Medical teacher
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The introduction of new learning technologies, the exponential growth of Internet usage and the advent of the World Wide Web have the potential of changing the face of higher education. There are also demands in medical education for greater globalization, for the development of a common core curriculum, for improving access to training, for more flexible and student-centred training programmes including programmes with multi-professional elements and for maintaining quality while increasing student numbers and working within financial constraints. ⋯ Fifty leading international medical schools and institutions are participating in a feasibility study. This is exploring: innovative thinking and approaches to the new learning technologies including e-learning and virtual reality; new approaches to curriculum planning and mapping and advanced instructional design based on the use of 'reusable learning objects'; an international perspective on medical education which takes into account the trend to globalization; a flexible curriculum which meets the needs of different students and has the potential of increasing access to medicine.
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The objective of this paper is to examine some theory that appears to make a contribution to the Generic Instructors Courses (GICs) offered by the Advanced Life Support Group and the Resuscitation Council, UK. Accordingly, it is not an empirical study: rather it is a critical assessment of the contribution made by studies in adult learning to what is perceived and generally presented as an atheoretical course. ⋯ The paper will observe that each of these makes a contribution towards an understanding of the achievements of the GIC. The paper will conclude with a number of recommendations for some small-scale empirical work.
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Comparative Study
Primary care physicians in public and private sectors perceive different learning needs.
We compared the perceived learning needs of primary care physicians from the public and private sectors who responded to a questionnaire before taking educational courses in Family Medicine. They rated their perceived learning needs on 71 items of clinical practices and practice management on a scale of 1-10. The ratings of their learning needs were closely related to the perceived needs of their daily work. ⋯ Public physicians wished to improve their care of individual patients (e.g. skin, eye, ear-nose-throat problems). Private physicians were more concerned with professional development to improve their practice (e.g. audits, counselling, adult learning). Organizers of educational programmes should assess and discuss with physicians their expected learning needs at the planning stage of a programme.