Developing and pilot testing a comprehensive health literacy communication training for health professionals in three European countries

Objective

Skills to address different health literacy problems are lacking among health professionals. We sought to develop and pilot test a comprehensive health literacy communication training for various health professionals in Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands.

Training for the future NHS: training junior doctors in the United Kingdom within the 48-hour European working time directive

Since August 2009, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom has faced the challenge of delivering training for junior doctors within a 48-hour working week, as stipulated by the European Working Time Directive and legislated in the UK by the Working Time Regulations 1998. Since that time, widespread concern has been expressed about the impact of restricted duty hours on the quality of postgraduate medical training in the UK, particularly in the “craft” specialties – that is, those disciplines in which trainees develop practical skills that are best learned through direct experience with patients. At the same time, specialist training in the UK has experienced considerable change since 2007 with the introduction of competency-based specialty curricula, workplace-based assessment, and the annual review of competency progression. The challenges presented by the reduction of duty hours include increased pressure on doctors-in-training to provide service during evening and overnight hours, reduced interaction with supervisors, and reduced opportunities for learning. This paper explores these challenges and proposes potential responses with respect to the reorganization of training and service provision.     

心理治疗的系统训练

1心理治疗训练的基本要求:综合性、系统性、长期性的训练心理治疗是现代精神医学里很重要的一门学科,也是推行心理卫生的重要基础,因此要进行系     

A large survey among European trainees in clinical microbiology and infectious disease on training systems and training adequacy: identifying the gaps and suggesting improvements

The purpose of this investigation was to perform a survey among European clinical microbiology (CM) and infectious disease (ID) trainees on training satisfaction, training tools, and competency assessment. An online, anonymous survey in the English language was carried out between April and July 2015. There were 25 questions: seven in a 5-point Likert scale (1: worst scenario, 5: best scenario) and the remainder as closed multiple-choice questions in five areas (satisfaction, adequacy, system, mentorship, and evaluation of training). Included were 419 respondents (215 CM, 159 ID, and 45 combined CM/ID) from 31 European countries [mean age (standard deviation) 32.4 (5.3) years, 65.9 % women]. Regarding satisfaction on the training scheme, CM and ID scored 3.6 (0.9) and 3.2 (1.0), respectively. These scores varied between countries, ranging from 2.5 (1.0) for Italian ID to 4.3 (0.8) for Danish CM trainees. The majority of respondents considered training in management and health economics inadequate and e-learning and continuing medical education programs insufficient. Many trainees (65.3 % of CM and 62.9 % of ID) would like to have more opportunities to spend a part of their training abroad and expected their mentor to be more involved in helping with future career plans (63.5 % of CM and 53.4 % of ID) and practical skills (53.0 % of CM and 61.2 % of ID). Two-thirds of the respondents across the specialties agreed that a European exam should be developed, but half of them thought it should not be made mandatory. This survey shows high heterogeneity in training conditions in European countries, identifies perceived gaps in training, and suggests areas for improvements.     

Blood transfusion in Europe: basic principles for initial and continuous training in transfusion medicine: an approach to an European harmonisation.

Over the past few decades, transfusion medicine and haemotherapy have evolved into complex medical disciplines comprising a broad field of subspecialties such as immunohaematology, blood component production, haemapheresis and haemostaseology. Transfusion medicine is thus an important qualification at the interfaces of analytical laboratory medicine, pharmaceutical production and clinical disciplines such as internal medicine, anaesthesiology or surgery. Physicians specialising in transfusion medicine are valuable and competent partners for these related disciplines when it comes to safe, effective and tailored haemotherapy. Why has transfusion medicine become so complex? On the one hand, one can discern problems such as infectious diseases like the HIV disaster in the past century, resulting in guidelines, directives and laws such as the transfusion law in Germany. Thereby, we now enjoy the highest level of blood product safety ever regarding viral transmission thanks to the broad implementation of PCR testing. On the other hand, there are numerous positive reasons for the increasing complexity of transfusion medicine: Modern medical therapies like stem cell transplantation, cellular therapy, transplantation of solid organs, regenerative medicine and surgery cannot exist without a safe supply of blood products and high quality standard as well as special blood products and laboratory services provided by blood banks and transfusion medicine specialists. Good laboratory practice (GLP), good manufacturing practice (GMP), quality management systems and quality control on the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s level are only few examples of the standards in today’s blood banking. European directives in the field of blood products, stem cell preparations and tissue have led to higher uniform quality standards for biological preparations in a unified Europe, which is the desired outcome, but which also increases the complexity of this field. In contrast, directives 93/16/EEC and 2001/19/EC, the directives of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications of European doctors currently in force, as well as the impending directive 2005/36/EC, which has to be translated into national law until October 2007, do not include transfusion medicine, blood transfusion or immunohaematology at all. Other medical specialities, which like our field, are not common to all member states of the European Union, are listed in the above mentioned directives with the minimum length of training and minimal requirements for the qualifications. Examples include clinical biology, biological haematology, microbiology–bacteriology, biological chemistry, immunology, thoracic, paediatric or vascular surgery as well as physiotherapy, stomatology, neuro-psychiatry, dermato-venerology, occupational medicine, allergology, geriatrics, gastro-enterological surgery, community medicine, nuclear medicine, pharmacology, accident and emergency medicine or tropical medicine. Most of the above are medical specialities in some member states, but not in all. A concerted initiative inaugurated by the European Network of Transfusion Medicine Societies (EuroNet-TMS) and the European Blood Alliance (EBA) aims to compile the situation of the transfusion medicine speciality throughout Europe. A preliminary summary of the current situation in 15 European states was prepared in 2005 after a first set of questions, which was sent out by us via the EBA platform. The authors appreciate Clair Watts’ compilation of the answers provided by the 15 European colleagues. A summary of these answers is depicted in Table 1. However, the initiative aims at a more complex analysis of the different requirements and constituent parts of the qualification in transfusion medicine in different countries. A long-term objective of this initiative might be to introduce the transfusion medicine specialisation into the above mentioned EC directives in order to facilitate mutual recognition of transfusion medicine qualifications throughout Europe.     

Introducing EBM for postgraduate training

The introduction of Evidence-based medicine(EBM) for residency training is recommended by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. At our hospital, we put the emphasis on learning vital clinical epidemiology through clinical experience. When educating EBM to our residents, we especially focus on the diagnostic process, because the knowledge of clinical epidemiology is useful while making the diagnosis and evaluating the diagnostic hypothesis. In our daily conference among residents and medical educators, the logic of clinical epidemiology is used for evaluating the validity of clinical judgment on diagnosis. We suggest three components upon making a diagnosis: 1. Always suspect a particular disease when ordering a laboratory test 2. Know the sensitivity and specificity of the test 3. Apply the test result in order to reevaluate the pretest hypothesis In this article, interaction among staff and residents are presented and discussed with these components in our minds. By repeating these interactions, the residents will be able to understand the importance of EBM and will be able to apply it in the clinical practice.