Masters Degrees (Centre for Health Professions Education)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Centre for Health Professions Education) by Author "De Wet, Daniel Rudolph"

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    The role of pathology in the development of clinical expertise and practice in an integrated undergraduate medical curriculum : a final-year medical student perspective
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) De Wet, Daniel Rudolph; Volschenk, Mariette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Centre for Health Professions Education.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The international move towards increased integration of undergraduate medical curricula has revealed a number of unintended consequences, such as insufficient depth of learning, fragmentation of knowledge and reduced perception of the importance of specific discipline knowledge such as pathology. The current curriculum renewal process of the undergraduate MBChB programme in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences presented the ideal opportunity to review whether the curriculum is achieving its teaching and learning outcomes from a student’s perspective. One of these outcomes is developing clinical reasoning, which is essential. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore final-year medical students’ perceptions of the role of pathology in the development of their clinical expertise and practice (thus clinical reasoning), as well as the contributing and limiting factors of the integrated pathology curriculum in the development of their perception. The study design was interpretivist and situated within a qualitative, methodological framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight students. Interpretative data analysis was done, with four themes emerging from the data, namely conceptions of pathology and what pathologists do; understanding pathology; application of pathology; and student-identified curricular influences and considerations. The latter theme was divided into three subthemes, namely the placement of pathology; pathologists on the clinical platform; and methods of teaching pathology. In conclusion, the findings of this study confirm that final-year medical students, with their varied conceptions of pathology, realized the important role that pathology played in developing their clinical expertise and practice. Understanding of pathology concepts enabled transfer of knowledge to clinical reasoning more effectively, and within an integrated curriculum, the need was identified to recognize the importance of the placement of pathology, teaching methods employed and visibility of pathologists as teachers on the clinical platform. All these findings should inform the current renewal process of the pathology curriculum.