Single-handed practices – their contribution to an undergraduate teaching network in the first year of the new curriculum

OBJECTIVES: The new curriculum at King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, which commenced in September 1996, requires all medical undergraduates to have a general practice placement throughout the 5 years of their medical education. DESIGN: This paper discusses recruitment, training and support of teaching practices for the new curriculum, reviews the distribution of single-handed general practices in the network and, via a selection of monitoring and evaluation procedures, discusses the implications of a policy which is inclusive of single-handed practices. The findings relate to the experience of the first semester of the first year of the new curriculum. It also examines the contributions that single-handed practices have made to the teaching network and the kind of support needed, if single-handed practices are to continue to contribute to the King's teaching network. SETTING: King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry. SUBJECTS: Medical undergraduates. RESULTS: The findings of this paper revealed that over a third of general practice provision is via single-handed practices in South-east London. Within the undergraduate teaching network, 10% of practices are single-handed. Students are welcomed and receive a learning experience comparable to those students in larger practices. Attendance at training events has proved difficult for some of these tutors, but the extra input from the department, in order to address this deficit, has not been onerous. Indeed, single-handed practices have not been unique with regard to difficulties in attendance at training events. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that single-handed practices can make satisfactory provision for undergraduates in the new curriculum and there is no evidence from this study to suggest otherwise.     

The need for cataract surgery: projections based on lens opacity, visual acuity, and personal concern

AIM: To assess the projected needs for cataract surgery by lens opacity, visual acuity, and patient concern. METHODS: Data were collected as part of the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project, a population based study of age related eye disease in a representative sample of Melbourne residents aged 40 and over. Participants were recruited by a household census and invited to attend a local screening centre. At the study sites, the following data were collected: presenting and best corrected visual acuity, visual fields, intraocular pressure, satisfaction with current vision, personal health history and habits, and a standardised eye examination and photography of the lens and fundus. Lens photographs were graded twice and adjudicated to document lens opacities. Cataract was defined as nuclear greater than or equal to standard 2, 4/16 or greater cortical opacity, or any posterior subcapsular opacities. RESULTS: 3271 (83% response) people living in their own homes were examined. The participants ranged in age from 40 to 98 years and 1511 (46.2%) were men. Previous cataract surgery had been performed in 107 (3.4%) of the participants. The overall prevalence of any type of cataract that had not been surgically corrected was 18%. If the presence of cataract as defined was considered the sole criterion for cataract surgery with no reference to visual acuity, there would be 309 cataract operations per 1000 people aged 40 and over (96 eyes of people who were not satisfied with their vision, 210 eyes of people who were satisfied with their vision, and three previous cataract operations). At a visual acuity criterion of less than 6/12 (the vision required to legally drive a car), 48 cataract operations per 1000 would occur and people would be twice as likely to report dissatisfaction with their vision. CONCLUSIONS: Estimates of the need for cataract surgery vary dramatically by level of lens opacity, visual acuity, and patient concern. These data should be useful for the planning of health services.     

中医药短期对外教学的现状分析与设想

中医药短期对外教学是中医药国际化进程中的重要一步.通过分析其现状和特点,提出依托国内整体学术实力和中医药发源地的地理优势来发展高层次的中医药对外教学.同时,建立独特的教学模式,加强专业语言沟通,编写合适的外文中医药教材,采用现代化教学手段也是中医药短期对外教学中必须重视和加强的环节.     

Patient satisfaction with health care providers in South Africa: the influences of race and socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVE: The first democratic government elected in South Africa in 1994 inherited huge inequalities in health status and health provision across all sections of the population. This study set out to assess, 4 years later, the influence of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on perceived quality of care from health care providers. DESIGN: A 1998 countrywide survey of 3820 households assessed many aspects of health care delivery, including levels of satisfaction with health care providers among different segments of South African society. RESULTS: Fifty-one percent (n = 1953) of the respondents had attended a primary care facility in the year preceding the interview and were retained in the analysis. Both race and SES were significant predictors of levels of satisfaction with the services of the health care provider, after adjusting for gender, age, and type of facility visited. White and high SES respondents were about 1.5 times more likely to report excellent service compared with Black and low SES respondents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In South Africa, race and SES are not synonymous and can no longer be considered reliable proxy indicators of one another. Each has distinct and significant but different degrees of association with client satisfaction. Any assessment of equity-driven health policy in South Africa should consider the impacts of both race and SES on client satisfaction as one of the indicators of success.     

Life Satisfaction in a Sample of Outpatients with Severe Mental Disorders: A Survey in Northern Italy

This paper presents a cross-sectional survey of subjective quality of life in a sample of 40 Italian patients with disabling mental disorders living in the community. The patients self-rated their quality of life by the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale. They were satisfied in relation to basic needs, such as housing, food or clothing and appreciated to some extent the services received, but were very unhappy about their income and their intimate sexual relationships. This Italian sample appeared less satisfied than most samples of people with severe mental disorders investigated by the same instrument in other countries. This may be related to the high level of psychopathology and disability shown by patients for whom survival in the community is in itself an achievement. However, lack of money and poor sexual life are common concerns of long-term mentally ill. How to address such problems is a major challenge for community psychiatric services.     

差异教学的探讨与实践

有研究者对中小学生的IQ分数与学习成绩分数进行过大量的相关调查，结果发现两者的相关系数大致为0.5，两者只为中等相关程度。也就是说，影响学习的因素应是多方面的。而布卢姆研究认为，学生学习成绩的差异主要由三个方面的因素造成，即是认知前提行为、情感前提特性、教学质量。本文试图以布卢姆的研究结果为依据，结合自己的教学实践，从多个方位探讨应对差异、实现面向全体的教学策略。     

谈中等卫生学校课堂创新教育

探讨中等卫生学校医学人才的培养问题.方法:以现代教学思想为指导,实行启发式教学和研究性学习.结果:在实践中达到了事半功倍的教学效果.结论:教学一定要根据不同的教学对象,充分利用教学资源,以灵活多变的教学方式才能达到预期的教学目的.     

对医学类高职高专院校计算机基础教育的思考

探讨了目前医学类高职高专院校计算机教育问题,通过分析医学高职高专院校计算机教学的目的和现状,对解决目前存在的一些问题做了初步思考.     

提高病原生物学实验教学效果探讨

病原生物学是医学微生物学和人体寄生虫学合二为一的新学科,有其自身的特点,使这两门课程有机地组合确实有一定的难度。就目前存在的某些问题进行讨论,认为可从提高师资队伍的素质,有机组合教学内容,培养学生学习主动性,利用现代化的教学手段,改进实验考核方法等方面提高教学质量。     

谈日语二外教学中实际运用能力的培养

学习外语的第一目的是与人交流，二外亦是如此。特别是当前中国经济快速发展，对日语人才的需求越来越大的环境下，如何提高日语二外学习者的语言实际运用能力成为一个重要课题。结合笔者的实践，本文着重从听、说以及跨文化交际三方面探讨了日语实际运用能力的培养。