Office of Education, Duke-NUS Medical School; Adolescent Medicine Service, KK Women's and Children's Hospital; Singhealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, Singapore.
Office of Education, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
Educ Health (Abingdon). 2021 Jan-Apr;34(1):3-10. doi: 10.4103/efh.EfH_265_17.
International service-learning trips (ISLTs) are structured experiences in a different country where students interact and engage in cross-cultural dialog with others. Month-long ISLTs originating from North American or European medical schools enhance clinical acumen, cultural awareness, and global health familiarity. The impact of experiences shorter than 1 month or those that originate from Asia is unknown. We aimed to determine the impact of a short-term ISLT on medical students' clinical and cultural competence.
At Duke-National University Singapore, we developed an ISLT incorporating peer-assisted learning and a 1-week on-site experience delivering supervised primary care, health screening, and health education in an underserved Southeast Asian community. Using a prospective controlled design, we assessed its impact on medical students' clinical and cultural competency using validated surveys. We compared medical students who participated in the ISTL (intervention group) to a control group of students before and after the ISTL experience. We analyzed responses using univariate analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test.
: Sixty-six students responded to the survey (100%). After the ISTL, the intervention group (n = 32) showed an increase in their ratings of clinical competency (preexperience mean = 3.39, postexperience mean = 3.81, P < 0.01) as well as an increase in their cultural competency domains (preexperience mean = 3.61, postexperience mean = 4.12, P < 0.01). Post the ISTL, students in the intervention group rated their clinical and cultural competency higher than the control group (n = 34) (clinical: intervention postexperience mean = 3.81, control postexperience mean = 3.30, P < 0.01; cultural: intervention postexperience mean = 4.12, control postexperience mean = 3.50, P < 0.01). After the ISTL, the intervention group reported increased ratings of self-efficacy (pre mean = 3.99, post mean = 4.29, P = 0.021), which were higher than the control group (pre mean = 4.29, post mean = 3.57, P < 0.01).
: This short-term ISLT in an Asian medical school improved students' clinical and cultural competency and self-efficacy. Our findings suggest a positive impact of short-term ISLTs if designed and implemented with a student learning focus.
国际服务学习旅行（ISLT）是学生在不同国家进行互动并参与跨文化对话的结构化体验。来自北美或欧洲医学院的为期一个月的 ISLT 可提高临床敏锐度、文化意识和全球健康熟悉度。为期不到一个月或来自亚洲的 ISLT 的影响尚不清楚。我们旨在确定短期 ISLT 对医学生临床和文化能力的影响。
在杜克-新加坡国立大学，我们开发了一个 ISLT，其中包括同伴辅助学习和为期一周的现场体验，在服务不足的东南亚社区中提供监督下的初级保健、健康筛查和健康教育。使用前瞻性对照设计，我们使用经过验证的调查评估了它对医学生临床和文化能力的影响。我们将参加 ISLT 的医学生（干预组）与 ISLT 体验前后的对照组学生进行比较。我们使用单变量分析和 Kruskal-Wallis 检验分析了响应。
66 名学生对调查做出了回应（100%）。在 ISLT 之后，干预组（n=32）的临床能力评分有所提高（体验前平均评分为 3.39，体验后平均评分为 3.81，P<0.01），以及文化能力领域的提高（体验前平均评分为 3.61，体验后平均评分为 4.12，P<0.01）。在 ISLT 之后，干预组（n=32）的学生比对照组（n=34）的学生对自己的临床和文化能力评价更高（临床：干预后体验平均评分为 3.81，对照组后体验平均评分为 3.30，P<0.01；文化：干预后体验平均评分为 4.12，对照组后体验平均评分为 3.50，P<0.01）。在 ISLT 之后，干预组报告的自我效能感评分增加（前平均评分为 3.99，后平均评分为 4.29，P=0.021），高于对照组（前平均评分为 4.29，后平均评分为 3.57，P<0.01）。
在亚洲医学院进行的这种短期 ISLT 提高了学生的临床和文化能力以及自我效能感。我们的发现表明，如果以学生学习为重点设计和实施短期 ISLT，则会产生积极影响。
