Occupational Medicine is offered as a subject in Medicine degree courses in only a small number of faculties in Spain, despite its importance for the training of future doctors. However teaching of Occupational Medicine in Zaragoza Faculty of Medicine have been carried as an independent subject during the last decade. This teaching is carried out by blended learning and using different teaching innovative tools/platforms (including PBL with virtual patients).
Nevertheless, to date there had been no effort to measure their real degree of satisfaction with this subject, the teaching resources used or whether there was any change in their attitude to or interest in the subject and its content before and after studying it. This study attempts to measure all of these factors.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if training in Occupational Medicine is satisfactory and attractive for medical students when using innovative teaching methods and it can contribute to change their perceptions toward to the importance of developing fundamental skills on this field.
Teaching Occupational Medicine to undergraduated students (degree of Medicine of the University of Saragossa) was carried out by means of a blended learning model. This model combines traditional educational tools, like the master classes, together with other innovative ones (teaching innovation resources) Among the latter, a virtual patient platform was selected, generated by two European Projects in which our research group participated 1,2 (Figure 1). It is a platform for virtual patient cases that allows the student to interact with patients who have health problems arising from work, from the terminal of your computer. Figures 2, 3 and 4 show, by way of example, some images corresponding to a case offered by the platform and prepared by the research group of the University of Zaragoza (corresponding to an intoxication by trichlorethylene in a worker of an industry pyrotechnics). Those interested can obtain information about this platform in the works of Kolb et al 2007 and Martínez-Jarreta et al 2009 (1,2), as well as in the web page that appears in Figure 5.
For the purposes of our study two questionnaires were prepared, using qualitative criteria: one to evaluate student satisfaction with the virtual patient platform as a teaching tool and the use of blended learning and the other to assess possible changes in attitude to or interest in Occupational Medicine before and after studying this subject. Those questionnaires questionnaires were administrated to the students of four consecutive academic years (2014-2018) (n>600) and were validated as recommended by García de Yébenes et al. 2009, and Ramada-Rodilla et al, 2013 (3, 4), including a reliability analysis and an exploratory factor analysis. A confirmatory analysis was carried out, on the basis of which the dimensions of each questionnaire were established and parameters (including the Cronbach alpha) were set to establish the degree of consistency and reliability of the questionnaires, the results being very satisfactory. The questionnaires were answered anonymously by 100% of the students enrolled, except for the attitude questionnaire which was administered before classes began, when it was answered by only 62% of the students, and again at the end of the course. The qualitative study was carried out with two different focus group (n>10) composed of students that had already taken the subject in previous academmic years.
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1,PROJECT: NetWoRM. EAC/61/2006.EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME.MULTILATERAL PROJECT. 2007-2009.
2,PROJECT: NETWORM SUSTAINABILITY EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (CALL EAC/61/2006) MINERVA PROGRAMME (SOCRATES). 2007-2013.
The results obtained for student satisfaction with the virtual patient platform as a teaching-learning tool are shown below:
Satisfaction shown by medical students regarding to the use of the virtual patient platform as a teaching-learning tool are shown below:
87% of the students "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that the knowledge acquired was important for their training as doctors .
48.9% of students stated they "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that they had learned a lot in a short time.
90.2% of the students were "in agreement" or "strongly agreement" on the fact that their knowledge about occupational diseases had increased.
78.8% of the students stated that they "agreed" and "strongly agreed" that their knowledge about work disability had increased.
79.7% of the students expressed their "agreement" or "strongly agreement" on the fact of feeling able to carry out a clinical-labor history from now on .
90.2% said they "agree" or "strongly agree" on the fact that they now understood better the factors of work that influence health.
83.2% of the students stated they were "in agreement" or "very much in agreement" with the fact of being satisfied with the training received.
85.8% stated they were "in agreement" and "strongly agreement" that the training received completed their previous knowledge and skills.
They shown students´s satisfaction. 87% considered that knowledge and skills acquired by being trained on Occupational Medicine are highly important for their training as doctors.Nearly 80%:to be able to elaborate a clinical-work history and 90.2% to understand better the relationship between work and health.Additionally, there was a significant improvement (p>0.001) in their attitude towards Occupational Medicine after have studied this subject.
This review provides an new insight into the use innovative teaching methods and tools to develop basic skills on Occupational Medicine.
Attractive and innovative methods of learning help to get a significant and positively change the attitude of future doctors towards a Occupational Medicine.
1.KOLB S, REICHERT J, HEGE I, PRAML G, BELLIDO MC, MARTÍNEZ-JARRETA B, FISCHER M, NOWAK D, RADON K; NETWORM GROUP. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2007;80/6:553-7.
2.MARTÍNEZ-JARRETA B, MONSÓ E, GASCÓN S, CASALOD Y, ABECIA E, KOLB S, REICHERT J, RADON K; NETWORM TEAM Leg Med (Tokyo), 2009;11 /1:313-4.
3.GARCÍA DE YÉBENES MJ, RODRÍGUEZ SALVANÉS F, CARMONA ORTELLS L. Reumatol Clin. 2009; 5(4):171-177.
4.RAMADA-RODILLA JM, SERRA-PUJADAS C, DELCLÓS-CLANCHET GL. Salud Pública Mex.2013;55(1):57-66