Clearly, memory and learning are essential to medical education. To make memory and learning more robust and long-term, educators should turn to the advances in neuroscience and cognitive science to direct their efforts. This paper describes the memory pathways and stages with emphasis leading to long-term memory storage. Particular stress is placed on this storage as a construct known as schema. Leading from this background, several pedagogical strategies are described: cognitive load, dual encoding, spiral syllabus, bridging and chunking, sleep consolidation, and retrieval practice.

Background Increasing evidence suggests that sustainable delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) has the potential to lead to interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP), which in turn has the potential to lead to enhanced healthcare systems and improved patient-centered care health outcomes. To enhance IPE in Canada, the Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education (AIPHE) project initiated collaborative efforts among accrediting organizations of six health professions to embed IPE language into their respective accreditation standards. To further understand the impact of the AIPHE project, this study evaluated the accountability of the IPE language currently embedded in Canadian health professions’ accreditation standards documents and examined whether such language spanned the five accreditation standards domains identified in the AIPHE project. Methods We conducted a comparative content analysis to identify and examine IPE language within the “accountable” statements in the current accreditation standards for 11 Canadian health professions that met our eligibility criteria. Results and discussion A total of 77 IPE-relevant accountable statements were identified across 13 accreditation standards documents for the 11 health professions. The chiropractic, pharmacy, and physiotherapy documents represented nearly 50% (38/77) of all accountable statements. The accountable statements for pharmacy, dentistry, dietetics, and nursing (registered) spanned across three-to-four accreditation standards domains. The remaining nine professions’ statements referred mostly to “Students” and “Educational program.” Furthermore, the majority of accreditation standards documents failed to provide a definition of IPE, and those that did, were inconsistent across health professions. Conclusions It was encouraging to see frequent reference to IPE within the accreditation standards of the health professions involved in this study. The qualitative findings, however, suggest that the emphasis of these accountable statements is mainly on the students and educational program, potentially compromising the sustainability and development, implementation, and evaluation of this frequently misunderstood pedagogical approach. The findings and exemplary IPE-relevant accountable statements identified in this paper should be of interest to all relevant stakeholders including those countries, where IPE accreditation is still emerging, as a means to accelerate and strengthen achieving desired educational and health outcomes.

Background The purpose of this study was to (1) explore evidence provided by Canadian health and social care (HASC) academic programs in meeting their profession-specific interprofessional education (IPE)-relevant accreditation standards; (2) share successes, exemplars, and challenges experienced by HASC academic programs in meeting their IPE-relevant accreditation standards; and (3) articulate the impacts of IPE-relevant accreditation standards on enabling interprofessional learning to the global HASC academic community. Methods Profession-specific (bilingual, if requested) surveys were developed and emailed to the Deans/Academic Program Directors of eligible academic programs with a request to forward to the individual who oversees IPE accreditation. Responses were collated collectively and by profession. Open-ended responses associated with our first objective were deductively categorized to align with the five Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education (AIPHE) standards domains. Responses to our additional questions associated with our second and third objectives were inductively categorized into themes. Results/discussion Of the 270 HASC academic programs surveyed, 30% (n = 24) partially or completely responded to our questions. Of the 106 IPE-relevant standards where evidence was provided, 62% (n = 66) focused on the Educational Program, 88% of which (n = 58) were either met or partially met, and 47% (n = 31) of which focused on practice-based IPE. Respondents cited various exemplars and challenges in meeting IPE-relevant standards. Conclusions The overall sentiment was that IPE accreditation was a significant driver of the IPE curriculum and its continuous improvement. The array of exemplars described in this paper may be of relevance in advancing IPE implementation and accreditation across Canada and perhaps, more importantly, in countries where these processes are yet emerging.

It is generally assumed by students that learning takes place during repeated episodes of rereading and rote memorization of course materials. Over the past few decades, however, research has increasingly indicated that the said notion can and should be enhanced with learning paradigms such as retrieval practice (RP). RP occurs when students practice retrieving their consolidated semantic memories by informally testing themselves. This strategy results in the re-encoding and re-consolidation of existing semantic memories, thus strengthening their schemas. The purpose of this quasi-experimental design was to assess the effects of the implementation of RP on student performance on the final exam in a large, undergraduate Gross Anatomy course. It was hypothesized that student participation in RP during class would improve their performance on the final exam in the course. The participants (N = 248) were mainly in Life Sciences, Kinesiology, and Physical Education programs. They answered RP questions using TopHat©, an online educational software platform. The results of this study indicated that student performance on the final exam was enhanced when students engaged in RP. It was concluded that the use of RP effectively enhances learning and long-term retention of semantic memory. In addition to the traditional testing ‘of’ learning, teachers are encouraged to implement testing, in the form of RP, in their classrooms ‘for’ learning.