A Mock Telephone Triage Experience for Nurse Practitioner Students

The ability to manage patient telephone calls competently and confidently is an important skill for nurse practitioners (NPs). A curriculum intervention was implemented in a pediatric NP program to promote this skill. Thirty-nine NP students participated in a mock telephone triage experience to determine whether triage, involving student/faculty mock parent telephone calls, would increase the student’s confidence and competence. A Likert scale pre/post questionnaire surveying perceived confidence, competence, and readiness to practice revealed an increase in students’ confidence in decision making, assessing the patient, and making a diagnosis over the phone.     

What do we know about written assessment of health professionals’ communication skills? A scoping review

ObjectiveThe aim of this scoping review was to investigate the published literature on written assessment of communication skills in health professionals’ education.MethodsPubmed, Embase, Cinahl and Psychnfo were screened for the period 1/1995–7/2020. Selection was conducted by four pairs of reviewers. Four reviewers extracted and analyzed the data regarding study, instrument, item, and psychometric characteristics.ResultsFrom 20,456 assessed abstracts, 74 articles were included which described 70 different instruments. Two thirds of the studies used written assessment to measure training effects, the others focused on the development/validation of the instrument. Instruments were usually developed by the authors, often with little mention of the test development criteria. The type of knowledge assessed was rarely specified. Most instruments included clinical vignettes. Instrument properties and psychometric characteristics were seldom reported.ConclusionThere are a number of written assessments available in the literature. However, the reporting of the development and psychometric properties of these instruments is often incomplete. Practice implications written assessment of communication skills is widely used in health professions education. Improvement in the reporting of instrument development, items and psychometrics may help communication skills teachers better identify when, how and for whom written assessment of communication should be used.     

Effect of Preclinical Simulation on Family Nurse Practitioner Student’s Readiness for Practice

This project aimed to enhance clinical education preparation in a family nurse practitioner graduate program in rural central Appalachian by providing a psychomotor skills-based simulation with the use of the defusing, discovering, and deepening (3D) debriefing method. The students were surveyed after graduation to determine effectiveness. Program outcomes to measure readiness to practice were graduation, employment, and certification rates. The postgraduation surveys indicated the simulation contributed to an increase in psychomotor skill performance, practicing safe patient care, and making independent decisions in practice. Common themes emerged of feeling “prepared for practice” and being “more marketable” with the procedural skills learned in the simulation.     

Assessing Southeastern Advanced Practice Registered Nurses’ Business and Operational Skill Sets

As advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) open private practices in medically underserved areas, clinical, practice management, and business skills are needed conjunctively to remain operational. Further information is needed to understand APRN business and entrepreneurial skill needs. A convenience sample assessed perceptions of confidence in business and operational skill sets needed for entrepreneurial roles in 102 APRNs, representing diversity of subspecialties and practice locations in 4 southeastern states with provider shortages: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Sustaining practices in underserved areas requires providing innovative educational offerings to address APRN business skills needs.     

作业治疗对不随意运动型脑瘫手眼协调能力的影响

目的:探讨作业治疗对不随意运动型脑瘫患儿手眼协调能力的临床疗效。方法:选取2017年5月~2018年9月在广州中医药大学附属南海妇产儿童医院儿童康复科就诊的不随意运动型脑瘫患儿30例,进行作业治疗手眼协调训练,采用Peabody精细运动发育量表(PDMS-FM)及FMFM(手眼协调E项)评定临床疗效。结果:患儿FMQ评分、FMFM(E区)评分随治疗时间推移呈逐渐增加趋势,第二次评估与第一次评估比较有统计学意义(P<0.05),第三次评估和第二次评估有统计学意义(P<0.01)。结论:作业治疗手眼协调训练对不随意运动型脑瘫精细运动及手技巧有明显改善作用。     

African-American Adolescents’ Weight Loss Skills Utilization: Effects on Weight Change in a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial

Objective

Successful weight loss interventions for African-Americans adolescents are lacking. Cognitive-behavioral interventions seek to develop weight loss skills (e.g., counting calories, goal setting, managing one's environment). Little is known about how well adolescents implement such skills in their daily lives. Study aims were to (1) examine weight loss skills utilization at midpoint and end of a 6-month cognitive-behavioral/motivational interviewing weight loss sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART), and (2) determine if greater skill utilization predicted weight loss at treatment end and 3 months post-treatment.

妇产科住院医师临床技能培训体系构建

妇产科学是一门涉及面广、实践性和操作性均很强的学科,对医生临床操作能力的要求也格外严格。妇产科住院医师临床技能操作水平的高低是评价其岗位胜任力的重要指标,开展全面、规范的临床技能培训,有利于切实提高其临床操作能力,是培养合格妇产科专科医师的必经途径。研究以南京医科大学附属妇产医院为例,讲述了该院从目标体系、过程管理体系、考核评价体系和质量控制体系4个方面出发,探索构建适合专科医院特色的妇产科住院医师临床技能培训体系,并在实践过程中不断完善该体系,以期不断提升妇产科住院医师的临床工作能力,有效增强其岗位胜任力和综合素质。     

Development of a Simulation-Based Mastery Learning Curriculum for Breaking Bad News

Introduction

Physician communication impacts patient outcomes. However, communication skills, especially around difficult conversations, remain suboptimal, and there is no clear way to determine the validity of entrustment decisions. The aims of this study were to 1) describe the development of a simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) curriculum for breaking bad news (BBN) conversation skills and 2) set a defensible minimum passing standard (MPS) to ensure uniform skill acquisition among learners.