Teaching medicine with the help of "Dr. House"

Andreas Jerrentrup; Tobias Mueller; Ulrich Glowalla; Meike Herder; Nadine Henrichs; Andreas Neubauer; Juergen R Schaefer

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

Teaching medicine with the help of "Dr. House"

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 13;13(3):e0193972. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193972. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Andreas Jerrentrup¹, Tobias Mueller¹, Ulrich Glowalla², Meike Herder^{2

3}, Nadine Henrichs^{2

4}, Andreas Neubauer⁵, Juergen R Schaefer¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Unknown and Rare Diseases, UKGM GmbH, University Clinic Marburg, Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany.
² Instruction and Interactive Media Research Group, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
³ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Leer gGmbH, Leer, Germany.
⁴ Department of Therapeutic Pedagogy and Special Education, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
⁵ Internal Medicine-Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, UKGM GmbH, University Clinic Marburg, Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany.

Abstract

TV series such as "House MD", "Grey´s Anatomy" or "Emergency Room" are well perceived by medical students. Seminars featuring medical TV series such as "House MD" might serve as door-opener to attract medical students to learn more about rare diseases. The TV series "House MD" is troublesome for the main character Dr. House is an excellent diagnostician but at the same time a rather misanthropic person. Therefore, lecturing medicine with the help of "House MD" requires constant evaluation. From 2008 to 2016 we are using the well-known TV series "House MD" continuously to attract medical students and teach them about rare diseases as well as diagnostic strategies. We collected from 213 students a detailed questionnaire assessing their learning experience. 76.6% of our students (n = 157) reported to watching medical dramas on a regular basis. The Dr. House seminar was compared to traditional seminars and our students reported an improved learning effect (69.9%), better concentration (89.7%), higher motivation to participate (88.7%), and more fun (86.7%) (all p<0.001). The students see Dr. House's behavior quite critically. Likert assessment on a 5-point scale identified strong disagreement with Dr. House´s interpersonal skills in dealing with his colleagues (median = 1) and patients (median = 1). At the same time, the students strongly agreed with his outstanding diagnostic (median = 5) and therapeutic capabilities (median = 4). Medical students visiting a Dr. House teaching seminar are highly motivated to learn more about rare diseases. They were positively influenced by TV series such as Dr. House to improve their diagnostic and clinical skills. At the same time, they are critical enough not to see Dr. House as a role model for their own personality. Well performed medical TV shows such as Dr. House can successfully be used in an educational setting to motivate medical students to come into seminars to learn more about rare diseases.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Clinical Competence
Curriculum
Education, Medical / methods*
Education, Medical, Undergraduate / methods*
Educational Measurement
Female
Humans
Learning
Male
Problem-Based Learning / methods*
Students, Medical
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teaching
Television
Young Adult

Grants and funding

JRS is supported by the “Dr. Reinfried Pohl Foundation”, Marburg, Germany. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. JRS is partly employed by the University Clinic Giessen and Marburg GmbH (UKGM) in Marburg. The UKGM did not have any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. AJ is employed by the University Clinic Giessen and Marburg GmbH (UKGM) in Marburg. The UKGM did not have any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. TM is employed by the Rhoen Klinikum AG (RKA) in Bad Neustadt and the University Clinic Giessen and Marburg GmbH (UKGM) in Marburg. The RKA and the UKGM did not have any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. AN is supported by an unrestricted grant by the German José Carreras foundation (AH06-01). In addition AN is employed by the University Clinic Giessen and Marburg GmbH (UKGM) in Marburg. The German José Carreras foundation and the UKGM did not have any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. UG is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research on “Knowledge-based Multimedia Medical Education” (Grant: 08NM061A). The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors [MH] during the time course of our study, but did not have any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. MH is currently employed at the Klinikum Leer gGmbH. The Klinikum Leer gGmbH did not have any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.