Using a heart operation video with live comments to inspire students in pre-clinical studies - A pilot study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. A simple moment of inspiration based on the American empiric psychologist Csíkszentmihalyi's theory about optimal experience, internal motivation and flow was presented to medical students. The students, from the preclinical terms, were exposed to a movie showing a routine heart operation (coronary bypass) with comments during the film. The team presenting the film consisted of nurses in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and a perfusionist. Questions from the students were answered by them. Thereafter, there was a panel discussion with junior specialists in cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology about the years after graduating.The moment was evaluated using Touchpoint® and one single question: What is your opinion about the inspiration moment? Of the 77 participating students 65 (84%) answered that the moment was "very good" and 12 (16%) answered "good".These preliminary data suggest that the method may possibly be an adequate tool to increase internal motivation among preclinical semester medical students.