Teaching Medical Students Clinical Anesthesia

Abstract

There are many reasons for evaluating our approach and improving our teaching of America's future doctors, whether they become anesthesiologists (recruitment) or participate in patient management in the perioperative period (general patient care). Teaching medical students the seminal aspects of any medical specialty is a continual challenge. Although no definitive curricula or single clinical approach has been defined, certain key features can be ascertained from clinical experience and the literature. A survey was conducted among US anesthesiology teaching programs regarding the teaching content and approaches currently used to teach US medical students clinical anesthesia. Using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education website that lists 133 accredited anesthesiology programs, residency directors were contacted via e-mail. Based on those responses and follow-up phone calls, teaching representatives from 125 anesthesiology departments were identified and asked via e-mail to complete a survey. The survey was returned by 85 programs, yielding a response rate of 68% of individuals contacted and 63% of all departments. Ninety-one percent of the responding departments teach medical students, most in the final 2 years of medical school. Medical student exposure to clinical anesthesia occurred as elective only at 42% of the institutions, was requirement only at 16% of responding institutions, and the remainder had both elective and required courses. Anesthesiology faculty at 43% of the responding institutions reported teaching in the preclinical years of medical school, primarily in the departments of pharmacology and physiology. Forty-five percent of programs reported interdisciplinary teaching with other departments teaching classes such as gross anatomy. There is little exposure of anesthesiology faculty to medical students in other general courses. Teaching in the operating room is the primary teaching method in the clinical years. Students are allowed full access to patient care, including performing history and physical examinations, participating in the insertion of IVs and airway management. Simulation-based teaching was used by 82% of programs during medical student anesthesia clerkships. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported that they have no formal training for their anesthesiology faculty teachers, 51% stated that they do not receive nonclinical time to teach, and 38% of respondents stated that they received some form of remuneration for teaching medical students, primarily nonclinical time. This article presents a summary of these survey results, provides a historical review of previous evaluations of teaching medical students clinical anesthesia, and discusses the contributions of anesthesiologists to medical student education.

Anesthesia Teaching for Undergraduates; Bringing the Operating Theatre to the Simulation Lab: A Pilot Study

“…Although the number of students who passed the test was slightly higher in group I (actual OT) than in group II (simulated OT), the Chi-square test showed the difference was not significant [χ 2 (2, N = 119) = 2.375, P > 0.05].…”

“…Anesthesia is part of the undergraduate curricula in most medical schools, as is in ours, although there appears to be no formal consensus about curriculum content for anesthesia in undergraduate medical education. Teaching in the operating room is the primary teaching method during clinical years in many universities, as this is where the main practice of anesthesia occurs (1,2). The width and depth of content and the technique of delivery appear to vary significantly among institutions though students' exposure and presence in the operating theatre (OT) appear common to all (1,(3)(4)(5).…”

Development and Use of an Induction of General Endotracheal Anesthesia Checklist Assessment for Medical Students in a Clinical Setting During Their Introductory Anesthesiology Clerkship

“…As such, anesthesiologists are wellpositioned to fill medical students' procedural skills gap. 7,8 In fact, anesthesiology clerkships provide medical students with knowledge and practice in vital clinical skills that are translatable to all medical specialties. 7,9,10 Although there is no official anesthesiology clerkship curriculum consensus, a survey of medical student clerkship directors revealed common clinical activities, including history and physical examination and assessment, peripheral intravenous line (PIV) placement, central line placement, arterial line placement, airway management, and medication administration.…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the influence of case analysis teaching in clinical anesthesia education

“…Anesthesiology plays a critical role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases; therefore, the study of anesthesiology is an important part of medical education. However, as a subject, anesthesiology relies on a complex knowledge system with difficult content, and teaching this content can be challenging (1). In recent years, anesthesiology teaching has benefitted from the introduction of new teaching modes.…”