Teaching the concept of brain death in undergraduate medical education

Holling M., Stummer W., Friederichs H.

Abstract

Objective To establish and evaluate a new approach to teach medical students how to assess brain death in patients. Design, Setting, and Participants A total of 120 fourth-year medical students at Münster Medical School (Germany) participated in a 1-hour lecture on how to assess brain death in patients. After this lecture, students were assigned to 2 groups. One group attended an additional practical course on the evaluation of brain death and received training using a new high-fidelity simulation device. The other group did not participate in any additional training session. All students completed a questionnaire before the lecture and a second questionnaire at the conclusion of the study. For the group undergoing the additional training, the second questionnaire was completed after the additional training session. Results The additional practical training session significantly improved the students' performance in assessing brain death and promoted the self-assessment and motivation of the medical students. Conclusions The establishment of a new practical teaching concept led to significant improvements in medical students' assessments of brain death in a practical session. These improvements in medical education could have significant implications for the clinical assessment of patients in the future.