An Open-Source Curriculum to Teach Practical Academic Research Skills
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lee J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10513130 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:IntroductionBurnout in medical students is extensive and a critical issue. It is associated with increased rates of depression, suicide, and poor perception of the educational environment. Enhancing resilience, the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, is a potential tool to mitigate burnout and improve medical student wellness.MethodsOur resilience curriculum consisted of facilitated workshops to cultivate resilience in medical students during their core clerkship rotations. This curriculum served as an introduction to the concept of resilience and taught skills to cultivate resilience and promote wellness. The sessions allowed for identification of and reflection on stressors in the clinical learning environment, including straining team dynamics, disappointment, and uncertainty. Educational sessions included resilience skill-building exercises for managing expectations, letting go of negative emotions, dealing with setbacks, and finding meaning in daily work. Associated materials included lesson plans for small-group facilitators, learner pre- and postcurriculum surveys, and a social media activity guide.ResultsThis curriculum was delivered to 144 clerkship students at two academic institutions over the 2017-2018 academic year. Sessions were well received by medical students, with the majority of students stating that the sessions should continue. The majority of attendees found the sessions valuable and learned new ways to approach challenges.DiscussionStudents valued connecting with peers and feeling less alone through their participation. A challenge was constructing a setting conducive to comfortable reflection for all learners. Not all students found these sessions necessary. Sessions may have improved resilience levels.
| S-EPMC7526502 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC11628916 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionExisting scholarly curricula often underemphasize basic research skills and do not address the individual learning needs of residents, whose level of prior exposure to research concepts varies widely. A supplemental educational experience was developed to address educational gaps in a family medicine residency curriculum, including systematic exploration and interpretation of the medical literature, development and exploration of clinically pertinent questions, and development of residents' written communication skills.MethodsA 2-week, online, self-directed research curriculum was developed. The five-module curriculum included (I) Research Methods and Data Analysis, (II) Article Review, (III) Board Review, (IV) Literature Search, and (V) Literature Review and Proposal. Two years after implementation, residents who completed the curriculum were surveyed to assess the overall rotation and its success in meeting learning objectives.ResultsEighteen residents completed the new rotation and demonstrated objectives through assignment completion and review. Additionally, residents reported improved skills on all objectives and were satisfied with the new curriculum and its self-led, online format. Those planning to do research after graduation were more likely to report several benefits from the rotation, including learning more about data analyses and being more likely to complete a future scholarly project.DiscussionAn online, self-directed curriculum can provide a feasible and effective educational approach to efficient use of faculty and resident time, allowing time to be focused on resident-specific knowledge gaps and learning needs, rather than presenting all learning material uniformly. The online, accessible format aligned with residents' existing reliance on the internet as a primary information source.
| S-EPMC6346278 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundResponsiveness to citizens as users of technological innovation helps motivate translational research and commercial engagement among academics. Yet, retaining citizen trust and support for research encourages caution in pursuit of commercial science.ObjectivesWe explore citizen expectations of the specifically academic nature of commercial science [i.e. academic entrepreneurship (AE)] and the influence of conflict of interest concerns, hopes about practical benefits and general beliefs.Design, setting and participantsWe conducted a cross-sectional national opinion survey of 1002 Canadians online in 2010.ResultsApproval of AE was moderate (mean 3.2/5, SD 0.84), but varied by entrepreneurial activity. Concern about conflict of interests (COI) was moderate (mean 2.9/5, SD 0.86) and varied by type of concern. An ordinary least-squares regression showed that expectations of practical benefits informed support for AE, specifically that academic-industry collaboration can better address real-world problems; conflict of interest concerns were insignificant.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that citizens support AE for its potential to produce practical benefits, but enthusiasm varies and is reduced for activities that may prioritize private over public interests. Further, support exists despite concern about COI, perhaps due to trust in the academic research context. For user engagement in research priority setting, these findings suggest the need to attend to the commercial nature of translational science. For research policy, they suggest the need for governance arrangements for responsible innovation, which can sustain public trust in academic research, and realize the practical benefits that inform public support for AE.
| S-EPMC5810666 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMedical schools have undergone a period of continual curricular change in recent years, particularly with regard to pre-clinical education. While these changes have many benefits for students, the impact on faculty is less clear.MethodsIn this study, faculty motivation to teach in the pre-clinical medical curriculum was examined using self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework. Basic science and clinical faculty were surveyed on factors impacting their motivation to teach using validated scales of motivation as well as open-ended questions which were coded using self-determination theory (SDT) as a guiding framework.ResultsFaculty reported that teaching activities often meet their basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Professors were more likely than associate professors to report that teaching met their need for autonomy. Faculty were more motivated by intrinsic as compared to external factors, although basic science faculty were more likely than clinical faculty to be motivated by external factors. Motivating and de-motivating factors fell into the themes Resources, Recognition and Rewards, Student Factors, Self-Efficacy, Curriculum, Contribution, and Enjoyment. The majority of factors tied to the faculty's need for relatedness. Based on these findings, a conceptual model for understanding medical school faculty motivation to teach was developed.ConclusionsAssessing faculty motivation to teach provided valuable insights into how faculty relate to their teaching roles and what factors influence them to continue in those roles. This information may be useful in guiding future faculty development and research efforts.
| S-EPMC9096333 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A theoretical equilibrium lead(II) (Pb(II)) solubility model coded in Fortran (LEADSOL) was updated and implemented in open source R code, verified against LEADSOL output, and used to simulate theoretical equilibrium total soluble Pb(II) (TOTSOLPb) concentrations under a variety of practical scenarios. The developed R code file (app.R) is publicly available for download at GitHub (https://github.com/USEPA/TELSS) along with instructions to run the R code locally, allowing the user to explore Pb(II) solubility by selecting desired simulation conditions (e.g., water quality, equilibrium constants, and Pb(II) solids to consider). In addition, the R code serves as a reproducible baseline for alternative model development and future model improvements, allowing users to update, modify, and share the R code to meet their needs. Using the R code, several solubility diagrams were generated to highlight practical relationships related to TOTSOLPb concentrations, including the impact of pH and dissolved inorganic carbon, orthophosphate, sulfate, and chloride concentrations.
| S-EPMC8686272 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionNew legislation allows patients (with permitted exceptions) to read their clinical notes, leading to both benefits and ethical dilemmas. Medical students need a robust curriculum to learn documentation skills within this challenging context. We aimed to teach note-writing skills through a patient-centered lens with special consideration for the impact on patients and providers. We developed this session for first-year medical students within their foundational clinical skills course to place bias-free language at the forefront of how they learn to construct a medical note.MethodsOne hundred seventy-three first-year medical and dental students participated in this curriculum. They completed an asynchronous presession module first, followed by a 2-hour synchronous workshop including a didactic, student-led discussion and sample patient note exercise. Students were subsequently responsible throughout the year for constructing patient-centered notes, graded by faculty with a newly developed rubric and checklist of best practices.ResultsOn postworkshop surveys, learners reported increased preparedness in their ability to document in a patient-centered manner (presession M = 2.2, midyear M = 3.9, p < .001), as rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not prepared at all, 5 = very prepared), and also found this topic valuable to learn early in their training.DiscussionThis curriculum utilizes a multipart approach to prepare learners to employ clinical notes to communicate with patients and providers, with special attention to how patients and their care partners receive a note. Future directions include expanding the curriculum to higher levels of learning and validating the developed materials.
| S-EPMC10963659 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionFollowing the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision, it is increasingly important for all providers to be equipped to counsel on contraceptive options. Current curricula are insufficient for medical students to attain competency in contraceptive counseling. Quality contraceptive counseling requires patient-centered communication skills, which are also critical in many other clinical scenarios. Systematic teaching of patient-centered communication is lacking, both in contraceptive counseling and more broadly.MethodsWe developed a person-centered contraceptive counseling curriculum containing a reference guide, 5- to 10-minute interactive online module, and 30-minute formative standardized patient session for clerkship-year medical students. Performance during formative sessions was evaluated using a checklist, with standardized patients and preceptors providing real-time feedback. We used surveys of knowledge, self-perceived skills, and attitudes about patient-centered counseling to compare students who did and did not receive the curriculum.ResultsTwenty-seven students received the new curriculum. The reference guide and online module were easily integrated into a clinical rotation without requiring additional time spent by educators. The formative session required more resources to implement but was valuable for students to solidify the communication skills in the new curriculum. Checklist results showed that students demonstrated many of the counseling skills taught in the module. Survey results about the impact of the new curriculum were promising but limited by the small sample size.DiscussionThe curriculum successfully introduced patient-centered contraceptive counseling skills and provided a valuable practice opportunity. Other sites could adapt components of this curriculum to enhance education in person-centered contraceptive counseling.
| S-EPMC10728363 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent developments in computer science and digital image processing have enabled the extraction of an individual's heart pulsations from pixel changes in recorded video images of human skin surfaces. This method is termed remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) and can be achieved with consumer-level cameras (e.g., a webcam or mobile camera). The goal of the present publication is two-fold. First, we aim to organize future rPPG software developments in a tractable and nontechnical manner, such that the public gains access to a basic open-source rPPG code, comes to understand its utility, and can follow its most recent progressions. The second goal is to investigate rPPG's accuracy in detecting heart rates from the skin surfaces of several body parts after physical exercise and under ambient lighting conditions with a consumer-level camera. We report that rPPG is highly accurate when the camera is aimed at facial skin tissue, but that the heart rate recordings from wrist regions are less reliable, and recordings from the calves are unreliable. Facial rPPG remained accurate despite the high heart rates after exercise. The proposed research procedures and the experimental findings provide guidelines for future studies on rPPG.
| S-EPMC6797647 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC10959533 | biostudies-literature