It's All Connected: Coronary Anatomy, EKG Interpretation, and Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract Introduction The purpose of this resource is to help the student learn basic cardiac anatomy and also how the anatomy relates to the interpretation of an EKG when diagnosing acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. This module was created as a supplementary learning resource for medical students on clinical rotations at our institution to connect basic physiology and anatomy to common clinical concepts. Methods This resource contains a series of short video tutorials that heavily use cartoons to review coronary anatomy, basic EKG interpretation, and how this is integrated into acute ST elevation myocardial infarction. These types of videos foster individualization of the learning process and can be assigned for viewing prior to a lecture or active learning session. These videos were shared with our medical students on clinical rotations. Results The students had access to a number of videos and topics, but among them, the Coronary Anatomy and MI videos were rated as very useful by a group of three to four students in a focus group. As a result, we have created more videos to form a library that can be easily accessed during the clinical rotation years at our institution. These videos have not been evaluated in a rigorous, quantitative study. However, we used these videos along with others in a classroom setting while teaching medical physiology. In this classroom setting with 108 students who had access to multiple learning resources, 59% of the students rated our videos as being the “MOST helpful” resource compared to live lectures, or course notes/textbooks. Discussion These particular videos work best when assigned for viewing in conjunction with the clinical care of a patient with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or suspected AMI and would be an excellent resource to students on a general medicine ward rotation, emergency medicine rotation, inpatient cardiology ward rotation, or cardiac care unit rotation (among others) who would likely encounter patients with actual or suspected AMI.