Medical teacher
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The educational environment has been shown to have a great influence on teaching and learning in undergraduate education. The operating theatre can seem an intimidating and frightening environment for medical students. This study used the Surgical Theatre Educational Environmental Measure (STEEM) questionnaire to measure the operating theatre learning environment for 83 final-year medical students at the University of Birmingham. ⋯ The results showed that overall there was an acceptable educational climate within the operating theatre for medical students. Male students viewed the atmosphere in the operating theatre in a less positive light than female students and also perceived more discrimination because of their race than their female counterparts. The STEEM has been shown to be a reliable and practical tool for measuring the operating theatre educational environment in medical students with an overall alpha reliability of 0.86.
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Online discussions for continuing medical education are increasing but many are ineffective. Close attention needs to be paid to the requirements of the learner and the wider healthcare organizational context within which continuing medical education takes place. There is a preference for structured and facilitated online discussions by this group of doctors. The essential skills for effective online facilitation are outlined.
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Preparing healthcare professionals for teaching is regarded as essential to enhancing teaching effectiveness. Although many reports describe various faculty development interventions, there is a paucity of research demonstrating their effectiveness. ⋯ Faculty development activities appear highly valued by participants, who also report changes in learning and behavior. Notwithstanding the methodological limitations in the literature, certain program characteristics appear to be consistently associated with effectiveness. Further research to explore these associations and document outcomes, at the individual and organizational level, is required.
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The purpose of this study was to gain insight into what prevocational medical practitioners (PMPs) learnt during a six-month public health medicine and primary health care training program (the Program) in remote Aboriginal Australia in 2001-2002. The Program's curriculum objectives included clinical and public health management of sexually transmitted infections, immunization, clinical audit and quality improvement, primary health care in remote Aboriginal communities, and working as part of an interdisciplinary team with health and non-health professionals, and lay people. The mode and location of delivery of these objectives was determined by the healthcare needs of the Kimberley population, and availability of safe, supported workplaces. ⋯ Preliminary data indicated that PMPs gained knowledge and practical experience in clinical and public health management of sexually transmitted infections, immunization and primary health care in poorly resourced remote Aboriginal settings. Deeper understandings of health and illness in a cross-cultural setting also developed, along with professional and personal growth, as illustrated by the following quotations from PMPs: "I have learnt ... a different way of looking at people's health ... I was encouraged to think more deeply than before about the whys and wherefores of medical practice, and thus consider the most effective ways of influencing patients' behaviours for the better." "I was encouraged to examine the thought processes behind the ways ... healthcare was provided ... [after leaving the Kimberley] I am constantly questioning the reason why we are practising medicine in a certain way in the big city hospitals-much to the consternation of my colleagues ... ." The Program was successful in teaching its first four PMPs the basic tools of public health medicine and remote area primary health care.
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This paper describes the perceptions of students and graduates of the Hebrew University-Hadassah medical school in Israel regarding the effectiveness of their medical education in preparing them for work in the clinical setting. The six-year curriculum consists of three years of mainly lecture-based Basic Science courses, and three years of clinical education, consisting of clinical clerkship rotations of various lengths. An anonymous questionnaire containing 114 items was distributed to 294 students (in their clinical years) and 500 graduates of the faculty. ⋯ This study illuminates many aspects of the curriculum the faculty needs to address in order to prepare physicians effectively and efficiently for clinical work. It also stresses the need to integrate better preclinical and clinical studies, and to change to active learning methods. This study demonstrates the necessity of gathering information from students and graduates to evaluate their medical education experience.