Abstract
Introduction
Wilderness medicine does not form part of the traditional medical curricula in the United Kingdom. Despite this, demand for wilderness medicine education is growing. A modified 15-wk wilderness medicine training course (WMTC) was designed for 26 King’s College London Wilderness Medicine Society students, tailored to student preferences following COVID-19.
Objective
To assess gain of knowledge and student perception of teaching styles used, particularly in-person versus online teaching and lecture versus practical teaching.
Methods
Precourse/midcourse/end-course assessment questionnaires were used to monitor students’ knowledge. T tests were used to compare the 3 assessment points. A postcourse evaluation form using a 5-point Likert scale was used to obtain feedback on a range of themes. Qualitative thematic analysis was performed from free-text responses. T tests were used to compare responses for “online versus in-person teaching” and “practical versus lecture teaching.” Data are presented as mean±standard deviation unless otherwise stated.
Results
Out of the 26 students, 20 (77%) completed the postcourse evaluation. Students found in-person teaching (4.90±0.37) more useful than online teaching (4.30±0.80) (P<0.01). Students also found in-person (4.80±0.41) teaching better for their confidence on a topic compared to online teaching (4.60±0.60) (P<0.05) and felt more likely to contribute to in-person teaching (4.20±0.70) than online (3.50±0.95) (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the enhancement in learning between practical sessions and in-person lectures (P>0.05). Practical sessions (5.00±0.00) were more useful for learning than online lectures (4.30±0.8) (P<0.001). There was a significant improvement in scores between precourse and end-course assessments (P<0.01).
Conclusions
The current WMTC was shown to successfully use combined teaching methods. The most highly rated aspects of the course include in-person and practical skills teaching. Future WMTCs should use these findings to put a greater emphasis on practical skills.
Keywords: medical education, wilderness medicine
Funding: King’s College London’s Student Union awarded King’s College London’s Wilderness Medicine Society $600 via the Development Fund, which was used to facilitate the Wilderness Medicine Society course accreditation fee and course materials.