SHORT REPORT Education and research in Africa: Identifying and meeting the needs

The development and promotion of occupational therapy in the Sub-Saharan continent of Africa is seen as a challenge for the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. It is also a challenge for pioneering occupational therapists, mostly ex-patriates, who have started occupational therapy services in many new countries of Africa over the past few years. This report identifies and addresses the problems. It is important that existing training centres for occupational therapists are maintained by attracting permanent, indigenous teaching staff and clinical supervisors, by promoting continuing support and development of existing occupational therapy services and by promoting the development of more rehabilitation and educational facilities. A priority is to help government departments to develop job structures for occupational therapists. Research is seen as being vital to this process. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of developing confidence in the profession of occupational therapy by ongoing education, personal achievement and positive thinking.     

Combining Roles as an Academic Instructor and a Clinical Practitioner in Occupational Therapy: Benefits,Challenges, and Strategies for Success

SUMMARY

Approximately 28% of the total occupational therapy (OT) faculty in higher education are adjunct faculty members. Adjunct faculty (i.e., faculty who teach a course or part of a course) have been used in higher education to maintain quality educational experiences while providing positive community connections and educational resources with first-hand experience. In occupational therapy, practitioners often assume adjunct faculty responsibilities, thereby significantly increasing professional workloads. Despite added effort, there are several benefits to adjunct teaching. However, there are equally as many challenges.

Objectives of this article were to describe rewards and challenges of adjunct teaching and suggest strategies for successfully negotiating adjunct roles. The article summarizes findings from needs assessments undertaken to develop adjunct faculty programs. Results are relevant to practitioners with both clinical and teaching roles, and to their supervisors and peers.     

Continuing medical education, professional development, and requirements for medical licensure: a white paper of the Conjoint Committee on Continuing Medical Education

To provide the best care to patients, a physician must commit to lifelong learning, but continuing education and evaluation systems in the United States typically require little more than records of attendance for professional association memberships, hospital staff privileges, or reregistration of a medical license. While 61 of 68 medical and osteopathic licensing boards mandate that physicians participate in certain numbers of hours of continuing medical education (CME), 17 of them require physicians to participate in legislatively mandated topics that may have little to do with the types of patients seen by the applicant physician.Required CME should evolve from counting hours of CME participation to recognizing physician achievement in knowledge, competence, and performance. State medical boards should require valid and reliable assessment of physicians' learning needs and collaborate with physician and CME communities to assure that legislatively mandated CME achieves maximal benefit for physicians and patients. To assure the discovery and use of best practices for continuing professional development and for maintenance of competence, research in CME and physician assessment should be raised as a national priority.     

Using problem-based learning to improve educational outcomes

As the health care industry and the occupational therapy profession experience rapid change and growth, our professional preparation and continuing education must prepare graduates and therapists for an evolving practice environment. By exploring and evaluating alternative teaching methods and their impact on educational outcomes, occupational therapy educators demonstrate their commitment to improving the quality of student education. This article proposes that the traditional educational paradigm prepared clinicians for the old health care environment, and that problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational strategy that could prepare occupational therapists for success in a new practice environment that values cost, quality, and customer satisfaction. The PBL approaches used by various international occupational therapy educators are reviewed to highlight the strategies that have been implemented to achieve educational objectives that parallel the requirements of this new practice environment. Copyright © 1996 Whurr Publishers Ltd.     

高职院校实验室建设与管理的探讨与实践

为了适应医学高等职业教育培养目标的需要,河南职工医学院积极探索实验室建设与管理模式,实验室建设发展迅速,管理进一步规范化、科学化,提高了实验室的整体效益,为实践教学质量的提高和高素质知识技能型人才的培养提供了有力保障。     

CBL+PBL教学法在医学检验技术专业生物化学教学中的应用

目的 提高高职医学检验技术专业生物化学教学质量,探索适合高职医学检验技术专业学生的学习方法.方法 对某职业学院医学检验专业2013-2015级三个年级431名在校生分班级进行CBL+PBL法与LBL法教学比较研究,跟踪调查教学质量与学习效果,将学习成绩进行SPSS17.0分析.结果 CBL+PBL与LBL方法比较,学生成绩差异具有统计学意义.调查问卷分析显示,CBL+PBL教学法能更好地激发学生的学习兴趣、主动性和积极性.结论 高职医学检验技术专业"生物化学"课程运用CBL+PBL教学法效果较好,有利于学生核心能力培养和岗位需求.     

Meeting the educational needs of fieldwork supervisors: A collaborative workshop developed by New South Wales occupational therapy fieldwork coordinators

This paper describes the collaborative preparation and implementation of a workshop for occupational therapy fieldwork supervisors which has been developed by the four occupational therapy programmes in New South Wales. The workshop was primarily designed to meet the education needs of new and inexperienced fieldwork supervisors who could subsequently be prepared to supervise students from any of the four occupational therapy programmes in the state. The workshop was also offered to more experienced fieldwork supervisors who were interested in adapting their fieldwork programmes to incorporate the needs of students from the four occupational therapy programmes. The process of constructing the workshop is outlined. Results from pre-workshop questionnaires ( n  = 237) and post-workshop evaluations ( n  = 257), during the first year of presentation of the workshop, suggested that the workshop was effective in meeting the objectives of preparing fieldwork supervisors to supervise students from a variety of educational programmes. In addition, the collaboration between the occupational therapy programmes during the workshops has enabled other state-wide fieldwork issues to be identified, and further projects have been undertaken to address fieldwork concerns.     

Medical education in China for the 21st century

Drastic changes are occurring in medical education around the world. Medicine and medical technologies are developing rapidly and expanding beyond the multidisciplinary area. The needs of medical care and medical education are different even from those of several years ago. In order to cope with these increasing social needs, the innovation of medical education in China has become an urgent and important problem. This study is an attempt to answer the question of how to develop medical education in China for the 21st century, based on a historical review of the development of medical education. This development might be divided into three periods: (1) before the Cultural Revolution; (2) the Cultural Revolution (1966-76); and (3) post-Cultural Revolution (1977-present) in modern China, and based on problem analysis of the curriculum, teaching methods, education evaluation, systems and policies and the balance between educational needs and supplies. We concentrate on the discussion of how to solve these problems, and have designed a new strategy for the further development of medical education in China. This discussion and newly developing strategy focuses on the main targets and priorities and adoption of suitable measures according to the conditions of the country. The purposes are to elevate the quality of medical education, to train qualified doctors to meet continuously increasing needs and to maintain the development of medical education for the 21st century in China.     

Occupational therapists' assessments of adults with long-term pain: the Swedish experience

The purposes of this study were to describe the needs for occupational therapy among people of working age with long-term pain, and to describe treatment interventions based on these assessments. Occupational therapists working in primary health care and/or with special interest in pain management (n=109) assessed 113 people aged 18-58 years with long-term pain with the Occupational Therapy Needs Assessment--Pain (OTNA--P) questionnaire. The occupational therapists recommended treatment interventions where appropriate. The results generated categories of needs that have implications for interventions: 1) need for patient education, 2) needs due to limitations in activity performance, 3) needs due to patient's discouragement, 4) need as a result of patient's dependency and 5) needs related to work. The suggested interventions focused on increased knowledge of how to handle daily occupations, mainly categorized as education and stress management' and behavioural' interventions. Significant correlations were found between the assessed needs and the suggested interventions. The results of this study could assist in developing guidelines for practitioners working in occupational therapy pain management programmes. It is recommended that further research is done on the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions with patients with long-term pain.     

手术室专职教师教学压力因素及应对策略

目的探讨专职教师应对教学压力的有效策略,切实提高教学质量。方法在护理部及护士长领导下,手术室专职教师采取分层次针对性教学、强化教学对象的职业安全教育、情景模拟教学、在教学活动中总结经验,教学相长、扎根临床,业精于勤、外出学习开阔视野等策略积极应对。结果专职教师每年高质量完成多层次、多批次的教学任务约400人次。结论手术室教学策略有助于减轻专职教师教学压力及提高教学质量。     

Field Instruction:

Contemporary professional practice necessitates continuous education and development. Social work practicum education needs to develop practice competence, responsibility and expertise in self-directed learning in students. Practicum structures emphasizing student participation in selection and negotiation of the content and process of the learning/teaching enterprise will facilitate achievement of this education goal.     

The role of senior teachers in students'' achievements

This study points out the significant role of senior teachers in the process of instruction. It also asserts the consistency and reliability of student assessments of instruction, and the correlation between these assessments and the students' achievement. The study was conducted on groups rather than individual students. The assumption was that when teaching is carried out in groups, it is preferable to relate to the evaluation expressed by the whole group, and its correlation with achievement. The data included 51 student groups studying in 15 departments affiliated with the medical school in 12 hospitals: paediatrics (3), psychiatry (5), gynaecology (4) and surgery (3). The results emphasize the role of senior teachers in the process of instruction. It was found that a high positive correlation exists between senior teachers' direct involvement in teaching and students' academic achievements. However, a low correlation was found between students' assessments of the overall departmental teaching and their academic achievements. Thus, it appears that achievement is not directly influenced by the quality of teaching as perceived by the students, but rather by other factors, with the exception of a positive correlation between the contributions of the department heads to instruction and students' achievement.     

Studying teaching methods,strategies and best practices for young children with special educational needs

Teaching objectives in special education are different from those in the ordinary classroom. Educational programmes for special needs students are focused on individual learning, achievement and progress. Thus, the instruction in special education classrooms and resource rooms in inclusive schools has to be specific, directed and individualised. The present study aimed to investigate the use of teaching methods, strategies and best practices in resource rooms of inclusive schools and to discuss their appropriateness and quality in relation to literature review. The study was a qualitative one, using triangulation of data collection, semi-structured interviews and observation. The participants were 30, experienced, special education teachers and 120 special education future-teachers. The study took into account the qualitative research ethical recommendations. The research revealed that the self-reported data show that the participants had great interest in their students' learning outcomes and they used effective teaching methods, techniques and strategies, but this was not confirmed by the data of observation. The present study would affect the educational policies regarding the critical issue of teacher evaluation and the differences between general and special teaching effectiveness.     

思政教育在妇科临床护理教学中的初探

妇科护理学是一门专业性强、奉献性强和服务性强的专业,要成为一名优秀的护士,不仅需要具备扎实的理论知识及过硬的操作能力,还必须具备良好的思想道德和职业素养。因此在临床护理教学过程中加入思政教育十分必要。该文从结合临床护理教学与思政教育、提高临床护理教师职业,改革临床教学内容与方法等几个方面,提出了将思政教育融入护理临床教学的新思路。     

Attitudes of entry level occupational therapy doctoral students towards inclusion for students with disabilities

Background/Aims:  The increasing popularity of inclusive education for students with disabilities and the attitudes towards it inevitably affect school-based occupational therapy practice. This survey study investigated the attitudes of entry-level occupational therapy doctoral (EOTD) students towards inclusive education and the effect of professional education on their perception.
Methods:  A total of 62 EOTD students responded to a self-developed questionnaire, Attitudes and Inclusive Education Survey , yielding a response rate of 91.2%.
Results:  Results of the study revealed that entry level occupational therapy doctoral students have positive attitudes towards inclusive education and believe that the inclusion movement has an inevitable impact on school-based occupational therapy practice. Professional education in occupational therapy might positively affect students' attitudes.
Conclusion:  Given the close association between one's attitude and behaviour, the findings of the study are particularly encouraging. Future research needs to further examine school-based occupational therapy practice in inclusive environments.     

Estimating the mission-related costs of teaching hospitals

Academic health centers and other teaching hospitals face higher patient care costs than nonteaching community hospitals face, because of their missions of graduate medical education (GME), biomedical research, and the maintenance of standby capacity for medically complex patients. We estimate that total mission-related costs were dollar 27 billion in 2002 for all teaching hospitals, with GME (including indirect and direct GME) and standby capacity accounting for roughly 60 and 35 percent of these costs, respectively. To assure their continued ability to perform important social missions in a competitive environment, it may be necessary to reassess the way in which these activities are financed.     

Online learning: the potential for occupational therapy education

Online learning continues to have a significant impact on higher education. Increasingly students seek a combination of online learning and face-to-face instruction at undergraduate and graduate levels and occupational therapists ask for online continuing professional development opportunities. However, occupational therapy educators have been slow to adopt web-based instructional technology. This paper presents background information on the use of web-based learning in the general sphere of higher education and outlines the current range of usage in occupational therapy education. Research findings are presented to stimulate discussion regarding online learning and occupational therapy professional socialisation, student satisfaction and outcomes. There is a fine line between full and partial online course delivery, so research on technology-enhanced campus-based delivery is also included in the review. Evidence suggests that blending combinations of technologies with computer mediated learning enhances interaction and could address the higher order learning needs of professional programmes such as occupational therapy.     

WebCT in occupational therapy clinical education: implementing and evaluating a tool for peer learning and interaction

As occupational therapy expands into new practice arenas such as wellness, driver rehabilitation and ergonomics, educators are challenged to revise the curriculum as well as change educational technology. One of the changes in occupational therapy educational programmes is the utilization of on-line teaching. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the learning experiences of 42 occupational therapy students who were involved in a virtual learning environment during their six-week fieldwork placement. The results indicated that the majority of students enjoyed participating in this web-based learning environment (WebCT). A vast array of themes emerged from the on-line discussion and these themes reflected different levels of learning. Participation in WebCT during fieldwork appears to have a beneficial effect on student learning and achievement of stage 1 learning objectives by supporting students in peer learning. Other benefits include improving student autonomy during fieldwork, supporting self-directed learning and stimulating higher order thinking. Although the results of this study were positive there is still a need to further evaluate the effectiveness of web-based learning as an alternative to traditional educational methods during fieldwork education.     

浅谈生理学的教学体会

生理学是医学教育一门重要的基础学科，与医学临床有着十分密切的关系。要让学生学好生理学教师必须加强职业道德修朱提高自身的综合素质，精心备课，采用多媒体教术和启发式教学的方法，培养学生学习兴趣，从而提高教学质量。