What is Clinical Encounters?

The Clinical Encounters platform creates and delivers case scenario-based training for students in the health professions. Students experience simulated patient encounters, including evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment, in a simplified EHR.

What is a Flipped Classroom?

The term “flipped classroom” is now very well-recognized in the educational community. It refers to preparing students in advance by providing background material outside of the classroom in the form of videos or various delivery methods. The classroom time is reserved for more active learning, like hands-on work, peer collaboration, or interactive activities. Below, you will find several of the known challenges presented when flipping a classroom and how the Clinical Encounters platform can be used as part of the solution.

Challenges

1. Time: Creating a flipped classroom takes a lot of time. A major challenge is the time it takes to create the at-home components for the students. According to a program director at Yale School of Medicine, this may be the biggest challenges for educators, especially since many of the older generation educators may not be as quick to adopt the creation of digital content¹.

2. Resistance: Students find it difficult to make the switch from listening/memorizing to mastering a skill or concept. Resistance can be passive, non-verbal resistance, partial compliance, or open resistance to the active learning in a flipped classroom².

3. Relevance: Along with the extra time required above, the faculty need to revisit the goals and objectives to make sure that the students are reaching the same goals and objectives aligned with the traditional learning method.

4. Assessment: Are the students going to meet the goals/objectives of the new activities? The flipped classroom brings on a new level of assessment. For example, there may be a pre-assessment before students begin an activity in the classroom. Did they learn the material that they are about to engage in actively? There is also the challenge of assessing group work that is common in an active.

Solutions

1. Time Savings: The Clinical Encounters platform is a suite of pre-built clinical cases, where the “Learner” component of the application is ready for students to interact with. However, it also serves as an activity where students can synthesize their own clinical case within the “Writer” component of the application. Additionally, the student-built cases can be reviewed and critiqued by their peers to add another level of analysis/assessment.

2. Student Enthusiasm and Engagement: With students being immersed in engaging activities in the classroom each week, student resistance should be minimal. The Clinical Encounters platform can be a powerful motivator that would drive student enthusiasm. Students can assemble their own patient story in a useful and meaningful way.

3. Relevance: Along with enthusiasm and engagement above, the activity must be relevant to the goals and objectives set before them. The medical school curriculum must address patient interaction and decision-making. Clinical Encounters is a challenge-focused tool that integrates the important component of patient-focused clinical assessment and diagnosis/treatment.

4. Built-in Assessments: The Clinical Encounters platform is equipped with a “Tracker” that records student performance within the cases. This can be a valuable tool as faculty determine student mastery within an activity.

The Clinical Encounters Platform is in its prototype phase. We encourage you to take a look and offer feedback! We are excited to be a part of the effort to make flipping the medical classroom as fun and as seamless as possible for educators.

References

1. The Flipped Classroom: a Q&A with Benjamin R. Doolittle, MD. NEJM Knowledge+. https://knowledgeplus.nejm.org/blog/the-flipped-classroom-in-medical-school-and-residency/. Published January 19, 2017. Accessed October 19, 2017.
2. Nguyen K, Borrego M, J. Finelli C, et al. Measuring Student Response to Instructional Practices (StRIP) in Traditional and Active Classrooms.; 2016.