Medical education
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This paper presents various views on interprofessional cooperation and discusses the significant components and desired outcomes of such a relationship. Historically, the nurse-doctor relationship has been fraught with conflict; however, the challenge is to dismantle this imbalanced relationship and fashion new interdisciplinary collaboration. Collaborative practice is an ongoing, dynamic process, requiring time to develop. ⋯ Favourable outcomes to collaborative practice outweigh the barriers. No doubt there is synergism when a new partnership is created which is the hallmark of a true interprofessional relationship. This affiliation must be nurtured and reinforced, for it holds great promise for enhancement of patient care and for providing job satisfaction in an increasingly complex and constraining world of health care.
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The aim of this study was to assess the competence of senior medical students in recognizing and managing life-threatening ward emergencies and to compare the competence of a group that had received emergency medicine teaching with one that had not. This was achieved by asking 60 final year medical students to complete a structured written clinical examination designed to test these skills. Comparisons were made between the group that had received emergency medicine teaching (the 'taught' group) and that which had not (the 'untaught' group) with respect to numerical scores on the examination and the number of fatal management errors committed. ⋯ The 'untaught' group committed 0.25 fatal errors per student per case compared with the 'taught' group that committed 0.06 fatal errors per student per case (P < 0.001). There is considerable scope to improve the competence of senior medical students for dealing with life-threatening ward emergencies. Students who had received emergency medicine teaching scored significantly better than those who had not suggesting that emergency medicine teaching is a suitable tool to help equip medical students to deal with life threatening ward emergencies.
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The new specialty of palliative medicine is now recognized as making a significant contribution, not only to the practice of cancer medicine, but also to the care of terminal disease. This article reports an enquiry into the current teaching of palliative medicine in undergraduate curricula in Britain. A questionnaire concerning palliative medicine teaching was sent in December 1992 to undergraduate deans of all medical schools, colleges and faculties (hereafter referred to as schools). ⋯ Eleven per cent of schools regularly asked questions on palliative medicine in final examinations; half occasionally did so, but 30% reported that there was never a question on palliative medicine in finals. In the light of recent publications by the General Medical Council and the Standing Medical Advisory Committee and Standing Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee, I urge that increasing attention be paid to teaching the subjects represented by palliative medicine and to examining it. I suggest that the recently published core curriculum will enable this to be carried out more effectively.
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We instituted two thanatology seminars for medical students and residents which emphasized feelings more than objective data. The seminars began with students filling out a death certificate on themselves. ⋯ By answering a question about what they were most grateful for, they became aware that they valued family and friends most highly. We believe that this experience legitimized feelings which form the basis of empathy.