Electives for CBME

Introduction to Electives in Competency-Based Medical Education

In this section, Ravi Kadani introduces the concept of electives in competency-based medical education and explains how they differ from the linear curriculum.

The New Curriculum of MBBS

• The syllabus of MBBS underwent a major shift in 2019 with the introduction of a new curriculum known as CBME or competency-based medical education.

• CBME means that rather than teaching students in a linear fashion, certain competencies are defined and learning methods and assessments are devised depending on those competencies.

What Are Electives?

• Electives are a kind of posting that is sandwiched between third year part one and third year part two for two months.

• Electives provide an opportunity for students to have something more than the linear syllabus they go through during their four-and-a-half-year training.

• Each department creates electives, and the number of students they can accommodate varies. When all clinical departments come up with electives, you get a grand pool of all the electives that clinical subjects provide.

Conclusion

Electives offer an opportunity for medical students to gain additional knowledge beyond what is covered by the standard curriculum. They allow students to explore different areas of medicine and gain experience in specific fields.

Overview of Electives

In this section, the speaker explains how electives work in third year part 1 MBBS. The merit list is created and students choose their electives based on their ranking. Electives are like a posting for one month, where students pick one from pre and para clinical subjects and one from clinical subjects.

How Electives Work

• After the merit list is created, the top-ranked student chooses their elective first.

• Students choose two electives: one from pre and para clinical subjects and one from clinical subjects.

• Each department creates its own electives that can be included in a student's resume.

• Electives are far more relevant if the student chooses to go abroad for further studies.

Duration of Elective Posting

• The third year final exam is over, and there is a two-month gap before third year part 2 begins.

• These two months are divided into block 1 (first month) and block 2 (second month).

• Block 1 is when the student will choose an elective of pre and para clinical branches, while block 2 is for clinical branches.

• It's defined as a learning experience because it's extremely experiential.

Benefits of Electives

• Electives stand out more than what that student would have linearly learned in case they just passed through MBBS.

• It offers an opportunity to learn about topics/skills/concepts in a far more intimate way.

• It provides an opportunity to be involved in the team that provides care to patients.

Overall, electives provide students with valuable hands-on experience that can help them stand out when applying for further studies or jobs.

Electives in Medical Curriculum

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of electives in medical curriculum and how they provide an opportunity for learners to explore and experience areas of interest.

Importance of Experiential Learning

• Electives are designed to be experiential, allowing students to explore and discover areas of interest.

• The learning experience is created in the curriculum to provide an opportunity for learners to explore, discover, and experience areas or streams of interest.

• It is important that electives are extremely experiential rather than just reading or mugging up things.

• The student must feel being a part of the team.

Differences between Old and New Curriculum

• Electives were brought into the new CBME curriculum as a new concept.

• There are significant differences between old and new curriculums.

• One major difference is the inclusion of electives.

Salient Features of Elective Module

• Two electives will be taken over two months: block one (free and periclinical) and block two (clinical).

• Block one will mainly focus on pre and para-clinical while block two will focus on clinical specialties.

• Regular clinical postings that begin in the second year onwards will continue during block one but will be suspended during block two.

• Attendance of 75% is mandatory for both blocks.

• Assessment is mainly formative depending on the kind of elective that has been devised.

Designing Effective Electives

• Electives should be supervised, immersive, self-directed learning experiences.

• The program should be designed in such a manner that predefined objectives are attained.

• There is an opportunity to provide out-of-institute or out-of-city/state experiences if it aligns with the elective's objectives.

Template for Preparing an Elective

The module on electives provides a simple template for preparing an elective. The template includes the name of the block, objectives, duration, methodology, assessment, and references.

Assigning Preceptors for Electives

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of assigning a preceptor for each elective and how to accommodate larger groups of students.

Importance of Preceptors

• A preceptor is assigned to each elective.

• The preceptor is responsible for guiding the students through their experiential learning.

• If accommodating a larger group of students, consider splitting them amongst multiple preceptors.

Experiential Learning

• Preceptors are not called teachers because experiential learning is very different from traditional teaching methods.

• External preceptors may be necessary if an elective extends into another institute.

Defining Learning Objectives, Activities, and Assessment

This section covers the three pillars of any learning activity: defining objectives, listing activities, and assessment.

Three Pillars of Learning Activities

• Define learning objectives to determine where you want to go with the elective.

• List activities that will help achieve those objectives.

• Assessment determines whether or not you have reached your goals.

Defining Learning Objectives

• Define what you want the student to be able to do at the end of the elective.

• The number of students depends on workload and departmental requirements.

• Prerequisites may be necessary if there is pre-existing knowledge required for the elective.

Listing Activities

• Determine which teaching methods or activities will help achieve your objectives.

• Provide learning resources such as textbooks or other materials.

Assessment

• Portfolio entries and logbook entries are required to determine if a student has completed an elective.

• For example, in diabetology electives, two cases must be presented during one month.

• Logbook entries indicate whether cases were presented or not.

• Portfolio entries include information about patient history and papers written by the student.

• Assessment should be formatted to reflect the experiential nature of the elective.