Differences in attitudes regarding teaching and research orientations between allied health faculty and administrators in academic health centers

The congruence between faculty's and administrators' attitudes toward teaching, research, and the rewards associated with them has implications for the practices the groups follow and for the decisions they make related to promotion, tenure, and merit. This article reports the findings from a national study of allied health faculty and administrators at public academic health centers regarding their attitudes toward teaching, research, and the reward systems related to both. The administrators and faculty at the participating academic health centers did not differ in their views regarding research orientation and rewards related to research. The faculty, including tenured and tenure-track, and department chairs indicated a higher teaching orientation than did the deans, while tenure-track faculty expressed less belief that rewards influence teaching than did tenured faculty, department chairs, and deans.     

Back to the Future

I attended all 42 hours of classes in the Cardiovascular System Course in order to help the course coordinator set the examination. What makes this unusual is that I am not a physician. As a PhD educator supporting faculty and the educational programs at our medical school I became a learner as well as a co-course co-coordinator. Attending all the classes has led me to discover what might become the future of faculty development and course renewal. I now know who teaches what and how so I can approach them to talk about any changes they may want to make in their teaching. I have also learned what the specific content of the course is which will allow me to connect with coordinators of concurrent and of supporting courses from earlier years in the hope of achieving some higher degree of integration. Taking the course with medical students has been one of the most interesting and professionally valuable tasks that I have ever undertaken, one that will be repeated. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effects of Problem-Based Learning Curricula on Faculty Learning: New Lenses, New Questions

Literature on the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education has short-changed important questions about the effect of PBL curricula on faculty learning and on faculty knowledge of their subject matter. This paper opens up new questions about the impact of PBL in medical colleges and other health sciences by focusing attention on its effects on faculty learning, on collegial networks in medical colleges, and, consequently, on other scholarly work by faculty. A brief review of research on the effects of PBL on faculty and faculty development is followed by a synthesis of relevant research findings from research on teaching and faculty learning in other disciplines. A new conceptual framework, drawn from the educational paradigms, methods and empirical findings from those other areas of higher education research and research on secondary school teaching, is applied to designing, examining, and evaluating problem-based learning. Viewing faculty as learners prompts a new research agenda including questions such as: What do faculty members learn by participating in integrative, interdisciplinary problem-based learning courses? How? How is that learning related to or integrated with other aspects of their scholarly work?     

Having our cake and eating it too: seeking the best of both worlds in expertise research

Context Education researchers in a variety of disciplines have attempted to use their understanding of expert processes to inform learning across the continuum from school learning to lifelong learning. In medical education, this has led to models of expertise that aim to understand accurate and efficient clinical reasoning. More recently, researchers outside medicine have begun to develop models of ‘adaptive expertise’. As these additional constructions of expertise are introduced into health professions education, there is considerable potential to enhance research in medical expertise by providing opportunities for us to identify our implicit assumptions and reflect on the ways in which our theoretical lenses bias our perceptions of what it means to be an expert. Methods Firstly, we critically examine these two broad categories of research on expertise and their underlying assumptions and implications. Our exploration is organised around four main questions: (i) How is expertise defined? (ii) How does it develop? (iii) What is investigated? (iv) Based on what is known, what does an expert look like? Secondly, we discuss some implications and topics of future inquiry for research programmes informed by an inclusive understanding of expert practice and development. Conclusions In articulating two paradigms of expertise, our goal is to explore the research questions, methods and findings that underpin them and to make explicit the resulting emphases on specific aspects of expert performance. Our resulting collaborative understanding of expertise yields a richer, more complex and ultimately more accurate view of expert performance, with important implications for future research in medical education.     

The effects of volunteering on the young volunteer

This article reviews some of the best researched volunteer service programs for adolescents and addresses three major questions: 1) What do existing data tell us about the effectiveness of community volunteer service programs in positively influencing the lives of the participants? 2) What do we know about why such programs work? 3) What are the most promising directions for future research and programming efforts to pursue? The review suggests that diverse, successful volunteer programs for adolescents, along with school-based support, are related to improvements in both the academic and social arenas. Specifically, volunteering relates to reduced rates of course failure, suspension from school, and school dropout, and improvement in reading grades; to a reduction in teen pregnancy; and to improved self-concept and attitudes toward society. The conditions under which the volunteering occurs, such as number of hours and the type of volunteer work, seem in some cases to be important to these outcomes, as does the age of the student volunteer; however, much is yet to be understood about these factors.     

Anorexia Nervosa:

This paper has been written for the health professional in the school and community, and others who come into contact with the anorexic. Although hardly a rare disease today, misinformation and fear continue to surround anorexia nervosa. Few people, including health professionals, are well informed about the illness, and this ignorance sometimes impairs early detection and effective treatment of the problem. Perhaps, this paper will help make the disorder more comprehensible and less frightening for both sufferers and health professionals in the school and community. Among other things, it will draw implications for health education and attempt to answer the following questions: What is anorexia nervosa? How prevalent is it? What individuals are at high risk? How does a person become anorexic? What treatment programs work? Can the problem be prevented?     

Lay health worker attrition: important but often ignored

Lay health workers are key to achieving universal health-care coverage, therefore measuring worker attrition and identifying its determinants should be an integral part of any lay health worker programme. Both published and unpublished research on lay health workers has largely focused on the types of interventions they can deliver effectively. This is an imperative since the main objective of these programmes is to improve health outcomes. However, high attrition rates can undermine the effectiveness of these programmes. There is a lack of research on lay health worker attrition. Research that aims to answer the following three key questions would help address this knowledge gap: what is the magnitude of attrition in programmes? What are the determinants of attrition? What are the most successful ways of reducing attrition? With community-based interventions and task shifting high on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals’ policy agenda, research on lay health worker attrition and its determinants requires urgent attention.     

Successful strategic planning: creating clarity

Most healthcare organizations have a strategic plan of some kind. Many of these organizations also have difficulty translating their strategic plan into specific actions that result in successful performance. In the worst cases, this can jeopardize the viability of the organization. The trouble lies in a lack of clarity in what a strategic plan is and what it should do for the organization. This article will answer key questions such as: What is strategy and how does it fit with other commonly used constructs such as mission, vision, and goals? What criteria can be used to determine if something is truly strategic to the organization? What are the phases of the strategy lifecycle? How do approaches for dealing with uncertainty, such as scenario planning, fit with organizational strategic planning? How can a meaningful IT strategy be developed if the organization strategy is lacking? What principles should guide a good IT planning process?     

Charting a health literacy journey--overview and outcomes from a stakeholder workshop

Through a combination of Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), Science, Healthy Schools and a range of other initiatives, we are increasingly preparing our children to understand key topics in health education. However, to what extent are we equipping them with a picture of a healthy, happy future and giving them the tools to access this? In June, The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) hosted a workshop entitled "Charting a Health Literacy Journey" to examine this. The workshop brought together a broad group of over 20 stakeholders from the health and education sectors. The aims of the day were to address the following six questions: What is health literacy? What does health literacy look like in action? What are the benefits of health literacy? How is health literacy reflected on the ground at present? How does health literacy fit with the current policy context? What are the options going forward? This report summarises the key findings of the workshop.     

La recherche clinique en nutrition – Méthodologie et réglementation des essais cliniques

What is the regulation of clinical research? Which administrative steps must be carried out? Who are the different actors and what are their responsibilities in the management of biomedical research? What are the characteristics of clinical research in nutrition? Which methodology should be used? The objective of this paper is to answer these questions, keeping in mind that the rules are regularly modified, and that the elements described today will not apply tomorrow. Moreover, the law does not always respond to all situations and to all questions.     

La recherche clinique en nutrition – Méthodologie et réglementation des essais cliniques

What is the regulation of clinical research? Which administrative steps must be carried out? Who are the different actors and what are their responsibilities in the management of biomedical research? What are the characteristics of clinical research in nutrition? Which methodology should be used? The objective of this paper is to answer these questions, keeping in mind that the rules are regularly modified, and that the elements described today will not apply tomorrow. Moreover, the law does not always respond to all situations and to all questions.     

Distribution of behavioural science faculty in United States medical schools: 1968–1969 and 1978–1979

The Association of American Medical Colleges' faculty profiles were analyzed for 117 U.S. medical schools for the years 1968/1969 and 1978/1979. The growth of behavioral science faculty more than matched that of all medical school faculty (i.e. 78 vs 65%) in full-time tenure-track positions over this 10-year period. Most behavioral science medical school faculty are psychologists. Although still small in numbers, faculty from other disciplines such as anthropology and sociology have gained increasing acceptance, and these 117 medical schools now employ at least 20 full-time economists and 13 who have earned degrees in political science. The growth of behavioral science faculty has been primarily in clinical departments, and those who are associated with independent departments of behavioral science remained virtually static (87 vs 88) over this 10 year period.     

The coiled spring.

Radiological terminology includes a number of interesting and often amusing terms intended to help us understand and remember the pathological abnormality being described. What radiological sign is illustrated in Fig. 1 and what condition does it represent?     

The sail sign.

Radiological terminology includes a number of interesting and often amusing terms intended to help us understand and remember the pathological abnormality being described. What radiological sign is illustrated in Fig. 1 and what condition does it represent?     

The double bubble

Radiological terminology includes a number of interesting and often amusing terms intended to help us understand and remember the pathological abnormality being described. What radiological sign is illustrated in Fig. 1 and what condition does it represent?     

Erlenmeyer flask-shaped long bones

Radiological terminology includes a number of interesting and often amusing terms intended to help us understand and remember the pathological abnormality being described. What radiological sign is illustrated in Fig. 1 and what condition does it represent?     

Comprehensive primary health care in South America: contexts, achievements and policy implications

This article summarizes an extensive review of South American experiences with primary health care since the Declaration of Alma-Ata. It aims to address the following specific questions: What are the enabling and constraining historical and structural conditions for primary health care policies and practices? How has health care reform supported or undermined primary health care? What evidence exists on the effectiveness of primary health care? What strategies are common to best practices? What evidence exists on the roles of citizen participation and intersectoral action? And finally, what are the policy lessons to be learned from these experiences? Narrative synthesis was used to identify and examine patterns in the data consistent with these questions. Conditions that were found to promote successful implementation of primary health care are outlined, together with features of effective primary health care systems that help create more equitable health services and health outcomes.     

Social comparison and the young child: Current research issues

The paper represents a synthesis of the extensive literature on social comparison in young children. Several theorists are reviewed, whose writings provide a conceptual framework for the study of social comparison. Then, the paper overviews research pertaining to the following issues: What motivates children to engage in social comparison? With whom do children seek to compare? At what age does social comparison appear? Does it follow a developmental progression? What are the effects upon subsequent behavior? Are there sex‐related differences in social comparison activity? By way of conclusion, practical implications for teaching are drawn.     

Social comparison and the young child: Current research issues

The paper represents a synthesis of the extensive literature on social comparison in young children. Several theorists are reviewed, whose writings provide a conceptual framework for the study of social comparison. Then, the paper overviews research pertaining to the following issues: What motivates children to engage in social comparison? With whom do children seek to compare? At what age does social comparison appear? Does it follow a developmental progression? What are the effects upon subsequent behavior? Are there sex-related differences in social comparison activity? By way of conclusion, practical implications for teaching are drawn.     

Cross-cultural communication in medicine: questions for educators

Most research into medical communication has had a western setting. It has been undertaken by western researchers and been influential in shaping communication skills curricula. However we know much less about what communication is effective under other circumstances. This article highlights gaps in our knowledge from research in this field, and poses attendant questions for debate by medical educators. We consider the following key aspects of debate on cross‐cultural work. (i) To what extent can our understanding of general principles in other cultures be summarized and presented for teaching in a way which does not descend into caricature? Alternatively, can features of other cultures be presented in ways which do not descend into particularity? (ii) Can such paradigms as ‘patient‐centredness’ be transferred from culture to culture? Should they be presented across cultures as features of ‘good’ consultations? (iii) What use can be made of the role of interpreters for teaching purposes? What importance does it have to the educator that a doctor may not be a native speaker of the majority language of the culture in which s/he is operating? (iv) Although the language of illness, and particularly metaphors associated with illness, are studied in other cultures, the way in which illness is metaphorized in British English is seldom discussed. What can educators learn and teach from a study of such matters? (v) What are the implications for communication skills teachers of the need to present materials within a culturally diverse environment?