Planning and incorporating public health preparedness into the medical curriculum.

As part of a 2010 conference entitled "Patients and Populations: Public Health in Medical Education," faculty from four U.S. medical schools (Case Western Reserve University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the University of Vermont College of Medicine), collaborated on a workshop to help other medical educators develop scenario-based learning experiences as practical, engaging, and effective mechanisms for teaching public health principles to medical school students. This paper describes and compares four different medical schools' experiences using a similar pandemic exercise scenario, discusses lessons learned, and suggests a curricular framework for medical schools adding such exercises to their population health curriculum. Different strategies to create realistic scenarios and engage students, including use of professionals and stakeholders from the community, are described.

Effectiveness of lectures attended via interactive video conferencing versus in-person in preparing third-year internal medicine clerkship students for Clinical Practice Examinations (CPX).

BACKGROUND: The current practice in medical education is to place students at off-site locations. The effectiveness of these students attending remote lectures using interactive videoconferencing needs to be evaluated. PURPOSE: To determine whether lecture content covering clinical objectives is learned by medical students located at remote sites. METHODS: During the University of Vermont medicine clerkship, 52 medical students attended lectures both in person and via 2-way videoconferencing over a telemedicine network. The study used a crossover design, such that all students attended half of the lectures in person and half using videoconferencing. At the end of the clerkship, students were assessed via a Clinical Practice Examination (CPX), with each student completing 1 exam for material learned in person and 1 for material learned over telemedicine. RESULTS: Exam scores did not differ for the 2 lecture modes, with a mean score of 76% for lectures attended in person and a mean score of 78% for lectures attended via telemedicine (p = 0.66). CONCLUSIONS: Students learn content focused on clinical learning objectives as well using videoconferencing as they do in the traditional classroom setting.

Medical student evaluations of lectures attended in person or from rural sites via interactive videoconferencing.

BACKGROUND: Interactive videoconferencing may be an effective way for medical students on remote rotations to attend teaching sessions at the main campus. PURPOSE: To compare medical student evaluations of lectures for those attending in person and those attending through interactive videoconferencing. METHODS: Lecture evaluations were completed by medical students on University of Vermont College of Medicine clinical clerkship rotations. Students on clerkships at rural sites attended lectures using our telemedicine network. Responses from in-person and remote attendees were compared. RESULTS: Evaluation forms for 110 lectures were received from 648 in-person and 255 remote attendees. All evaluation items were rated "good" or "excellent" by at least 95% of in-person attendees. Over 90% of remote attendees rated nontelemedicine evaluation items, such as appropriateness of lecture topic for students, as good or excellent. Ratings of telemedicine-specific questions, such as ability to hear the lecturer, were lower. CONCLUSIONS: Level of satisfaction was high for most aspects of remote lecture attendance, although not quite as high as for in-person attendance. Improved technical reliability would likely increase remote attendee satisfaction. Overall, lecture attendance using videoconferencing was found to be an acceptable alternative to travel for medical students in rural clerkships.