular unit at NOVA Medical School in 2002, within an ongoing experience of problem-based learning. Our goal is to present a comparison between the students' opinions and performances in two academic years, 2017-18 and 2018-19, to evaluate the effects of pedagogical changes in the concept mapping methodology, applied in the last year, which is also described in detail. Our convenience samples were composed by 224 students in 2017-2018 and by 216 students in 2018-2019. The analysis used the students' responses to the yearly institutional questionnaire on the quality of teaching and to a specific questionnaire applied to evaluate the tutorial sessions of 2018-19. Both were anonymous, and the response rate was above 50%. A comparison was also made between the continuous assessment during the tutorial sessions, expressed as a final cumulative score, and the results of an obligatory multiple-choice final test. The students considered the introduced pedagogical changes useful in their different components, such as identification of core concepts, construction of mini-maps, and their inclusion in final global maps. The better performance of the tutors, signaled by the students in 2018-19, was probably due to the preparatory pedagogical sessions.

A concept map template to be used by medical students for displaying pathophysiological mechanisms within clinical cases.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: The use of concept maps (CMs) in health and medical education is increasing, particularly in the last decade. The research developed in this area has not yet clarified the role played by CMs in meaningful learning. Approach: Our group developed a methodology, in a pathophysiology course, based on the classical CMs construction, using short clinical cases. Outcomes: We propose a template that allows the display of the short clinical case embedded in the architecture of the CMs and connecting words targeted to specific pathophysiological mechanisms. Next Steps: We consider that this experience can be extrapolated to the teaching and learning of pathophysiology in other health areas.

Toward meaningful learning in undergraduate medical education using concept maps in a PBL pathophysiology course.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is now an established method in undergraduate medical education that aims to develop reasoning skills based on clinical problems. More recently, the use of concept mapping in medical education aims to improve meaningful learning. At the New University of Lisbon, we have been using PBL as a major educational method in a pathophysiology course. In 2003-2004, we started to use Inspiration, a computer-based concept mapping tool, with a single tutorial PBL group. A total of 36 maps were constructed related to short cases, already used in the PBL course, in which a certain number of key nodes were hidden to allow the students to fill in the gaps. The results obtained appear to indicate that the use of concept maps stimulated meaningful learning within a PBL course.