During the Harvard Medical School Office for External Education’s 2021 IMPACT Symposium, Adrienne Torda, the Associate Dean of Education and Innovation at the University of New South Wales, stated that “Digital teaching and learning are here to stay,” And most attendees, leaders in medical education agreed. The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a movement towards online learning and technology that they expect will only grow in significance.
Suzanne Rose, MD, MSEd, and Senior Vice Dean for Medical Education at Penn Medicine, called out technology’s impact on the delivery of medical education and patient care as one of the top five trends in medical education, noting that it can provide more interactive experiences for students that will aid in content delivery and retention. One area she is exploring is the use of shortened lectures on key topics followed by team-based learning experiences and/or small group discussions. Medhub also describes a shift to a more proactive engagement between students and technology that is “... aimed at more effectively engaging students, assessing them against measurable outcomes, and responding to individual learner needs.”
In addition to collaborative learning, the role of Virtual Reality (VR), as well as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to grow. These tools can enhance training experiences for students as they develop an array of necessary, but difficult skills. Medhub says, “Case studies with online simulations, designed to build skills as diverse as having difficult patient conversations to making complex diagnoses, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They are effective tools in medical education and we can expect enhancements to keep learners engaged, offer real-time feedback, identify areas of weakness, and even foster some healthy competition with performance comparisons to colleagues and leaderboards.”
Many schools are already implementing these measures. University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, for example, takes advantage of AR, VR, and MR to train students on treating trauma patients. At the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation, students get the experience of working with stroke, heart attack, or gunshot victims, in addition to practicing cardiac procedures on Harvey, a mannequin who can simulate nearly any cardiac event. Students can wear VR headsets to get a visual of Harvey’s underlying anatomy.
While there is no doubt that many aspects of medical education must still be experienced using in-person training and experiences, technology will only grow in importance within medical education.