Medical education
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The intern year is a key time for the acquisition of clinical skills, both procedural and cognitive. We have previously described self-reported confidence and experience for a number of clinical skills, finding high levels of confidence among Australian junior doctors. This has never been correlated with an objective measure of competence. ⋯ Junior medical officers in PGY1 demonstrate a broad range of competence levels for several common, practical, clinical skills, with some performing at an inadequate level. There is no relationship between their self-reported level of confidence and their formally assessed performance. This observation raises important caveats about the use of self-assessment in this group.
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The clinical experience and the subjective learning of pre-registration house officers who completed 4 months' psychiatric rotation are described. ⋯ The subjective learning benefit and positive learning environment were most related to the amount of practical experience, the degree of tailoring of the tasks to the house officers' competence, and to the formal intramural teaching programme. Supervision, gender, previous experience, and prior interest in psychiatry did not have significant impact on subjective learning. The findings are discussed in terms of the learning model that was developed.
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To assess the prevalence of, attitudes towards and willingness to report different forms of academic dishonesty among medical students in a post-communist transitional country. ⋯ Academic misconduct is widespread among medical students at the largest medical school in Croatia and its prevalence is greater than that reported for developed countries. This may be related to social and cultural factors specific to a country in the midst of a post-communist transition to a market economy, and calls for measures to be instigated at an institutional level to educate against and prevent such behaviour.
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Converging sources suggest that patient-provider relationships in primary care are generally of greater intensity and duration than those in non-primary care specialties. In this study, we hypothesised that Year 2 medical students whose close relationships were characterised by security and flexibility would be more likely than students who were less comfortable in close relationships to plan to pursue primary over non-primary care postgraduate training. ⋯ Assessing relationship styles using attachment theory is a potentially useful way to understand and counsel medical students about specialty choice.
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To date, no studies have examined preclinical medical students' views about portfolios. Since portfolios are becoming increasingly valued in medical education, this study explores second-year medical students' views about a reflective portfolio assessment of their communication skills. ⋯ This study begins to highlight preclinical medical students' views about reflective portfolios. However, further research is required using qualitative studies to explore students' views in depth. Medical educators should be encouraged to consider introducing portfolios as a method of formative and summative assessment earlier in the medical curriculum.