Innovative Teaching and Interdisciplinary Cooperation
In collaboration between SIMU and the Institute of Pharmacology of the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Prague, a special TBL lecture on Critical Reading of Clinical Studies was organized on Tuesday, 20 September 2022, which was open to all medical students.
Following the close cooperation between SIMU and the Institute of Pharmacology of the Faculty of Medicine of MU, a special TBL lecture on Critical Reading of Clinical Studies open to all medical students was organized on Tuesday, 20 September 2022. The lesson was unique not only for its innovative pedagogical approach, which is based on Team-Based Learning, but also for the content completely prepared by content-expert, Dr Lenka Součková. As far as the actual lesson layout is concerned, there are three main parts. The students are provided with a so-called pre-class reading in advance as a preparation for the lesson. This is followed by a testing part – comprehension of the pre-class reading text is tested in an individual test, the same test is then taken by students in a group, where they can convince each other of the most correct answer, justify and defend their decisions. The last step of the second part is a group discussion where the correct answers are mentioned and the content-expert has the space to answer related questions. The third part of the TBL lesson is devoted to a virtual patient case study, where students working in small groups apply the knowledge they have acquired. A facilitator guides the students through the whole lesson with the main task of creating a safe environment and encouraging discussion. Thus, students learn not only to defend their views but also, as a matter of the fact, the topic discussed.
On Tuesday, 20 September 2022, a total of 20 students out of the original 43 registered arrived. A great advantage was the representation of all years of medical school. Thus, both newcomers and pre-med students met in one group. The inter-year cooperation and the mutual transfer of experience and knowledge between classmates worked great, which was also very positively evaluated by the students themselves in the feedback. They highly praised the pre-class reading itself and the virtual patient, which made them understand the importance of various concepts in clinical trials. Concepts that they had only known theoretically and now learned to apply in practice. "The whole session was filled with a pleasant atmosphere and interspersed with high level discussion. It was great to see how the students were able to change their opinions and find the right solutions together," commented Dr Jitka Rychlíčková, who accompanied the lesson as a facilitator.
In cooperation with SIMU, the Institute of Pharmacology of the Faculty of Medicine of MU plans to organise another training lecture on 25 Tuesday October 2022 at 15:30 – this time on Applied Pharmacology of Antihypertensive Drugs, Management of Blood Pressure Treatment.
