Promoting metacognition in an allied health anatomy course

Everyone can draw: An inclusive and transformative activity for conceptualization of topographic anatomy

Anatomical drawing traditionally involves illustration of labeled diagrams on two-dimensional surfaces to represent topographical features. Despite the visual nature of anatomy, many learners perceive that they lack drawing skills and do not engage in art-based learning. Recent advances in the capabilities of technology-enhanced learning have enabled the rapid and inexpensive production of three-dimensional anatomical models. This work describes a "drawing on model" activity in which learners observe and draw specific structures onto three-dimensional models. Sport and exercise sciences (SES, n = 79) and medical (MED, n = 156) students at a United Kingdom medical school completed this activity using heart and femur models, respectively. Learner demographics, their perceptions of anatomy learning approaches, the value of the activity, and their confidence in understanding anatomical features, were obtained via validated questionnaire. Responses to 7-point Likert-type and free-text items were analyzed by descriptive statistics and semi-quantitative content analysis. Learners valued art-based study (SES mean = 5.94 SD ±0.98; MED = 5.92 ± 1.05) and the "drawing on model" activity (SES = 6.33 ± 0.93; MED = 6.21 ± 0.94) and reported enhanced confidence in understanding of cardiac anatomy (5.61 ± 1.11), coronary arteries (6.03 ± 0.83), femur osteology (6.07 ± 1.07), and hip joint muscle actions (5.80 ± 1.20). Perceptions of learners were independent of both their sex and their art-based study preferences (p < 0.05). Themes constructed from free-text responses identified "interactivity," "topography," "transformative," and "visualization," as key elements of the approach, in addition to revealing some limitations. This work will have implications for anatomy educators seeking to engage learners in an inclusive, interactive, and effective learning activity for supporting three-dimensional anatomical understanding.

Creating evidence-based engaging online learning resources in neuroanatomy

Online anatomical resources are rising in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pedagogical principles and effectiveness of their use remain unclear. This article aims to demonstrate evidence-informed ways in which fellow educators can create engaging online learning resources in clinical neuroanatomy and compare the effectiveness of text-based and online learning resources. Data were analyzed from the Soton Brain Hub (SBH) YouTube page. Separately, a cross-sectional study comparing the learning gain of using text-based and video resources was done. The knowledge gain and retention were compared between groups using a pre-teaching and post-teaching multiple choice questions. YouTube analytics showed the average time a viewer spends on a video was found to be highly correlated to the length of the video, r = 0.77, p < 0.001 (0.69-0.82). The cross-sectional study indicated a significant difference in mean normalized learning gain of video resources 61.9% (n = 53, CI 56.0-67.7%) versus text resources 49.6% (n = 23, CI 39.1-60.1%) (p = 0.030). However, there was no difference in retained learning gain between video resources 39.1% (n = 29, CI 29.2-49.0%) versus text-based 40.0% (n = 13, CI 23.9-56.1%) (p = 0.919). Students engage most with short videos less than 5 min which reduces the intrinsic load of learning. Online resources are as effective as text-based resources in providing learning gain and retention. In the future, the continued rise in popularity of online learning resources may result in further reduction in traditional face-to-face teaching.

Pre- and post-examination reflections of first-year medical students in an integrated medical anatomy course

Due to the rigor and pace of undergraduate medical anatomy courses, it is not uncommon for students to struggle and fail initially. However, repetition of coursework places an additional burden on the student, instructor, and institution. The purpose of this study was to compare the exam preparation strategies of repeating and non-repeating students to identify areas where struggling students can be supported prior to course failure. As part of their integrated anatomy course, first-year medical students at Indiana University completed a metacognitive Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (PBLI) assignment prior to and after their first exam. In the PBLIs, students were asked to reflect on their exam preparation strategies, confidence, and satisfaction, as well as their predicted and actual exam performance. PBLI responses from non-repeating and repeating students were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A total of 1802 medical students were included in this study, including 1751 non-repeating and 51 repeating students. Based on their PBLI responses, non-repeating students were appropriately confident, somewhat satisfied, and more accurate when predicting their exam performance. Repeating students were overconfident, dissatisfied, and inaccurate when predicting their first exam performance on their initial, unsuccessful attempt but were more successful on their second, repeat attempt. Qualitative analysis revealed that repeating students aimed to improve their studying by modifying their existing study strategies and managing their time more effectively. In conjunction with other known risk factors, these insights into repeater and non-repeater exam preparation practices can help anatomy educators better identify and support potential struggling students.

Embedding patient safety in a scaffold of interprofessional education; a qualitative study with thematic analysis

BACKGROUND

Regardless of a proliferation of interest in reducing unsafe practices in healthcare, threats to patient safety (PS) remain high. Moreover, little attention has been paid towards the role of interprofessional education (IPE) in enhancing PS. This qualitative study was conducted to unfold the insights of the senior medical, dental and health sciences students at the University of Sharjah (UoS) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about PS in an online IPE-based workshop.

METHODS

This inductive thematic analysis study was conducted on senior medical and health students at the Colleges of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Health Sciences, and Pharmacy of UoS. During an online workshop, students discussed plausible solutions for four real practice-based clinical scenarios with elements of unsafe healthcare practices. During the breakout rooms, the students exhibited high level of articulation and proactively participated in discussions. The data from the online workshop were transcribed and then coding, categorizing, and labelling of recurrent themes were carried out. Multiple individual deliberations, consolidation, incorporation of the identified preliminary themes, and merging and reorganizing sub-themes led to a final thematic framework.

RESULTS

This work delved into the perspectives of 248 students regarding teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and other aspects concerning PS in interprofessional settings in an online workshop. The iterative process of data transcription, curating and qualitative analysis surfaced 32 codes. Later, the inductive themaric analysis yielded five themes with distinct yet interconnected nested subthemes in the context of PS in IPE settings. These themes of information sharing and grounding (problem-solving, social skills), maintaining communication (clinical reasoning, shared mental model), executing interprofessional activities (collaborative practice, collaboration scripts), professional cognitive abilities (cognitive maturity, metacognition), and negotiating professional identities (systematic change, socio-economic scaffolding) emerged as fundamental pillars for enhancing PS in healthcare.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated the outcome of an innovative and team-based workshop which embedded PS within a scaffold of IPE environment. This research calls for incorporation of the emerging areas of clinical reasoning, problem solving, collaborative practice, and shared mental model into medical curricula for structured IPE in improving PS domains in medical education. These findings underscore the need for multifaceted dimensions of IPE imperatives for cultivating collaborative competence.