BMC medical education
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BMC medical education · May 2019
Medical students as global citizens: a qualitative study of medical students' views on global health teaching within the undergraduate medical curriculum.
There is increasing interest in global health teaching among medical schools and their students. Schools in the UK and internationally are considering the best structure, methods and content of global health courses. Academic work in this area, however, has tended to either be normative (specifying what global health teaching ought to look like) or descriptive (of a particular intervention, new module, elective, etc.). ⋯ Students are highly alert to the diverse epistemological issues that underpin global health. For some students, such interdisciplinarity is fundamental to understanding contemporary health and healthcare. For others, global health is merely a topic of geographic relevance. Furthermore, some students appeared to accept global health as a specialist area only relevant to professionals working overseas, while others considered it to be an essential part of working in the globalised world and therefore relevant to all medical professionals. Students also clearly noted that including 'soft' subjects and more discursive approaches to teaching and learning often sits awkwardly in a programme where 'harder' forms of knowledge and didactic methods tend to dominate. This suggests that more work needs to be done to explain the relevance of global health to medical students at the very beginning of their studies.
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BMC medical education · May 2019
Obesity education in the family medicine clerkship: a US and Canadian survey of clerkship directors' beliefs, barriers, and curriculum content.
Despite concerns regarding the increasing obesity epidemic, little is known regarding obesity curricula in medical education. Medical school family medicine clerkships address common primary care topics during clinical training. However, studies have shown that many family physicians feel unprepared at addressing obesity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors related to obesity education provided during family medicine clerkships as well as identify future plans regarding obesity education. ⋯ The majority of clerkship directors are planning no changes to their existing curricula which consist of three common topics: obesity related co-morbid conditions, diet, and exercise. While time was the largest self-rated barrier in teaching obesity related topics, clerkship duration didn't impact the number of topics taught. However, the relative amount of importance placed by CDs upon obesity education was significantly associated with the number of topics covered during clerkship.
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BMC medical education · May 2019
Nurses' knowledge, perceived barriers, and practices regarding cancer pain management: a cross-sectional study from Palestine.
Accurate knowledge and good pain evaluation and documentation practices should be present for efficient pain management. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of nurses relating to the management of cancer pain in Palestine, and to determine the barriers to efficient pain control in cancer patients. ⋯ This study allowed us to recognise the knowledge deficit and the barriers to effective management. On the other hand, the analysis has shown good pain documentation practices among nurses. Those knowledge deficits demonstrate the need for more education about CPM. The improvement of coordination and communication between physicians and nurses seems to play a crucial role in CPM, as contacting physicians was cited as the most delaying process in CPM by nurses.
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BMC medical education · May 2019
Hygiene practices during clinical training: knowledge, attitudes and practice among a cohort of South Asian Medical students.
Proper hygienic practices are important in preventing nosocomial infection. This study aimed to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on hand, attire and equipment hygiene during clinical training among medical students at a State Medical Institution in Sri Lanka. ⋯ Overall, hand hygiene was moderate among medical students and improved with progression of training. Attire hygiene was also graded as moderate but to a lesser extent compared to hand hygiene, lower in males, and declined over time, indicating need for better reinforcement of attire hygiene practices with progression of clinical training. Equipment hygiene was unsatisfactory among most medical students and thus needs to be highlighted as a potential area to be improved during clinical training. This study suggests that knowledge, attitudes and practices on equipment and attire hygiene among medical students was less satisfactory and needs to receive greater emphasis during medical clinical training.
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BMC medical education · May 2019
Does changing from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered context promote self-regulated learning: a qualitative study in a Japanese undergraduate setting.
Previous studies indicate that a teacher-centered context could hinder undergraduates from self-regulated learning (SRL), whereas a learner-centered context could promote SRL. However, SRL development between a teacher-centered and a learner-centered context has not directly compared in undergraduate settings. Also, it is still unclear how a contextual change toward learner-centered learning could influence SRL in students, who are strongly accustomed to teacher-centered learning. ⋯ A contextual change toward learner-centered learning could promote SRL even in students strongly accustomed to teacher-centered learning. In the learner-centered context, students began to construct their self-image, conduct self-reflection, and seek diverse learning strategies by referring to future 'self' models.