Neuroscience Meets Medical Education: Crafting Content That Sticks
Do you remember everything you ever learned? If the answer is “no,” do you expect your doctor to?
With all the information crammed into our brains between elementary school, high school, and college, who possibly could? A turn of the century psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, coined the term “The Forgetting Curve” to explain the process by which we rapidly forget the information we’ve learned.
Soon after learning new information, it is rapidly lost within a week. In fact, approximately one-fifth of the original information is retained after one month. It appears that despite the substantial time we spend learning something new, it’s not a great return on investment.
For creators of medical education content, this might appear disheartening. However, there is hope, as we can leverage our knowledge of neuroscience to overcome this phenomenon and keep our HCP learners engaged. But to discover how to promote HCP engagement in medical communications, we need to understand the neuroscientific underpinnings that empower our ability to learn.
From Conscious to Unconscious: How the Brain Masters Learning
The brain’s frontal lobes, which are located towards the front of the head, govern higher-order behaviors and cognition, including learning. On a granular level, the process of learning involves the conversion of explicit (conscious) memories to implicit (unconscious) memories over time, which are then stored indefinitely as long-term memories within the prefrontal cortex of the frontal lobes.
With repetition over time, the initially complicated process of remembering an explicit set of steps becomes easier as we begin to perform the sequence of steps unconsciously. For example, think about the first time you nervously navigated your parents’ car around an empty parking lot compared to your effortless morning commute today. How differently did you experience the same process within your mind?
Given the fact that humans require repetition over time to overcome the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, it is imperative that creators of medical education understand this process for HCP learners. It is vitally important that our learners maximize the value of the time they spend learning new information so the most important insights make their way to the patients who need them the most.
Crafting Compelling Stories: Keeping HCPs Motivated to Learn
Now that we understand the neuroscientific basis of learning, let’s address leveraging the principles of adult learning to meet our HCP learners’ needs. Unlike childhood education, which emphasizes rote memorization and identifying the “right” answer, adult education helps learners adapt to the ambiguity of the real world. In adulthood (and medicine, in particular), there are often multiple “right” answers, unknown unknowns, and other situational irrationalities that learners must balance when they make decisions. HCPs are no exception to this concept, particularly as the complexity of medical practice has increased over time.
In addition, it’s important to note the differences in motivation between children and adults as it relates to learning. For instance, adult learners are often highly motivated but have limited time to devote to learning as they juggle the competing demands of their job and family.
This is doubly true for HCPs, whose lives frequently revolve around busy schedules already jam-packed with educational requirements that are directly applicable to their clinical practice. As our HCP Channel Preferences Survey demonstrated, 85% of respondents reported engaging in medical education on weeknights during the work week, which means that content creators only have a brief window of time throughout the week to make an impact.
Considering the over 46,000 scientific journal articles published in 2020 as a reflection of medicine’s rapid evolution each year, HCPs are also drowning in a sea of data. An unmet need exists to capture learners’ attention and keep them motivated to learn despite these systemic challenges. Navigating through these headwinds underscores the fact that creators of medical education must ensure their content is memorable and meaningful so that HCPs come back for more.
One method to tap into an HCP’s motivation to learn is through storytelling.
In reality, storytelling is a fundamental building block of civilization in general, as it unites the transmission of information with the emotional framework that makes us human. Storytelling in medical education anchors HCPs within the sea of data so they can make sense of it all and then act accordingly. It’s the “so what” component of the well-known “What? So what? Now what?” critical reflection framework. In medical education, storytelling is the foundation that all messaging rests upon — it’s up to us as content creators to make these stories memorable and applicable to HCPs’ clinical practices to keep them engaged.
Leveling Up Learning: Gamification in Medical Education
Beyond storytelling, gamification represents another effective way to maximize engagement. Gamification, which uses the fundamentals of game design in a non-game context, effectively balances learners’ engagement while coping with the large volumes of information that could otherwise lead to confusion. For example, gamification in medical education could include interactive online learning modules where physicians practice managing various clinical scenarios in a variety of patient types and receiving feedback on their choices.
Because it prompts learners to interact, gamification may be more effective than traditional educational methods in maintaining learners’ attention throughout multiple exposures, thereby avoiding the effects of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. This may be especially applicable for certain HCP groups, including those born pre-1980 and advanced practice practitioners (APPs), who reported a preference for this type of content format over more traditional formats like publications.
Besides engagement, these platforms also offer HCPs the opportunity to apply knowledge in a risk-free environment that builds their confidence in applying their knowledge in real-life situations. These learning platforms can also be expanded to include a social component, such as incorporating points or voting polls, to leverage HCPs’ competitive and sociable natures. Adding a technological component, such as AI integration or personalized content, is a great way to inspire HCPs who are more technologically aligned. Finally, presenting this information in bite-sized formats ensures that content is appropriately structured for modern attention spans.
However, it’s also important to carefully consider compliance guardrails for gamification, particularly in medical specialties where serious patient outcomes are common, such as oncology. Given the seriousness of patient outcomes in the oncology space, it is essential not to understate or attempt to “gamify” patients’ experiences in such a way that could be construed as insensitive. Thoughtful discussions amongst marketing, medical, and compliance teams are key to ensuring that gamification in medical education remains fun and engaging for HCPs, while still respecting patients’ journeys.
Bringing It All Together
To facilitate long-term learning, our brains need to attach meaning to the things we learn as neural networks are constructed through repeated engagement with information. To help HCPs find this meaning amongst large volumes of information, creators of medical education need to repackage it into formats that their brains want to interact with over and over again.
The emergence of nontraditional medical education methods and the evolution of HCP learning preferences highlight the unmet need for content creators to adapt their channel strategies to fit the new medical education paradigm. Understanding fundamental adult learning principles, along with knowing how to leverage storytelling and gamification, can help creators of medical education keep HCP learners motivated, engaged, and coming back for more.