Innovation in Teaching
Newsletter Summer 2020
See how UCLA OBGYN faculty are adapting to a new world in COVID-19 and continuing to maintain a world class learning experience for our medical students.
The UCLA OBGYN Clerkship provides medical students with an essential patient care learning experience that includes interaction with expert faculty, simulation, and other formal educational activities. It is an opportunity for medical students to gain in-depth understanding of the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology and exposure to all the sub-specialties within the field.
When the in-person medical student clerkship was interrupted due to COVID-19, our department embarked on the journey of virtual clerkship under the leadership of Lisa Nicholas MD, clerkship chair and Lauren Nathan, MD, vice chair of education. To enhance the virtual teaching experience, Dr. Aparna Sridhar, associate clinical professor and director of marketing and innovation at UCLA OBGYN, identified a new interactive live-stream paradigm using smart-glass technology. Smart-glasses use tele-conferencing with hands-on demonstrations and real time visual instructions. These hands-free devices allow live-streaming via Zoom in the UCLA Simulation Center to introduce obstetrical procedures to medical students.
Janell Holloway, MD Candidate, Class of 2021 at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said, “I really appreciated the UCLA Simulation Center activity. It definitely helped solidify some concepts that were more difficult for me to appreciate from the 2D pictures in the textbook. Visualizing the birth process through the head lamp/camera was also incredibly helpful. I just wanted to say I appreciate the various ways you are making our learning interactive.”
Dr. Sridhar is also working with Dr. Yue Ming Huang EdD MHS, Education Director at the UCLA Simulation Center and Catherine Nameth, PhD, Director of UCLA Faculty Professional Development, on a study to understand student experiences and knowledge acquisition with this new technology.