Students' Interest in Surgery Affects Laparoscopic Practicing Performance

Methods:A laparoscopic simulation curriculum was introduced at Taipei Medical University, Wan-Fang Medical Center. Study participants included 36 sixth-year and 14 seventh-year students who were divided according to whether they had indicated an interest (group A) or not (group B) in surgery. The students had twice-a-week practice sessions for 2 weeks. They underwent baseline measurement (BM) before training and posttraining measurement (PTM). Self-guided practice on the simulator was allowed. The learning outcomes were assessed comparing the BM and PTM scores by using the interquartile range (IQR) test. We also tested the correlation between total score and number of self-guided practice sessions.Results:All study participants showed improvement. No differences were observed between BM and PTM scores and between 6th- and 7th-year medical students. Significant differences were found in PTM scores between groups A and B (P < .001). Analysis of variance with a post hoc test for different groups revealed that the PTMs were significantly higher for both the 6th- and 7th-year medical students in group A than for those in group B (P < .001). Total performance scores were improved with a higher number of self-guided practice sessions. Linear regression analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the number of self-guided practice sessions and total performance score (P < .001).Conclusion:Those clerks and interns interested in surgery who had more sessions for self-guided practice, displayed more improvement than those not interested in surgery did. Improvement in performance correlated highly with trainees'' number of self-guided practice sessions.     

Apathy in aging: Are lack of interest and lack of initiative dissociable?

Apathy is common in aging and generally defined on the basis of three dimensions: lack of initiative, lack of interest and emotional blunting. Curiously, no study until now has examined the associations and dissociations between these dimensions in elderly people (with or without dementia). These questions were addressed in two studies. In the first study, we explored the distribution of scores and the relationships between the three dimensions of apathy in 56 patients with dementia, focusing mainly on lack of initiative and lack of interest. Apathy was hetero-evaluated with the Apathy Inventory (AI), a scale widely used to assess the apathy dimensions in aging. In the second study, given the AI's limitations, we investigated in more detail the relationship between lack of initiative and interest in 115 elderly people using a new questionnaire specifically designed to assess these two dimensions. Results showed that lack of initiative was closely related to lack of interest (Study 1). Although we used a more specific questionnaire, these facets of apathy did not constitute two separable dimensions, but reflected a common main factor of apathy in aging (Study 2). Thus, the distinction between lack of initiative and lack of interest seems questionable. Only a multifactorial approach that includes the various psychological factors involved in apathy would enable one to gain a better understanding of the different manifestations of apathy and to highlight possible dissociations between them.     

Perceptions of Slovenian elementary schoolchildren on nursing and nurses—Exploratory study

AimThe research aimed to assess the perception on nursing and nurses among schoolchildren of Slovenian elementary schools.BackgroundAmong the general public, nursing remains under-recognized as an occupation and a science. Especially young people have unrealistic perceptions of nurses.DesignA cross-sectional research design was undertaken.MethodsThe study included 1984 eighth grade schoolchildren from 103 elementary schools. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire.ResultsThe research results revealed a positive general perception of nursing. Surprisingly, only 2.5% of respondents would consider a career in nursing. Girls had more understanding of nursing compared to boys (p < 0.001); having a nurse relative meant better understanding of nursing (p = 0.032). The influence of the traditional view of nursing and the biomedical model of care which describes nursing not as autonomous, but as subordinate to medicine, was considerate (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe study shows that elementary school children do not express an interest in a career in nursing. They perceive the job of a nurse as female-dominated, they cling to the traditional perception of nursing being subordinate to medicine, and they indicated dominance of the biomedical model of care. Healthcare policy makers must remember that healthcare systems cannot function without nurses, so developing nursing is crucial. To increase interest in the profession, a national campaign promoting nursing programs and the nursing profession and presenting horizontal and vertical career opportunities is needed. Young people must have realistic information on nursing as an occupation and a science, its role in the healthcare system, and career opportunities. Activities aimed at changing public opinion on nursing must be planned.     

Current Levels of Conflict of Interest Disclosure in Medical Publications from Korea

Medical research should be fully transparent. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of author-related conflict of interest (COI) policies and evaluate the actual state of COI disclosure in Korean medical journals. To determine the prevalence of author-related COI policies, we examined the 198 medical journals listed in the KoreaMed database. To investigate the actual state of COI disclosures in published papers, we analyzed the publications in a representative medical journal, the Journal of the Korean Medical Science, from the perspective of the relevance of the ethics of COI disclosure. A total of 164 (82.8%) journals required an author''s statement of COI as a criterion for publication. Of these 164, most of them focused on financial COI, with 101 (61.6%) presenting the information related to COI disclosures as a separate paragraph with a clear title. We identified 114 articles published by the Journal of the Korean Medical Science over a seven-year period, from January, 2006 to December, 2012. Of these, 65 papers (57%) included an author''s statement of COI. We found that the policies of Korean medical journals regarding the disclosure of author COIs are still behind the internationally suggested level.     

Electrophysiological measurement of interest during walking in a simulated environment

A reliable neuroscientific technique for objectively estimating the degree of interest in a real environment is currently required in the research fields of neuroergonomics and neuroeconomics. Toward the development of such a technique, the present study explored electrophysiological measures that reflect an observer's interest in a nearly-real visual environment. Participants were asked to walk through a simulated shopping mall and the attractiveness of the shopping mall was manipulated by opening and closing the shutters of stores. During the walking task, participants were exposed to task-irrelevant auditory probes (two-stimulus oddball sequence). The results showed a smaller P2/early P3a component of task-irrelevant auditory event-related potentials and a larger lambda response of eye-fixation-related potentials in an interesting environment (i.e., open-shutter condition) than in a boring environment (i.e., closed-shutter condition); these findings can be reasonably explained by supposing that participants allocated more attentional resources to visual information in an interesting environment than in a boring environment, and thus residual attentional resources that could be allocated to task-irrelevant auditory probes were reduced. The P2/early P3a component and the lambda response may be useful measures of interest in a real visual environment.     

军医大学生专业兴趣调查

目的调查某军医大学1640名在校学员的专业兴趣。方法采用自制问卷以性别、类别、年级、专业、年龄为自变量进行数理统计分析。结果学员总体现在的专业符合当初愿望的占66.7%,不同性别、类别、年级、专业之间有差异（χ2=38.025,21.946,18.916,121.958;P均〈0.001）;对所学专业感兴趣的占55.9%,不同类别、年级、专业之间有差异（χ2=21.417,25.154,42.075;P均〈0.01）。结论军医大学生专业兴趣总体较高,和志愿符合情况类似。     

Cost savings with a novel algorithm for early detection of systemic sclerosis‐related pulmonary arterial hypertension: alternative scenario analyses

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an important cause of death and disability in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Yearly screening of all SSc patients with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is recommended in international guidelines and currently utilised by the Australian Scleroderma Interest Group (ASIG_STANDARD). Owing to the limitations of TTE, the ASIG developed a new screening algorithm (ASIG_PROPOSED) utilising a serum biomarker, NT‐proBNP, in place of TTE, which has been shown to be equally accurate as the current algorithm. The aim of this study was to compare the cost of these two algorithms using different scenarios. The new algorithm resulted in significant yearly cost savings of between AU$42 913.35 and AU$84 570 in screening and diagnosis of an Australian cohort which, if extrapolated to the Australian population, would result in a yearly cost saving of between AU$367 066 and AU$725 564. There was no scenario in which the proposed algorithm did not result in a cost saving.     

Lebanese community-based pharmacists’ interest,practice, knowledge,and barriers towards pharmacy practice research: A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo assess the interest, knowledge, practice and barriers of Lebanese community-based pharmacists towards research, and to examine factors associated with interest.MethodsA cross-sectional survey, conducted between January and May 2017, enrolled community pharmacists using a proportionate random sample of community pharmacies in the five districts of Lebanon, using the list of pharmacies provided by the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists. In the absence of validated questionnaires to answer our objectives, we created a questionnaire based on previous research. The questionnaire was modified based on the experiences and issues raised during focus groups with research active pharmacists and research oriented community pharmacists.ResultsA total of 399 pharmacists was enrolled. The results showed that 231 (72%) were conscious about the important role of research in the community pharmacy setting whereas only 5.6% considered it not important. Over two-thirds (68.5%) of the pharmacists declared being interested in participating in research. There was a statistical difference in the percentage of correct answers between auto-declared and corrected responses for all terms, with all p < 0.001.The most reported barrier was lack of time during hours of work (90.9%), followed by the lack of pharmacy staff (73.7%), lack of financial resources (68.9%), patient’s lack of education and resistance to participation (64.8%), and lack of support (63.8%). Age (aOR = 0.92), years of experience (aOR = 1.06), and having been involved in research (aOR = 3.17) were associated with higher interest in research. Having studied in Lebanon (aOR = 3.63), having received previous research courses (aOR = 11.12) and being interested in research (aOR = 2.74) were associated with having participated in research projects during their professional experience.ConclusionLebanese pharmacists have the good will to conduct and participate in research, but are lacking knowledge; this issue needs to be addressed vividly. Addressing the identified barriers could improve the research output of Lebanese community pharmacists.     

Treatment,custody, support: an exploratory qualitative dialogue to map the ethics of interagency co-operation in hospital emergency departments in the UK and the Netherlands

Interviews with senior professionals in accident and emergency (A&E) healthcare, policing and social services to map the ethical dimensions of interagency collaboration suggest that the main ethical themes for systematic research are information sharing and confidentiality, consent, professional values and autonomy, human rights, formal (organisational) accountability, staff safety and public interest collaboration. An emerging specific issue is the extent of A&E disclosure to the police and to the social services and its legal and ethical parameters.     

Influence of iterative reconstruction and dose levels on metallic artifact reduction: A phantom study within four CT systems

Purpose

To compare metallic artifact reduction (MAR) algorithms proposed by four vendors according to the delivered dose and iterative level using a phantom study.