Medical teacher
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Health professionals are increasingly expected to identify their own learning needs through a process of ongoing self-assessment. Self-assessment is integral to many appraisal systems and has been espoused as an important aspect of personal professional behaviour by several regulatory bodies and those developing learning outcomes for clinical students. In this review we considered the evidence base on self-assessment since Gordon's comprehensive review in 1991. The overall aim of the present review was to determine whether specific methods of self-assessment lead to change in learning behaviour or clinical practice. Specific objectives sought evidence for effectiveness of self-assessment interventions to: a. improve perception of learning needs; b. promote change in learning activity; c. improve clinical practice; d. improve patient outcomes. ⋯ As in other BEME reviews, the methodological issues emerging from this review indicate a need for more rigorous study designs. In addition, it highlights the need to consider the potential for combining qualitative and quantitative data to further our understanding of how self-assessment can improve learning and professional clinical practice.
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We developed and implemented a series of interprofessional resuscitation rounds targeting fourth year nursing and medical students, and junior residents from a variety of specialty programs. ⋯ Despite challenges inherent in teaching a diverse group of learners, these interprofessional resuscitation rounds were rated highly by nursing and medical trainees as valuable learning experiences.
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This study examined how an interactive seminar focusing on two medically unexplained illnesses, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia, influenced medical student attitudes toward CFS, a more strongly stigmatized illness. ⋯ This type of instruction may lead to potentially more receptive professional attitudes toward providing care to these underserved patients.
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Effective patient-provider communication is crucial to achieving good health care outcomes. To accomplish this with patients of limited English proficiency, learning to work effectively with interpreters is essential. ⋯ Our findings highlight the feasibility and usefulness of training students to work effectively with interpreters. Evaluation and feedback from students and faculty have been positive. Cost for this curriculum enhancement was reasonable, making it feasible to introduce the training into a wide variety of medical and allied health programs.
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The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine was designed to encourage medical students to pursue careers as physician investigators. Our faculty decided that assessment should enhance learning and adopted only formative assessments to document student performance in relation to nine broad-based competencies. No grades are used to judge student performance throughout the 5-year program. Instead, assessments are competency-based, relate directly to performance standards, and are stored in e-Portfolios to track progress and document student achievement. The class size is limited to 32 students a year. ⋯ Using assessment data for formative purposes may encourage application and integration of knowledge, help students identify performance gaps, foster student development of learning plans and promote student responsibility for learning. Discussion provides applications for institutions with larger classes to consider.