How Does Educational Theory Influence Clinical Skills Teaching?

Introduction: There are many different models of learning because each individual processes and stores new knowledge in a different way - and this is usually described by a mixture of various models. From the author's experience, it is important when teaching, to make the content accessible to all students, by appealing to each individual's own means of learning. The behavioural models all give a different descri ption of what learning is, and hence recommend different methods for the teacher to put into practise in the classroom. However, with experience it seems that teachers develop their own style to include a wide variety of approaches. The models which have been chosen to be reviewed in this paper, include constructivism, behaviourism, Paiget's theory, brain-based learning, control theory of motivation and observational learning

Methods: Many databases including PubMed, Scopus and Medline proved to be futile for this review as they are predominantly databases for clinical trials and practise, without an emphasis for medical education. With the keywords: ("Educational theory,") AND ("Clinical Skills," OR "Medicine,"); PubMed showed 2 papers which were used for background information on the subject, in addition to referencing other papers which were evaluated with the selection criteria (below) Therefore, a database called ERIC (Educational Resources Information Centre)3 was chosen as the main database because this has a focus for papers about educational practise.

Discussion: The BBL theory may be compared to the control theory as they both require the teacher to ensure the student is comfortable. BBL has a focus on neurophysiology while the control theory is more centred around the external environment. The role of a clinical skills tutor to overcome a student`s educational inhibitions involve ensuring the students are comfortable with both the environment and the level of teaching - both of which apply for both theories. Piaget`s theory is applicable to most educational theories. The descri ption of how a child continuously trials new cognitive structures until one re-establishes equilibrium is very suggestive of negative reinforcement in behaviourism. Therefore it is important to allow the student time to cognitively process these new additions to the brain. Observational learning additionally requires the presence of various other students, but the principle is the same.

Conclusion: When undertaking the role of a teacher, the educational theories are very useful in the prior planning, i.e. curriculum design/lesson plans. However there are so many to consider and it is impossible to apply them all while actively teaching a class. Therefore it is important to follow a lesson plan but adapt it to the personal style of the teacher. It was noticed during the revision session that the best response came from applying the Observational Learning Theory, by telling students various tips which have been accumulated by an additional year`s experience. Even though there is no evidence of the patency of this, it certainly made the students feel more comfortable and relaxed to see alternative methods. Internationally, not just the content but also the practise of medical education has been reconstructed copiously to include different educational theories, catering for changing student requirements. If each of these reconstructs were thought of as "interventions", it would be very interesting to see retrospective studies performed before and after each intervention. This research should analyse students from all universities separately and see which interventions increase performance the most. A study like this should confirm the benefits of using educational theory and aid further enhancement of medical education.