Medical teacher
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The advent of new medical education (ME) journals makes evident the growth of the field of ME. However, the nature and context of growth is undefined. ⋯ The increase in the number of ME publications and in the number of journals publishing ME articles suggests a supportive environment for a growing field; but variation in journals' foci has implications for readers, editors and authors.
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Both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Poland are currently undergoing a significant reform, based on new national educational standards, arising from European Union recommendations. This article describes the previous system and the new approach to medical curriculum, draws a picture of the current situation and discusses the impact of this educational change on the quality of future graduates.
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There is a lack of consensus regarding the qualities possessed by the ideal doctor, and very limited research regarding the views of medical students on these qualities. ⋯ Medical students identified a range of desirable personal qualities of a doctor which varied according to student characteristics, including their prior educational experience. Future research aiming to define such desirable qualities should include a broader range of stakeholders, including students at different training levels and institutions.
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Workplace-based assessment is more commonly given a lukewarm than a warm welcome by its prospective users. In this article, we summarise the workplace-based assessment literature as well as our own experiences with workplace-based assessment to derive lessons that can facilitate acceptance of workplace-based assessment in postgraduate specialty training. We propose to shift the emphasis in workplace-based assessment from assessment of trainee performance to the learning of trainees. ⋯ One of the most stubborn problems with workplace-based assessment is the absence of observation of trainees and the lack of feedback based on observations. Non-standardised observations are used to organise feedback. To make these assessments meaningful for learning, it is essential that they are not perceived as summative by their users, that they provide narrative feedback for the learner and that there is a form of facilitation that helps to integrate the feedback in trainees' self-assessments.