title: Undergraduate students' misconceptions about respiratory physiology.
abstract: Approximately 700 undergraduates studying physiology at community colleges, a liberal arts college, and universities were surveyed to determine the prevalence of our misconceptions about respiratory phenomena. A misconception about the changes in breathing frequency and tidal volume (physiological variables whose changes can be directly sensed) that result in increased minute ventilation was found to be present in this population with comparable prevalence (approximately 60%) to that seen in a previous study. Three other misconceptions involving phenomena that cannot be experienced directly and therefore were most likely learned in some educational setting were found to be of varying prevalence. Nearly 90% of the students exhibited a misconception about the relationship between arterial oxygen partial pressure and hemoglobin saturation. Sixty-six percent of the students believed that increasing alveolar oxygen partial pressure leads to a decrease in alveolar carbon dioxide partial pressure. Nearly 33% of the population misunderstood the relationship between metabolism and ventilation. The possible origins of these respiratory misconceptions are discussed and suggestions for how to prevent and/or remediate them are proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biophysics and Physiology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. jmichael@rush.edu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rovick
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Modell
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Horwitz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Silverthorn
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whitescarver
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010827:Physiology / Q000193:education*; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities