The Novel Method of Teaching Physiology and Pathophysiology of Congenital Hypothyroidism to Medical Students: An Educational Intervention Study

Abstract

Background: Teaching congenital hypothyroidism is a challenging aspect of medical education. Objectives: In this study, the authors implemented storytelling plus simulation (Double-S method) to make a new way of understanding the physiology and pathophysiology of the thyroid gland. Methods: An educational intervention study was conducted on 120 medical students in the third and fourth grades of medicine with little or no clinical experience. Participants were randomly divided into the Double-S and lecture-only groups and underwent the same pre-test and post-test. They attended a 120-minute class by the same pediatric endocrinologist. Results: The intragroup analysis showed no significant difference between the pre-test scores of the two groups (P-value = 0.843), but higher post-test scores were obtained in the Double-S method (7.6 vs. 5.3, respectively, P-value = 0.002). Conclusions: This study showed that teaching heavy physiological and pathophysiological content by unique incorporation of simulation and storytelling can improve learning basic and clinical courses in medical students. As our method had a novelty toward common simulation and storytelling methods, it helped medical students from the base to the bedside.