Medical Students and Statistics: Challenges in Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

• Activity Number: 278
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Philip M. Sedgwick*+
• Companies: Centre for Medical and Healthcare Education
• Keywords: Medical statistics ; Integrated teaching ; Contextualised learning

Abstract

Medical statistics is a core component of the medical curriculum in the UK. In today's era of evidence based medicine, doctors need to assimilate knowledge and evidence for their practice based on literature that incorporates an increasing use of statistics. However, many students still fail to see the relevance of statistics to clinical practice. Summary of work: This presentation will describe the teaching and learning of statistics in a UK medical school. The content and delivery of the curriculum reflects the importance of teaching statistical thinking rather than statistical techniques. By integrating teaching with other disciplines, in particular clinical communication, students' learning can be contextualised. Emphasis is placed on a learning process rather than gaining knowledge, incorporating the ability to evaluate data as well as developing skills to interact with patients and colleagues. A variety of teaching methods will be described including videos, small group exercises plus self-assessment statistical exercises. Assessment has been developed to reflect approaches to teaching and learning.