Article of the Month

Stethoscope and book

  • May, 2012
  • Applying the science of learning to medical education, Richard E. Mayer. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning is an information processing explanation of how people learn from words and pictures. It is based on the idea that people have separate channels for processing words and pictures, that the capacity to process information in working memory is limited, and that meaningful learning requires appropriate cognitive processing during learning.

  • April, 2012
  • Faculty Development for Postgraduate Education– The Road Ahead

  • February, 2012
  • It’s NOT rocket science: rethinking our metaphors forresearch in health professions education, Glenn Regehr.  This article discusses the divide between applied and theory-building research in health professions education. The author argues that the tenets used in scientific research may not be appropriate for applied research. Instead of focusing on the imperative of proof, educational research should strive for an imperative of understanding. As well, an imperative of complexity should replace the imperative of simplicity strived for in scientific literature. The author concludes that applying more appropriate models to educational research will allow us to achieve greater understanding in this area. 
  • January, 2012
  • Applying multimedia design principles enhances learning in medical education, Issa N, Schuller M, Santacaterina S, Shapiro M, Wang E, Mayer RE, DaRosa DA. 
  • December, 2011
    Teacher-student relationships in medical education: Boundary considerations, S. Michael Plaut & Dennis Baker. Personal and situational risk factors may make teachers or students more prone to cross healthy boundaries. Education about boundary issues, including discussion of case vignettes, may help build awareness and thus help foster more balanced teacher–student relationships.

  • November, 2011
  • The Lecture System in Teaching Science, Robert T. Morrison, New York University.  This is one instructor's reflections on why he doesn't believe in the lecture system. 
  • July, 2011 
  • The replacement of 'paper' cases by interactive online virtual patients in problem-based learning, Terry Poulton, Emily Conradi, Sheetal Kavia, Jonathan Round, and Sean Hilton.  To counter the limitation that paper cases are linear and do not allow students to explore the consequences of decisions, interactive online virtual patients (VPs) were developed which allowed students to consider options as the cases unfold, and allow studuents to explore the consequences of their actions.  St. George's University of London (SGUL) is now adapting its transitional year between the early campus years and the clinical attachment years.  This will include the integration of all technology-based resources with face-to-face learning and create a more adaptive, personalised, comptency-based style of learning. 

  • June, 2011
    The case for urgent change in higher education: Time for adoption of evidence based teaching and learning, Adrian Lee, University of New South Wales.  An urgency in addressing university teaching led to the identification of five major barriers to the adoption of effective teaching practices in higher education:

    1. 1.  Lack of leadership at senior management level such that research is perceived as being significantly more valued than teaching
    2. 2.  Institutional reward systems that focus primarily on research productivity when academics present for tenure or promotion
    3. 3.  Long established practices, norms and beliefs shaped by the experience of faculty members beginning in graduate school
    4.       and through their induction, socialisation and ongoing careers as faculty members
    5. 4.   Faculty lack knowledge about evidence-based learning methods
    6. 5.   Lack of practical and effective mechanisms for professional development of faculty regarding teaching

    May, 2011
    Racial discrimination & health: Pathways & evidence, Ahmed, A.T., Mohammed, S.A., & Williams, D.R.  This article is an overview of the growing body of research examining the ways in which psychosocial stress generated by subjective experiences of discrimination can affect health.

    April, 2011
    The Treachery of Images: How René Magritte Informs Medical Education, Wear and Zarconi, 2010.  This article questions the role of competencies-based education and calls for more ‘naked’ teaching unattached to competencies.

    March, 2011
    How can experience in clinical and community settings contribute to early medical education? A BEME systematic review, Dornan et al., 2006. This is a BEME review of the outcomes of early clinical exposure/experiences in Medical Education.  Although a modestly old document, in light of plans for the College of Medicine to incorporate early clinical experiences into the curriculum in a more formal way, this article will help to inform the doubtful and unaware and support change agents.  

    January, 2011
    Evaluating pelvic examination training: Does faculty involvement make a difference? A randomized controlled trial, Pradhan et al., 2010.  As medical schools continue to strive to deliver high quality education with diminishing resources, the need to evaluate long-standing teaching techniques becomes imperative. The use of gynecological teaching associates to teach pelvic exam skills to medical students is an example of an education intervention that deserves thorough evaluation. The objective was to evaluate effects of two pelvic examination training methods on OB/GYN clerkship students with respect to costs, students' performance, and perception. The two training methods produced comparable OSCE scores, and students in both groups felt more confident after training and found the training sessions to be valuable. There was a significant cost-savings associated with using GTAs for pelvic exam training.

    December, 2010
    What has changed in the evidence for early experience? Update of a BEME systematic review, Yardley et al., 2010.  This study reviews evidence published from 2002 to 2008 concerning early experience for healthcare undergraduates.

    November, 2010
    Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics, Gigerenzer et al., 2008.  This article provides "evidence that statistical illiteracy (a) is common to patients, journalists, and physicians; (b) is created by nontransparent framing of information that is sometimes an unintentional result of lack of understanding but can also be a result of intentional efforts to manipulate or persuade people; and (c) can have serious consequences for health".  Because statistical literacy is necessary for citizens to make informed health decisions based on accurately interpreting information, it needs to be an essential component of education for the public as well as those in the medical profession.  

    August, 2010
    Enhancing Evaluation in an Undergraduate Medical Education Program, Gibson et al., 2008.  Program evaluation strategy at the University of New South Wales

    July, 2010
    The Dreyfus model of clinical problem-solving skills acquisition: a critical perspective, Pena, 2009. The Dreyfus model describes how individuals progress through various levels in their acquisition of skills and subsumes ideas with regard to how individuals learn. Such a model is being accepted almost without debate from physicians to explain the acquisition of clinical skills.

    June, 2010
    Placing the Patient at the Core of Teaching, Muir, 2007.  Student focus groups indicated that (1) community-based education showed them real life in a home context; (2) early contact with a patient enabled them to have a better understanding of patient-centred medicine; and (3) meeting a patient early in their training infused reality and continuity to their careers and a clearer understanding of the patient's condition.  This article describes a patient shadowing program for undergrad medical students begun at the University of Dundee in 2005. 

    May, 2010
    The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning, Rohrer, D. & Taylor, K., 2007, discusses the results from two experiments analyzing the effects of blocked (standard format) versus randomly mixed practice, as well as massed (traditional) versus spaced (sessions which are taught over a period of time) instruction, in terms of retention.  The experiments support the theory that exam performance and retention improves with mixed or shuffled practice and spaced instruction/practice.

    April, 2010
    Medical Education for a Healthier Population: Reflections on the Flexner Report From a Public Health Perspective, reviews the progress of U.S. and Canadian medical schools in addressing public health-oriented principles in the context of contemporary societal health needs, provides an update on recent efforts to address what has long been perceived as a deficit in medical education (inadequate grounding of medical students in public health), and provides new recommendations on how to create important linkages between medical education and public health.