The Creation of an Effective Ibook as a Learning Tool for Neurology - Thesis Example

The aim of this study is to develop and design an instructional iBook project for UC Irvine’s neurology clerkship. A review of the literature is conducted to establish the rationale for developing and designing an instructional iBook project for UC Irvine’s neurology clerkship. In this regard, the subjects covered include best practices for clinical instruction, instructor certification, student MD certification, and instructional technologies in clinical settings.Best Practices for Clinical InstructionClinical instruction is ‘multifaceted and complex’ with the clinical instructor required to manage a number of duties and to ‘respond to competing demands (O’Conner, 2006, p. 27). The clinical instruction is required to have a ‘working knowledge of patients assigned to students, and must also understand the ‘healthcare problems likely to be encountered and the treatments, procedures and policies that apply (O’Connor, 2006, p. 27). At the same time, although students have a common educational goal, they all have different ‘learning needs’ (O’Connor, 2006, p. 27).A common problem for clinical instructors is the lack of preparedness with respect to medical students’ ability to retain and apply basic scientific knowledge to clinical settings.

The problem is created when during basic scientist education, instructors usually think it is sufficient to expose medical students to the scientific knowledge without attempting to help students retain and use the science in clinical settings. Thus clinical instructors are left with the task of integrating basic science and clinical skills (Duban and Kaufman, 1985).In developing a best practices model for clinical instructions, Irby (1994) identified six domains of knowledge for clinical teaching: ‘clinical knowledge of medicine,’ knowledge of patients, knowledge of context, knowledge of learners, teaching principles and ‘case-based teaching’ (p. 333). Clinical knowledge of medicine is a term used to describe knowledge of ‘human biology’ integrated with the instructor’s own clinical experience (Irby, 1994, p. 335).