BMC medical education
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BMC medical education · Jan 2017
Doctors' learning experiences in end-of-life care - a focus group study from nursing homes.
Doctors often find dialogues about death difficult. In Norway, 45% of deaths take place in nursing homes. Newly qualified medical doctors serve as house officers in nursing homes during internship. Little is known about how nursing homes can become useful sites for learning about end-of-life care. The aim of this study was to explore newly qualified doctors' learning experiences with end-of-life care in nursing homes, especially focusing on dialogues about death. ⋯ There is a considerable potential for training doctors in EOL care in nursing homes, which can be developed and integrated in medical education. This practice based learning arena offers newly qualified doctors close interaction with patients, relatives and nurses, teaching them to perform difficult dialogues, individualize medical decisions and balance their professional role in an interdisciplinary setting.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2017
EditorialDesign of simulation-based medical education and advantages and disadvantages of in situ simulation versus off-site simulation.
Simulation-based medical education (SBME) has traditionally been conducted as off-site simulation in simulation centres. Some hospital departments also provide off-site simulation using in-house training room(s) set up for simulation away from the clinical setting, and these activities are called in-house training. In-house training facilities can be part of hospital departments and resemble to some extent simulation centres but often have less technical equipment. In situ simulation, introduced over the past decade, mainly comprises of team-based activities and occurs in patient care units with healthcare professionals in their own working environment. Thus, this intentional blend of simulation and real working environments means that in situ simulation brings simulation to the real working environment and provides training where people work. In situ simulation can be either announced or unannounced, the latter also known as a drill. This article presents and discusses the design of SBME and the advantage and disadvantage of the different simulation settings, such as training in simulation-centres, in-house simulations in hospital departments, announced or unannounced in situ simulations. ⋯ Non-randomised studies argue that in situ simulation is more effective for educational purposes than other types of simulation settings. Conversely, the few comparison studies that exist, either randomised or retrospective, show that choice of setting does not seem to influence individual or team learning. However, hospital department-based simulations, such as in-house simulation and in situ simulation, lead to a gain in organisational learning. To our knowledge no studies have compared announced and unannounced in situ simulation. The literature suggests some improved organisational learning from unannounced in situ simulation; however, unannounced in situ simulation was also found to be challenging to plan and conduct, and more stressful among participants. The importance of setting, context and fidelity are discussed. Based on the current limited research we suggest that choice of setting for simulations does not seem to influence individual and team learning. Department-based local simulation, such as simulation in-house and especially in situ simulation, leads to gains in organisational learning. The overall objectives of simulation-based education and factors such as feasibility can help determine choice of simulation setting.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2017
A Middle Eastern journey of integrating Interprofessional Education into the healthcare curriculum: a SWOC analysis.
Interprofessional education (IPE) is an emerging concept in the Middle East with a number of health professional degree programs continually striving to meet international accreditation requirements to enhance the quality of education and ensure high standards are maintained. Using the College of Pharmacy at Qatar University (CPH QU) as a model, this article describes the IPE initiatives coordinated through the College's IPE Committee, with representation from fourteen programs at four Healthcare institutions: Qatar University; Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar; the University of Calgary in Qatar; and the College of North Atlantic in Qatar. These activities are based on the model proposed by the University of British Columbia across the different pharmacy professional years. Learning objectives for these initiatives were selected from the IPE shared competency domains and competency statements developed for Qatar context. ⋯ The article presents many lessons learned through IPE implementation that are relevant to other academic institutions keen to incorporate IPE into their programs and also provides a successful model for integrating IPE into healthcare curricula.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2017
Comparative StudyReasons for faculty departures from an academic medical center: a survey and comparison across faculty lines.
Faculty departure can present significant intellectual costs to an institution. The authors sought to identify the reasons for clinical and non-clinical faculty departures at one academic medical center (AMC). ⋯ AMCs may not be meeting faculty needs, especially those in clinical roles who balance multiple missions as clinicians, researchers, and educators. Institutions should address the challenges these faculty face in order to best recruit, retain, and advance faculty.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2017
Goals of care conversation teaching in residency - a cross-sectional survey of postgraduate program directors.
Residents are commonly involved in establishing goals of care for hospitalized patients. While education can improve the quality of these conversations, whether and how postgraduate training programs integrate such teaching into their curricula is not well established. The objective of this study was to characterize perceptions of current teaching and assessment of goals of care conversations, and program director interest in associated curricular integration. ⋯ The majority of residency training programs at the University of Calgary incorporate some goals of care conversation teaching and assessment into their curricula. Program directors are interested in resources to improve teaching and assessment of goals of care conversations.