Lights, camera, ward round – assessing perceived usefulness of simulated video cases in Undergraduate Education
Authors: Cooper Ella , Herman Michelle , Phipps Michael , Liu Felix , Donaldson Matthew , Muhyaldeen Alan 
Published: November 2022

COVID-19 has been disruptive to the delivery of medical education, which was felt particularly by final year students transitioning from student to Doctor [1]. ‘Preparation for practice’ (pfp) teaching in this cohort has been shown to significantly increase confidence and possibly patient care [2], therefore the quality of this teaching must be maintained despite restrictions. We created a session in which students watched video cases then they were asked to scribe the consultation, create a jobs list, and complete tasks within small groups. Feedback was provided in a group debriefing. The aim of this study was to test a novel method of teaching: using videos of simulated ward round encounters to practise clinical reasoning and clinical ward skills such as documentation and requesting. The study would assess perceived usefulness in general and when compared with written cases.

Fourteen final year medical students from a UK university attended one of two sessions, with the same resources and facilitator. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected by a survey composed of four Likert scale questions and three free text box questions.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and with a 100% completion rate. Students enjoyed the session, would like to see video cases used in future, and preferred videos over written cases. Positive themes from free-text answers were skills practice, realism, and increased interest. Themes for improvement were audio quality and challenge level.

The intended outcomes for the session were focussed on clinical knowledge and reasoning, however students seemed to benefit more from the clinical skills practised (an unintended but positive outcome). Future sessions could be tailored around clinical skills or clinical reasoning- we feel video cases would be useful in both areas. For validity the study would benefit from a larger group size, along with a direct comparison with a ‘control’ session using written cases. The Likert scale questions were positively skewed toward the video cases, so in a repeat study this should be considered.

Our use of video cases was a success, with students benefiting in areas both intended and unexpected. This highlighted to us the scope to expand their use in more areas of the curriculum. We hope that by using innovative techniques such as these, we can maintain a high level of ‘pfp’. Further research is needed to assess the credibility and transferability of the video cases as these could prove to be a useful tool in modern medical education.

1. Choi B, Jegatheeswaran L, Minocha A, Alhilani M, Nakhoul M, Mutengesa E. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on final year medical students in the United Kingdom: a national survey. BMC Medical Education. 2020;20(1):1–1.

2. Beedham W, Wanigasooriya K, Layton GR, Taing Chan L, Darr A, Mittapalli D. The Effectiveness of a Foundation Year 1 Doctor Preparation Course for Final Year Medical Students. Journal of medical education and curricular development. 2021 Jan;8:2382120520984184.