BMC medical education
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In recent years, Australia has developed a National Junior Doctor Curriculum Framework that sets out the expected standards and describes areas of performance for junior doctors and through this has allowed a national approach to junior doctor assessment to develop. Given the significance of the judgments made, in terms of patient safety, development of junior doctors, and preventing progression of junior doctors moving to the next stage of training, it is essential to develop and validate assessment tools as rigorously as possible. This paper reports on a validation study of the Junior Doctor Assessment Tool as used for PGY1 doctors to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument and to explore the effect of length of experience as a PGY1 on assessment scores. ⋯ Now that the components of the tool have been analysed it will be more meaningful and potentially more influential to consider these factors on the potential educational impact of this assessment process for monitoring junior doctor development and progression.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2013
Evaluating an evidence-based curriculum in undergraduate palliative care education: piloting a phase II exploratory trial for a complex intervention.
By 2013 Palliative Care will become a mandatory examination subject in the medical curriculum in Germany. There is a pressing need for effective and well-designed curricula and assessment methods. Debates are on going as how Undergraduate Palliative Care Education (UPCE) should be taught and how knowledge and skills should be assessed. It is evident by this time that the development process of early curricula in the US and UK has led to a plethora of diverse curricula which seem to be partly ineffective in improving the care for the seriously ill and dying offered by newly qualified doctors, as is demonstrated in controlled evaluations. The goals of this study were to demonstrate an evidence-based approach towards developing UPCE curricula and investigate the change in medical students' self-perceived readiness to deal with palliative care patients and their families. ⋯ This study is a small but systematic step towards rigorous curricular development in palliative care. Our manualised curriculum is available for scrutiny and scientific feedback to support an open and constructive process of best-practice comparison in palliative care.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2013
The effect of patient care order sets on medical resident education: a prospective before-after study.
Patient care order sets are increasingly being used to optimize care. While studies have evaluated the impact of order sets on provider performance and patient outcomes, their impact on postgraduate medical trainee knowledge remains unknown. We sought to evaluate the impact of order sets on respirology knowledge, order-writing skills, and self-reported learning. ⋯ Order sets do not appear to impair resident education, and may impart a benefit. This will require validation in larger studies and across diseases.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2013
eLearning among Canadian anesthesia residents: a survey of podcast use and content needs.
Podcasts are increasingly being used in medical education. In this study, we conducted a survey of Canadian anesthesia residents to better delineate the content needs, format preferences, and usage patterns among anesthesia residents. ⋯ The majority of respondents are using podcasts. Anesthesia residents have preferred podcast content, types, length and format that educators should be cognizant of when developing and providing podcasts.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2013
Mobile technology supporting trainee doctors' workplace learning and patient care: an evaluation.
The amount of information needed by doctors has exploded. The nature of knowledge (explicit and tacit) and processes of knowledge acquisition and participation are complex. Aiming to assist workplace learning, Wales Deanery funded "iDoc", a project offering trainee doctors a Smartphone library of medical textbooks. ⋯ A variety of information sources are used regularly in the workplace. Colleagues are used daily but seniors are not always available. During transitions, constant access to the electronic library was valued. It helped prepare trainee doctors for discussions with their seniors, assisting the interchange between explicit and tacit knowledge.By supporting accurate prescribing and treatment planning, the electronic library contributed to enhanced patient care. Trainees were more rapidly able to medicate patients to reduce pain and more quickly call for specific assessments. However, clinical decision-making often requires dialogue: what Smartphone technology can do is augment, not replace, discussion with their colleagues in the community of practice.