E1984. Early Exposure to Radiology for First Year Medical Students Employing the Flipped Classroom Strategy
Authors
Alexandra Janda;
McGovern Medical School
Manickam Kumaravel;
McGovern Medical School
Objective:
The flipped classroom style, case-based lecture series is an effective tool to teach radiology to first year medical students that can be propagated to other medical schools by sharing videos and templates. The intention of this updated radiology curriculum is to create an introduction to radiology through a flipped classroom style, case-based lecture series aimed at first-year medical students and to devise a method for measuring the effectiveness of the curriculum.
Materials and Methods:
The radiology course at McGovern, which parallels the gross anatomy lab, was divided into six sessions: thorax, upper extremity, abdomen, head and neck, pelvis, and lower extremity. Prior to each lecture, students were provided with 1-2 brief prerecorded lectures discussing the normal anatomy of the specific body segment and its radiographic appearance. The existing knowledge of radiology basics in first-year medical students was assessed using a 5 questions survey covering normal anatomy and basic pathology that was administered prior to a live session. Subsequent evaluation was performed at the end of the hour-long case-based live session with a brief anatomy review using the same 5 question survey. Pre- and post-lecture surveys were used to evaluate the efficacy of the curriculum.
Results:
Evaluation of the radiology curriculum was performed using a standardized 5 question survey including questions about normal anatomy and high yield pathology was administered to students before and after each lecture. Paired analysis using Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to evaluate difference in number of correct answers between post- and presurvey quizzes. Results of the paired analysis showed a significant increase in post-lecture survey score when compared to prelecture survey score with a p value <0.001 for all six lectures.
Conclusion:
The flipped classroom strategy is an effective tool for teaching radiology to first-year medical students that can be propagated to other medical schools by sharing videos and templates. The biggest gain from such exposure was to raise awareness of radiology as a specialty. We hope that the combination of early introduction with an engaging lecture style will aid in improving medical students’ understanding of radiology and ultimately increase interest in the field as a career.
