“Students as Partners” in Promoting Healthy Aging: Using Online Co-Teaching to Enhance Nursing Students’ Clinical Reasoning

Principal Investigator: Dr Maggie Mee Kie Chan, School of Nursing
(E: chanmk1@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Janet Wong, Dr Kelvin Wang, Dr Ceci Sit, Prof Simon Cooper, Dr Tyrone Kwok, Dr YF Shea, Mr Henry Chan, Ms Celine Ngai, Mr WS Lau

Online teaching has been widely used as an effective teaching strategy to facilitate student learning in the post COVID-19 era. However, students often feel frustrated and disengaged when interacting with teachers and classmates. Students-as-partners is being promoted in HKU to maximize students’ learning capacity. Co-teaching approach creates a partnership that allows students and teachers to be more engaged in high-order thinking tasks such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. For this project, students and teachers work collaboratively to plan and deliver a lecture which promotes healthy aging.

This project aims to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of using the co-teaching approach to enhance nursing students’ clinical reasoning to provide nursing care and support older adults and also knowledge, attitude and competence in promoting healthy aging. It also aims to utilize the co-teaching approach to create a learning environment that allows students and teachers to be more engaged in learning opportunities.

Exploring Photo-elicitation as a Teaching & Learning Tool to Foster Medical Student’s Awareness of Age-related Biases in Healthcare and to Develop a Humanist View of Ageing

Principal Investigator: Mr Samson Ki Sum Wong, Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit
(E: sum41@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Ms Karina Hiu-yen Chan, Dr Pauline Po Ling Luk, Dr Abigail Wright, Dr Tak Kwan Kong, Dr Gloria Hoi Yan Wong, Dr Vivian Weiqun Lou

With the increased exposure to frail and vulnerable older patients coupled with recent advances in anti-ageing and regenerative medicine, medical students may inadvertently develop the tendency to view the ageing negatively. Age-related biases in medical students might include seeing ageing as a frustrating process of decline, deterioration, infirmity, and decay. These potential prejudices and stereotypes could impact student attitudes toward patient care and a career in geriatrics

This project seeks to harness the potential of photo-elicitation in teaching and learning, for (i) facilitating perspective-taking, (ii) enhancing medical student’s awareness of age-related stereotypes, (iii) improving attitudes towards ageing and caring for older people.

This project aligns with direction of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030), adopted by consensus in the UN General Assembly on December 14, 2020 (Resolution 75/131), calling for international action to “change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing”.

The Adopting of an Interactive Hybrid Teaching Mode to Promote Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Clinical Reasoning

Principal Investigator: Dr Veronica Suk Fan Lam, School of Nursing
(E: veronica@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Cecilia Kong, Ms Michelle Pang, Ms Jessica Cheuk, Ms Claudia Chan, Ms Joanna Ko, Ms Vivien Tsang, Mr Edmond Chan, Mr Benney Wong, Mr Vincent Chan

Effective clinical reasoning skills have a positive impact on patient outcomes. Conversely, those with poor clinical reasoning skills often fail to detect impending patient deterioration. However, the COVID pandemic has minimized students’ clinical practicum opportunity and also diminished their practice and learning by using a simulation activity.

Live online teaching is a new normal in education that may extend beyond the pandemic. Teachers and students has accumulated certain experience in this teaching and learning mode; therefore, it is about time to enrich this teaching strategy. This project engages nursing students participating in interactive hybrid lectures in which the standardized patient’s condition may change according to the students’ choice of nursing actions.

This project aims to facilitate students to be familiarize with applying clinical reasoning skills simultaneously to patient care and promote a new teaching strategy for clinical courses by integrating simulation activity to live online teaching platform.

Leveraging the Pandemic as to Accelerate Holistic Telemedicine Curriculum Development in Hong Kong – Covering Patient Management Lifecycle from Consultation to Investigation and Treatment

Principal Investigator: Dr Siu Han Jo Jo Hai, Department of Medicine
(E: haishjj@hku.hk)

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication technology to provide healthcare services over a spatial distance. In the midst of COVID-19 outbreak, the practice of telemedicine has greatly accelerated worldwide: advancing in holistic patient management lifecycle, covering not only history and examination (via ‘tel-side consultation’) stages, but also investigation and treatment stages. However current medical curriculum in Hong Kong does not include telemedicine in our undergraduate training. This impedes our future physicians’ ability to deliver high-quality tele-healthcare, and hinders our development and utilization of innovative telemedicine platforms to better healthcare in our society.

Our institution has recently obtained a teaching development grant to develop a foundational telemedicine curriculum to equip medical students to conduct tele-consultation, which is primarily history-taking and physical examination. In this proposed project, we seek to extend the curriculum to cover the whole lifecycle of patient management, focusing on patient investigation and treatment stages. In this advanced telemedicine curriculum, specialty clerkship students will acquire the knowledge and skills to provide comprehensive tele-healthcare through clinical attachment, virtual clinics, virtual ward rounds and simulated case scenarios. We believe in combining these developments will significantly advance Hong Kong’s position in the global trend of tele-medicine.

From Literacy to Actual Collaboration: Applying a Spiral Approach to a Large-scale Cross-Faculty Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Model for HKU

Principal Investigator: Fraide Jr. Agustin Ganotice, Bau Institute of Medical and Health Scie
(E: ganotc75@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr George Lim Tipoe, Dr Linda Chan, Dr May Lam, Prof Amy Chow, Dr Karen M.K. Chan, Dr Janet Yuen Ha Wong, Mr Francis Tsoi

Interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) at HKU has been offered as a cross faculty initiative involving the LKS Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Education involving Chinese Medicine, Foods and Nutritional Sciences, Education, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Psychology, Law, and Social Work (undergrad and grad).

This programme aims to break down educational silos by putting together diverse disciplines to recognize the transformative power of collaboration in patient management. Despite the success in transitioning to online IPECP during the pandemic, a limitation of this model is being one-shot design where students are expected to master desirable competencies in a single time point. To address this limitation, a three-tier IPECP is proposed. In this spiral progression model, activities are presented with increasing levels of complexity across the curriculum: Tier 1 (Literacy) as a prelude to Tier 2 (Simulation) and Tier 3 (Collaborative practice). While Tier 2 has been ongoing, the inclusion of Tiers 1 and 3 provides assurance of the development of collaborative competencies among students.

This project aims to examine how to effectively deliver the teaching of Tiers 1 and 3 using technology to effectively manage a large-scale IPECP. It hopes to deliver teaching-learning modules, clinical case, e-learning application, publication, and development of evidence-based IPECP model.

Figure 1: The three-tier IPE model integration to participating programme curricula

Notes: Tiers 1 (IPE Literacy) and Tier 3 (IPE Collaborative Practice) are the focal interest of this study. Tier 2 has been ongoing and currently implemented.

Professional Skills in Communication and Prioritization in Acute Care

Principal Investigator: Dr Abraham Ka Chung Wai, Emergency Medicine Unit
(E: awai@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Ms Claudia K Chan, Ms Michelle T Pang, Dr Stanley S Wong, Dr May K Leung, Dr CK Tong, Dr Fraide Jr. A Ganotice

Ineffective interprofessional communication contributes error in diagnosis and treatment, leading to avoidable patient morbidity and mortality. Training to improve interprofessional communication is advocated an urgent intervention to improve the quality and outcome of patient care.

To medical graduates, clinical handover and service round presentation are two commonest interprofessional communication scenario. Standardised clinical handover communication with the SBAR (situation, background, assessment, and recommendation) structure was introduced to optimize effective communication. The acute care-oriented oral case presentation is the doctor’s communication tool to justify whether immediate or urgent intervention is required, to argue for ruling out emergent disease states, and to convey a safe disposition plan in the context of triaging multiple patients for medical care and prioritization of healthcare institution and hospital resources.

The project aims: (1) To develop an interprofessional communication and clinical reasoning programme specific for acute care; and (2) To determine the effectiveness of specific teaching in interprofessional communication and prioritization by comparing the performance of students in face-to-face teaching and distance-learning.

Scaffolding Clinical Teaching by Video-based Interactive Modules (VIMs) Through DIY Video Recording of Clinical Encounterse

Principal Investigator: Dr Gordon Tin Chun Wong, Department of Anaesthesiology
(E: gordon@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Enoch Chan, Dr Michael Tiong Hong Co, Dr Desmond Yat Hin Yap

This project addresses this challenge through implementing a DIY video recording initiative within teaching hospitals and clinics. We aim to optimise a video recording kit (consisting of a portable 360- degree camera and an audio recording device) to allow DIY recording of clinical encounters by clinician teachers; and the subsequent post-production workflow and learning design methodology to create video-based interactive modules (VIMs) for clinical teaching.

We will evaluate clinical teachers’ experience in adopting this new DIY video recording initiative and developing VIMs for clinical teaching. We will also evaluate the usefulness of the newly generated learning in activities students’ and teachers’ perspectives. We expect this initiative to provide the impetus to upscale video recording of clinical encounters, and to deliver a robust system for generating VIMs at scale to systematically scaffold face-to-face clinical teaching within the medical and healthcare curricula at LKS Faculty of Medicine.

Advanced 3D Printed Models for Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Clinical Teaching”

Principal Investigator: Tak Man Wong, Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology
(E: wongtm@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Jason Pui Yin Cheung, Professor Kenneth Man Chee Cheung, Dr Christian Xinshuo Fang, Professor Kent Man Chu, Dr Chi Chung Foo, Dr Raymond King Yin Tsang, Dr Kelvin Kai Wang To, Dr George Lim Tipoe, Dr Jian Yang, Mr. Chun Chung Cheung, Ms Rong Liu, Dr Tomasz Stanislaw Cecot, Dr Ginger Wai Kuen Ko

Current mannequin models in the market are lacking in various real-life clinical scenarios. Moreover, they are in low resolution but rather costly. Considering that, the HKUMed Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology uses in-house 3D Printers and silicone moulding to make high-resolution models, including hand, knee, shoulder, nasopharynx, etc. This project aims to reinforce the professional teaching quality in training our MBBS students, our future Hong Kong medical practitioners.

The silicone moulding of the model mimics the actual skin texture, and the bones can be numbered according to the teaching materials for students to understand the structure clearly.

Students can use the transparent nasopharynx 3D printed models to practise the correct way of the deep nasal swab. Students can even disassemble the model to examine the body structure in more detail.

We believe that this project can provide high-quality learning tools for MBBS students.

1. New Capstone Experience in Undergraduate-initiated Biomedical Research with Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Student-patient Interactions

Principal Investigator: Dr Joseph Yau Kei Chan, Department of Ophthalmology
(E: jchanyk@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Kendrick Co Shih, Dr Ka Wai Jasper Wong, Prof Kevin Kin Man Tsia, Dr Shiming Zhang, and Dr Sze Yi Mak

Interdisciplinary collaborations between medical and engineering professionals is one of the keys for recent tremendous advancements and creations in biomedical technologies. However, the interaction between the current medical and biomedical engineering students has yet been fully exploited in the current undergraduate curricula.

The mission of this TDG project is to promote student-initiated research based on direct student-patient interactions, and cultivate the ability to identify and apply learned knowledge to solve biomedical problems by interdisciplinary collaboration. Each student research group, which consists both medical and biomedical engineering students, will interview visually impaired persons (VIPs), and identify their own research questions to address the unmet needs of VIPs.

Through this capstone experience, students will substantiate their understanding of the importance of identifying and solving clinical problems from patients’ perspective. Also, the involvement of the intensive knowledge exchange between medical and engineering students could foster effective communication between medical doctors to-be and biomedical engineers to-be.

2. Introduction of Augmented Reality (AR) Technologies to Educate Medical Students the Visual Symptoms and Progression of Important Vision-threatening Diseases

Principal Investigator: Dr Joseph Yau Kei Chan, Department of Ophthalmology
(E: jchanyk@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Prof Wai Ching Lam, Dr Kendrick Co Shih, Dr Nicholas Siu Kay Fung

Medical students learn about the visual impairment of different vision-threatening diseases through textbooks. These materials are derived from vision science studies based on normal population, and qualitative descriptive studies from patients. However, vision is a kind of perception which the best way to learn about it is to appreciate it through first-person experience. Augmented Reality (AR) technology provides a fascinating tool to meet this need. Therefore, the AR-based technology, which can simulate the diseased visual symptom, should enhance the effectiveness of delivering the knowledge to the medical students.

The objective of this TDG project is to educate medical students the visual symptoms and progression of common vision-threatening diseases through immersive AR experience and simulation-based training. By performing specifically designed reading and searching tasks with the augmented visual impairments, our medical students, will have an in-depth understanding on the disease visual symptoms and truly appreciate how the diseases affect the patients, through their first-person AR experience.

1. Interprofessional Interactive Learning Module on Inhaler Devices for the Management of Respiratory Disorders – A Student Partnership Approach

Principal Investigator: Dr Esther Wai Yin Chan, Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy
(E: ewchan@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Ms Claudia KY Chan,
Ms Emmie YM Chan, Dr Julie Y Chen, Mr Attin SS Cheng, Mr William CM Chui, Ms Lydia WY Fung, Dr James CM Ho, Ms Jovie YT Lee, Dr Ann KY Leung, Mr Jason CK Lo, Ms Wilson Leung, Dr Judith CW Mak, Mr Gordon HS Miu, Ms Vivian CY Ngai, Dr Swathi Pathadka, Ms Eliza YT Tam, Ms Janet KT Wong, Mr Vincent KC Yan, Dr Emily TY Tse

Inhaler devices are vital in the management of respiratory disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Healthcare professionals have a central role in counselling patients on inhaler use and understanding different types of inhalers. Correct inhalation techniques are fundamental to clinical training. We have developed an online interactive learning module for healthcare disciplines, including undergraduate BPharm, BNurs, MBBS programmes and postgraduate courses including MClinPharm and MSc in Nursing (pre-registration) programmes.

The module consists of videos demonstrating correct inhaler techniques with built-in checkpoints for instant feedback. To emphasise student partnership and peer teaching, current students form a team of multidisciplinary student co-investigators in re-designing the module curriculum and improving module materials by leading group discussions with past students and incorporating their suggestions. The module has been delivered to over 500 students across healthcare disciplines. An evaluation study on its effectiveness for improving student knowledge and confidence is underway.

2. Online Training for the Reconstitution of Fosun/BioNTech: A Learning Platform to Determine Readiness for Complex Medication Preparation Procedures

Principal Investigator: Dr Esther Wai Yin Chan, Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy
(E: ewchan@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: – Dr Enoch Chan,
Mr William CM Chui, Ms Lydia WY Fung, Dr Veronica SF Lam, Dr Janet YH Wong, Dr Gordon TC Wong, Prof Ian CK Wong,
Mr Vincent KC Yan,

Conventional healthcare professional education emphasises instructor-led, face-to-face practical teaching and learning paradigms for clinical techniques that require complex psychomotor skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-learning approaches. However, optimal online learning module development for clinical procedural skills acquisition and online formative assessment have been under-explored.

A randomised controlled trial is underway to compare those who complete an online vaccine reconstitution training programme involving a video of step-by-step demonstration of the reconstitution procedures versus those who do not on factual knowledge, procedure knowledge, and self-efficacy.

Results will inform the design of experiential content in healthcare and other curriculums using e-learning. Future healthcare professionals are expected to be trained on a large scale, enabling the acquisition of complex procedural skills to meet the demands of pharmaceutical care in population-wide community programmes. The resulting learning platform and assessment tools will be extended to disciplines beyond healthcare where e-learning is necessary.

A Living Library of Patient-Educators for Virtual Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Clinical Consultation Skills for Medical Students

Principal Investigator: Dr Esther Yee Tak Yu, Department of Family Med & Primary Care
(E: ytyu@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Julie Chen, Dr Amy Ng, Dr Linda Chan, Dr Emily Tse, Dr Pauline Luk, Miss Corliss Wong, Mr Tony Yu

Clinical interpersonal and problem-solving skills are core competencies in a clinical consultation essential for effective and patient-centred care across all disciplines. Real patients are best positioned to provide the most authentic learning experience and are in a unique position to further add value to learning by being trained to give feedback and to assess the clinical consultation from the patient’s perspective.

An increasing class size, limitations of virtual reality simulation, restrictions to patient access in hospitals and clinics, and the growing importance of teleconsultation demand for an innovative and sustainable approach to build students’ skills and confidence in conducting effective, empathic, patient-centred consultations in a safe, virtual learning environment.

This project aims to evaluate the impact and feasibility of an accessible library of “patient-educators” who are trained to give a standardized history and provide individualized feedback to enhance consultation skills learning of medical students in their junior clinical years using existing video conferencing platforms.

Construction of a Pharmaceutical Chemical Virtual Laboratory to Facilitate Inquiry-based Learning in the Pharmaceutical Chemical Education of the BPharm Programme

Principal Investigator: Dr Kong Ching Wong, Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy
(E: kcwong47@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Jenny Ka Wing Lam, Dr Ip Chun Wai, Dr Steve Po Yam Li

Our team is developing a virtual laboratory platform to facilitate inquiry-based learning (IBL) activities in the BPharm programme.

Traditional laboratory Instructional activities usually employ “cookbook” procedures for students to verify concepts that have already been taught in lectures. Virtually, there is not much meaningful learning taking place.

In contrast, inquiry-based laboratory instruction requires students to actively discover theories through observing patterns (exploration) and proposing explanations (concept invention). It promotes students’ ownership of the theories, and thus, enhances understanding and knowledge retention.

One of the greatest challenges in IBL is the adherence of experimental results to the theories of interest. Any errors or accidents could starkly jeopardize the learning outcome. This is, however, not the case in the virtual world. Our team’s virtual laboratory can generate unerring experimental results that are ideal for concept invention. Yet, it is still flexible for us to incorporate elements such as random errors to enhance the sense of reality.

Teaching Data Science Skills in Biomedical Sciences and Medical Curricula

Principal Investigator: Dr Joshua Wing Kei Ho, School of Biomedical Sciences
(E: jwkho@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Jason Wong, Dr Yuanhua Huang, Dr Ruibang Luo, Dr Dora Zhang, Dr Zhonghua Liu

Data science skills, such as acquiring, managing, analysing, visualising and interpreting big data, are increasingly important in many disciplines.

In medical education, there is a strong international recognition that some modern data science topics, such as artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and digital health technology, should be incorporated into the medical curriculum. Nonetheless, there is little consensus regarding what and how data science skills should be introduced. The breadth and depth of various data science topics covered in existing undergraduate programmes vary a lot among leading international institutions.

In this project, we will determine the ‘core’ data science skill set expected by healthcare professionals, industry practitioners, and academic researchers by conducting a quantitative survey. Furthermore, we will design and develop new strategies that teach data science skills through a problem-based learning approach that involve group-based collaborative learning activities.