January 2, 2018—Vincent DeBono, DC, CSCS, Dean of the College of Chiropractic, represented Logan at the annual conference of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) held in August in Helsinki, Finland.
The worldwide organization, which has members in 90 countries on five continents, promotes international excellence in education in the health care professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education.
Among the conference’s 4,000 attendees, Logan was the only U.S. chiropractic school present. Highlights included presentations on subjects from curriculum mapping and mentoring to enhancing student engagement.
DeBono’s poster presentation, “Incorporation of the Spiral Curriculum Model in Chiropractic Education,” discussed ongoing results from Logan’s 2014 curriculum revision, which marked the first time a spiral curriculum model was incorporated in a U.S. chiropractic program.
The curriculum framework was modeled after the Center for Medical Education at the University of Dundee in Scotland, wherein patient care concepts are introduced to novice students, then covered repeatedly and with increasing levels of complexity as the students’ foundational science and clinical knowledge expands.
“From when the first cohort was launched, we’ve seen a significant increase in standardized board performance on the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners Part 1 exam,” said Dr. DeBono. “We’ve also seen an increase in student performance on clinical exams, floor evaluations and student satisfaction.”
In addition to presenting his poster, DeBono participated in many sessions, including a two-day course on “Essential Skills in Medical Education Assessment.” Dr. DeBono had the opportunity to engage in a small group with trauma surgeons and pediatric oncologists to discuss the challenge of assessing students.
“It’s easy to assess knowledge and skills, but how you assess the professionalism of students is a challenge,” he said. “It’s not just the knowledge and skills, but the attitude. Our goal is to teach students to be effective, empathetic health care providers while improving patient outcomes.”
Source: Logan University
