Introduction

It is widely appreciated that a considerable understanding of physiology is fundamental to medical practice and a solid factual knowledge is essential for developing clinical skills (Finnerty et al., 2010). However, time allocated to early years basic science teaching only ever decreases (Weston, 2018). This reduction limits sufficient exploration or application of concepts in the traditional manner. Fictional characters and events have been used by others to engage students in the application of concepts they have been taught (Berg & Polvsing, 2016; Scott et al., 2022), and we have utilised films during an elective module to encourage students to think about physiology in the extremes. 

 

Methods

The medical programme at RCSI offers a student choice week in the middle of term, consisting of four taught sessions (Mon-Thu) and an assessment (Fri). We ran an optional Extreme Physiology course, with each of the four days being dedicated to one topic. The four topics were temperature (hypo/hyperthermia), pressure (altitude/depth), space and physiology in the intensive care unit. On the four didactic days, students were given presentations on content with examples linked to films and readily available clips. For the assessment, groups of students had to select a film depicting a relevant extreme situation and discuss the physiological challenges faced by the characters.

 

Results

All student groups chose highly appropriate scenes to discuss with no duplications. This gave a range of examples portraying situations relating to hypo- and hyperthermia, altitude, depth and/or microgravity . The students were able to discuss key physiological challenges faced by the characters and, in places, were able to critique the accuracy of the depiction portrayed. Feedback from the anonymised centralised student survey had students rating the session as very good (67%) or good (33%). There were also strongly positive comments in the free text sections, all of which indicated that the course had deepened their understanding of physiology.

 

Conclusions

Student engagement and discussion was good in the sessions and the positive feedback suggests that they found the content and delivery useful. In choosing appropriate scenes and then discussing them, the students were able to demonstrate their problem solving capacity by conducting a thought experiment on the physiological processes triggered by environmental change. As such, we think these fictional scenarios can be used to facilitate students thinking more deeply about physiology.