Abstract
Background Medical school ophthalmology education continues to be marginalized, creating the challenge of teaching students how to adequately diagnose and manage common ocular diseases in a limited time.
Objective This study aimed to improve the ophthalmic medical knowledge and clinical skills of third-year medical students.
Methods This curriculum was provided to 76 out of 124 third-year medical students in the 2016 class at the University of Colorado-Denver School of Medicine program. It was a half-day session that incorporated lectures, problem-based cases, and clinical skills. Participating students were given a self-reflection survey on their knowledge at the beginning and end of the session. Participating students were given a pre-test and post-test 6 months later via SurveyMonkey. Another quiz was given to all students within the class. Comparisons of pre- and post-tests, pre- and post-surveys, and quiz results in the participating and nonparticipating groups were made.
Results Participating students' mean pre-test score was 61.8% (n = 76) and post-test score was 72.3% (n = 47), p < 0.01, indicating a significant increase in knowledge. There was an increase in 2 points on the Likert scale of understanding in ophthalmology between surveys. Participating students received a quiz mean score of 61.2%, which was significantly higher than those in the nonparticipating group (54.3%), p < 0.05.
Conclusion This session improved medical students' confidence and medical knowledge in ophthalmology.
Keywords
medical student education - program evaluation - new curriculum
