Condensing embryology teaching: a medical student perspective

Abstract

Dear editor We read with great interest the study by Kazzazi and Bartlett,1 which explores a potential method for teaching embryology to medical students. This consisted of a 2-h peer-teaching session, with an emphasis on the clinical aspects of this subject. As the modern medical curriculum often struggles to include adequate teaching of embryology, this study by Kazzazi and Bartlett1 is of particular relevance. Indeed, findings by Hamilton and Carachi2 also convey medical student dissatisfaction with embryology teaching. As medical students at King’s College London who have already received embryology teaching, we understand how conceptually challenging embryology can be for first year medical students and, thus, would like to offer additional insight. We first received embryology teaching in our first year, which consisted of an introductory lecture that covered the basic principles. We feel this was fundamental to our understanding of the complexities discussed in subsequent lectures. The condensed course provided by Kazzazi and Bartlett1 may best be delivered as a similar introduction to embryology, motivating students to engage with further learning offered. Although we appreciate the impact that the condensed course design had upon the medical students within the study, we believe that further improvements can be achieved. We have also benefited from peer-led teaching sessions similar to those described by Kazzazi and Bartlett.1 However, our teaching was delivered to smaller groups (8–10 students), which we felt to be more engaging than our lectures. This is supported by Cendan et al,3 who demonstrated an increase in student satisfaction and examination percentile scores in small group teaching when compared to that of a large lecture group. Consequently, providing this course in a small-group format may enhance student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Furthermore, while these condensed sessions can instill immediate confidence in the student, we have found that the long-term retention of knowledge is questionable. At our institution, much of our learning is delivered online, through virtual patient-based clinical scenarios. The provision of such scenarios, we believe, would prove beneficial when combined with the condensed teaching method, and highlight the clinical consequences of embryopathies. Several studies have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of online virtual patients within medical education, with many concluding that it is a valuable tool.4,5 This teaching method allows students to revisit the topic whenever they feel the need to, negating the short-term memory issue that may be encountered with Kazzazi and Bartlett’s1 method. Furthermore, the online scenarios allow the standardization of teaching, a problem that may be encountered with small group peer teaching. In conclusion, we believe supplemental condensed embryology teaching, as suggested by Kazzazi and Bartlett,1 would be beneficial to the understanding of this challenging topic. However, from our experience, we would encourage this teaching to be delivered to a smaller group and be further supplemented with additional online patient-based scenarios to enhance learning and the retention of information. We hope this will provide a more thorough base knowledge of embryology and improve clinical knowledge in related specialities.