Teaching Renal Physiology to the Millennial Student: the University of the Philippines Manila Experience

To compare the conventional style from a multi-modal approach in the teaching of renal physiology among University of the Philippines-College of Medicine (UPCM) first-year medical students in terms of their attitudes and rating scale.

We conducted an exploratory sequential mixed methods design using an online survey employing a likert scale followed by a focus group discussion of medical students taking the excretory module from 2016 to 2019. Abbreviated plenary live lectures, online videos embedded in a learning management system, patient contact experience ward work, role-playing, and quiz shows are used to integrate the lessons being taught.

One-hundred sixty-one respondents out of 185 medical students answered the online survey. We identified that the 67.8% of students found web-facilitated videos extremely effective in understanding renal physiology. Among the online videos, voice-over powerpoint format was proven to be most helpful. Students disclosed that the overall scheme was generally positive and it proved to be enjoyable and provided great learning experiences.

Applied to a class of millennial students, the pilot flight of the redesigned program attempted to engage the audience in such a way that they would not only memorize the topics by rote, they would be able to understand the topics so they could then correlate them to a real-world, clinical, or a laboratory setting following a multi-modal representation.