Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: medical education, traditionally, is based on the training of students and young newly graduated physicians directly in contact with patients, either for anamnesis or for invasive procedures. This causes greater risk of error during the learning curve. To minimize this, synthetic models for practice are increasingly used around the world, resulting in lower error rates, since the first contact of the student with a given procedure occurs in a training environment. Many devices used are expensive, and for low-income countries this cost complicates their utilization because of the resources needed to equip public universities.
Objectives: this study is a narrative review of Cochrane Reviews of physical non-alive models in medical teaching. We describe low-cost models that are feasible in resource-poor settings, developed in the Vascular Surgery Department, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo Federal University.
Methods: we carried out a sensitive search to identify all Cochrane Reviews on the use of any kind of physical synthetic model for medical teaching versus conventional teaching. Two authors independently checked all references and selected studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria, and we discussed the results, main characteristics and the certainty of evidence.
Results: seven Cochrane Reviews were included in this report, investigating a broad range of training settings. None of the included reviews provided high-quality evidence for any of the outcomes, and the certainty for benefits of synthetic models over conventional education remains unclear. They did not describe harms from using synthetic models.
Conclusions: there is insufficient evidence to support the use of this type of education in training, but all reviews described trainees having more confidence in procedures after training in non-alive models. Researchers should base future trials on high methodological quality for better results.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: the use of devices instead of patients for training students and young physicians is extremely important for the ill, because when a patient is in pain and is worried, procedures performed by inexperienced hands can worsen the pain and their confidence in the treatment. Because of that, our service developed low-cost training models for various procedures, such as for arterial blood gas sampling and ultrasound-guided central venous puncture. This minimizes the chance of error and greater suffering for patients. The use of cheaper materials makes these models more feasible for low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, a more in-depth view of this type of teaching is necessary, so that invasive procedures can be taught with synthetic models before students perform them in patients, making comfort and success more easy to achieve.
Objectives: this study is a narrative review of Cochrane Reviews of physical non-alive models in medical teaching. We describe low-cost models that are feasible in resource-poor settings, developed in the Vascular Surgery Department, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo Federal University.
Methods: we carried out a sensitive search to identify all Cochrane Reviews on the use of any kind of physical synthetic model for medical teaching versus conventional teaching. Two authors independently checked all references and selected studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria, and we discussed the results, main characteristics and the certainty of evidence.
Results: seven Cochrane Reviews were included in this report, investigating a broad range of training settings. None of the included reviews provided high-quality evidence for any of the outcomes, and the certainty for benefits of synthetic models over conventional education remains unclear. They did not describe harms from using synthetic models.
Conclusions: there is insufficient evidence to support the use of this type of education in training, but all reviews described trainees having more confidence in procedures after training in non-alive models. Researchers should base future trials on high methodological quality for better results.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: the use of devices instead of patients for training students and young physicians is extremely important for the ill, because when a patient is in pain and is worried, procedures performed by inexperienced hands can worsen the pain and their confidence in the treatment. Because of that, our service developed low-cost training models for various procedures, such as for arterial blood gas sampling and ultrasound-guided central venous puncture. This minimizes the chance of error and greater suffering for patients. The use of cheaper materials makes these models more feasible for low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, a more in-depth view of this type of teaching is necessary, so that invasive procedures can be taught with synthetic models before students perform them in patients, making comfort and success more easy to achieve.
PDF