Digital Teaching in Medical Education: Scientific Literature Landscape Review

Andy Wai Kan Yeung; Emil D Parvanov; Mojca Hribersek; Fabian Eibensteiner; Elisabeth Klager; Maria Kletecka-Pulker; Bernhard Rössler; Karl Schebesta; Harald Willschke; Atanas G Atanasov; Eva Schaden

doi:10.2196/32747

Digital Teaching in Medical Education: Scientific Literature Landscape Review

JMIR Med Educ. 2022 Feb 9;8(1):e32747. doi: 10.2196/32747.

Authors

Andy Wai Kan Yeung^{1

2}, Emil D Parvanov^{1

3}, Mojca Hribersek¹, Fabian Eibensteiner^{1

4}, Elisabeth Klager¹, Maria Kletecka-Pulker^{1

5}, Bernhard Rössler^{6

7}, Karl Schebesta^{6

7}, Harald Willschke^{1

6}, Atanas G Atanasov^{1

8}, Eva Schaden^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital Health and Patient Safety, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
² Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Translational Stem Cell Biology, Medical University of Varna, Varna, Bulgaria.
⁴ Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁵ Institute for Ethics and Law in Medicine, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁶ Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Academic Simulation Center Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁸ Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland.

PMID: 35138260
PMCID: PMC8867298
DOI: 10.2196/32747

Abstract

Background: Digital teaching in medical education has grown in popularity in the recent years. However, to the best of our knowledge, no bibliometric report to date has been published that analyzes this important literature set to reveal prevailing topics and trends and their impacts reflected in citation counts.

Objective: We used a bibliometric approach to unveil and evaluate the scientific literature on digital teaching research in medical education, demonstrating recurring research topics, productive authors, research organizations, countries, and journals. We further aimed to discuss some of the topics and findings reported by specific highly cited works.

Methods: The Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on digital teaching research in medical education. Basic bibliographic data were obtained by the "Analyze" and "Create Citation Report" functions of the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer for further analyses. Visualization maps were generated to display the recurring author keywords and terms mentioned in the titles and abstracts of the publications.

Results: The analysis was based on data from 3978 papers that were identified. The literature received worldwide contributions with the most productive countries being the United States and United Kingdom. Reviews were significantly more cited, but the citations between open access vs non-open access papers did not significantly differ. Some themes were cited more often, reflected by terms such as virtual reality, innovation, trial, effectiveness, and anatomy. Different aspects in medical education were experimented for digital teaching, such as gross anatomy education, histology, complementary medicine, medicinal chemistry, and basic life support. Some studies have shown that digital teaching could increase learning satisfaction, knowledge gain, and even cost-effectiveness. More studies were conducted on trainees than on undergraduate students.

Conclusions: Digital teaching in medical education is expected to flourish in the future, especially during this era of COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: anatomy; augmented reality; basic life support; bibliometric; citation; digital teaching; life support; literature; medical education; medicine; online learning; satisfaction; trend; virtual reality.

©Andy Wai Kan Yeung, Emil D Parvanov, Mojca Hribersek, Fabian Eibensteiner, Elisabeth Klager, Maria Kletecka-Pulker, Bernhard Rössler, Karl Schebesta, Harald Willschke, Atanas G Atanasov, Eva Schaden. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (https://mededu.jmir.org), 09.02.2022.