Clinical medicine (London, England)
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Diarrhoea is probably the single most common medical complaint in returning travellers. The most common pathogens are entero-toxigenic Escherichia coli, Shigella, Salmonella and Campylobacter. ⋯ Blood in stools is a sign of invasive disease and should trigger exclusion of invasive amoebic disease. The use of empiric antibiotics may shorten illness but is complicated by the diversity of bacterial causes and emerging resistance.
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Team assessment of behaviour (TAB) is the multi-source feedback assessment of professional behaviours that all UK foundation doctors must engage in twice during their two-year programme. TAB can identify the few underperforming trainees and provide feedback to consolidate the good practice of most. For optimum validity, TAB must be undertaken by a range of assessors, as specified in the national UK Foundation Programme curriculum. ⋯ Introduction of validity checking before sign-off greatly improved the numbers of valid assessments in 2011. This was partially sustained in 2012. Assurance of assessment validity is important to ensure delivery of appropriate constructive feedback and to allow early detection and remediation of signs of poor professional behaviours in foundation doctors.
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From senior school through to consultancy, a plethora of assessments shape medical careers. Multiple methods of assessment are used to discriminate between applicants. ⋯ We review the evidence for non-knowledge-based tests and discuss their perceived benefits. We raise the question: is the current use of non-knowledge-based tests within the UK at risk of undermining more robust measures of medical school and postgraduate performance?