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Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement

Despite the importance of effective communication skills in pediatrics, clinical placements may inadequately prepare undergraduate students to communicate with children. The integration of non-clinical interactions with healthy children within a pediatric curriculum has the potential to enhance lear...

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Autores principales: Sullivan, Clare, Condron, Claire, Mulhall, Claire, Almulla, Mohammad, Kelly, Maria, O'Leary, Daire, Eppich, Walter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8931532/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35311060
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.834825
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author Sullivan, Clare
Condron, Claire
Mulhall, Claire
Almulla, Mohammad
Kelly, Maria
O'Leary, Daire
Eppich, Walter
author_facet Sullivan, Clare
Condron, Claire
Mulhall, Claire
Almulla, Mohammad
Kelly, Maria
O'Leary, Daire
Eppich, Walter
author_sort Sullivan, Clare
collection PubMed
description Despite the importance of effective communication skills in pediatrics, clinical placements may inadequately prepare undergraduate students to communicate with children. The integration of non-clinical interactions with healthy children within a pediatric curriculum has the potential to enhance learning. We designed and implemented a novel course involving experiential learning, including video-recorded consultations with simulated parents (SPs), team-based scenarios with a pediatric mannequin, interactions with healthy children through a pre-school visit and medical student led health workshops for primary school children. Medical students at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences took part in the course. We used a mixed methods approach to assess the impact of the course. We investigated medical students' perspectives through a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire and post-intervention focus group discussions (FGDs). We assessed participating children's health literacy at the start of the course. 144/279 (51.6%) of the fourth year medical student cohort on their pediatric rotation, consented to participate in the study. All 144 (100%) of consenting students completed the pre-intervention questionnaire. 59/144 (40.1%) of consenting students completed the post-intervention questionnaire. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in ratings (p < 0.05) for items related to managing a confrontational situation involving family members, completing a psychosocial assessment with an adolescent and effectiveness using evidence-based medicine (EBM) when motivating patients. There was a statistically significant decrease in how students rated their comfort at using EBM when motivating patients. Four themes relating to how students experienced the intervention were identified from eight FGDs (n = 35 students): Shaping Student Learning; Supporting Student Learning; Developing New Skills and Feeling More Prepared. 39/49 (79.6%) children completed a health literacy assessment. All questions had a high percentage of positive responses. Question 7, understanding your doctor, had the highest proportion of negative responses (27%). Ours is one of the first studies to design an educational intervention to enhance pediatrics teaching by combining interactions with healthy children outside of a clinical setting with more traditional simulation-based approaches. We conclude that this type of intervention supports students' learning of pediatric communication skills and enhances students' perceived preparation for clinical placement.
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spelling pubmed-89315322022-03-19 Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement Sullivan, Clare Condron, Claire Mulhall, Claire Almulla, Mohammad Kelly, Maria O'Leary, Daire Eppich, Walter Front Pediatr Pediatrics Despite the importance of effective communication skills in pediatrics, clinical placements may inadequately prepare undergraduate students to communicate with children. The integration of non-clinical interactions with healthy children within a pediatric curriculum has the potential to enhance learning. We designed and implemented a novel course involving experiential learning, including video-recorded consultations with simulated parents (SPs), team-based scenarios with a pediatric mannequin, interactions with healthy children through a pre-school visit and medical student led health workshops for primary school children. Medical students at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences took part in the course. We used a mixed methods approach to assess the impact of the course. We investigated medical students' perspectives through a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire and post-intervention focus group discussions (FGDs). We assessed participating children's health literacy at the start of the course. 144/279 (51.6%) of the fourth year medical student cohort on their pediatric rotation, consented to participate in the study. All 144 (100%) of consenting students completed the pre-intervention questionnaire. 59/144 (40.1%) of consenting students completed the post-intervention questionnaire. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in ratings (p < 0.05) for items related to managing a confrontational situation involving family members, completing a psychosocial assessment with an adolescent and effectiveness using evidence-based medicine (EBM) when motivating patients. There was a statistically significant decrease in how students rated their comfort at using EBM when motivating patients. Four themes relating to how students experienced the intervention were identified from eight FGDs (n = 35 students): Shaping Student Learning; Supporting Student Learning; Developing New Skills and Feeling More Prepared. 39/49 (79.6%) children completed a health literacy assessment. All questions had a high percentage of positive responses. Question 7, understanding your doctor, had the highest proportion of negative responses (27%). Ours is one of the first studies to design an educational intervention to enhance pediatrics teaching by combining interactions with healthy children outside of a clinical setting with more traditional simulation-based approaches. We conclude that this type of intervention supports students' learning of pediatric communication skills and enhances students' perceived preparation for clinical placement. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8931532/ /pubmed/35311060 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.834825 Text en Copyright © 2022 Sullivan, Condron, Mulhall, Almulla, Kelly, O'Leary and Eppich. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Pediatrics
Sullivan, Clare
Condron, Claire
Mulhall, Claire
Almulla, Mohammad
Kelly, Maria
O'Leary, Daire
Eppich, Walter
Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title_full Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title_fullStr Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title_full_unstemmed Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title_short Preparing for Pediatrics: Experiential Learning Helps Medical Students Prepare for Their Clinical Placement
title_sort preparing for pediatrics: experiential learning helps medical students prepare for their clinical placement
topic Pediatrics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8931532/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35311060
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.834825
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