Teaching Evidence-Based Medicine to Medical Students Using Wikipedia as a Platform

Abstract

Problem While ideal curricular structures for effective teaching of evidence-based medicine (EBM) have not been definitively determined, optimal strategies ensure that EBM teaching is interactive and clinically based, aligns with major trends in education and health care, and uses longitudinally integrated, whole-task activities. Approach The authors developed a longitudinal, semester-long project, embedded in a first-year medicine course, through which they taught EBM using Wikipedia as a platform. Students worked individually and in small groups to choose a medicine-related Wikipedia article, identify information gaps, search for high-quality resources, appraise the sources, and incorporate the new information into the article (i.e., by editing Wikipedia). Students also applied their new appraisal skills to critique a second article. The authors used an online tool to track and record student editing, and they obtained qualitative data on student perceptions of the project via survey. Duplicate marking of a sample of assignments was performed using the Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education critical thinking rubric developed by Finley and Rhodes. Outcomes In fall 2017, 101 students made over 1,000 unique edits to 16 online Wikipedia articles, adding over 10,000 words. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, the authors highlighted several aspects of the project that students appreciated, as well as barriers related to completing their projects. Correlation of the 17 consenting students’ final assignments with the critical thinking rubric supports the assignment structure as a tool for assessing critical thinking. Next Steps This authentic task adheres to the principles of high-quality EBM instruction and could be implemented by a variety of health care educational programs. Modifications to the delivery model are underway to address challenges identified.

Integrating Wikipedia editing into health professions education: A curricular inventory and review of the literature

“…Courses were offered solely to medical students and pharmacy students, while one was interdisciplinary. Three authors reported multiple offerings of the course making it difficult to discern the number of enrolled students per offering [11,13,14].…”

“…Four instructors analyzed the number of student edits made and references added or deleted to students' to assess the quality and potential impact on Wikipedia [11][12][13][14]. Instructors also tracked the durability of student edits such that they were not reversed and used this as an indicator of quality edits.…”

“…Our findings indicate that Wikipedia editing courses introduce students to EBM skills and provide opportunities to apply these skills. Currently many learners initially encounter EBM in preclinical training [52,53], which can make it difficult to appreciate its relevance to their future clinician roles [13,54]. In contrast, the authentic experience of editing pages to be viewed by potentially thousands of readers is an intrinsically motivating approach to EBM [13,55].…”

How has the COVID-19 pandemic improved evidence-based-medicine awareness among undergraduate medical students?

“…While early introducing undergraduate medical students to the basics of EBM is important to improve their critical thinking [2], and raise their awareness about how medical knowledge is actually built over years of translational research, it might seem difficult to make them understand and accept its common frustrating pitfalls, and to explain how these limitations are part of the whole process effectiveness. Interestingly, this current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents a comprehensive and easily perceptible teaching example.…”

Integrating Wikipedia editing into health professions education: a curricular inventory and review of the literature

“…For example, at the University of California, San Francisco, faculty offer medical and pharmacy students courses on improving Wikipedia's quality [11,12]. At Queen's University, all first-year medical students are required to take the course, Critical Appraisal, Research and Lifelong Learning, a major component of which trains students to critically assess and contribute to Wikipedia's medical content [13]. The efforts of the Queen's University students in 2017 amounted to more than 1700 edits on 17 health topics, which were viewed over 3 million times in under a year.…”