Finding New Ways to Improve Dermatology Education
Peter Lio, MD, FAAD, is clinical assistant professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. In this video, Dr Lio shares some ideas and insights on improving dermatology education by opening up the discussion on the various methods that could come underway.
Transcript:
Dr Lio: We know that, when we decrease pain and procedural anxiety, everybody wins. The patient wins, because they have less discomfort. We win, because we're not stressed in the whole time, but also, we win because the success of the treatment has actually been shown to be higher when pain has been better-controlled. This is well-established.
It's really a triple-win for everybody, all the parties involved. I would say at this point, top derm has not really gone into that domain. It's in one of the peripheries of dermatology, and I will say that our session that we give is unique, in some ways.
I had never heard of a session like it, so I built it around some things that I wanted to put together. I'm hoping, again, this is the kind of thing that we could make a special module or a different unit to infuse that into top derm in the near future.
We have to keep learning. We're trying to become lifelong learners. We know that medical education is constantly changing. I often say, very honestly, I can't keep up. I'm really focused on one small area of medicine, just atopic derm, which is a small area of dermatology, and I can't even keep up with that.
We need a number of different tools to get there. From watching awesome videos, to listening to great podcasts, to of course, still going to live meetings when we hopefully get back to them. We're virtual meetings in the case of 2020 and beyond, hopefully not too much longer.
All of these things are important, but I'm really excited about and eager to try other ways to learn. If that means doing more stimulation-type experiences, if that means bringing gamification to the educational mission of dermatology, I think these are all tools in our toolbox, and one size will not fit all.
Some people are going to love one and not the other. Others may say, "I'm not interested in mobile games." That's OK. It's not for everybody, but we think that the people that it will speak to are really going to benefit from it.
I know I have. I've benefited from this and other mobile games that I've done. One of the things that got me excited about Level X when I first heard about them a few years ago was the program called Duolingo.
I've been playing Duolingo for years. I love it, and it keeps me going. I thought, "This really is brilliant. This is a way you can get people on board to do cool stuff in a fun way." It's remarkable, because it is free. People have often expressed some confusion about this, and even a little bit of suspicion.
"Why is it free? How can it be free?" I say, "It's a different kind of model. It's a mobile game model, where there's potential for advertising, and there's grants and other ways of getting revenue." It's just different. I think if you had to pay for a game, I'm not sure people would do. I don't know if you'd get enough.
If you could get people excited about it, I think many people say...That's how I feel with Duolingo. I'm happy to look at some ads. If it allows me to keep learning and allows the company to keep growing, I think it's a really good trade-off.
