Medical Colleges to Track Practical Skill Progress via Digital Logbooks: Countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to face insufficient health education resources and facilities, as well as a severe shortage of health care professionals. In 2019, the Levy Mwanawasa Medical University in Lusaka was launched to address the shortage of healthcare professionals, implementing a decentralized training model utilizing elected regional and district hospitals in Zambia as training sites for various cadres.
Medical Colleges to Track Practical Skill Progress via Digital Logbooks
Digital logbooks offer several benefits compared to traditional paper-based logbooks. A key aspect of the new competency-based UG curriculum is the emphasis on the acquisition of competencies as a requisite for progression in the course. The active learning process by the student and his/her progression to the achievement of competencies and predetermined tasks need to be documented. A record of activities completed and competencies acquired is necessary to ensure that the learner has acquired the key competencies.
The logbook shall have pages dedicated to participation in the Foundation Course and AETCOM activities (in all phases). There can be a logbook for each phase, which must be submitted before the examination and available for university examiners to review, if necessary or at random. If the subjects are included in more than one phase, the subjects can have a logbook covering various competencies (activities) in all phases.
Logbooks and electronic logbooks for medical skills development
Logbooks, regardless of the format, allow students to record and track procedures learned and performed, to document students’ curriculum progression, which includes a range of skills and practices to be observed and practiced during clinical rotations, and to ensure continuity of care in a facility or community.
To strengthen face-to-face teaching, LMMU, along with local and international partners, cooperated to leverage digital developments and their potential to strengthen the quantity and quality of medical training in Zambia. As part of this collaboration, we identified the transition from paper-based logbooks to electronic logbooks (e-logbooks) as an opportunity to improve the continuous assessment of students, recognizing that the decentralized setting with hospitals hundreds of kilometers from the central campus presents challenges beyond the capabilities of the paper-based logbook to monitor and manage the skills training process adequately.
What is a digital logbook?
A doctor’s logbook is a record-keeping tool used by medical professionals, typically junior doctors or medical students, to document their clinical activities and learning experiences during their training or education. It serves as a digital counterpart to traditional paper-based logbooks. It provides an enhanced method of keeping track of the ongoing assessment and development of members and instructors.
In the undergraduate setting, the ideal logbook is a tool that guides medical students through their clinical rotation by highlighting important clinical objectives, promoting self-reflection, and providing an opportunity to obtain feedback from preceptors.
6 Best Easy-to-Use Medical Logbooks
There are several easy-to-use medical logbooks available that can help you keep track of your health information.
- Dr. Log: This is an application that helps to capture the information by the end user. Being a smartphone application, it can save clinical images also. All data are saved on a secured server in the user-specific domain.
- Healthiebook: This is a digital health journal that tracks your daily food intake, exercise routine, medication schedule, and other health-related information. It is available on iOS and Android devices and is free to download.
- My Medical: My Medical is an app that allows you to keep a record of all your medical information, including medications, allergies, medical conditions, and doctors’ contact information. It is available on iOS and Android devices and costs $4.99.
- Healthie: Healthie is an app that allows you to track your food intake, exercise routine, and other health-related information. It is available on iOS and Android devices and is free to download.
- Health Diary: Health Diary is a printable medical logbook that you can use to keep track of your health information. It includes sections for medication schedules, doctor’s visits, and other health-related information.
Conclusion
In this article we discussed the medical colleges tracking practical skill progress via digital logbooks. A doctor’s logbook is a record-keeping tool used by medical professionals, typically junior doctors or medical students. The subjects can have a logbook covering various competencies (activities) in all phases.
