Using Medutainment to Enhance EMS Education
In the rapidly changing world of emergency medicine, there's lots of competition for learners' limited time and attention. In such an environment, educators can no longer rely solely on traditional methods to engage and motivate those they teach. Medutainment may be the answer.
The terms edutainment and medutainment may be inventions of the 20th century, but the idea of using entertainment to educate is as old as recorded history. Many of the first stories people told each other were intended to teach lessons about life, morality and proper behavior in society.
The focus of most medical entertainment/education is to instruct patients to avoid or properly manage medical problems. Early examples of medutainment include Disney-produced films that taught soldiers how to stay healthy during World War II. About his films Walt Disney once said, "I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate and hope that they were entertained."1 Modern examples include the CDC's "Zombie Preparedness" family emergency plan program of 2015.2 It used humor, shock and drama to entice viewers, engage them with the message and inspire action afterward.
Forms of medutainment have also been used to instruct EMS and other emergency healthcare providers. The first person to record an ECG on a human, Augustus Waller, trained his bulldog Jimmy to stand with his paws in bowls of saltwater being used as electrodes while Waller displayed Jimmy's ECG for an audience.3
Waller published his research in a scientific journal, but the spectacle and controversy of his displays with Jimmy reached a much wider audience. Discussions of Waller's adorable puppy and the debate over "live animal experiments" may have been nonscientific, but they helped get the word out about an important medical advance.3
Modern Methods for Modern Medicine
While foundational knowledge is still important in EMS, much of the information we once had to memorize can now be easily stored and rapidly accessed electronically. Modern medicine is more about decision-making and taking action than simply memorizing pathophysiology and protocols. There is a sea change in EMS away from algorithm-driven medicine toward critical thinking and dynamic decision-making so that action can be taken more rapidly and accurately. Edutainment is about inspiring both new students and experienced practitioners to think differently and act decisively as much as it is providing new information.
In addition, modern media and education delivery methods are influencing how we process and use information. One of the first people to understand the relationship and potential of new forms of media was Marshall McLuhan, who once said, "Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either."4
Including content from the Internet not only allows educators to incorporate some of the latest information, but it's often packaged in ways that can be easily assimilated and acted upon. Many Internet videos follow the short, focused, eye-catching and inspiring edutainment format popularized in TED talks.5 Even live presentations like those at the Gathering of Eagles (EMS State of the Sciences Conference) use short, high-intensity, action-oriented sessions focused on delivering information attendees will find compelling enough to act on in their own service areas.6
Likewise, the emergency medicine Social Media and Critical Care (SMACC) conference uses short-format, highly entertaining sessions geared to attract attention and deliver messages not only to its live audience but also through social media.7 This generates a wider audience and greater discussion of important topics in a modern version of what Augustus Waller and Jimmy did.
Taking a medutainment tip from these conferences, many EMS educators use PowerPoint slide decks simply as a reinforcing background rather than a primary focus. In these presentations the educator is the narrator and guide to an educational story, and the audience is the hero. The idea is that a hero is inspired to take action and save the day, whereas an audience bombarded with slide after slide of facts and figures is more likely to occupy themselves with Facebook on their smartphones until the presentation is over. This effect is heightened when an audience is already experiencing learning fatigue from a full day of traditional lecture-based lessons.
Building on the SMACC ideals of edutainment, the Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAMed) movement packages emergency medical education bites for sharing via social media. In addition, the social media platform for FOAMed content makes it easy to discuss and share content with other educators and providers.8 The more interesting and entertaining the package is, the more widely discussed and shared it will become.
Some tips that can be taken from these successful educational platforms include:
- Avoid taking on too much of a topic. Shorter, focused, frequent lessons are more effective than long presentations.
- Concentrate on one central take-home message for the audience, or at most no more than three.
- Emphasize the action you want the audience to take, rather than the information that you want them to recall.
- Make it clear how the topic can be used to help patients in the real world.
- Show, don't tell. Practice, demonstration and real-world examples mean more than words and numbers.
- Give students the opportunity to discuss and engage with the topic and each other, rather than simply asking if they have any questions for you.
- Consider not just why you think a student should know about your topic, but what will make them want to know more.
- Provide an easy path for students to find more information on the topic.
- Give students a reason to look forward to the next lesson.
Style vs. Substance
A valid concern about medutainment is that while it may be interesting and easy to digest, real educational content may be dumbed down. "Attention grabbers" may draw students in and raise interest, but how can today's EMS educator balance fun and engagement with substance and real-world application?
Over 2,000 years old, some of the best tools to reach this balance are found in Aristotle's "modes of persuasion."9 These were originally intended for presenters using the spoken word, but the principles can be applied to effectively balance the content of medutainment regardless of format.
Aristotle explains that to influence an audience, a presenter must ensure that three issues are addressed and properly balanced. The first is ethos, the credibility of the presenter. The second is pathos, a stirring of the audience's emotions. The third is logos, the validity of the facts and conclusions drawn from them.
First, the credibility of the educator must be solid on the topic they're presenting. This does not mean every lesson must be preceded by a reading of the educator's resume, but rather that it be clear that the educator knows the material well enough to manage a discussion about how it can be used to improve patient care in a variety of real-world circumstances.
In medutainment, ethos is also addressed in the understanding and effective connection between the educator and audience. Someone may be an expert in their field, but that does not automatically mean they are an effective EMS educator. They must connect not only with the content, but also with the way the audience will use the content. Without this, they won't be able to address the other two appeals.10
Pathos is the heart of medutainment. Stirring laughter, excitement, fear, sadness or anger in an audience will get them to engage with the content and make it more likely they will remember, share and act on it. While it may be tempting to rely primarily on this powerful appeal to the audience, pathos must be balanced with ethos and logos.
Logos can be thought of as the validity of the educational content and the conclusions from it that the educator is seeking to teach. If an educator has not adequately addressed this, the audience may be left feeling the educator is qualified and has spoken emotionally about a topic, but has not really said anything.
A simple approach educators may use to balance the three crucial elements of medutainment is that expert educators will use emotional stories based solid facts to deliver a focused take-home message. In this way medutainment can be used to engage a student with the lesson, entice them to learn more and inspire them to take action beyond the classroom.
References
1. Sources of Insight. Walt Disney Quotes, https://sourcesofinsight.com/walt-disney-quotes/.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Zombie Preparedness, www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm.
3. Acierno LJ. Augustus Desiré Waller. Clin Cardiol, 2000 Apr; 23(4): 307–9.
4. McLuhan M. The New Education. The Basilian Teacher, 1967; 11(2): 66–73.
5. www.ted.com.
6. https://gatheringofeagles.us.
7. www.smacc.net.au.
8. Nickson CP, Cadogan MD. FOAM/FOAMed--Free Open Access Medical Education. Emerg Med Austral, 2014; 26: 76–83.
9. Rapp C. Aristotle's Rhetoric. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/.
10. European Rhetoric. Ethos, Pathos & Logos–Modes of Persuasion (Aristotle), www.european-rhetoric.com/ethos-pathos-logos-modes-persuasion-aristotle/.
Rommie L. Duckworth, LP, is a dedicated emergency responder and award-winning educator with more than 25 years working in career and volunteer fire departments, hospital healthcare systems, and public and private emergency medical services. Currently a career fire captain and paramedic EMS coordinator, Rom is an emergency services advocate, a frequent speaker at conferences around the world, and a contributor to emergency services research, textbooks, and print and online media.
