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

Objectives: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.