Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Fourth-Year Medical School Elective Course in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine.

Objectives: Knowledge of transfusion medicine by medical students is limited. Transfusion medicine physicians developed, implemented, and evaluated a half-day elective on transfusion medicine for fourth-year medical students.

Methods: The course included a didactic lecture with integrated audience response questions and role-playing, as well as a "Jeopardy"-style game to review the material. The same 10-question knowledge quiz was administered before and after the elective.

Results: Both knowledge quizzes were taken by 102 students. An average score of 3.3 was obtained on the initial quiz, with only three (3%) students having a passing score (≥6 correct questions). The average score after the elective was 6.6, with 83 (81%) students having a passing score. Students found the elective was informative (62 students, 60.8%), very useful (56, 54.9%), and practical (51, 50%), although some thought it was challenging (22, 21.6%).

Conclusions: A short course for medical students that allowed repetition of concepts using several teaching modalities improved their knowledge in transfusion medicine.