Teaching and learning in medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Low cost, high yield: simulation of obstetric emergencies for family medicine training.
Simulation is now the educational standard for emergency training in residency and is particularly useful on a labor and delivery unit, which is often a stressful environment for learners given the frequency of emergencies. However, simulation can be costly. ⋯ We demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of two low-cost obstetric emergency simulations and found that they may result in persistent increases in trainee knowledge.
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Over the past 25 years, three major forces have had a significant influence on licensure and certification: the shift in focus from educational process to educational outcomes, the increasing recognition of the need for learning and assessment throughout a physician's career, and the changes in technology and psychometrics that have opened new vistas for assessment. These forces have led to significant changes in assessment for licensure and certification. To respond to these forces, licensure and certification programs have improved the ways in which their examinations are constructed, scored, and delivered. ⋯ Finally, they have invested in research intended to validate their programs in four ways: (a) the acceptability of the program to stakeholders, (b) the extent to which stakeholders are encouraged to learn and improve, (c) the extent to which there is a relationship between performance in the programs and external measures, and (d) the extent to which there is a relationship between performance as measured by the assessment and performance in practice. Over the past 25 years, changes in licensure and certification have been driven by the educational outcomes movement, the need for lifelong learning, and advances in technology and psychometrics. Over the next 25 years, we expect these forces to continue to exert pressure for change which will lead to additional improvement and expansion in examination processes, methods of assessment, and validation research.
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Seven to 12% of foreign-born patients in the United States has experienced torture. We aimed to teach medical students to identify and care for asylum seekers/torture survivors. ⋯ Medical students learned necessary skills to provide services for survivors, which will also serve them in caring for other vulnerable populations. As an advocacy, cultural competency, and domestic global health opportunity, this training was feasible and achieved its educational goals.
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International Health Electives (IHE) are becoming more popular among graduate training programs. This is likely due to the high demands from graduating medical students who are seeking to have an international health experience during their post-graduate training. Despite the important educational experiences associated with an IHE, this opportunity does not exist in all graduate medical programs and fewer have formal established programs. ⋯ We hope that addressing these four points will reemphasize the importance of establishing an IHE in all graduate training programs.
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Clinical teaching has moved from the bedside to conference rooms; many reasons are described for this shift. Yet, essential clinical skills, professionalism, and humanistic patient interactions are best taught at the bedside. ⋯ Teachers and learners regard the bedside as a valuable venue in which to learn core values of medicine. They proposed many strategies to preserve these humanistic values and improve bedside teaching. These strategies are essential for true patient-centered care.