Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Developing knowledge and clinical competency in a respiratory system‑based practice of final‑year medical students through a novel structured bedside teaching module

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Lalita Fernandes
. Anthony Menezes Mesquita
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Respiratory diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide.
A sound knowledge of management of respiratory diseases is thus very vital. The clinical exposure
of undergraduate medical students is limited to 2 weeks in pulmonary medicine. We hypothesized
that the short duration of posting can be best utilized by developing need‑based modules for bedside
teaching.
AIMS: This study aimed to determine gain in knowledge and skills of final‑year medical students
in diagnosis and management of common pulmonary diseases and assess students’ perception of
the module.
METHODS: A one‑group pretest‑posttest quasi‑experimental study design enrolled a convenience
sample of 48 final‑year medical students. Twenty‑four students were posted at a given time for the
bedside clinical posting in pulmonary medicine between August 2013 and November 2013. These
students were divided randomly into two groups of 12 students each. All students consented to be
part of the study. Two trained faculty taught in rotation. The bedside teaching module was prepared
by Delphi technique and curriculum was based on Kern’s six‑step approach. History taking, physical
examination, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, chest X‑rays,
and spirometry were taught. Students were administered pre‑ and post‑test questionnaires to assess
knowledge, while Objective Structured Clinical Examination assessed skills. Students’ feedback
questionnaire evaluated the teaching module. A two‑tailed paired sample t‑test assessed mean gain
in knowledge and skills. Effect size was calculated by Cohen’s d, while Cronbach’s alpha estimated
the reliability testing of perception questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using statistical
software package IBM SPSS version 23.
RESULTS: Mean pre‑ and posttest knowledge scores were 12.46 (8.09) and 43.17 (10.7),
respectively, P = 0.001. Mean pre‑ and posttest skills scores were 7.00 (4.76) and 24.79 (3.31),
respectively, P = 0.001, and Cohen’s d showed large effect size. Most students stated that the
module enhanced their clinical skills, helped to understand difficult material, and promoted inquiry
and thinking. Cronbach’s alpha for perception questionnaire was 0.854.
CONCLUSIONS: Structured bedside teaching module in pulmonary medicine improved the knowledge
and skills of undergraduate medical students. The contents and various teaching methodologies
were evaluated positively.

Keywords

Address for Curriculum
education
educational measurement
medical
teaching methods
undergraduate
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 8, Issue 6
June 2018
Pages 1-6

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