5 Ways to Prepare The Doctors of The Future

Years ago when I was a medical student I felt that lexical knowledge was more important than actually being able to find the information I need. And now there are 23 million peer-reviewed papers on Pubmed.com so the skill of being able to find information is becoming even more important than ever.

I thought that medical curriculum should be redesigned in a way that now we can serve this new need for skills such as digital literacy. That is why I launched the world’s first university course focusing on social media, mobile health and the future of medicine. The course is still running with full house.

In my new video, I described methods that help us prepare students for becoming physicians who can take care of their patients in a technological world. Here is the video and then summaries of the 5 methods.

Developing e-learning platforms

I launched an e-learning platform for my students on which they can check all the presentations with hand-outs, data, studies, plus they can do the tests online. If they complete the tests online, they can skip the written exam.



Engaging students through social media

As all my medical students have Facebook accounts; challenges, tasks about online activities and questions about the topics covered during the lectures are posted every day during the semester on the Facebook page of the course and students with the most bonus points do not have to take the written exam. They fight against each other.



Gamification

The typical curriculum requires students to study texts and data by heart without proper reasoning and understanding the logic behind it. Instead, study through serious diagnostic games has clear advantages. The “Healing Blade” card game takes the player into a world of sorcery and creatures where real–world knowledge of infectious diseases and therapeutics play a pivotal role in the winning strategy. “Occam’s Razor” is a real diagnostic card game released by NerdCore Medical.



Creating a digital environment

I offer students the chance to interact with each other outside the curriculum online. If they need help in using a social media channel, they can find me online and I’m happy to help. With some of them, I’m still in touch even years after they completed my course. This way they can learn the tricks of online collaboration and it might be a simpler task when they have to do it as a part of their everyday job.

Rethinking the whole curriculum

At Radboud University Medical Center, they are currently working on a revolutionary new medical curriculum. The educational vision behind this transformation has been inspired by people all over the world who want to improve people’s lives through healthcare and education. In this system, each student has a personal coach. They work with a so–called open space technology in which students themselves decide what will be addressed when students and teachers meet. Currently, biomedical and medical students also work as consultants for pharmaceutical companies in an attempt to come up with innovative ideas. These young students still have a lot to learn, but it seems they learn very quickly when under pressure.

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