Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Increasingly, medical schools are integrating Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) into their curricula. This review investigated the available literature on how best to integrate POCUS in the teaching of medical students and the benefits of doing so. Given the heterogeneous literature that has emerged on POCUS education, a scoping review was conducted. Relevant medical databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE and CINAHL, were searched between January 1980 and August 2016, using keywords identified by the authors. Inclusion criteria were as follows: prospective or retrospective studies, observational or intervention studies, and studies describing how medical students learn to use ultrasound. The literature search yielded 593 articles, of which 128 met the inclusion criteria. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were sub-categorised under the following headings: those that described or evaluated an ultrasound curriculum, those that employed ultrasound as a means of teaching another topic in the curriculum (i.e., anatomy, physical examination, physiology, invasive procedures), those that investigated the learning curve of ultrasound education and those that employed adjuncts or peer mentoring to teach ultrasound. The reviewed literature indicates that the integration of ultrasound in undergraduate medical education is both feasible and beneficial to medical students. This article is intended to inform medical educators aiming to integrate ultrasound into their medical school curricula.

Patient hand-over is a critical skill to develop in the era of reduced duty hours. There is insufficient data in the literature that medical students, especially in the third year, are being instructed to participate in a patient hand-over. Early introduction into the curriculum should provide earlier competency which has the potential to decrease the number of medical errors related to communication. All students were expected to use our institution’s hand-over mnemonic SAFETIPS when signing out on inpatient wards. Students were randomly assigned to a curriculum or control group and completed patient hand-over student confidence pre-surveys. The curriculum group participated in a faculty-led workshop at the beginning of the clerkship teaching hand-overs. Faculty members assessed student hand-overs at the end of clerkship, followed by a student post-survey. The statistically significant difference (P = .001) in median inventory scores (alpha = .70) for students in the curriculum (13.0(±2.0)) vs. control (12.0(±5.0)) is coupled to an effect size (Cliff’s d = 0.34). Five SAFETIPS items reported significant increases (p ≤ .050) for students in the curriculum vs. control. Significant increases in pre-/post-survey (alpha = .84/.87) scores are reported for students in the curriculum (pre/post difference = 9.0, P = .001) and in the control group (difference = 7.3, P = .001) for the survey. The largest individual item increases for both groups were “using SAFETIPS to give/listen to hand-over of patients” (difference = 2.0, P = .001). Third-year medical student skill and confidence level giving patient hand-over using SAFETIPS is improved with the use of a formal curriculum.

The rapid development of machine learning (ML) applications in healthcare promises to transform the landscape of healthcare. In order for ML advancements to be effectively utilized in clinical care, it is necessary for the medical workforce to be prepared to handle these changes. As physicians in training are exposed to a wide breadth of clinical tools during medical school, this offers an ideal opportunity to introduce ML concepts. A foundational understanding of ML will not only be practically useful for clinicians, but will also address ethical concerns for clinical decision making. While select medical schools have made effort to integrate ML didactics and practice into their curriculum, we argue that foundational ML principles should be taught broadly to medical students across the country.

Interprofessional education (IPE) in health profession training is recognized as a key to improving patient care in practice settings. Though recognized as extremely important, implementation of IPE remains a challenge for many health profession programs. Despite challenges, the seven health profession (HP) programs at D’Youville College initiated IPE using healthcare simulation with professional actors serving as simulated patients. Faculty from chiropractic, dietetics, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy and physician assistant programs collaborated in this year-long implementation process. This manuscript provides a description of the planning, delivery and assessment of this innovative interprofessional simulation and the creation of the campus Interprofessional Clinical Advancement Center. Students reported enhanced understanding and respect of professional roles and responsibilities and ability to communicate effectively. Faculty reported an ability to encourage interaction and collaboration among HP students. Suggestions for curricular improvements and program sustainability included professional development and compensation. This manuscript should assist other health professional programs seeking guidance to implement and evaluate interprofessional education in academic institutions.

To describe medical students’ reading habits and resources used during clinical clerkships, and to assess whether these are associated with performance outcomes. Authors administered a cross-sectional survey to medical students at 3 schools midway through the clerkship year. Closed and open-ended questions focused on resources used to read and learn during the most recent clerkship, time spent and purpose for using these resources, influencers on study habits, and barriers. A multiple regression model was used to predict performance outcomes. Overall response rate was 53% (158/293). Students spent most of their time studying for clerkship exams and rated question banks and board review books as most useful for exam preparation. Sixty-seven percent used textbooks (including pocket-size). For patient care, online databases and pocket-sized textbooks were rated most useful. The main barrier to reading was time. Eighty percent of students ranked classmates/senior students as most influential regarding recommended resources. Hours spent reading for exams was the only significant predictor of USMLE Step 2 scores related to study habits. The predominant advice offered to future students was to read. These findings can help inform students and educational leadership about resources students use, how they use them, and links to performance outcomes, in an effort to guide them on maximizing learning on busy clerkships. With peers being most influential, it is important not only to provide time to help students build strong reading and study habits early, but also to guide them towards reliable resources, so they will recommend useful information to others.

We report an active learning session which effectively supported 1st year medical students applying their learning experience in a clinical setting. A team-based learning (TBL) on familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) with a live patient was given to deliver basic genetics knowledge in a clinically relevant context. Subsequently, two participating students applied their learning experience by presenting a differential diagnosis of homozygous FH in a patient at a medical mission in Central America. We propose that combining active learning with clinically relevant scenarios effectively fosters student’s clinical reasoning skills and can bridge the perceived gap between basic science and clinical education.