Alan Turney has been experiencing symptoms of severe reflux and difficulties swallowing. Doctors at Blacktown Clinical School suspect a hernia in the upper part of his stomach, so they've inserted a small endoscope – or tiny camera – through his nose and down his oesophagus.
It's a standard procedure, with one big difference. The whole process is being live broadcast to almost a dozen medical students on a clinical placement, who are watching from a conference room down the hall.
On their iPads and a large screen at the front of the room, the University of Western Sydney students are able to see high resolution vision of the patient's throat, as well as monitoring video and audio of the doctors and nurses administering the procedure.
Fourth year student Angelia Tjokrowidjaja describes it as an interactive experience her textbooks can't deliver.
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“I think seeing it gives you a better way of learning it. Just reading it in a textbook, you could forget it the next day.”
Medical lecturer Dr Vincent Ho talks students through the procedure, explaining in detail what they're able to see on their screens.
He says this type of teaching is “revolutionising student training”, particularly because the number of medical students is increasing.
Video streaming is one way of accommodating the needs of more students without increasing the strain on patients and doctors who still have to deal with real medical issues.
“There are a growing number of students and we are keen to offer them high quality clinical placements and clinical training experiences,” he says.
“But, unfortunately, the physical capacity of a room to accommodate the sheer number of students just doesn't work.”
For Angelia, there's an added bonus to being in a separate room to the patient.
“Being in a different room to the patient gives us an opportunity to [ask questions]… as well as taking notes or discussing it with other students,” she says.
Nursing student Ravneet Kavr believes the interactive training is an extension of methods already being used by students, who often turn to sites such as YouTube to help supplement classroom learning.
“Before coming to this clinic I actually searched up some swallowing videos of the upper GI [gastrointestinal] tract,” she says.
“I think it's just easier for us to access, you can just take [the videos] anywhere.”
Dr Ho says the clinic doesn't use any special technology to broadcast lessons; it rather takes advantage of the growing availability of mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones with high resolution screens.
“The use of AV aids, iPads, that's all part of the new blended technology paradigm which is being increasingly adopted within universities.”
The clinic is also open to those from a variety of health-related faculties. This gives students from medicine, nursing and other areas such as physiotherapy the opportunity to interact just as they would in the workplace, something Dr Ho says is rare at student level.
“It gives us a chance to experience what a multidisciplinary discussion is, and also learn more about what they do and to have a good understanding in terms of the holistic care of the patient,” adds Angelia.
'Less hands-on learning'
James Lawler, spokesman for the Australian Medical Students' Association, says practical clinical experience remains a problem as the number of student doctors increases.
“The delivery of medical curricula through Information Technology should supplement face-to-face teaching however it can't start to replace it,” he says.
“It's the hands-on experiences which you learn most from as a student.”
Dr Ho agrees that visual training is just one part of a broad training process.
“I think we have to look at it in the viewpoint of the technology augmenting that clinical exposure,” he says.
“Certainly we're not proposing that technology replaces doctor-patient encounters, rather it increases the quality of that encounter.”
