For the first time since its inception, the Office of Francophone Affairs at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, through its Centre d’appui pédagogique en santé pour la francophonie (CAPSAF), has given out three $5,000 scholarships to four Francophone students at the Faculty.
This funding provides an opportunity for the students to gain experience in medical education research. This experience, supervised by professors from the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Education, will allow them to acquire new skills in the field of medical education research.
The two medical education research scholarships will allow three students to participate in research activities and present their findings in French.
They will have the opportunity to participate in a literature review workshop, practice writing surveys, developing learning tools, and writing applications for ethics approval, and prepare a scientific poster which will be presented at various medical education forums and conferences. Their work will ultimately be presented in an article and submitted for publication in a recognized educational research journal.
The dissemination award will allow the recipient to finalize their research and present their findings in French. This person will have the opportunity to participate in data analysis and help draft a scientific article and identify relevant educational research journals for its publication.
Ultrasound as a diagnostic tool
The first scholarship was awarded to Michel Khoury, a first-year medical student in the Francophone stream. Under the guidance of Dr. Nermine Youssef and Dr. Alireza Jalali, Michel will focus on the topic of "The effect of the early introduction of the ultrasound machine to pre-clerkship students in the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine." The goal of this pilot study is to raise awareness among undergraduate medical students of the use of ultrasound technology in the context of patient clinical assessments.
E-learning modules under the microscope
The second scholarship was given to Annie-Pier Duguay and Stéphanie Niles, both second-year students in the Francophone stream. As part of the team led by Dr. Jean Roy, Dr. Christopher Ramnanan and Dr. Éric Dionne, both recipients will take part in a study to "Optimize the format of certain e-learning modules that have been offered to University of Ottawa medical students since 2009." They will base their work on Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning to measure increases in motivation and information retention due to changes made to this well-known and widely used tool.
On Francophone medical education programs in minority communities in Canada
The research dissemination award was granted to Julie Crevier, a second-year medical student in the Francophone stream. Under the guidance of Dr. Éric Dionne, Julie will share the findings of her study titled "An inventory of learning assessment practices in minority Francophone medical education programs in Canada." This project aimed to shed new and exhaustive light on the learning assessment practices that form the academic curricula of Anglophone and Francophone students enrolled in general medicine programs in Canada and, in particular, students who make up the minority Francophone community at the University of Ottawa.
The Consortium national de formation en santé: a partner of choice
This initiative would not have been possible without the financial support of our long-standing partner, the Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) — University of Ottawa Chapter. The CNFS funds research projects for the health of Francophone minorities as well as advances to improve students' education in order to promote the health of the Francophone population. The three selected research projects are fully aligned with these objectives and meet the criteria of both the CNFS and the Bureau des affaires francophones.
Visit the official website for the Office of Francophone Affairs at the Faculty of Medicine to learn more about the CAPSAF research scholarships.
