Review Quest: An Active Review of Medical Physiology Topics

Activity-based learning and active recall are important for memory and retention. In medical school physiology coursework there is an abundance of concepts, pathways, and knowledge that students are required to master, and focusing on active learning modalities has become more prevalent in medical education. The Georgetown Downtown (GTDT) cohort of the Special Master’s Program (SMP) at Georgetown University Medical Center not only embraces but exemplifies an active learning methodology. The program provides fully flipped, active sessions where graduate students complete about half of the first year basic science medical curriculum at Georgetown University School of Medicine alongside complementary graduate level coursework. While many types of active learning modalities have been employed in the GTDT program, we assess new methods yearly and wanted to add an activity focused on active recall to provide formative feedback to the students prior to their exams. Over the past three years we designed and implemented a Review Quest, which utilized kinesthetic and visual learning methods to reinforce high yield concepts and provide formative feedback to the GTDT SMP students being assessed on M1 exams. This activity was held after all course materials for their medical block had been delivered. Students were placed into groups of five where they rotated through nine or more activity stations over a three hour time period. During the activity, students were instructed not to access their notes or to use the internet to search for answers in an effort to promote active recall and encourage peer-teaching and identification of gaps in their knowledge. As students rotated through the activity stations, they completed a premade activity packet. The activities included sorting drug cards into their respective drug categories, placing transporters in the correct segment of a poster-sized nephron, correctly treating a number of hypothetical patients following a plane crash utilizing a limited supply medications, practicing drug dose calculations, drawing pathways from memory on a large whiteboard, clinical vignettes with related questions, and superimposing changes to CV pressure-volume loops based on new parameters. At the end of the activity, students were provided with a detailed answer key for each activity and the GTDT instructor was available to answer any questions or clarify confusing points. Student response toward the Review Quest activity was extremely positive and the GTDT student body asked for additional Review Quest activities to be added for future blocks. Throughout the three years, students indicated that the Review Quest activities were extremely helpful in understanding where their gaps in knowledge were before studying for exams and enjoyed how it was a more visual representation of organizing the material. Data suggests that Review Quest is a valuable addition to learning medical school physiology. Georgetown University This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.