BMC medical education
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BMC medical education · Jan 2008
The characteristics of depressive symptoms in medical students during medical education and training: a cross-sectional study.
Medical education and training can contribute to the development of depressive symptoms that might lead to possible academic and professional consequences. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of depressive symptoms among 481 medical students (79.8% of the total who matriculated). ⋯ There is a high prevalence towards depressive symptoms among medical students, particularly females, in the internship level, mainly involving the somatic and affective clusters, and not having a parent who practiced medicine. The active assessment of these students in evaluating their depressive symptoms is important in order to prevent the development of co-morbidities and suicide risk.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2008
Ambulance clinical placements--a pilot study of students' experience.
Undergraduate paramedic students undertake clinical placements in a variety of locations. These placements are considered an essential element for paramedic pre-employment education. However, anecdotal evidence suggests some students have not had positive experiences on their emergency ambulance placements. The objective of this study was to identify the type of experiences had by students during ambulance clinical placements and to provide feedback to the ambulance services. ⋯ This study demonstrates that for a small group of students, emergency ambulance clinical placements were not a positive experience clinically or educationally. Some qualified paramedics doubt if a number of female students can perform the physical role of a paramedic.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2008
Undergraduate technical skills training guided by student tutors--analysis of tutors' attitudes, tutees' acceptance and learning progress in an innovative teaching model.
Skills labs provide a sheltered learning environment. As close supervision and individual feedback were proven to be important in ensuring effective skills training, we implemented a cross-year peer tutor system in our skills lab of internal medicine that allowed intense training sessions with small learning groups (3-4 students) taught by one student tutor. ⋯ This study demonstrates that peer teaching in undergraduate technical clinical skills training is feasible and widely accepted among tutees, provided that the tutors receive sufficient training and supervision.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2008
The need for national medical licensing examination in Saudi Arabia.
Medical education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges, including the rapid increase in the number of medical schools over a short period of time, the influx of foreign medical graduates to work in Saudi Arabia, the award of scholarships to hundreds of students to study medicine in various countries, and the absence of published national guidelines for minimal acceptable competencies of a medical graduate. ⋯ The driving and hindering forces as well as the strengths and weaknesses of implementing the licensing examination are discussed in details in this debate.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2008
Satisfaction with web-based training in an integrated healthcare delivery network: do age, education, computer skills and attitudes matter?
Healthcare institutions spend enormous time and effort to train their workforce. Web-based training can potentially streamline this process. However the deployment of web-based training in a large-scale setting with a diverse healthcare workforce has not been evaluated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction of healthcare professionals with web-based training and to determine the predictors of such satisfaction including age, education status and computer proficiency. ⋯ The study shows that web-based training when tailored to learners' background, is perceived as a satisfactory mode of learning by an interdisciplinary group of healthcare professionals, irrespective of age, education level or prior computer experience. Future studies should aim to measure the long-term outcomes of web-based training.