Teaching Training in Medical Students as an Elective Subject

Abstract

Background: One of the most significant variables in the learning process is the quality and performance of educators. Therefore, it is necessary to teach future physicians who are considering a career in academia since they often do not have extensive formal training in teaching. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a course developed by the Faculty of Medicine at UNAM that provided medical students with teaching skills. Methods: Eleven (11) students were evaluated at the beginning and two years after successful completion of the course titled Introduction to teaching in the biomedical area . Student acquisition of procedural curricular contents (PCC) was assessed using a pedagogical referent tool that was applied at the beginning and end of the course. Their mastering of behavioral curricular contents (BCC) was evaluated using a rubric focusing on the human qualities of pedagogical leadership and teaching skills. The means of each assessment before and at the completion of the course were compared using T-tests. Results: The results showed that the preference for traditional referents decreased with regards to strategies of “assessment” (36% to 27%), “teacher-student relationship” (100% to 73%), and “planning” (from 27% to 9%); while the preference for the educational technology referent increased in the “learning” area (82% to 91%). With regards to assessment of didactic planning, the general performance was high (22 points), standing out “didactic sequence”. Out of the dimensions with low performance stand out “teamwork” and “diagnostic assessment”. In the assessment of Behavioral Curricular Contents (BCC), a perception with initial high scores in the intrinsic motivation and teaching performance/pedagogical qualities of a leader was identified without finding significant differences after the course (p = 0.18 and 0.73, respectively). Conclusion: The observations in this study demonstrated that medical students had a preference for alternative and educational technology referents at the end of the course that taught them to become academic instructors. The former preference is ideal for the creation of a study plan oriented toward the development of competencies-based courses.