Most medical students learn vital clinical skills through on-the-job training with real patients. Gaining such knowledge in a busy hospital environment, where errors can cause harm, is a daunting experience for trainee doctors who still need practice and detailed feedback. Technological progress over the past decade had seen the introduction of new teaching technology in the form of responsive high-fidelity patient mannequins, life-like simulations of surgeries and the use of smart phones.
This has led to significantly advanced ways to impart medical education, according to experts at Aga Khan University's Paradigm Shifts in Postgraduate Medical Education conference on Saturday. Speaking at the event, Professor Attaur Rehman, former Higher Education Commission chairman, stated that high-quality online courses on medicine, chemistry and biology were now easily available through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).
Integrated MOOCs, that pool together the best videos and lectures, mean that today's medical students have a huge advantage in terms of access to information. Students can now come more prepared to classes and can engage with teachers in a more meaningful way, Professor Rehman concluded.
Other speakers on the day mentioned that the use of innovative technology will lead to Pakistan's next generation of residents being more skilled, more experienced and more confident. Dr Nadeemullah Khan, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at AKU, spoke about how the use of simulation-based learning is proving to be more effective for students.
"Everyone learns at a different pace and medical procedures need to be repeated to be perfected." "With simulation-based teaching, students can rehearse key skills in a realistic environment and incorporate feedback until they feel confident. This takes the fear out of practice and speeds up the pace of learning," he added.
Dr Khan added that high-fidelity patient mannequins, which respond to mistakes that cause pain to patients, and display symptoms like sweating, heavy breathing and changes in complexion, are being used around the world and at the AKU's Centre for Innovation in Medical Education (CIME). These patient mannequins can be controlled by instructors to take on various conditions a trainee doctor will experience in their professional lives. Instructors can then use data from the simulator alongside their own experience of working on patients to give feedback on thee trainee's performance, he added.