A method for rewarding collaborative efforts in preclinical assessments.

Basic science courses are extremely important as a foundation for scaffolding knowledge and then applying it in future courses, clinical situations as well as in a professional career. Anatomical sciences, which include tooth morphology, oral histology, oral embryology, and head and neck anatomy form a core part of the preclinical courses in dental technology programs. In this article, the importance and relevance of anatomical sciences to dental personnel with no direct contact with patients (dental technicians) and limited discipline related contact with patients (dental prosthetists) is highlighted. Some light is shed on the role of anatomical sciences in the pedagogical framework and its significance in the educational process and interprofessional learning of dental technicians and prosthetists using oral biology as an example in the dental curriculum. To conclude, anatomical sciences allow dental technicians and prosthetists to a gain a better insight of how tissues function, leading to a better understanding of diagnosis, comprehensive treatment planning and referrals if needed. Patient communication and satisfaction also increases as a result of this deep understanding of oral tissues. Anatomical sciences bridge the gap between basic science, preclinical, and clinical courses, which leads to a holistic approach in patient management. Finally, treatment outcomes are positively affected due to the appreciation of the macro and micro structure of oral tissues. Anat Sci Educ 10: 395-404. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

In the Institute of Medicines report Dental Education at the Crossroads, it was suggested that dental schools across the country move toward integrated basic science education for dental and medical students in their curricula. To do so, dental school admission requirements and recommendations must be closely reviewed to ensure that students are adequately prepared for this coursework. The purpose of our study was twofold: 1) to identify student dentists' perceptions of their predental preparation as it relates to course content, and 2) to track student dentists' undergraduate basic science course preparation and relate that to DAT performance, basic science course performance in dental school, and Part I and Part II National Board performance. In the first part of the research, a total of ninety student dentists (forty-five from each class) from the entering classes of 1996 and 1997 were asked to respond to a survey. The survey instrument was distributed to each class of students after each completed the largest basic science class given in their second-year curriculum. The survey investigated the area of undergraduate major, a checklist of courses completed in their undergraduate preparation, the relevance of the undergraduate classes to the block basic science courses, and the strength of requiring or recommending the listed undergraduate courses as a part of admission to dental school. Results of the survey, using frequency analysis, indicate that students felt that the following classes should be required, not recommended, for admission to dental school: Microbiology 70 percent, Biochemistry 54.4 percent, Immunology 57.78 percent, Anatomy 50 percent, Physiology 58.89 percent, and Cell Biology 50 percent. The second part of the research involved anonymously tracking undergraduate basic science preparation of the same students with DAT scores, the grade received in a representative large basic science course, and Part I and Part II National Board performance. Using T-test analysis correlations, results indicate that having completed multiple undergraduate basic science courses (as reported by AADSAS BCP hours) did not significantly (p < .05) enhance student performance in any of these parameters. Based on these results, we conclude that student dentists with undergraduate preparation in science and nonscience majors can successfully negotiate the dental school curriculum, even though the students themselves would increase admission requirements to include more basic science courses than commonly required. Basically, the students' recommendations for required undergraduate basic science courses would replicate the standard basic science coursework found in most dental schools: anatomy, histology, biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, and immunology plus the universal foundation course of biology.

Today’s sprouting medical technology demands that students are more innovative in their approach towards medical practice. Problem based learning (PBL) has proven to be one of the most efficacious disciplines aimed at improving problem-solving skills and self-directed learning. The objective of this study was to review students’ perspectives on the implementation and effectiveness of PBL at Avalon University School of Medicine (AUSOM). A cross-sectional questionnaires survey was conducted among basic science students with qualitative and quantitative questionnaires. The response recorded and the data analysed using Stata-15 (StataCorp LLC). Most students believed PBL was beneficial to learning. 82.18% (n=83) agreed that they benefited from PBL and 91.09 % (n=92) were in concordance PBL provided a positive learning environment to enhance their understanding. The most important objectives of PBL identified by the students were to improve the presentation skills, enhance depth of understanding and develop critical thinking. PBL is helpful in improving students understanding of the basic medical science courses, allowing for self-improvement. PBL allows students to actively engage in the collaborative active learning process. It is imperative PBL should be introduced early in pre-clinical years and implemented effectively to enhance the learning environment with the favourable outcome.

Background: Anatomy is one of the most important and basic medical science courses in the basic sciences. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of anatomy in clinical practice from the viewpoint of intern and extern medical students in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Methods: A descriptive study was performed in the year 2017-2018 in which 238 medical student’s (clerkship and internship) were selected by census sampling method in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The instrument was a three-part questionnaire which was used after confirmation of validity and reliability. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software and T-test (ANOVA, Chi-Square). Results: The mean and standard deviation of students' viewpoint on the aim of anatomy study to improve the specialized skills required (1.80±1.37), clinical importance of anatomy course (1.47±1.42), and importance of anatomy course in medical field(1.42±1.29), that not significant (p>0.05). The mean and standard deviation of male and female students' viewpoint on the method of teaching of anatomy course from the viewpoint of male and female students was respectively, review the theoretical subjects in practical classes (1.43 ± 0.72) and (1.66 ± 0.58), Sincere approach and decorated appearance of the professor(1/56±0.72) and (1/161±0.60), Simultaneous teaching of clinical and applied materials along with theoretical subjects(1/05±0.57) and (1/26±0.57), using the body mass and mass (1±0.52) and (1/21±0.53), which showed a significant difference (p <0.05). Conclusion: The planning for better training in anatomy courses and application of anatomical information to medical students in interships and its stagers is necessary to improve students specialized skills.

Aim: This study aims to assess the impact of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) on the academic learning process of 2nd and 3rd-year medical students in their pre-clinical years.&#x0D; Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.&#x0D; Place and Duration of Study: Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, between May 2018 and July 2018.&#x0D; Methodology: Using a standardized semi-structured questionnaire, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to obtain data from 53 undergraduate medical students (8 males, 45 females; age range 17-25 years), which were collated and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0 statistical package.&#x0D; Results: The mean age of respondents was 15±2 SD. There are more females n=45 (84.9%) than males n=8 (15.1%). Out of the respondents, 50.9% agreed that PBL has helped them in learning and understanding basic medical science courses, 17.1% disagreed, while 28.6% were uncertain. When asked if PBL helped them in preparing for pre-clinical examinations, 38.2% disagree, while 32.4% said it helped them. Evidence from the in-depth interview (IDI) shows that some of the stated usefulness includes; making studying for examinations easier, boosting confidence level, a better understanding of lectures and clinical cases, among others. However, a few of them responded that it was not helpful.&#x0D; Conclusion: Findings showed that the use of PBL has a significant and positive impact on the academic learning processes of pre-clinical medical students of Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja.

Careful design of study plan is a key element of any successful educational program. Till 2018 Ministry of Health of Ukraine regulated the structure of Pharmacy study plans through the adoption of unified Ministerial study plan. Now the responsibility of educational programs and corre- sponding study plans design in Ukraine is fully transferred to universities. The purpose of this study is to compare the structure and content of pharmacy study plans in Visegrad Group countries with the most recent unified Pharmacy study plan in Ukraine. Methods. The official documents of Warsaw Medical University, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Charles University, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Comenius University, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice, Semmelweis University and University of Debrecen were studied and data on required courses and corresponding ECTS credits extracted and compared with Ukrainian study plan. Results. Ukrainian unified study plan in Pharmacy pays much more attention to Humanity, Social and Economics section (9 ECTS credits plus 6 ECTS credits of Foreign Language), Computer and IT skills (8 ECTS credits), Hygiene and Ecology (3 ECTS credits), Life Safety, Labor Safety and Bioethics (6 ECTS credits in total), Extreme Medicine and Military Training (6 ECTS credits in total), Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry (4 ECTS credits), Organization and Economics of Pharma- cy, Pharmaceutical Management and Marketing (12 ECTS credits in total) as compared to foreign universities. While natural science courses receive less ECTS credits in Ukraine, and some courses in rapidly evolving sciences like Molecular Biology, Immunology or Clinical Biochemistry are sig- nificantly underrepresented. Conclusions. The Pharmacy study plans of Visegrad Group universities show greater similarity with each other and tend to differ from the Ukrainian Ministerial study plan. The necessary steps to harmonize Pharmacy study plans of Ukrainian universities with V4 coun- tries include the introduction of Molecular Biology, Immunology, Clinical Biochemistry courses, and strengthening the basic medical and chemical science courses like Human Anatomy and Physiology, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Pharmacology, Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

The authors explored the extent to which medical schools have established institutional and departmentalized educational objectives, by examining the accreditation databases, institutional self-studies, and site visit reports of 59 schools surveyed by the Liaison Committee on medical Education (LCME) in 1994-1996. In this study, the individual school was the unit of analysis, and the dependent variables were statements--in outcomes' terms--of institutional and departmental learning objectives. Objectives were classified as "robust" when they were expressed as measurable learning outcomes in the domains of knowledge and skills and behaviors. Departmental objectives were assessed separately for core basic science courses and clinical clerkships. A number of independent variables were studied for their association with the elaboration of outcomes-based educational objectives: centralized management of the curriculum, curricular reform, an office of education, an institutionalized faculty development program, problem-based learning, interdisciplinary teaching, systematized assessment of educational outcomes, and structured clinical skills assessment. Of the 59 schools, 15 (25%) had robust institutional objectives that identified items of measurable knowledge, skills, and behavior, while 44 (75%) had modest objectives, usually descriptions of the purpose of the curriculum, global statements about the knowledge and behavior qualities that students should acquire, and the subjects that instructors intended to tech. Schools with well-articulated learning outcomes were more likely to have centralized management of the curriculum, a record of curricular reform, a program of problem-based learning, rich basic science course and clerkship objectives, and structured assessment of students' clinical skills. Well-stated and diverse educational objectives were found for basic science courses in only 13 of the 59 schools (22%). Thirty of the schools (51%) had clerkships with robust learning objectives, more commonly in the generalist specialties of pediatrics, family medicine, and internal medicine. Clerkships with stout objectives more often employed structured assessments of students' clinical skills. Schools that paid attention to the explication of learning objectives were more likely to link specific institutional and departmentalized outcomes with methods of evaluating students, in turn guiding the content and methods of instruction. Schools with vapid objectives attracted 40% more accreditation citations for shortcomings in curricular management, course and clerkship quality, and the evaluation of student achievement, especially in the clinical skills domain. In the future, accreditors should focus more closely on this association.

Curriculum mapping is the process of indexing or diagramming a curriculum for purposes of improving the overall coherence and effectiveness of a course of study. A well‐designed curriculum map should ensure appropriate coverage of content, align teaching and learning with curriculum goals, improve integration across the curriculum, and facilitate demonstration of outcomes to stakeholders and accrediting agencies. The University of South Florida developed a novel electronic curriculum management database through process workflows that allows us to map entrustable professional activities, program objectives, course objectives, session objectives, keywords, hours per session, and assessments across our integrated medical school curriculum. In addition, we mapped national discipline‐specific core competencies to each session. The overall goal was to determine how well and to what extent we are matching content that students are actually taught with the academic expectations described in the learning objectives. The aims of mapping at this granular level were to: 1) identify gaps and redundancies; 2) evaluate horizontal and vertical integration of content; and 3) identify how much content is covered vs national core competencies. Once all course data for academic year 2017–2018 was entered by course/clerkship directors into the database, 11 integration directors specializing in 16 disciplines reviewed the session objectives for 942 sessions within 20 required courses in parallel with reviewing posted PowerPoint slides or other teaching material. Each session was tagged with national core competencies ("content objectives") for each discipline. For physiology, we based national core competencies on the Medical Physiology Learning Objectives developed by the American Physiological Society/Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology. A total of 1002 physiology content objectives were entered into the database, of which 754 (75%) were mapped to sessions and 248 (25%) were unmapped (i.e. not covered in the curriculum). Of the mapped content objectives, physiology competencies were addressed in 274 sessions (30%) within 15 courses (75%). As expected, physiology competencies were covered predominantly in pre‐clerkship basic medical science courses and doctoring. However, physiology competencies were also identified in all 5 clerkships (adult medicine, psychiatry/neurology, surgical care, primary care, and maternal‐newborn pediatrics). These analytics allowed us to demonstrate that even though physiology competencies may not be part of course or session objectives per se, faculty are teaching and reviewing physiology concepts across the entire curriculum. For the 248 unmapped content objectives, the next step will be to evaluate why they are not being taught (e.g. why are only 7 of the 17 core competencies in integration &amp; exercise physiology mapped?). In conclusion, incorporating discipline‐specific competencies into the curriculum map is a useful tool to identify gaps and redundancies and evaluate integration of content. It also fostered communication between faculty, course/clerkship directors and administrators to really think about what is being taught and how to improve our curriculum.

We investigated the study strategies of first and second year medical students and tested the associations between study habits and performances in their basic science courses. Upon completion of every basic science course, students completed a survey ranking the study strategies they utilized throughout each course. Results of a principle component analysis showed that study strategies clustered into one of three study factors: “rote” learning, “constructive” learning, or “review” learning. Each of these study factors comprised related study strategies. Students tended to use “constructive” strategies predominantly, but altered their study habits based on content delivered in specific courses. Trends emerged indicating negative correlations for “rote” learning and course performance whereas there were positive correlations for “constructive” learning and course performance. Courses where “constructive” learning had the greatest effects also tended to have the greatest number of questions that required “constructive” reasoning on the final exam.

Live lecture remains a ubiquitous form of knowledge delivery in preclinical medical education. However, voluntary live lecture attendance has markedly decreased at several medical schools. This case-control study examined the effect of live lecture attendance on academic achievement in selected basic science courses. Cases (n = 174) were defined as students with below average examination scores, and controls (n = 198) were defined as students with above average examination scores. The exposure was absenteeism, which was defined as attending live lecture less than 75% of total live lecture sessions. Second-year and third-year students reported self-estimated frequency regarding live lecture attendance, and they estimated the time spent engaged in various behaviors during live lectures. Absenteeism was identified as a significant risk factor for having below average score in preclinical medical science courses with a 2.34-fold risk (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.27-4.33). Distracting behavior more than 25% of live lecture time was a factor with non-significantly increased risk for having below average score (1.36-fold risk, 95% CI: 0.86-2.13). Absenteeism was compellingly associated with poorer examination performance among medical students in basic science medical courses. Preclinical medical students should be encouraged to attend live lectures as often as possible.

Introduction: In recent years curriculum reform and integration was done in many medical schools. The integrated curriculum is a popular concept all over the world. In Shiraz medical school, the reform was initiated by stablishing the horizontal basic science integration model and Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) for undergraduate medical education. The purpose of this study was to provide the required data for the program evaluation of this curriculum for undergraduate medical students, using CIPP program evaluation model. Methods: This study is an analytic descriptive and triangulation mixed method study which was carried out in Shiraz Medical School in 2012, based on the views of professors of basic sciences courses and first and second year medical students. The study evaluated the quality of the relationship between basic sciences and clinical courses and the method of presenting such courses based on the Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model. The tools for collecting data, both quantitatively and qualitatively, were some questionnaires, content analysis of portfolios, semi- structured interview and brain storming sessions. For quantitative data analysis, SPSS software, version 14, was used. Results:In the context evaluation by modified DREEM questionnaire, 77.75%of the students believed that this educational system encourages them to actively participate in classes. Course schedule and atmosphere of class were reported suitable by 87.81% and 83.86% of students. In input domain that was measured by a researcher made questionnaire, the facilities for education were acceptable except for shortage of cadavers. In process evaluation, the quality of integrated modules presentation and Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) was good from the students’ viewpoint. In product evaluation, students’ brain storming, students’ portfolio and semi-structured interview with faculties were done, showing some positive aspects of integration and some areas that need improvement. Conclusion: The main advantage of assessing an educational program based on CIPP evaluation model is that the context, input, process and product of the program are viewed and evaluated systematically. This will help the educational authorities to make proper decisions based on the weaknesses and strengths of the program on its continuation, cessation and revision. Based on the results of this study, the integrated basic sciences course for undergraduate medical students in Shiraz Medical School is at a desirable level. However, attempts to improve or reform some sections and continual evaluation of the program and its accreditation seem to be necessary.

Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University

— New medical graduates were recruited during their internship programme biochemistry in their 'traditional' basic science course. It f r o m 10 teaching hospital s for a cross - sectional study, carried out in Riyadh area, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . A total of 200 participants were included in the study. All the p articipants filled out the study questionnaire . The questionnaire contained 10 basic B iochemistry questions that the graduates were supposed to recall answers for those questions from their prior knowledge . Other information included were gender, medical s chool attended, year of graduation, training hospital, whether preparing for board examination such as USMLE and PLAB. R esults revealed that out of the 200 participants recruited for this study , 124 were males and 76 were females. 26% of the participants g raduated from medical schools adopting PBL curriculum whereas 74% were from traditional medical schools. Less than

The basic science courses in occupational therapy programs, though challenging must be mastered if students are to have the necessary foundation for success in theoretical and skills courses. This study was designed to determine the relative contribution of several types of admissions data in predicting the success of junior students in the first term of a human anatomy and physiology course. Overall GPA, science GPA, science credits, scores on the Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test and Nelson-Denny Reading Test, and type of school attended were significantly correlated with the grades achieved in the course (46% of the total variance in grades on a multiple-regression analysis). Overall GPA and type of school attended were the best predictors of grades (37% of the variance). This important predictive information can aid in identifying students who require additional academic development.

This book is the outgrowth of the<i>Basic Science Course in Orthoptics</i>, originated by the American Orthoptic Council in 1953, and later expanded to include general ophthalmic assistants. This course has been given at the University of Iowa (where the three editors reside) for 18 years. Of the 34 contributors, 18 are MDs. Except for the chapters on visual optics by Paul Boeder and on genetics by G. Frank Judisch, this book is a practical manual for the ophthalmic paramedic with much of the material in outline form. Strabismus and orthoptics take up less than one third of the book. The numerous illustrations include most ophthalmic instruments. Fifty-seven pages are devoted to basic science, 45 pages to glaucoma, external diseases, and strabismus in systemic diseases, and 21 pages to discussion of the pupil, nystagmus, and dyslexia. This book would seem to be a faithful record of<i>The Basic Science Course</i>