Exploring the value and role of integrated supportive science courses in the reformed medical curriculum iMED: a mixed methods study

Abstract

BackgroundHeterogeneous basic science knowledge of medical students is an important challenge for medical education. In this study, the authors aimed at exploring the value and role of integrated supportive science (ISS) courses as a novel approach to address this challenge and to promote learning basic science concepts in medical education. ISS courses were embedded in a reformed medical curriculum.MethodsThe authors used a mixed methods approach including four focus groups involving ISS course lecturers and students (two each), and five surveys of one student cohort covering the results of regular student evaluations including the ISS courses across one study year. They conducted their study at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf between December 2013 and July 2014.ResultsFourteen first-year medical students and thirteen ISS course lecturers participated in the focus groups. The authors identified several themes focused on the temporal integration of ISS courses into the medical curriculum, the integration of ISS course contents into core curriculum contents, the value and role of ISS courses, and the courses’ setting and atmosphere. The integrated course concept was positively accepted by both groups, with participants suggesting that it promotes retention of basic science knowledge. Values and roles identified by focus group participants included promotion of basic understanding of science concepts, integration of foundational and applied learning, and maximization of students’ engagement and motivation. Building close links between ISS course contents and the core curriculum appeared to be crucial. Survey results confirmed qualitative findings regarding students’ satisfaction, with some courses still requiring optimization.ConclusionsIntegration of supportive basic science courses, traditionally rather part of premedical education, into the medical curriculum appears to be a feasible strategy to improve medical students’ understanding of basic science concepts and to increase their motivation and engagement.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0646-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Learning support interventions for Year 1 medical students: a review of the literature

“…Interventions seem to focus on several areas, including content knowledge, academic success skills, personal and professional skills, and programme‐related elements. Content knowledge interventions primarily addressed basic sciences, mathematics, medical vocabulary and terminology, behavioural sciences, and unspecified content knowledge or academic performance …”

“…Thirteen articles were published during 1973-1999, 3,8,14,17,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] four articles during 2000-2009, [39][40][41][42] and nine articles during 2010-2016. [11][12][13][43][44][45][46][47][48] Sixteen articles came from the USA 3,8,13,14,17,30,31,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41,43 and the rest from Australia, 40 Canada, 32 Dominica, 11,46 Germany, 47 India, 45 the Netherlands, 48 South Africa 42,44 and the UK. 12 Of the 16 US articles, 12 were published prior to 2...…”

“…Most articles were programme reports, although some described research studies using quantitative 11,12,[39][40][41]43,45,46,48 or mixed-method 47 approaches. Some articles were explicitly driven by a theoretical perspective such as active learning, 11,13,43,46 metacognitive interventions (e.g.…”

“…self-efficacy, self-regulation, reflection), 11,12,40,46 interpersonal bonding and social belonging, 38 Figure 1 Summary of the data searching, mining and selection process problem solving 33,36 and team-based learning, 45 whereas others were silent or unclear about the educational theory driving the intervention. 3,8,14,17,30,31,34,35,37,39,41,44,47,48 Two studies used an assessment to inform the design of the intervention. 40,41 Intervention approaches…”

The Hamburg integrated medical degree program iMED

“…These courses are integrated in the first semesters so that they can optimally prepare the students for the curricular courses and thereby improving their academic performance [7]. A total of 32 crash courses are offered as part of the iMED program: 13 chemistry crash courses in the first, second and third semesters, twelve physics crash courses in the first, third and sixth or seventh semesters respectively, four biology crash courses in the second semester and three mathematics crash courses in the first semester.…”