scholarly journals Qualitative exploration of digital chatbot use in medical education: A pilot study

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205520762110381
Author(s):  
Anjuli Kaur ◽  
Sid Singh ◽  
Joht S Chandan ◽  
Tim Robbins ◽  
Vinod Patel

Purpose During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, face-to-face teaching has been severely disrupted and limited for medical students internationally. This study explores the views of medical students and academic medical staff regarding the suitability and limitations, of a bespoke chatbot tool to support medical education. Methods Five focus groups, with a total of 16 participants, were recruited using a convenience sample. The participants included medical students across all year groups and academic staff. The pre-determined focus group topic guide explored how chatbots can augment existing teaching practices. A thematic analysis was conducted using the transcripts to determine key themes. Results Thematic analysis identified five main themes: (1) chatbot use as a clinical simulation tool; (2) chatbot use as a revision tool; (3) differential usefulness by medical school year group; (4) standardisation of education and assessment; (5) challenges of use and implementation. Conclusions Both staff and students have clear benefits from using chatbots in medical education. However, they documented possible limitations to their use. The creation of chatbots to support the medical curriculum should be further explored and urgently evaluated to assess their impact on medical students training both during and after the global pandemic.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Ayla Kurkcuoglu ◽  
Can Pelin ◽  
Ragiba Zagyapan ◽  
Ersin Ogus

Objetivos: La estandarización de la educación médica y programas centrados en la salida se han vuelto más importantes en los últimos años. Sin embargo, todavía no hay consenso sobre el lugar de las ciencias básicas en el mencionado concepto. A pesar que la importancia de la anatomía en la educación médica es  indiscutible, su lugar en el currículo médico todavía se está discutiendo ampliamente. Varios estudios y observaciones se han publicado hasta hoy sobre la educación anatómica básica. La mayoría de ellos reflejan las opiniones de los médicos clínicos o tutores médicos. El número de estudios de evaluación de la educación en anatomía en el pregrado, desde la perspectiva de los estudiantes de medicina, es limitado. El presente estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar las opiniones de los estudiantes de medicina en las clases de anatomía. Material y métodos: En este estudio, a 102 estudiantes de medicina que completaron la fase II de la educación en la Universidad de Baskent se les dio un cuestionario con 32 preguntas de tipo Likert preparados por los Departamentos de Anatomía y Medicina de la Educación, entre diciembre de 2012 y mayo de 2013. Las preguntas fueron dadas a los estudiantes en junio, justo antes de terminar el período de educación relacionado. Resultados y Conclusiones: Los estudiantes de medicina enfatizaron que entendían la importancia de la anatomía mucho después de haber terminado la educación de fase I cuando estaban tomando los cursos clínicos y mencionaron que el aporte de sus conocimientos de anatomía básica para su práctica clínica era débil. Los resultados del estudio indicaron que los estudiantes prefieren una educación integrada verticalmente, con orientación clínica e interactiva, y dieron más valor a la práctica de laboratorio en lugar de las conferencias clínicas. Objectives: Standardization of medical education and output-focused core programs has become more important in the recent years. However, still there is no consensus on the place of basic sciences in the aforementioned concept. Even though the importance of anatomy for a qualified medical education is indisputable, its place in medical curriculum is still being widely discussed. Several studies and comments have been published up to date on basic anatomy education. Most of these reflect the opinions of clinical doctors or medical tutors. The number of studies evaluating undergraduate anatomy education from the perspective of medical students is limited. The present study aims to evaluate the opinions of medical students on anatomy classes in medical education. Material and Methods: In this study, 102 medical students who completed phase II education in Baskent University were given a questionnaire containing 32 Likert’s type questions prepared by the Departments of Anatomy and Medical Education between December 2012 and May 2013.The questioner was given to the students in June just before the education of the related term was completed. Results and Conclusion: The medical students emphasized that they understood the importance of anatomy long after they had completed phase I education while they were taking the clinical courses, and they mentioned that the contribution of their basic anatomy knowledge to their clinical practice was weak. The results of the study indicated that students preferred a vertically integrated, clinically oriented and interactive education, and gave more value to laboratory practice rather than the clinical lectures. 


Author(s):  
Shaikh Arshiya Kaiser Husain ◽  
Anwaya R. Magare ◽  
Purushottam A. Giri ◽  
Vijaykumar S. Jadhav

Background: The aim of medical education is to produce competent, physically and mentally strong health professionals, as they are going to be the pillars of the future health care system. Stress is one of the most common and process-oriented obstacles in medical education. It often exerts a negative effect on the academic performance, physical health, and psychological well-being of the students. Dealing with overloaded medical curriculum, competing with peers, being away from home and meeting high expectations imposed by parents and society to excel is among the common stressful transitions at this stage.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out amongst 352 undergraduate medical students of a private medical college in a rural area of Maharashtra during April to October 2019. The structured questionnaire was used to record the data. Collected data was used to assess the severity of mental health issues among medical students.Results: Majority 194 (55.11%) students were in the age of 18 to 20 years followed by 141 (40.06%) were in 21 to 23 years. There were 196 (55.68%) girl students and 156 (44.32%) boys. According to the various categories, 80 (22.73%) of the students had low stress scores, followed by 76 (21.59%) in minimal. A highly significant difference in stress scores was seen between boys and girls, which was more in boys.Conclusions: Study concluded that undergraduate medical students perceive minimal to very high stress presented as various systems that vary with the year of study and gender wise too. There is a further need to look into the various causes of stress.


Author(s):  
Kristina Kaljo ◽  
Laura Jacques

The preparation of today's physicians is a tremendous responsibility. For medical students to be successful, they must experience a multitude of opportunities to develop appropriate clinical skills, problem solving acumen, and medical knowledge. Due to various barriers, medical students may develop gaps in critical and foundational knowledge. The use of flipped lectures has the capacity to “mobilize” education and ensure for versatility and improved content acquisition through the implementation of both online and face-to-face teaching methodologies. This hybrid learning environment has the capacity to also address the increasingly diverse needs of today's matriculating medical student. This article identifies tools and strategies of how to incorporate flipped lectures into medical education.


2022 ◽  
pp. 212-231
Author(s):  
Yusuf Akkoca

The education community, accustomed to the face-to-face education system, had to switch to the distance education system with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was inevitable for educators who had not experienced distance education to prepare themselves in a short time and to complete the process with the least damage. Of course, there were many negativities during distance education and the whole world gained certain experiences during this time. In this study, the problems experienced by the academic staff using distance education applications, their approaches to distance education, how much they have improved themselves in other possible problems in the future, and what they expect from distance education have been examined. Thematic analysis was used as a research design; articles, theses, books, reports of official institutions and organizations were examined; and the concepts that emerged during distance education applications were divided according to categories by using descriptive and thematic analysis.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Rodríguez-Ríos ◽  
Gerardo Espinoza-Téllez ◽  
José Darío Martínez-Ezquerro ◽  
Mario Enrique Rendón-Macías

AbstractIntroductionInformation and communication technologies (ICT) are practical and highly available tools. In medical education, ICTs allow physicians to update their knowledge and remember the necessary information within reach of current mobile devices. ICTs as preparation tools for medical education have not been reported for medical students in Mexico.MethodologyTo assess the use of mobile devices as ICTs with medical education purposes, we distributed a questionnaire through an online survey management system to all the medical students (n=180) from a private university in Mexico City, 100% agreed to participate. We developed a questionnaire based on previous surveys and adapted it to our university.ResultsAll participants reported possession of an electronic mobile device, and 95% used it regularly for learning purposes. Regardless of the school year, the most frequent usage given to these devices was the search and reading of medical articles, the use of medical calculators, and taking notes. As the levels in career advances, there was a reduction in the use of electronic devices. According to the students, the main barriers towards using mobile devices for learning purposes were both the lack of access to the Internet and permission from the professor to use them.ConclusionMost medical students use mobile devices for learning purposes, but usage changes during their education. It is convenient to encourage the use of mobile devices and the development of ICT skills as tools for educational purposes rather than banning their use in schools and hospitals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Kani Yamuna Aminu ◽  
Usman Ahmad ◽  
Rehinat Nasir Adejumo

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of academics on the acceptability of the intercalated medical degree program in an attempt to proffer solutions to breach the gaps in manpower shortages in the medical profession.Methodology: This is a descriptive cross sectional survey. Randomly selected 150 academic staff of various medical colleges spread across Nigeria, who attended an educational programme in Abuja Nigeria in September 2018 completed semi structured questionnaires after consenting to participate in the study. Data from the retrieved questionnaires were collated, entered into Microsoft excel and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Most of the analyzed data were represented in percentages for ease of comparison.Findings: Sixty five percent of the respondents were aware of the intercalated (dual) Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)/ Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree programme, offer it in their institutions and believe it is worthwhile. The merits of the dual degree programme from this study were an additional degree, more experienced medical doctors in terms of research and exit strategy for some medical students who may change their minds half way into the medical programme. The disadvantages reported were prolonged study period and increased cost of study.  Majority of the respondents, who were academic staff of medical colleges were aware of, and favoured the establishment of intercalated MBBS degree programme in more Nigerian medical colleges.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: There is scarcity of literature on the intercalated degree programme in Nigeria. This research may influence policy change that will improve medical education. From the results of the study, it is recommended that the stakeholders in medical education should consider giving accreditation to more medical colleges that have the capacity to commence intercalated medical degree programs in Nigerian Universities as an option to interested medical students with good potentials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinghua Wang ◽  
Tianjiao Du

Abstract Background Extant literature reveals that medical students suffer from various mental health problems in the process of learning medicine. However, there are few studies evaluating the implementation of a mental health education course in medical curriculum. The current study aimed to test the effectiveness of an 8-week intensive mental health education course, the College Student Mental Health Education Course (CSMHEC), and to gain further insights on how the course could be improved from students’ feedback. Methods This is a quasi-experimental study with both quantitative and qualitative analyses. We recruited 374 first year medical students as our subjects with 188 (age = 17.97 ± 0.65 years, 37.2% male) for the experiment group and 186 (age = 18.02 ± 0.63 years, 40.3% male) for the control group. For quantitative analysis, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), Chinese College Student Academic Burnout Inventory (CCSABI) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) were used and a 5-point Likert scale was used to indicate students’ overall satisfaction with CSMHEC. For qualitative analysis, a thematic analysis method was adopted to gain insights from the feedback of medical students. Results Medical students in the experiment group saw a significant decline in psychological distress (p < 0.001, d = 0.31) and academic burnout (p < 0.001, d = 1.46), while they experienced a significant increase in life satisfaction levels after the intervention (p < 0.001, d = 0.48). Compared with students in the control group, students in the experiment group had statistically significant lower levels of psychological distress (p < 0.05, d = 0.23) and academic burnout (p < 0.001, d = 0.70), but statistically significant higher levels of life satisfaction in the post-test (p < 0.01, d = 0.31). Most students in the experiment group were satisfied with CSMHEC and themes extracted in the thematic analysis shed light on how the course could be improved. Conclusions Implementing a mental health education course like CSMHEC in medical curriculum can be effective in helping medical students improve psychological health. More research needs to be conducted on further refinement and better design of such a course to implement in medical education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-148
Author(s):  
Arjun Tandon ◽  
Tanuj Kanchan ◽  
Alok Atreya ◽  
Abhishek Tandon

The importance of autopsies in medical education is multidimensional. In accordance with the existing medical curriculum in India, forensic medicine is a subject taken up during the second year of the MBBS, and undergraduate students of medicine are expected to witness a minimum of 10 autopsies during the third to fifth semesters. This research analyses the perceptions of medical students towards medico-legal autopsy teaching and its significance at one medical institution in India. A total of 450 MBBS students participated in the study and submitted their responses to the predesigned semi-structured 20-point questionnaire on autopsy viewing and its relevance in general. The obtained data were analysed statistically using SPSS software. More than 75% of students agreed that they could appreciate the actual morphology and pathological changes in the human organs. There was a positive response from 54.9% students, who affirmed that autopsy helped refresh and improve their knowledge of human anatomy. More than 60% students agreed to have gained understanding of clinical–pathological correlations and became acquainted with death certification. The majority of the students (53.6%) agreed that autopsy postings made them mentally and emotionally stronger. The present study provides useful evidence regarding the perceptions of medical students towards autopsy teaching, and intends to highlight the utility of autopsies in enhancing the knowledge of medical students and its significance in the medical education curriculum.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. e030425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apichai Wattanapisit ◽  
Prachyapan Petchuay ◽  
Sanhapan Wattanapisit ◽  
Titiporn Tuangratananon

ObjectivesTo identify the essential content and approaches for developing a training programme in physical activity (PA) counselling for undergraduate medical curricula.DesignA three-round Delphi survey was conducted to investigate four key topics: (1) contents of PA counselling in medical education; (2) teaching and learning methods; (3) medical school collaboration and (4) educational policy implementation. Round 1 collected opinions from the participants. Round 2 focused on scoring the opinions. Round 3 summarised the expert opinions. A mean score of 4 or above identified as an important item.SettingAll 23 medical schools in Thailand.ParticipantsAcademic staff who were experts or in charge of medical schools in the fields of PA, health promotion or medical education.ResultsA total of 20 representatives from 18 of the 23 Thai medical schools participated in the study (for a response rate of 78.2%). The top three most important indicators of knowledge were (1) the definition and types of PA (4.75±0.55), (2) the FITT principle (frequency, intensity, time and type) (4.75±0.55) and (3) the benefits of PA (4.65±0.67). The most important component of the training involved general communication skills (4.55±0.60). An extracurricular module (4.05±0.76) was preferable to an intracurricular module (3.95±0.94). Collaborations with medical education centres and teaching hospitals (4.45±0.78) and supporting policies to increase medical students’ PA (4.40±0.73) were considered to be important.ConclusionKnowledge and counselling skills are important for PA counselling. Building collaborations between medical education and health institutions, as well as implementing effective educational policies, are key approaches to the integration of PA counselling into medical education. Future research should focus on investigating the effects of training in PA counselling on the learning outcomes of medical students and the clinical outcomes of patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. JMECD.S17495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. McGuffin

There is currently no universally accepted core collection of competencies or medical education material for medical students. Individual medical schools create their own competencies and set of educational material using a variety of approaches. What has resulted is a medical education system wherein medical students are trained without any burden of proof that they are indeed competent in agreed upon areas of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors befit of a graduating medical student. In fact, the only uniform assurance a member of the public in the United States can have for a graduating allopathic medical student is that the student has successfully passed USMLE Step 1 and 2 by correctly answering a rumored 55–65% of questions correctly (yes, that is an F) and that they have maintained at least a “C” average or “Pass” equivalent in all of their medical school courses. This article discusses these inadequacies within the current medical education system, and the need to standardize the competencies and curricula for all medical schools through a narrative disclosing this author's experience with trying to initiate such a movement at his own medical school.


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