Medical education
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Review Multicenter Study
Current status of teaching on spirituality in UK medical schools.
To investigate the current status of teaching on spirituality in medicine in UK medical schools and to establish if and how medical schools are preparing future doctors to identify patients' spiritual needs. ⋯ Although 59% (n = 10) of respondent medical schools (the actual UK figure lies between 31% and 78%) currently provide some form of teaching on spirituality, there is significant room for improvement. There is little uniformity between medical schools with regard to content, form, amount or type of staff member delivering the teaching. It would be beneficial to introduce a standardised curriculum on spirituality across all UK medical schools.
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Authors have questioned the degree to which medical education research informs practice and advances the science of medical education. ⋯ Clarification studies are uncommon in experimental studies in medical education. Studies with this purpose (i.e. studies asking: 'How and why does it work?') are needed to deepen our understanding and advance the art and science of medical education. We hope that this framework stimulates education scholars to reflect on the purpose of their inquiry and the research questions they ask, and to strive to ask more clarification questions.
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Multicenter Study
Portfolio learning for foundation doctors: early feedback on its use in the clinical workplace.
A learning portfolio was developed to support the development of trainee doctors piloting Foundation Programme prototypes across the Northern Deanery in 2004 and 2005. Trainee doctors and their educational supervisors were surveyed about their experiences of using the portfolio in the clinical workplace. ⋯ Learning portfolios are now an integral part of Foundation Programme training but this evaluation suggests that many trainee doctors and educational supervisors are yet to be convinced of their educational value. Gaining multi-source feedback, a substantial component of trainee doctors' portfolios, impacts on the wider clinical team and presents a significant challenge to trainees. Educational supervisors continued to rely on feedback from clinical colleagues, rather than portfolio evidence, to monitor trainee doctors' development. Such factors may serve to disengage trainees with the portfolio process by overshadowing any perceived educational gains.
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Medical, technological and societal developments influence doctors' professional responsibilities and present challenges to educating medical students about professionalism. Medical education about professionalism generally focuses on behaviours and competencies which are taught primarily by clinicians in clinical courses and settings. ⋯ Like doctors, basic science faculty staff can teach professional competencies to medical students. Science faculty are well situated to teach professional competencies and should do so. They can model how to pursue evidence and manage conflicting information. They can also provide explicit messages to students about professional competencies and their value, and create learning objectives that reinforce those messages.