Medical teacher
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Portfolios are increasingly being used to stimulate teachers' reflections. Frameworks for reflection on teaching often emphasize competencies and behaviours. However, other aspects of teacher functioning are also important, such as the teaching environment and individual teachers' beliefs, professional identity and mission. ⋯ This study might help teachers and their trainers and coaches to recognize different aspects of teacher functioning when discussing portfolios for professional development purposes. However, further development of assignments and other methods to stimulate reflections on beliefs, identity and mission are needed. Furthermore, apart from the content of teachers' reflections, teachers' reflection processes should be researched, as well as the effects of portfolio meetings with peers and coaches.
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We report the impact of a monthly educational exercise for residents that emphasized practical skills and equipment usage rather than knowledge of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) protocols. Residents were divided into groups of approximately four that rotated through three stations. Each station included several objectives, most of which related to specific types of equipment. ⋯ Exercises, such as the one presented here, will reduce anxiety by specifically addressing this skill. We conclude that residents benefit from additional teaching and practice in actual performance of basic skills used during cardiac arrests. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that comfort levels among house officers increase when they are given the opportunity to practice these skills.
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Effectiveness of medical education programs is most meaningfully measured as performance of its graduates. ⋯ There is a need for a more consistent and systematic approach to studies of the effectiveness of undergraduate assessment systems and tools and their predictive value. Although existing tools do appear to have low to moderate correlation with postgraduate training performance, little is known about their relationship to longer-term practice patterns and outcomes.
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According to the Dutch medical education guidelines junior doctors are expected to be able to perform first aid and basic life support. A prospective study was undertaken to assess the level of first aid and basic life support (BLS) competence of junior doctors at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (RUNMC), the Netherlands. Fifty-four junior doctors (18%), of the medical students in their final years, were submitted to a theoretical test, composed of multiple-choice questions concerning first aid and basic life support. ⋯ The first scenario was performed correctly in 11%. The CPR situation was correctly performed by 30% of the students as observed by the examiners but when assessed by the checklists of Berden only 6% of the students performed correct CPR. It is concluded that the level of first aid and basic life support of the junior doctors at the RUNMC is low and does not meet the required level as stated in the guidelines for practice of medical education in the Netherlands.