Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · May 2007
Growth of self-perceived clinical competence in postgraduate training for general practice and its relation to potentially influencing factors.
To examine the increase in self-perceived clinical competence during a three-year postgraduate training in general practice and to explore the relation between the growth of self-perceived competence and several background variables. ⋯ This study shows that a 3-year postgraduate training in general practice enhances self-perceived clinical competence. However, we still do not know how to explain this improvement. Further study into the theoretical concept of self-assessment in medical education and into the factors contributing to the feeling of being competent, is required.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · May 2007
The rhetorical 'turn' in medical education: what have we learned and where are we going?
This paper presents a critical reflection on the contributions and challenges associated with one rhetorical approach to studying teaching and learning communication in health professions education. A rhetorical approach treats language as a social act, and attends to the role of language in establishing professional identities and relationships. The research has produced insights into the use of standard communication formats to teach novices, the nature of socialization on clinical teams, and the relationship between communication patterns and patient safety. Challenges and emerging questions include the problem of accounting for the material dimensions of communication in a rhetorical model, grappling with the complexities of distributed teams, and difficulties bridging the epistemologies of rhetoric and psychometrics.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Feb 2007
Comparative StudyMedical students' attitudes toward underserved patients: a longitudinal comparison of problem-based and traditional medical curricula.
Medical education has been shown to negatively influence student attitudes toward certain types of patient populations. Past research does not inform current educational practice because today's medical school environment is different from when most of the published research was conducted. There are more female students, curricular innovations such as problem-based learning have changed the framework for educational delivery, and longitudinal studies, which could inform when interventions may be needed, are uncommon. ⋯ Students in both curricula, as well as male and female students, experienced increasingly negative attitudes over the four year period. Decline in attitudes toward medically underserved patients was similar to previous research results. This study showed that attitudes of students were not influenced by the preclinical curriculum they experienced.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Feb 2007
Validation of the SETOC instrument -- Student evaluation of teaching in outpatient clinics.
There is a paucity of evaluation forms specifically developed and validated for outpatient settings. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument specifically for evaluating outpatient teaching, to provide reliable and valid ratings for individual and group feedback to faculty, and to identify outstanding teachers in that setting. ⋯ The SETOC elicited reliable and valid student ratings that can provide specific feedback to individual faculty with weak or outstanding teaching skills, and identify overall group shortcomings for faculty development.
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Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract · Feb 2007
A multi-level assessment of a program to teach medical students to teach.
Few longitudinal programs exist to teach senior students (MS4s) to be teachers, nor have there been any reports of comprehensive program evaluation in this area. The primary objectives of this study were to describe our ongoing faculty development effort and to develop a multi-level program evaluation, using Dixon's model. The TALKS (Teaching and Learning Communication Skills) program is a senior elective and open to all MS4s. ⋯ The authors used a retrospective, pre-post questionnaire to assess MS4 attitudes about their educational experiences, a traditional instrument to assess their teaching, an interaction analysis technique using Bloom's taxonomy to assess MS4s' feedback skills, and a SP exam to assess MS4 communication skills. The authors hypothesized that MS4s participating in TALKS would view medical education more positively and informatively, would demonstrate important principles in giving feedback, would be assessed as excellent teachers, and would perform better than controls in an SP exam emphasizing communication skills. Results revealed that MS4s' ratings as teachers were very good to excellent, with the highest scores on the items "knowledgeable, supportive of me, and answering questions clearly." (Level 1, Opinion) MS4s' perceptions of their knowledge, attitudes and skills increased significantly from the pre to the post-questionnaire. (Level 2, Competence) MS4 feedback skills to MS2s revealed they did more talking than ideal, often at the lowest levels of Bloom's taxonomy. (Level 3, Performance) MS4s demonstrated better communication skills than controls on an evaluation by professional SPs. (Level 3, Performance).