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Biomedical subjects

Summers Kalishman

Publications and source records attributed to Summers Kalishman.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Distributed interactive virtual environments for collaborative experiential learning and training independent of distance over Internet2.

Medical knowledge and skills essential for tomorrow's healthcare professionals continue to change faster than ever before creating new demands in medical education. Project TOUCH (Telehealth Outreach for Unified Community Health) has been developing methods to enhance learning by coupling innovations in medical education with advanced technology in high performance computing and next generation Internet2 embedded in virtual reality environments (VRE), artificial intelligence and experiential active learning. Simulations have been used in education and training to allow learners to make mistakes safely in lieu of real-life situations, learn from those mistakes and ultimately improve performance by subsequent avoidance of those mistakes. Distributed virtual interactive environments are used over distance to enable learning and participation in dynamic, problem-based, clinical, artificial intelligence rules-based, virtual simulations. The virtual reality patient is programmed to dynamically change over time and respond to the manipulations by the learner. Participants are fully immersed within the VRE platform using a head-mounted display and tracker system. Navigation, locomotion and handling of objects are accomplished using a joy-wand. Distribution is managed via the Internet2 Access Grid using point-to-point or multi-casting connectivity through which the participants can interact. Medical students in Hawaii and New Mexico (NM) participated collaboratively in problem solving and managing of a simulated patient with a closed head injury in VRE; dividing tasks, handing off objects, and functioning as a team. Students stated that opportunities to make mistakes and repeat actions in the VRE were extremely helpful in learning specific principles. VRE created higher performance expectations and some anxiety among VRE users. VRE orientation was adequate but students needed time to adapt and practice in order to improve efficiency. This was also demonstrated successfully between Western Australia and UNM. We successfully demonstrated the ability to fully immerse participants in a distributed virtual environment independent of distance for collaborative team interaction in medical simulation designed for education and training. The ability to make mistakes in a safe environment is well received by students and has a positive impact on their understanding, as well as memory of the principles involved in correcting those mistakes. Bringing people together as virtual teams for interactive experiential learning and collaborative training, independent of distance, provides a platform for distributed "just-in-time" training, performance assessment and credentialing. Further validation is necessary to determine the potential value of the distributed VRE in knowledge transfer, improved future performance and should entail training participants to competence in using these tools.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2003

"Where have all the students gone?" Retaining medical school graduates through educational innovations.

CONTEXT: New Mexico is a sparsely populated rural state in the USA, with 20% of New Mexicans living in poverty. There is a need for physicians in the state, especially in primary care. New Mexico's only medical school, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine is state supported. New Mexico and its medical school have a vested interest in its graduates returning to the state to practice. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the effects of early community preceptorships on graduating physicians' specialty choice and subsequent return to practice in the state where they attended medical school. STRATEGIES: A Primary Care Curriculum (PCC) was introduced into the medical school in 1979. Students expressing interest in this programme were considered. Twenty students per year were assigned to the PCC. The remainder went through the traditional curriculum. The PCC used a problem-based learning model. All PCC students participated in a 16-week, one-on-one community preceptorship (Phase 1B) in a small or rural community during their first year. Graduates from 1983-1996 were analysed for specialty and practice location. MAIN OUTCOMES: Of the 294 students doing Phase 1B, 99 (40%) returned to New Mexico to practice compared to 221 (32%) of traditional students. Fifty-eight (23%) of the Phase 1B students practice primary care compared to 112 (16%) of the traditional students. CONCLUSION: Self-selected students choosing and participating in early community-based clinical experiences coupled with problem-based learning are more likely to return to the state and to practice primary care.

Career Choice↗
PubMed2002

Evaluating community-based health professions education programs.

This paper assumes the reader (1) has little knowledge about program evaluation, and (2) is interested in evaluation to improve a community-based health professions education program. There are other important and useful approaches that can be used to address an evaluation of a community-based health professions education program, and readers are encouraged to explore them--they appear in health education, public health education, in evaluation, and in program theory literature. The paper is organized around a group of questions as a reference or organizer for the reader. These include topics like why evaluation is wanted, what kinds of questions can be addressed through evaluation, who stakeholders are, who should conduct the evaluation, what methods can be used, and how to analyze data and report results from the evaluation. In the paper, I have attempted to include examples that are related to community-based health professions programs. Finally, the paper ends with the recognition that there is much more to learn in the field of evaluation and suggestions for ways to continue pursuit of knowledge in this topical area.

Journal Article↗