Updating McKusick: an educational exercise for medical students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Genetics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Medical students require effective methods to learn complex genetic principles.
• Updating comprehensive databases like McKusick's Mendelian Inheritance in Man offers a unique educational approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an educational module where medical students revised and updated entries in McKusick's Mendelian Inheritance in Man.
• To assess the correlation between student effort and the quality of updated genetic disorder information.

Main Methods:

• First-year medical students were assigned specific entries from McKusick's catalog for revision.
• Students reviewed and discussed literature in small groups, then compiled updated entries.
• Student-reported time spent and articles reviewed were recorded.

Main Results:

• The quality of updated entries significantly correlated with the time students dedicated to the assignment.
• No significant correlation was found between entry quality and the number of papers reviewed, prior knowledge, dictionary use, or undergraduate genetics exposure.
• Students reported learning to utilize library resources and integrate clinical and experimental research.

Conclusions:

• An active learning approach involving updating genetic databases can effectively teach Mendelian inheritance principles.
• Student engagement, particularly time investment, is a key factor in the success of such educational modules.
• This method fosters critical appraisal and synthesis of scientific literature in medical trainees.