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I have some opinions.<\/p>\nI have some opinions.<\/p>\n
Traditional Teaching of OB-GYN<\/strong><\/p>\n At many institutions, OB-GYN is taught today much like it was when I was in medical school 50 years ago. For that matter, it is still much the same as it was when my Grandfather Cartmell was a medical student at Northwestern University in 1900.<\/p>\n There are some recurring problems with this traditional structure.<\/p>\n No one can\u00a0predict which patients might\u00a0be in the hospital at any one time<\/strong>, nor what their clinical issues might be. There could be several patients with the same disease, but no patients with other important diseases. Consequently, the breadth of student\u00a0clinical exposure is\u00a0limited.<\/p>\n Didactic Lectures<\/strong>. Some are good, some not so good. Some are missed by lecturers or by students. Lectures and Lecturers are sometimes selected more on the basis of tradition, availability, and academic hierarchy than the needs of the students. Even good lectures are often an inefficient use of student time\u2026an hour lecture could be covered by a scripted and recorded lecture in 1\/3 the time, and if played back at 2x speed, could be covered in 1\/6th the time. Without any loss in comprehension or retention.<\/p>\n The style and most of the content of this traditional\u00a0training continue to be\u00a0based on medical care\u00a0and medical education\u00a0paradigms that are\u00a0more than 100 years old<\/strong>\u00a0(Following the Flexner Report<\/a>). But during the last 100 years, massive changes in healthcare have occurred. Among these are:<\/p>\n Despite these major changes, it strikes me that medical students are still being taught mostly the same material, in mostly the same way, as when I was in medical school.<\/p>\n The high cost to the student of medical education<\/strong>. When I graduated from medical school in 1974, annual tuition for me was $2500 ($12,775 in 2016 dollars). If I were attending the same school in 2016, my annual tuition would be $49,318, a four-fold increase in real dollars. It\u2019s not clear whether the medical students of today are getting a four-fold increase in the quality or quantity of their medical education compared to mine. I think not.<\/p>\n So I have worked hard to address these shortcomings through electronic learning. I don\u2019t claim that someone who goes through all of these videos will be qualified to pass through to the next stage of training. There still must be hands-on experience and close interaction with supervising physicians through accredited institutions. But I do believe that remote learning will provide great support to the students who use it, enhancing their knowledge in ways that are certainly different, and may be superior in some respects to what they are otherwise experiencing.<\/p>\n Online Learning<\/strong>. I\u2019m persuaded that online \u00a0education and medical simulation is the future of medical education. I\u2019m confident that this small venture into online medical education soon will be joined by others, and probably replaced by even better simulations and better training.<\/p>\n More than half the visitors to my other websites arrive using mobile devices (tablets and smart phones). \u00a0I\u2019ve tried to make this material as usable on a mobile platform as it is on a desktop or laptop computer.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also tried to make use of all of the science of how students best learn off screens. This is more complicated than it would seem, and there is a learning curve to addressing these needs. My later efforts are much better than my earlier efforts. I intend to continually improve in this area.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have some opinions. Traditional Teaching of OB-GYN At many institutions, OB-GYN is taught today much like it was when I was in medical school 50 years ago. For that matter, it is still much the same as it was when my Grandfather Cartmell was a medical student at Northwestern University in 1900. There are … Continue reading Distance Learning<\/span> \n
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