Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Mar 2008
Checklist content on a standardized patient assessment: an ex post facto review.
While checklists are often used to score standardized patient based clinical assessments, little research has focused on issues related to their development or the level of agreement with respect to the importance of specific items. Five physicians independently reviewed checklists from 11 simulation scenarios that were part of the former Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduate's Clinical Skills Assessment and classified the clinical appropriateness of each of the checklist items. Approximately 78% of the original checklist items were judged to be needed, or indicated, given the presenting complaint and the purpose of the assessment. ⋯ However, when only consensus indicated items were included, there was little change in examinee scores, including their reliability over encounters. Although most checklist items in this sample were judged to be appropriate, some could potentially be eliminated, thereby minimizing the scoring burden placed on the standardized patients. Periodic review of checklist items, concentrating on their clinical importance, is warranted.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Nov 2007
Tutor training, evaluation criteria and teaching environment influence students' ratings of tutor feedback in problem-based learning.
In a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum, tutor's feedback skills are important. However, evaluation studies often show that students rate many tutors as ineffective in providing feedback. We explored whether this is related: (a) to tutors' skills, and hence a teaching intervention might improve their performance; (b) to the formulation of the evaluation item, hence a more specific wording might help students better recognize a feedback when received; (c) to PBL teaching environment, and hence the tutors' teaching unit might influence students' ratings. ⋯ Students' ratings of tutors' ability to give feedback seem to vary in function of the tutors' training, of the formulation of the evaluation item, and of the tutors' teaching environment. These variables should be considered for setting up effective strategies in faculty development.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Nov 2007
Factors affecting students' evaluation in a community service-learning program.
A community service-learning curriculum was established to give students opportunities to understand the interrelationship between family and community health, the differences between community and hospital medicine, and to be able to identify and solve community health problems. Students were divided into small groups to participate in community health works such as home visits etc. under supervision. This study was designed to evaluate the community service-learning program and to understand how students' attitude and learning activities affected students' satisfaction. ⋯ Students had achieved what they were required to learn especially the training in communication skills and ability to identify social issues. Students' attitude towards social service did not affect their opinions on the quality of the program and subjective rating on their achievement. The quality of the program was related to the quality of learning rated by the students.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Aug 2007
Comparative StudySmoothing out transitions: how pedagogy influences medical students' achievement of self-regulated learning goals.
Medical school is an academic and developmental path toward a professional life demanding self-regulation and self-education. Thus, many medical schools include in their goals for medical student education their graduates' ability to self-assess and self-regulate their education upon graduation and throughout their professional lives. This study explores links between medical students' use of self-regulated learning as it relates to motivation, autonomy, and control, and how these influenced their experiences in medical school. ⋯ In the first two years they relied on faculty to direct and control learning, and they channeled their motivation toward achieving the highest grade. In the clerkships, they found faculty expected them to be more independent and self-directed than they felt prepared to be, and they struggled to assume responsibility for their learning. Self-regulated learning can help smooth out the transitions through medical school by preparing first and second year students for expectations in the third and fourth years, which can then maximize learning in the clinical milieu, and prepare medical students for a lifetime of learning.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Aug 2007
Editorial CommentAltruism, doctors, and the art of medicine.