Poster Abstracts: E-Learning

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Presented By: Larry Nichols, Mercer University School of Medicine
Co-Authors: Lindsey Duke, Mercer University School of Medicine
Alyssa Phillips, Mercer University School of Medicine
Trung Pierre Nguyen, Mercer University School of Medicine

Purpose 
Case-based learning has proven to be an excellent way to integrate basic science and clinical science for educating medical students. It conveys basic science concepts in clinical context, showing students how and why they need the concepts. 

Methods 
This medical education project aimed to create a free online database of 118 digital pathology slides, with the associated clinical history (or an invented one) to teach pathophysiology via a case-based learning format. 

Results 
Each case consists of a clinical history, a digital pathology slide, and a diagnosis with further explanation and written description of the pathology slide. The clinical history and the digital pathology slide can be studied by themselves or in tandem with the other components of the case. In some cases, the clinical history is presented in progressive disclosure with questions and answers embedded. Those cases are formatted such that the reader is encouraged to consider one segment of that case at a time, building skill in clinical reasoning. Additionally, some digital slides are annotated with descriptions of the diagnostic histopathologic features. The slides are hosted by a digital pathology company in Europe: my.pathomation.com/share/slidebox/mercer. The clinical history and diagnosis with discussion are in separate documents located on the website Pathology and Clinical Science: https://nicholspathologyeducation.wordpress.com/. The features of the cases are illustrated by case 7, A 60-year-old man with a heart transplant, who fell and hit his head. 

Conclusions 
The slides and the associated histories and diagnoses are freely accessible anywhere, anytime to medical educators for teaching and to medical students for self-directed learning.

Presented By: Oluwatoni Adebisi, American Medical Students Association
Co-Authors: Rohini Kousalya Siva, American Medical Students Association
Manikya Nagaraja, American Medical Students Association

Purpose 
AMSA's Scholars Programs exist to fill in gaps in medical education by offering deep learning from experts on focused topics such as Health Justice, Integrative Medicine, Transgender Health, Reproductive Health; Racism in Medicine, and many more. AMSA Academy partnered with ScholarRx to create bricks on topics covered in the Scholars Programs to provide Medical students and allied professionals from around the world with free access to the AMSA Scholars Programs knowledge bank and grant enrolled scholars an avenue to apply gained knowledge while exposing them to basics of research and curriculum creation. The Bricks will also be foundational course materials for future AMSA Scholars Programs. 

Methods 
The process employed for the creation of AMSA Bricks started with sensitizing the enrolled scholars about the opportunity. Then the sign-ups were oriented on the vision of the project and a timeline that included checkpoints for outline creation, draft creation, faculty review for accuracy, peer review for grammar and readability, then publication through the Scholar Rx Bricks Create platform was issued. Regular Check-in meetings were held to monitor the progress of authors and address any questions. 

Results 
Twenty-three bricks have been created in Reproductive Health, Integrative Medicine, and Sexual Health collections and four more brick collections are in various stages of production, projected to be published in February and July 2024. 

Conclusion 
ScholarRx Bricks uses short, high-yield, interactive lessons called "bricks" to explain and contextualize key topics, many in less than 20 minutes. AMSA Scholars Programs Rx Bricks have been instrumental in fulfilling AMSA's goal of training and preparing future physicians to be leaders and changemakers.

IM-REACH 2023 Cohort, Student Presentation

Presented By: Vedprakash Mishra, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University)
Co-Authors: Russell Franco D'Souza, UNESCO
Surapaneni Krishna Mohan, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute
Princy Louis Palatty, Amrita School of Medicine
Mary Mathew, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE)

Purpose
Bioethics has been formally introduced into the medical and healthcare curriculum in India. All teaching faculty are expected to be trained to teach medical ethics as an integral part of the curriculum. An accredited face-to-face integrated bioethics training program was designed and developed by expert faculty from the Department of Education under the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics (Haifa). This course has successfully trained more than 2000 senior medical, dental and allied health sciences teaching faculty in India. As an extension of this, a live interactive webinar series was designed and piloted in India and Africa. This sixteen-week online teaching programme was implemented successfully.

Methods
The usefulness of teaching bioethics using a live interactive webinar-based model was assessed using a structured questionnaire that was administered before and after each session to the participants of the International Certificate Course on The Principles of Bioethics and Human Rights (based on UDBHR) in Health Sciences.

Results
Participants demonstrated a significant increase in understanding of the subject (P<0.001; as evaluated by paired "t" test) for all the topics that were conducted and assessed. These results suggest that this online distance teaching-learning methodology satisfies the objective of providing evidence-informed teaching in bioethics faculty development. The major advantage of this online distance teaching-learning methodology is that it is a cost-effective method for delivering effective bioethics education.

Conclusions
This study clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of online distance teaching-learning methodology as a teaching tool in bioethics for faculty. This is a welcome option for overworked yet enthusiastic teachers of bioethics. This methodology can reach a wider audience of trainers and participants across the world at the same time. It allows for interaction with the trainer, immediate clarification of doubts and expression of opinions synchronously. It is cost-effective and can be attended from the comfort of home or workplace.

IM-REACH 2023 Cohort, International Presenter, Faculty Travel Award Nominee

Presented By: Insaf Omar, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Co-Authors: Hadeel Abdelsied, Sudan ECHO Center of Excellence
Reem Ahmed, Emory University School of Medicine
Abrar Al Aliem, Sudan ECHO Center of Excellence
Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima, Project ECHO Institute
Nada Fadul, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Lana Ismail, Sudan ECHO Center of Excellence

Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed healthcare vulnerabilities in Sudan, a country facing political and economic instability. Sudanese diaspora physicians and local partners established the Community Medical Response Team (CMRT) to address COVID-19 spread using a US-based Project ECHO hub to remotely train healthcare students/practitioners. This study aimed to i) describe the CMRT ECHO program, its participants, and satisfaction levels; ii) assess knowledge increase; and iii) investigate associations between attendance frequency and professional categories with satisfaction indicators, knowledge increase, and practice change. 

Methods 
Virtual telementorship was provided biweekly from December 2021 to March 2023 using Project ECHO's Zoom online platform. Post-session anonymous surveys assessed participants' professional characteristics, satisfaction, knowledge increase, and practice changes. Data analysis involved Wilcoxon rank sum test and chi-square tests, exploring associations between attendance frequency, profession, and various outcomes. 

Results 
We obtained 2667 post-session survey responses from 880 unique participants, of which 53% were medical doctors (MD), 17% were public health staff (PHS), and 30% were other clinical personnel (OCP). Average session attendance was 64 participants and mean frequency of attendance was 3 sessions. Seventy-one percent reported sessions were relevant, 80% would recommend sessions, and 85% will use what they learned. Participants reported significant increase in knowledge after sessions (p<0.0001). MDs reported the highest knowledge increase (p<0.001), session relevance (p<0.001), looking up additional information(p<0.01), and sharing with colleagues (p<001). OCP were more likely to recommend sessions to colleagues (p<0.001) and change how they work with patients/community members (p=.01). We found a positive association between attendance frequency and knowledge increase (p&amp;lt;0.001) and practice change (p<0.001).

Conclusion 
The Sudan CMRT ECHO program led to a significant impact on participants, showcasing its effectiveness amongst various professions as to knowledge increase and change in practice. This study contributes valuable insights into virtual global health training effectiveness and future application to low- and middle-income countries.

Student Presentation, Student Travel Award Nominee

Presented By: Jonathan Fisher, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
Co-Authors: Aaron Deter, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
Ryan Dillard, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
Jenna Regan, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Purpose 
Modern medical students prefer efficient, "high yield" electronic study resources they can use at home. We built the HistoLogic app to supplement histology content in the first year medical school curriculum. Student feedback for HistoLogic has been positive, but we were curious how students use the app to study.

Methods 
The HistoLogic app contains an explore mode that supplements histology labs, a game mode with randomized multiple choice questions, and a hot streak mode where students aim for new high scores. For the class of 2026, the blood and lymphoid version of HistoLogic was released in fall of 2022 and the gastrointestinal and renal modules were released in the spring of 2023. We examined number of logins, time using the app, and usage by mode on a weekly basis for each organ system. We also conducted student interviews and an anonymous survey to evaluate how learners use the app to study.

Results 
25.7% (76/296) of students installed the app in the fall of 2022, and an additional 38.2% (189/296) of students installed the app in the spring of 2023. We were surprised to find most students who used the app in the spring were new users; only four students returned to the app after using it in the fall. Peak usage times occurred the week after the corresponding histology lab and the week before the exam. Survey data showed that most students use the app between 6 and 20 minutes in a single sitting.

Conclusions 
Contrary to our expectations, most students who used the app in the fall did not return to it after release of the next module in the spring. Students appear to primarily use the app as a review resource in short bursts to review content after class or in preparation for the exam.

Presented By: Rosemary Poku, Central Michigan University College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Michael Elftman, Central Michigan University College of Medicine

Purpose 
In recent years, medical schools have shifted educational approaches from exclusively face-to-face to virtual or hybrid formats. Several applications used in synchronous instruction have a chat feature that students could use to explore session content through inquiry or discussion. Little is known about how the use of online chat in synchronous eLearning affects students' sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness. The objective of this study is to determine how student perceptions of online chat relate to these domains of self-determination theory.

Methods 
We administered a survey containing open- and close-ended questions to a single cohort of 96 first-year medical students who used synchronous virtual models of instruction. We used closed-ended questions to characterize students' perceptions on the use of chat in synchronous didactic sessions. We performed qualitative analysis on narrative responses.

Results 
Our survey had a 26% response rate. Participants mostly utilized chat for inquiry and/or feedback during synchronous didactic sessions. Most participants (14/25) reported that using chat in didactic sessions facilitated learning; however, some (8/25) expressed that chat disrupted learning. Many participants (14/25) also expressed that using chat helped the feel connected to peers and faculty, whereas none (0/25) of the participants felt that chat isolated them from peers or faculty. Narrative responses supported data from the closed-ended questions and provide evidence for best practices for implementing chat to support student needs.

Conclusion 
This study indicates that the option to use chat during synchronous virtual instruction promoted students' autonomy by providing options for interactions with peers and faculty. Discussion in the chat can promote competence; however, it can also be perceived as disruptive. Finally, chat fostered a sense of community and safety amongst students. Institutions which rely on hybrid or e-learning strategies are encouraged to consider the benefits and disadvantages of chat functionality presented in this study.