Table 4 Illustrative quotes from interviews
Theme | Number of related comments (% of total comments within theme) | Representative comments |
|---|---|---|
Motivation | ||
- Increased clinical knowledge | 26 (41%) | “And for the studying point of view, I go about it case-based, like if I have seen a case of stroke today then I might go home and try to recall what did I do, what all should be done. “ |
- To be a good physician | 15 (24%) | “Basically to learn and to read and it is not for clearing the exams it is to help myself get better in it and in clinical practice cause in a way it will help me in the long run.” |
- Self-directed learning | 12 (19%) | “When we go wrong we can go through the explanations so we learn and I think learning at the end of the day is more important than just the exam.” |
Benefits of the formative assessment tool | ||
- Relationship to clinical practice | 33 (24%) | The FA tool “has helped me in this transition from memorization-based study to practical application-based study.” |
- Thorough explanation of answer choices | 31 (22%) | “At the end of the day even if you are wrong, you learn something from it.” |
- Style of information that is presented | 22 (16%) | “So the main thing is explanation with picture, video and sounds. And also examinations including videos.” |
Disadvantages of the formative assessment tool | ||
- Unrelated topics to practicing in India | 20 (30%) | “Most of the tests that have been mentioned in the *FA tool* or in the text are usually not available or they take time. For example, the most common test that we usually see or read is D-dimer, but the results of D-dimer are usually available after three days for us and that does not remain for clinical significance…even if we send them it usually takes 3 or 4 days for that and patients cannot wait for that.” |
- Some topics being less covered than others | 20 (30%) | “More tropical diseases. More region specific. We have one subject called community medicine in our undergrad, so if *the FA tool* could have something like that. Because that actually brings up the entire community picture of our country, the major things that we face, so that will help.” |
Definitions of success | ||
- Passing exams | 16 (39%) | “Success for me is not percentage, it is for me that I have faced the questions myself.” “The score does matter in a way but not so much because at the end of it you still get an explanation and you still learn something new.” |
- Application to clinical practice | 13 (32%) | “If I have a sick patient which I wasn’t able to handle before if I was able to handle it after reading the *FA tool* because I remember something from there.” |