Curriculum Modifications for Teaching Parasitology and Infectious Diseases in a Biomedical Science Degree

Peña²

2018

ICERI2018 Proceedings

Self Cite

The programme of Physician Associate (PA) is a relatively new Master's (MSc) programme in the United Kingdom (UK) to train future health care professionals that will work under the supervision of a medical doctor as part of a medical team. Although PAs cannot prescribe, they will provide crucial support to doctors by dealing with patients in general practitioner surgeries or hospitals. The UK Department of Health (DoH) in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners has established the Competence and Curriculum Framework for the physician associate qualification. The minimum length of the programme is 90 weeks, equivalent to 3,150 hours of nominal study time, with a minimum of 1,600 hours assigned to clinical learning. The DoH has also published the matrix specification of core clinical requirements for the PA, in which the competences for diagnosing and managing different medical conditions are described. In relation to human parasitic infections, the core clinical conditions for PAs have been divided into different categories as follows: 1A) is able to diagnose and manage, without referral, threadworms (Enterobius vermicularis) and hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus); 1B) is able to identify and take measures to avoid immediate deterioration of amebiasis (Entamoeba histolytica) and malaria (Plasmodium spp.); and 2B) is able to undertake the day-today management of the patient when diagnoses has been made for toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii). De Montfort University (DMU, Leicester, UK) has launched the MSc Physician Associate Studies as part of its curricula in 2017/18. In order to develop clinical medical parasitology skills and reflection/critical thinking of the PA students, we have developed and implemented a two hour workshop in the module "Community Health", in which PA students (n=12) have used the novel website resource DMU e-Parasitology to resolve two highly interactive virtual clinical case studies related to Entamoeba histolytica and Plasmodium spp. The DMU e-Parasitology, which is being developed by three European universities, is aimed at facilitating the teaching and learning of parasitology and it is publicly available through the DMU website: http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk. Briefly, the virtual case studies provide the user with a medical history of a patient and different clinical slides to diagnose parasitic diseases by their identifiable structures and characteristics using a virtual microscope. The user will navigate through different interactive questions and mini quizzes to reach diagnoses, management, treatment and tailor prevention techniques for the case study proposed. The workshop was well-received by PA students, as evidenced by their favourable evaluation. The PA students that completed the voluntary questionnaire indicated that the design used to build the module of the virtual case studies was appropriate (50% agreed, 50% strongly agreed). A similar percentage reported that the exercises and assessments pres...

Section: Physician Associate Programme At De Montfort Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Medical Parasitology in a New Physician Associate Master’s Programme

Peña²

2018

ICERI2018 Proceedings

Self Cite

“…A detailed analysis and evaluation of the impact of the preliminary changes undertaken in the first set (i.e. in 2016/17) were described in Peña-Fernández et al (2017) [2]. Briefly, the interim and final module level feedback (MLF; a specific on-line questionnaire for each module that is distributed to all undergraduate students enrolled in the module at the appropriate time) in the targeted modules showed a general increment in the students' enjoyment and satisfaction in both modules, although this increment was more evident in the level 4 module Basic Microbiology, as the students' satisfaction increased from 20% in 2015/16 to 64% in 2016/17 [2].…”

Section: Preliminary Outcomes Observed In 2016/17mentioning

confidence: 99%

Additional Curriculum Modifications for Enhancing the Teaching of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases at an English University

Agudo²,

Peña³

2018

EDULEARN Proceedings

Self Cite

Our teaching innovation group is committed to increasing and enhancing the teaching of parasitology, as recent surveys show an alarming decrease in the teaching of this subject in human health degrees despite recent outbreaks threatening public health in Europe that have involved emerging parasites. Since 2016/17, we have started to perform a series of curriculum modifications in the BSc Biomedical Science (BMS) programme at De Montfort University (DMU, UK), following the subject-specific threshold standards described by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, 2015) [1]. These modifications targeted specifically two modules from this Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) accredited programme: Basic Microbiology for Biomedical Science (level 4) and Medical Microbiology (level 6). We performed detailed analysis and evaluation of the impact of these preliminary changes on our students, which have been described in Peña-Fernández et al. (2017) [2]. Briefly, students highlighted high levels of engagement in both modules. The most notable improvement was detected in the Basic Microbiology module that showed an increase of 44% in the students' satisfaction from 20% in 2015/16 to 64% in 2016/17; and a reduction in the dissatisfaction from 20% to 7.4% in Medical Microbiology. We have performed further curriculum modifications following students' feedback and current pedagogic research undertaken by our international teaching innovation group. Thus, we have tackled and introduced new lectures in our Basic Microbiology level 4 module to describe better the differences between bacteria and the characteristics of parasites and viruses. A new lecture about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been included following the detection of a lack of knowledge of preventative measures (HIV chemoprophylaxis including pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis and HIV screening) and transmission (risk behaviours) in a novel training session offered to second year BMedSci Medical Science students in 2016/17. Finally, we have introduced a new workshop session in which students completed a virtual clinical case study from the novel teaching and learning resource DMU e-Parasitology (these resources are publicly available at: http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/learn /case-studies.htm). Two workshops have been created and introduced in these two BMS modules and we have followed previous successful experiences creating and introducing novel research-led workshops in human health undergraduate degrees. Finally, we are also creating an on-line resource for the teaching and learning of HIV in collaboration with the University of San Pablo CEU (Spain), which will be accessible on the DMU website by the end of 2018. A more detailed description of the curriculum modifications implemented in this academic course 2017/18 are provided in this paper in conjunction with an analysis of students' impressions that will be collected in the final module level feedback for each module through the online resource Blackboard.

“…Moreover, and in order to provide appropriate knowledge on infectious diseases to BSc Biomedical Science (BMS) students, a series of initiatives were put in place at DMU in 2016 including a series of curriculum changes following the subject-specific threshold standards described by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, 2015) [1]. Briefly, changes were undertaken mostly in two modules [11]: Basic Microbiology (level 4), after expanding this to 30 credits in the academic course 2016/17; and Medical Microbiology (level 6; 15 credits). Between the comprehensive curriculum changes performed, one of the changes that raised notable interest in BMS students was the introduction of a lecture/seminar in EBOV following our experience as first responders during the Ebola outbreak working as biomedical scientists in different Ebola laboratories built by Public Health England (PHE) in Sierra Leone (we created two EBOV sessions with different degrees of difficulties to be delivered to BMS students studying level 4 or 6, respectively) and the completion of a novel workshop to respond to an outbreak of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus exclusively delivered to final year BMS students in Medical Microbiology, which have been previously described by our group in Peña-Fernández et al (2017) [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial Outcomes of Introducing the Study of the Ebola Virus in a Biomedical Science Degree

Broadbent²,

Choi³

2018

INTED Proceedings

Self Cite

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) caused by Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) primarily affected three countries in West Africa during 2013-2016: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The index case was infected in Guinea in December 2013, and subsequently spread to neighbouring countries. According to Ebola Situation Reports from the World Health Organisation, a total of 28,616 Ebola cases were reported in West Africa during the pandemic, with 11,310 deaths. This serious pandemic has highlighted gaps and lack of resources and capabilities in health care systems not only in developing countries but also in Western countries that were impacted when responding to the Ebola outbreak. Thus, serious crossborder biological incidents and outbreaks of infection can dramatically threaten human health. However, they can be can be addressed by providing an effective and rapid response from different experts, health professionals and authorities when there are appropriate tools, capabilities and understanding of these biological hazards. Thus, a series of initiatives were put in place at De Montfort University (DMU, UK) in 2016 to provide appropriate knowledge on infectious diseases to BSc Biomedical Science (BMS) students following the subject-specific threshold standards described by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, 2015) [1]. Curriculum changes were undertaken mostly in two modules: Basic Microbiology (level 4), after expanding this to 30 credits in the academic course 2016/17; and Medical Microbiology (level 6; 15 credits). Between the comprehensive curriculum changes performed, one of the changes that raised notable interest in BMS students was the introduction of a lecture/seminar in EBOV following our experience as first responders during the Ebola outbreak working as biomedical scientists in different Ebola laboratories built by Public Health England (PHE) in Sierra Leone. The novel methods for teaching EBOV and haemorrhagic infectious diseases have been previously described by our group in Peña-Fernández et al. (2016, 2017) [2,3]; briefly we created two sessions with different degrees of difficulties to be delivered to BMS students studying level 4 or 6, respectively. Students enrolled in Medical Microbiology (level 6) also completed a workshop to respond to outbreaks of infection and protect the public following the steps of evidencebased public health methodology and the lessons learnt when responding to the EBOV outbreak in West Africa in 2015. In this paper we provide a short description of the methods used and recent student feedback collected during the delivery of this workshop in October 2017. The paper will also discuss future improvements that we are undertaking to increase the knowledge of BMS and other health science students including the creation of an e-learning unit to facilitate the study and teaching of EBOV. This novel teaching and learning resource will be publicly available from the DMU website during the first months of 2018; and it is being created following the experience of the development of the first unit...