Approach: Undergraduate students perform procedures of straightforward and moderate complexity, and later assisted the clinical specialists during procedures of advanced complexity. students document these cases with clinical photographs and case notes to make presentations that were uploaded in the faculty's online management system to be reviewed by the entire cohort. student groups presented their cases with their entire cohort. an independent assessor assessed the groups for their organization of the case, information collected on the topic, critical analysis of the case, defending the diagnosis and treatment plan, teamwork and presentation skills.
Evaluation: Students reported improvement in the depth of knowledge on particular diseases/procedures, a better understanding of holistic management of advanced cases, improved rapport, team spirit and communication among group members. they also reported difficulties in recruiting and completing the procedures within eight weeks.
Discussion: Apart from improving the clinical experience of undergraduate students, the module provides an opportunity for the development of teamwork, communication skills, and ethical presentations among students, which are invaluable to the faculty to meet its programme learning outcomes. case sharing provides a platform for holistic learning and serves as an alternative learning method aside from didactic lectures and routine clinical supervision.
METHODS: A survey was distributed to medical students in three consecutive years: 2017-2019. The survey contains items regarding student perception of various types of blended learning techniques applied in the course. The survey was administered using i-Clicker; an interactive device that enables students to answer survey questions. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the perception of students on these blended learning dimensions investigated.
RESULTS: Seven-hundred and one student responded to the questionnaire (male; 69.5%, female 30.5%). Out of which, 59.1% of students found team interactions positively supported discussions and asked questions freely, and 48.1% expressed that working in groups facilitated their learning process. However, 56.0% of students chose face-to-face lectures as the most preferred class activities followed by discussion 23.8%. More than 78% of participants agree that online quizzes are good experience and enjoyable. Grade center where students can check for marks and attendance also received high perception (66.3%).
CONCLUSION: Introducing modified team-based and blended-learning are considered challenging, and therefore, investigating their perceptions can provide useful insights into how these methods could be used more effectively. The blended-learning technique is highly essential in teaching medical informatics to overcome challenges faced due to a large number of students and the need for various exposures to reach the course's learning goals. Moreover, it is noticed that students were engaged in face-to-face and online activities, furthermore, modified team-based learning reported facilitating learning and asking questions without embarrassment.
METHODS: We combined individual participant data for 16 cohorts from 15 countries (members of the COSMIC consortium) and used qualitative and quantitative (Item Response Theory/IRT) harmonization techniques to estimate SCD prevalence.
RESULTS: The sample comprised 39,387 cognitively unimpaired individuals above age 60. The prevalence of SCD across studies was around one quarter with both qualitative harmonization/QH (23.8%, 95%CI = 23.3-24.4%) and IRT (25.6%, 95%CI = 25.1-26.1%); however, prevalence estimates varied largely between studies (QH 6.1%, 95%CI = 5.1-7.0%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%; IRT: 7.8%, 95%CI = 6.8-8.9%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%). Across studies, SCD prevalence was higher in men than women, in lower levels of education, in Asian and Black African people compared to White people, in lower- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries, and in studies conducted in later decades.
CONCLUSIONS: SCD is frequent in old age. Having a quarter of older individuals with SCD warrants further investigation of its significance, as a risk stage for AD and other dementias, and of ways to help individuals with SCD who seek medical advice. Moreover, a standardized instrument to measure SCD is needed to overcome the measurement variability currently dominant in the field.