Undergraduate psychiatry teaching in Ethiopia

Many epidemiological studies have shown the magnitude and seriousness of mental disorders in developing countries. However, mental health care remains unsatisfactory owing to lack of skilled manpower and many other social and medical priorities. General practitioners and other health personnel can significantly help in extending mental health care provided they receive adequate training during their medical curriculum. With this aim, the Department of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University runs a 6-week full-time course for undergraduate medical students. Its chief objectives, teaching methods, achievements and shortcomings are discussed in the paper.     

护理本科生双导师制带教模式的实践

目的 探索适合护理本科生的临床带教模式.方法 将2001级和2000级护理本科生分为实验组(n=24)和对照组(n=38),对照组给予传统带教模式带教,实验组采用双导师制带教模式,即每名学生在临床实习期间,由1名临床专科导师负责其本科室专科知识方面的指导,1名全程导师负责其实习全过程的督导及检查工作,护理部在学生实习结束前进行带教满意率测评及实习效果评价,并与对照组进行比较.结果 两组对医院带教很满意率、学生护理理论、操作技能考核成绩、论文书写优良率比较,差异有显著性意义(均P＜0.01).结论 双导师制可提高带教质量,是受学生好评和欢迎的带教模式.     

Nursing Students' Attitudes Towards Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

In 1991/92, 289 students from four different schools of nursing in Norway participated in a case-related attitudes test. The nursing students answered questions concerning their personal views on the moral and legal implications of either assisting suicide or performing euthanasia. They also indicated whether they thermselves were willing to perform these acts. The results were compared with responses from a study on students from other faculties in 1988. The findings suggested that nursing students were significantly (p < 0.0005) more restrictive than the other students in their attitudes towards voluntary active euthanasia (VAE). Factors that influenced the nursing students' attitudes towards VAE were measured by the index of VAE. Religious belief (p < 0.0001), conservative political view (p < 0.01), and the perception of life as meaningful (p < 0.02) were the best predictors of the dependent variable.     

A combined course of primary health care practice and family medicine at the University of Gezira

The community-based course presented is a longitudinal course running through four semesters in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira, Sudan. Students combine their regular work in primary health care centres with attachments to a number of families in Wad Medani town. They continue to visit these families regularly throughout their entire medical course with the aim of studying them and helping them with some of their medical and psychosocial problems.     

Mature-age entrants to medical school: a controlled study of sociodemographic characteristics, career choice and job satisfaction

A comparison of 121 mature-age and 270 normal-age entrants who graduated from the University of Queensland Medical School between 1972 and 1987 shows that mature-age entrants are some 7 years older, are more likely to come from public (state) schools and less likely to have parents in professional/technical occupations. Otherwise, the two groups were similar in terms of gender, marital status, number of children, ethnic background and current practice location. The educational background of mature-age entrants prior to admission includes 44.6% with degrees in health-science areas and 31.4% with degrees in non-health areas. Reasons for delayed entry of mature-age entrants include late consideration of medicine as a career (34.7%), financial problems (31.4%), dissatisfaction with previous career (30.6%), poor academic results (19.8%), or a combination of the above factors. Motivations to study medicine include family influences (more so in normal-age entrants), altruistic reasons (more so in mature-age entrants) and a variety of personal/social factors such as intellectual satisfaction, prestige and financial security (similar for both groups) and parental expectations (more so in normal-age entrants). Mature-age entrants experienced greater stress throughout the medical course, especially with regard to financial difficulties, loneliness/isolation from the students and family problems (a greater proportion were married with children). While whole-course grades were similar in both groups, normal-age entrants tended to win more undergraduate honours/prizes and postgraduate diplomas/degrees, including specialist qualifications. Practice settings were similar in terms of group private practice, hospital/clinic practice or medical administration, but there was a greater proportion of mature-age entrants in solo private practice, and a smaller proportion in teaching/research. If given the time over, some two-thirds of both groups would choose medicine as a career. Reasons for job satisfaction include helping patients, intellectual stimulation and financial rewards. Reasons for dissatisfaction include pressure of work, red-tape/paperwork, 'doctor-bashing', long working hours, emotional strain, financial pressure, unfulfilled career expectations and irritation with trivial medical complaints.     

The short-term stability of student ratings of instruction in medical school

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of consistency in student ratings of teacher effectiveness during the first year of medical school. Student ratings of teaching effectiveness represent a commonly used source of information that enters into the academic decision-making process. In medical school, student evaluations often represent a major source of information that is used in promotion and tenure decisions. It is essential that the precision of such ratings be ascertained so that decision-makers will know how much confidence to place in this source of information on teaching effectiveness. In this study, each member of a first-year medical school class was randomly assigned a two-digit identification number at the beginning of the spring semester, 1986. As the semester progressed students were asked to evaluate each full-time teacher in three major courses. Multiple instructors were utilized in each course (n = 10). Each teacher was evaluated immediately after lectures during the first (T1) and second (T2) halves of the course. Students evaluated the teacher a third time (T3) as part of the end-of-semester overall course evaluation. The teachers were evaluated on a short eight-item Likert-type scale that identified several key indicators of effective teaching. Students attached their anonymous identification numbers to individual ratings so that their responses could be matched in the analysis. The results indicate that medical students are only moderately consistent in the extent to which they evaluate teachers. This inconsistency varied by course and by instructors within courses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

医科职业中专生与医科本科生孤独,抑郁,自尊状况的比较研究

目的探讨医科职业高中生与医科本科生的心理健康状况的差异。方法采用ＵＣＬＡ、自尊量表、抑郁量表、感情与社会孤独量表及自编情况调查表对３５０名在校职业高中医士班、医学院本科学生进行评定。结果职业高中学生的孤独及抑郁量表得分高于医学院学生，自尊量表得分低于医学院学生。职高组轻度和中度抑郁占４２．６２％，大学组轻度和中度抑郁占２０％。结论职业高中学生心理健康水平低于医学本科生     

舟山海岛学生的碘营养状况对照研究

目的 :　海岛学生饮食结构中含有碘丰富的海产品。本研究旨在了解海岛学生的碘营养状况 ,评价食盐补碘的利弊。方法 :　对定海农村 (食用碘盐 )和岱山农村 (不食用碘盐 )的学校中随机抽取的 1 2个班级 ,对碘盐组和非碘盐组的饮食碘摄入和尿碘水平等变量进行描述 ,并分别以尿碘和甲状腺肿率为应变量进行单因素和多因素回归分析。结果 :　碘盐组除碘盐外每日碘摄入量中位数为 1 84μg,而不食用加碘盐的组为 1 0 5 μg,两组饮食碘摄入有显著性差异 (u=4.71 0 ,P=0 .0 0 0 ) ,而尿碘水平在食用碘盐组和不食用碘盐组分别为 1 6 9μg/L和 1 2 9μg/L,两组间有显著性差异 (u=6 .3 0 2 ,P=0 .0 0 0 )。多因素分析中性别和是否食用碘盐对尿碘水平有显著性意义 (P<0 .0 5 ,OR值分别为 0 .76 5 ,1 .93 3 )。甲状腺肿学生和正常学生的饮食碘和尿碘无统计学差异 (P>0 .0 5 )。Poisson回归分析中性别和是否食用碘盐对甲状腺肿率有影响 (P<0 .0 5 ,OR值分别为2 .2 5 ,3 .5 2 )。结论 :　舟山海岛学生要注意补碘过程中可能出现的碘过量问题。     

Teaching of medical ethics

Teaching medical ethics in Manchester within the introductory course of obstetrics and gynaecology is a joint activity with the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy. This interdisciplinary teaching has evolved through lecture sessions with small-group discussions dealing with topics of interest in human reproduction. The small-group discussion have been replaced by an open debate conducted by the students. Their own involvement and participation and an exposure to the disciplines of the humanities has broadened their approach to different ways of problem-solving of these real issues.     

Medical student abuse: perceptions and experience

Summary. A questionnaire containing 18 vignettes of common clinical educational situations with potentially abusive treatment of medical students and a 10-item attitude assessment about abusive behaviour were administered to the first-and fourth-year medical students at a mid-west US university medical school. The first- and fourth-year groups did not differ significantly on perceived abusiveness of most of the vignettes, although several of the individual vignettes were perceived significantly differently by the two groups. As hypothesized, the fourth-year students had experienced such situations more frequently. Attitudes towards abusive behaviour did not differ between the two groups. The authors contrast teaching interactions perceived as educationally useful and not abusive with those seen as abusive and not useful and offer explanations for the differences observed. Finally, the possible implications of the results for medical education are discussed.