The Portal of Geriatrics Online Education: A 21st‐Century Resource for Teaching Geriatrics

The way students are taught and evaluated is changing, with greater emphasis on flexible, individualized, learner‐centered education, including the use of technology. The goal of assessment is also shifting from what students know to how they perform in practice settings. Developing educational materials for teaching in these ways is time‐consuming and can be expensive. The Portal of Geriatrics Online Education (POGOe) was developed to aid educators in meeting these needs and become quicker, better‐prepared teachers of geriatrics. POGOe contains more than 950 geriatrics educational materials that faculty at 45% of allopathic and 7% of osteopathic U.S. medical schools and the Centers for Geriatric Nursing Excellence have created. These materials include various instructional and assessment methodologies, including virtual and standardized patients, games, tutorials, case‐based teaching, self‐directed learning, and traditional lectures. Materials with common goals and resource types are available as selected educational series. Learner assessments comprise approximately 10% of the educational materials. POGOe also includes libraries of videos, images, and questions extracted from its educational materials to encourage educators to repurpose content components to create new resources and to align their teaching better with their learners' needs. Web‐Geriatric Education Modules, a peer‐reviewed online modular curriculum for medical students, is a prime example of this repurposing. The existence of a robust compendium of instructional and assessment materials allows educators to concentrate more on improving learner performance in practice and not simply on knowledge acquisition. It also makes it easier for nongeriatricians to teach the care of older adults in their respective disciplines.     

On the origin of long-range correlations in texts

The complexity of human interactions with social and natural phenomena is mirrored in the way we describe our experiences through natural language. In order to retain and convey such a high dimensional information, the statistical properties of our linguistic output has to be highly correlated in time. An example are the robust observations, still largely not understood, of correlations on arbitrary long scales in literary texts. In this paper we explain how long-range correlations flow from highly structured linguistic levels down to the building blocks of a text (words, letters, etc..). By combining calculations and data analysis we show that correlations take form of a bursty sequence of events once we approach the semantically relevant topics of the text. The mechanisms we identify are fairly general and can be equally applied to other hierarchical settings.     

Dentists reflect on their problem‐based education and professional satisfaction

Aim: To determine the way in which Malmö University dental graduates perceive their problem‐based dental education and evaluate their professional satisfaction. Method: The first five cohorts (graduating in years 1995–1999) of the problem‐based curriculum were invited to participate. Of 166 graduates, 77% responded to a questionnaire comprising 20 questions on aspects of their dental education, professional situations and interest in postgraduate education. They were asked to rank their perception of their dental education and satisfaction with their professional situation on a visual analogue scale (VAS) with endpoints ranging from ‘Not at all’ (1) to ‘Very well’ (10). For other statements, the markings were made on a Likert scale from 1 (not important/not satisfied) to 5 (very important/very satisfied). There were also open‐ended questions. Results: Most respondents perceived their education to prepare them well for a career in dentistry (median score VAS 8), and 90% rated above six on a VAS for their professional satisfaction as dentists. Importance and satisfaction were highly correlated with principles of the curriculum: holistic view, oral health, lifelong learning, integration between theory and clinic, and clinical competence. Forty‐five per cent of the graduates noted the problem‐based learning approach as the most valuable asset of their education, and 19% cited training in oral surgery as a deficit. Of the respondents, 77% expressed interest in specialist training and 55% in research education. Conclusion: Problem‐based education was perceived to prepare graduates well for their profession, and their professional satisfaction was high.     

Sources of Uncertainty in Intuitive Physics

Recent work suggests that people predict how objects interact in a manner consistent with Newtonian physics, but with additional uncertainty. However, the sources of uncertainty have not been examined. In this study, we measure perceptual noise in initial conditions and stochasticity in the physical model used to make predictions. Participants predicted the trajectory of a moving object through occluded motion and bounces, and we compared their behavior to an ideal observer model. We found that human judgments cannot be captured by simple heuristics and must incorporate noisy dynamics. Moreover, these judgments are biased consistently with a prior expectation on object destinations, suggesting that people use simple expectations about outcomes to compensate for uncertainty about their physical models.     

Certification in Medical Physics Imaging,The Workforce and Training Models

The pathway to becoming a qualified medical physicist (QMP) in the imaging physics disciplines includes several certification organizations. Imaging QMPs play an essential role in the safe practice of the diagnostic disciplines, and their qualifications are necessary for compliance with federal bodies and professional accreditation organizations. The future demand for imaging QMPs is largely unknown, but professional organizations that represent these groups agree that efforts should be made to increase the number of matriculating trainees. The number of imaging residency programs that provide the necessary professional experience to enter the certification pathway has increased substantially in recent years. Most of these programs follow a traditional academic hospital-based training model, but guidance on program construction from the accrediting body permits flexibility. Existing training models for medical physics imaging also include consortiums of affiliate partners and private consulting service groups. In this article, the authors briefly review the certification pathways for imaging QMPs, workforce estimates, and training models.     

Harmonisation of respiratory medicine: the success story of European curriculum development

In 2005, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) launched a project to harmonise education and training and to address the heterogeneity of respiratory health training across Europe. Since then, various educational activities have been developed for different target audiences. This article will describe the overall methodology and the projects developed over the years, detailing their objectives and target audiences. Moving forward, ERS strives to provide a structure for the continuing professional development of respiratory physicians.