Problem Understanding and communicating medical advances driven by basic research, and acquiring foundational skills in critically appraising and communicating translational basic research literature that affects patient care, are challenging for medical students to develop. Approach The authors developed a mandatory course from 2012 to 2018 at Texas A&M University College of Medicine to address this problem. Medical Student Grand Rounds (MSGR) trains first-year students to find, critically assess, and present primary research literature about self-selected medically relevant topics. With basic science faculty mentoring, students completed milestones culminating in oral presentations. Students learned to search literature databases and then choose a clinical subject using these skills. They outlined the clinical subject area background and a mechanistic research topic into a clinical problem based on deeper evaluation of primary research literature. “Mechanistic” was defined in this context as providing experimental evidence that explained the “how” and “why” underlying clinical manifestations of a disease. Students received evaluations and feedback from mentors about discerning the quality of information and synthesizing information on their topics. Finally, students prepared and gave oral presentations, emphasizing the primary literature on their topics. Outcomes In the early stages of the course development, students had difficulty critically assessing and evaluating research literature. Mentored training by research-oriented faculty, however, dramatically improved student perceptions of the MSGR experience. Mentoring helped students develop skills to synthesize ideas from basic research literature. According to grades and self-evaluations, students increased proficiency in finding and interpreting research articles, preparing and delivering presentations, and understanding links among basic and translational research and clinical applications. Next Steps The authors plan to survey fourth-year students who have completed MSGR about their perceptions of the course in the context of clinical experiences in medical school to guide future refinements.
Journal Article Med School Matures Get access Learning to Heal: The Development of American Medical Education. Ludmerer Kenneth M.. Basic Books, New York, 1985. 346 pp. $21.95 (cloth). Barbara Gastel Barbara Gastel Office of the Dean, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0410 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar BioScience, Volume 37, Issue 5, May 1987, Pages 358–359, https://doi.org/10.2307/1310696 Published: 01 May 1987
"How do you spell _____?" a college friend of mine asked his roommate. "It's spelled __________!" I (the future editor) yelled back from several doors away. The classmate marveled that I had heard him—and perhaps wondered what else I had overheard. Indeed, as an undergraduate with acute hearing, I overheard more than I probably should have. A few years later, when I chided a fellow medical student for mumbling, he claimed I had poor hearing. However, at a health screening soon after, I learned that my hearing was exceptionally good. As I embarked on decades of university teaching, keen hearing continued to serve me. I could easily understand the most soft-spoken students. Also usefully, I could discern murmured conversations in the back of the classroom. Recently, though, more students seemed to mumble. I attributed the change to the masks being worn in the COVID pandemic. But when the masks came off, these students' enunciation still seemed lacking. More meeting rooms seemed to have poor acoustics—which I ascribed to ventilation systems enhanced to hinder virus transmission. I found myself mishearing words; in a noisy restaurant, a colleague's mention of a topless bar turned out to be of a tapas bar. I could no longer hear my old radio clearly. And when I replaced the radio, little improvement ensued. Maybe I, rather than the radio, was having the problem. Perhaps, I thought, I was now experiencing just average hearing. To document my current baseline, I saw an audiologist. He found that, in […]
Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Just as the ear trumpet once symbolized the elderly, so do contemporary approaches to hearing loss in the aged reflect many of the major themes in geriatrics and gerontology today. This paper begins by describing the National Institute on Aging (NIA) with particular emphasis on activities relevant to hearing in the elderly. Next, several areas of research interest, including the typology of presbycusis and related conditions, the epidemiology of auditory impairment in old age, the design of testing and research, and the rehabilitation of the hearing-impaired elderly, are addressed. The NIA and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS) are coordinating their efforts to stimulate investigation of these and related topics.
