Understanding content decision-making: a qualitative phenomenological study of Texas undergraduate anatomy and anatomy and physiology instructors.

While study success and completion rates are important issues in educational policy, research highlights the particular relevance of the first year in higher education (HE) for students’ future academic performance and achievement. In Germany, the recent reform of degree programmes appears to have created new challenges related to students’ transition to HE, yet little is known about the specific requirements students perceive as critical for their first-year experience. The present study, therefore, seeks to explore the first-year challenges in German HE from the student perspective focusing on the nexus of the individual and institutional factors relevant for successful transition. Following the critical incident technique, data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with 25 students from all six faculties of a German university. We employed the qualitative content analysis to examine first-year challenges in terms of the critical requirements emerging from the interviews. First, the thematic analysis of the data resulted in identifying a broad range of personal, organisational, content-related and social requirements students perceived as critical for transition to HE. Second, the quantitative analysis of code occurrence suggested that personal and organisational requirements are most relevant from the students’ perspectives. Finally, the single-case analysis of the interviews disclosed that individual students experience an accumulation of first-year challenges revealing the interconnectedness of critical requirements. In sum, the findings offer a systematic overview of the first-year challenges as well as provide detailed insights on how the interplay of institutional and individual factors contributes to the transition to HE.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects that pre-medical patient care clinical experiences and anatomical education had on undergraduate medical course grades and anatomy practical exam scores. This study provides a unique perspective to this line of inquiry in that it included data from 9 class year cohorts between academic years 2010-2011 and 2018-2019, all from a single institution. A survey to assess pre-medical clinical and anatomical experiences was completed by each new matriculate. Results were compared to each student's course grades and anatomy practical exam scores. The effects of pre-medical experiences on practical scores and final grades were evaluated using generalized linear mixed models. Several positive and negative associations were identified. The most obvious effect revealed by data analysis was the class year cohort effect, seen as variation in the academic performance of each cohort from year-to-year. Other significant results included a positive association between pre-medical comparative anatomy coursework and anatomy assessment performance over the entire year's anatomy curriculum. Counterintuitively, some pre-medical clinical experiences, such as nursing experience, had a negative effect on course grades and practical exam performance. Pre-medical students can use this information to decide whether to enroll in undergraduate anatomy courses or engage in extra pre-medical clinical work. It may also be valuable to medical school admissions departments in regard to determining the anatomy coursework and clinical experience requirements for their applicants.

Team‐based learning (TBL) was initiated in the first semester of a year‐long undergraduate anatomy and physiology course with the objective of improving integration between physiological systems. An additional goal was for students to understand principles as opposed to merely memorizing facts. Heterogeneous teams were formed the first week of class. Team exams and team case studies comprised 15% of the course grade. Exams were administered every 2 weeks. Following each exam, a new packet of notes was provided for the next module. There were 5 class periods between exams: the first 3 were devoted to a case study(s) applying the recently tested material and 2 were spent lecturing on the most difficult new material. The next exam consisted of 15 questions of new material and 5 questions based on the case study, but were more in‐depth. The students completed the exam individually and then completed the exact same exam with their teammates using the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique® which allowed multiple attempts (partial credit) at each question until the correct answer was determined. At the mid‐term, 97% of students preferred having team exams. This teaching method has resulted in more engaged students, not only during team exams and cases, but also during lecture. TBL appears to be an efficient tool for increasing integration across physiological systems in the undergraduate classroom.

The transition to university comes with a range of new pressures for undergraduate students. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health disorders were commonly reported among post-secondary students and unfortunately, psychosocial challenges have become more apparent through the pandemic. Although academic and wellness resources are available on campuses, most post-secondary students feel that more institutional resources are needed, yet funding for wellness programs are susceptible to cuts as universities cope with budget constraints. To help ease this first year transition, in partnership with our Academic Skills, Student Wellness, and International Student Centres, we developed a suite of 15-minute holistic in class support sessions called the Mind Matters Mini-Sessions (3M Sessions). These sessions covered a range of topics relevant to the first-year experience (e.g. stress coping strategies, time management, resilience, sleep hygiene, food insecurity) and were piloted in our large, first-year Human Anatomy course. As we now redesign our first-year Human Anatomy and Physiology courses, we are working to supplement these 3M sessions by incorporating stress physiology and coping strategies into the curriculum with the goals of simultaneously improving student well-being, student understanding of physiology core concepts, and promoting student development of physiology and premed competencies. Topics such as stress-induced effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, sympathetic nervous system, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, urination, etc. will be discussed in their respective lectures on that physiological system and explored in a more integrative manner in the lab setting. Briefly, labs will be designed to include activities that explore the impact of stress (mental arithmetic) in student participants on physiological functions (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, body temperature, blood glucose, salivary cortisol, and galvanic skin response), and culminate in a hypothesis-driven lab experiment that uses this same equipment to determine the impact of stress coping mechanisms (e.g. meditation) on these stress-induced physiological responses. We will discuss student feedback on the piloted 3M sessions and welcome discussion on our plan to incorporate stress physiology and coping strategies into the Anatomy & Physiology course curriculum. Overall, it is hoped that these curriculum changes will simultaneously connect students with campus and at home resources to manage stress while helping them to understand the physiology of stress management. Through stress-based lab experiments, students will gain competencies in scientific reasoning and critical thinking and an appreciation for the interdependence of physiological systems. Most importantly, it is hoped that students will become better learners who are equipped to succeed in post-secondary education, and as a result, create more well-rounded graduates. American Physiological Society Teaching Enhancement Award, Trent University Wickerson Foundation Fund This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.

Despite the many benefits associated with obtaining a college degree, many of our nation's public-school students, particularly marginalized students, remain ill-equipped to pursue their desired post-secondary goals (Morgan et al., 2014). The researcher uses published literature to define and substantiate the systemic challenges that lower resourced public schools contend with to recruit and retain qualified educators and provide cost-efficient accessible educational support resources to supplement classroom instruction. Due to inadequate educational instruction and resource challenges that Title I public schools face, the educational needs of these students can not solely be met within the classroom (Sakash, 2016). Therefore, providing educational and career support resources can be an effective mitigator for students who experience educational challenges due to the desired instructional needs (Goldhaber, 2020). The resulting educational outcomes often lead these students to defer their dreams of an idealistic career and educational goals, such as pursuing certain professions or attending a four-year institution, to settling for lesser post-secondary pursuits (Atherton, 2014). This exploratory mixed-methods case study aimed to explore the impact of community-based organizations on supplementing the academic and career preparedness resources available to marginalized student populations residing in low-socioeconomic communities. The selected organization has a twenty-year history of providing supplemental education and career preparedness resources, making it an ideal selection for this research study. To identify disparities in developmental education and career preparedness programs, a theoretical framework grounded in critical race theory was utilized. The aim was to document perceived inequalities in educational and career preparedness resources within Title I schools compared to their counterparts. The site for this research was one community-based nonprofit educational and career preparedness organization in a southeastern United States (US) state. Participants were drawn from this organization and reside within proximity to the programming center; this degree of access offered greater flexibility when coordinating interview dates and times with the study participants. This community organization primarily seeks to provide educational and career support to students from marginalized populations. Therefore, the organization's programming is developed to promote each student's social, emotional, and physical development to stimulate their confidence when navigating through the various support programs. The study population consisted of 10 ethnic minority male and female students between the ages of 18 and 21 and two staff members. The selection criteria for students include having demonstrated financial need, which can be demonstrated by their eligibility for The National School Lunch Program or being a resident of low socio-economic communities (Van Patter, 2022). The student participants' age range encompassed male and female post-secondary students. This target range will capture students pursuing their postsecondary education or embarking on their professional careers. The selection of criteria for the two staff members of the community-based nonprofit educational and career preparedness organization's staff will require that they be active employees for the current academic year. The data collection methods included electronic surveys and semi-structured interviews. The survey allowed students to share their experiences and satisfaction with educational and career preparedness strategies, while interviews with the organization's staff provided details about the programs offered and their effectiveness. The main research questions focused on the types of support programming offered, the effectiveness of these programs in improving students' GPA and test scores, and overall satisfaction based on gender and ethnicity. The study concluded that community-based educational support programs are effective supplemental resources that significantly enhance academic and career preparedness for marginalized students in low socioeconomic communities. Keywords: Disadvantaged students, college readiness, educational support services, learning impediments, Title I schools.

Background: Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a frequent radiographic finding after total ankle arthroplasty (TAA), but its clinical relevance, diagnostic criteria, and prognostic implications remain uncertain. This systematic review summarizes current evidence on HO incidence, distribution, severity, risk factors, clinical impact, and diagnostic/prognostic value to inform surgical decision-making regarding approach, implant design, and revision strategies. Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases and the following search string “heterotopic ossification” AND “ankle” (February 2015–February 2025). Twenty-two studies were included, most of which were retrospective and varied in methodological quality. Data were extracted on HO incidence, severity, clinical relevance, and factors associated with diagnosis and management. Results: HO incidence varied widely across studies. No significant associations were found between HO and surgical variables such as approach (all studies used the anterior approach) or coronal alignment. HO presence did not consistently correlate with reduced postoperative range of motion and radiographic follow-up duration. Implant design appeared to influence anatomical distribution in some comparative studies, though without statistical significance. Reoperations specifically for HO excision were rare and mainly performed for mechanical complications (impingement or osteolysis) rather than HO severity itself. Conclusions: Although HO is a frequent finding after TAA, its clinical impact appears limited and largely unpredictable. Diagnostic tools are currently limited to conventional radiography, and no reliable prognostic markers exist. Further high-quality studies are needed to define standardized diagnostic criteria and clarify the prognostic role of HO in long-term outcomes.

Problem oriented medical curricula claim to be based on the fact that the clinical sciences facilitate and encourage the understanding of basic sciences. The question was asked whether the correlation of gross anatomy in the Abdomen Block in the new Pretoria medical curriculum, with clinically relevant content (i.e. relevant physical examination, imaging anatomy, clinical procedures, clinical presentations and clinical case studies) facilitates the understanding of human anatomy and enhances the development of the clinical thinking fundamental to clinical practice. The clinical anatomy component of the Abdomen Block (11 weeks duration) in the third year was developed by using standardized patients, cadaver material, skeletons, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and multimedia programs. Student perceptions were assessed by a Likert scale questionnaire. Most students thought that integrating the physical examination enhanced their understanding of the relevant anatomy (mean: 3.55). A substantial number of students thought the clinical anatomy in the block laid a good foundation for imaging anatomy of the abdomen (mean: 3.41). The majority of students thought the clinical anatomy laid a good basis for the understanding of surgical procedures relevant to the abdomen (mean: 3.63). Students were mostly confident that clinical anatomy enhanced their understanding of clinical presentations (mean: 3.68). Although slightly fewer, the majority reckoned that the clinical case studies gave them a better understanding of the relevant anatomy (mean: 3.30). It seems evident that the integration of clinically relevant content facilitates and encourages the understanding of anatomy and thus aids in the development of clinical thinking.

Clinical practice guidelines should be based on the best available evidence. However, this evidence is often incomplete, controversial, or lacking. Other considerations beyond the evidence are therefore needed to be able to formulate specific and applicable recommendations for clinical practice. The aim of this study is to obtain consensus among experts about a set of domains and items covering the most relevant 'other considerations' to formulate recommendations in evidence-based guideline development. An initial list of 10 domains and 49 items for a systematic and considered judgement of scientific evidence was generated from the literature. A panel of Dutch experts in guideline development tested this list using a two-round Delphi consensus technique. Each expert was asked to independently score the relevance of the items on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 'very important' to 'not important'. The final list consisted of items that were included by at least 60% consensus. Twenty-eight experts participated in the first Delphi round and 21 of them in the second round. High scoring domains were 'clinical relevance', 'safety', and 'availability of resources'. There was consensus about the relevance of 37 items. The domain 'conflicts of interest by industry' was excluded because of lack of consensus. This is the first formal consensus approach towards structuring the considered judgement process in formulating recommendations in clinical guidelines. The final list of items can be used to facilitate the process of guideline development. The next step is to test the practical usefulness and applicability of this list in guideline development.

Transport geography should follow the freight

This study investigated student teachers perceptions regarding career readiness and the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program at Lynn University. In 2011, research conducted by McCulloch, Burris, and Ulmer emphasized that there are more than 1,400 colleges and universities in the United States preparing students to enter the teaching profession. Teacher preparation programs in the United States continue to graduate many individuals who do not go into a teaching career long-term. This study was designed to provide insight into whether or not student teacher perceptions might be used as a different perspective in terms of teacher preparation program evaluation. The investigation was conducted through the collection of data from a demographic survey and the administration of semi-structured interviews with the research participants. The data were organized through the categories of analysis proposed by the researcher: Category A: Effective classroom management skills; Category B: Programs and Endorsements; Category C: Instructor recommendations; Category D: Program requirements and features; Category E: Test preparation – State requirements and further combinations among them. The results of the study demonstrated that students recommend the inclusion of “hands on activities” as an alternative devoted to enhance the teacher preparation program. The findings of this study may be useful to contribute to the development of teacher preparation programs, to educational research literature, and also in terms of planning and implementing effective professional development for teachers. Keywords: Teacher preparation. Career readiness. Newly graduated teachers. Program evaluation.

BackgroundEffective pain management in elderly patients is crucial for quality of life, yet cultural and institutional factors can significantly impact care delivery, particularly in Arab healthcare settings.AimTo explore the barriers and facilitators to effective pain management in elderly Arab patients from the perspective of nurses.MethodsA qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 12 registered nurses from various departments at Tanta University Hospitals, Egypt. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Content analysis was used to identify themes and subthemes.ResultsFive main themes emerged: (1) Cultural Barriers to Pain Expression, including stoicism and religious beliefs; (2) Institutional Barriers to Pain Management, such as resource limitations and time constraints; (3) Facilitators to Effective Pain Management, including family support and nurse adaptability; (4) Interdisciplinary Collaboration, emphasizing teamwork and education; and (5) Emotional and Professional Rewards for nurses. Cultural factors often led to underreporting of pain, while institutional constraints hindered thorough assessments. Nurse adaptability and family support, when present, facilitated better pain management.ConclusionThe study reveals complex interplay between cultural, institutional, and professional factors influencing pain management in elderly Arab patients. Findings suggest the need for culturally sensitive pain assessment tools, enhanced nurse education in pain management, and policies promoting family-centered care and interdisciplinary collaboration.ImplicationsResults can inform the development of culturally appropriate pain management strategies and policies in Arab healthcare settings, potentially improving care quality for elderly patients.

Many industrial systems have various hardware and software functions for controlling mechanics. If these functions act independently, as they do in legacy situations, their overall performance is not optimal. There is a trend towards optimizing the overall system performance and creating a synergy between the different functions in a system, which is achieved by replacing more and more dedicated, single-function hardware by software components running on programmable platforms. This increases the re-usability of the functions, but their synergy requires also that (parts of) the multiple software functions share the same embedded platform. In this work, we look at the composition of inter-dependent software functions on a shared platform from a timing perspective. We consider platforms comprised of one preemptive processor resource and, optionally, multiple non-preemptive resources. Each function is implemented by a set of tasks; the group of tasks of a function that executes on the same processor, along with its scheduler, is called a component. The tasks of a component typically have hard timing constraints. Fulfilling these timing constraints of a component requires analysis. Looking at a single function, co-operative scheduling of the tasks within a component has already proven to be a powerful tool to make the implementation of a function more predictable. For example, co-operative scheduling can accelerate the execution of a task (making it easier to satisfy timing constraints), it can reduce the cost of arbitrary preemptions (leading to more realistic execution-time estimates) and it can guarantee access to other resources without the need for arbitration by other protocols. Since timeliness is an important functional requirement, (re-)use of a component for composition and integration on a platform must deal with timing. To enable us to analyze and specify the timing requirements of a particular component in isolation from other components, we reserve and enforce the availability of all its specified resources during run-time. The real-time systems community has proposed hierarchical scheduling frameworks (HSFs) to implement this isolation between components. After admitting a component on a shared platform, a component in an HSF keeps meeting its timing constraints as long as it behaves as specified. If it violates its specification, it may be penalized, but other components are temporally isolated from the malignant effects. A component in an HSF is said to execute on a virtual platform with a dedicated processor at a speed proportional to its reserved processor supply. Three effects disturb this point of view. Firstly, processor time is supplied discontinuously. Secondly, the actual processor is faster. Thirdly, the HSF no longer guarantees the isolation of an individual component when two arbitrary components violate their specification during access to non-preemptive resources, even when access is arbitrated via well-defined real-time protocols. The scientific contributions of this work focus on these three issues. Our solutions to these issues cover the system design from component requirements to run-time allocation. Firstly, we present a novel scheduling method that enables us to integrate the component into an HSF. It guarantees that each integrated component executes its tasks exactly in the same order regardless of a continuous or a discontinuous supply of processor time. Using our method, the component executes on a virtual platform and it only experiences that the processor speed is different from the actual processor speed. As a result, we can focus on the traditional scheduling problem of meeting deadline constraints of tasks on a uni-processor platform. For such platforms, we show how scheduling tasks co-operatively within a component helps to meet the deadlines of this component. We compare the strength of these cooperative scheduling techniques to theoretically optimal schedulers. Secondly, we standardize the way of computing the resource requirements of a component, even in the presence of non-preemptive resources. We can therefore apply the same timing analysis to the components in an HSF as to the tasks inside, regardless of their scheduling or their protocol being used for non-preemptive resources. This increases the re-usability of the timing analysis of components. We also make non-preemptive resources transparent during the development cycle of a component, i.e., the developer of a component can be unaware of the actual protocol being used in an HSF. Components can therefore be unaware that access to non-preemptive resources requires arbitration. Finally, we complement the existing real-time protocols for arbitrating access to non-preemptive resources with mechanisms to confine temporal faults to those components in the HSF that share the same non-preemptive resources. We compare the overheads of sharing non-preemptive resources between components with and without mechanisms for confinement of temporal faults. We do this by means of experiments within an HSF-enabled real-time operating system.

Studies have shown that practicing temporally spaced retrieval of previously learned information via formal assessments increases student retention of the information. Our objective was to determine the impact of online homework administered as a first retrieval practice 1 or 5 days after introduction of physiology topics on long-term information retention. Students in two undergraduate courses, Anatomy and Physiology (ASCI 240) and Animal Physiological Systems (ASCI 340), were presented with information on a specific physiological system during each weekly laboratory and then completed an online homework assignment either 1 or 5 days later. Information retention was assessed via an in-class quiz the following week and by a comprehensive final exam at semester's end (4-13 wk later). Performance on homework assignments was generally similar between groups for both courses. Information retention at 1 wk did not differ due to timing of homework in either course. In both courses, however, students who received homework 5 days after class performed better on final exam questions relevant to that week's topic compared with their day 1 counterparts. These findings indicate that the longer period between introducing physiology information in class and assigning the first retrieval practice was more beneficial to long-term information retention than the shorter period, despite seemingly equivalent benefits in the shorter term. Since information is typically forgotten over time, we speculate that the longer interval necessitates greater retrieval effort in much the same way as built-in desirable difficulties, thus allowing for stronger conceptual connections and deeper comprehension.

Recent questions about the degree to which higher education adequately equips graduates with desired workplace skills has drawn attention to the role of noncognitive skills in college and the workplace. Yet, there is questionable alignment of these skills across higher education and employment sectors. The literature on noncognitive skills, defined here as a diverse set of social emotional and self management competencies, is varied across higher education and employment literatures, thus creating confusion and a lack of clarity. A systematic review of the literature was conducted as a means to clarify and organize a set of terms and concepts that support college and career success. This manuscript presents the findings from that review, as well as the development of a taxonomy created for analytic purposes and alignment of noncognitive skills bridging the higher education and employment literatures. The taxonomy is divided into three domains of noncognitive skills that emerged from our analysis-Approach to Learning/Work, Intrapersonal Skills, and Social Skills.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how the gender of distance learning students related to variables such as the perception of the availability of library resources, technology available at home and work, technology provided by a university for distance learning, and career preparedness. A total of 166 master’s students in the last semester of their degree program submitted answers to a self-administered online survey designed to collect information about their degree program experiences. The results of the study indicated that female students felt more prepared by their degree programs when they felt library resources were accessible. Females were also more likely to feel library materials were available if they believed the university’s distance learning technology was reliable and that web-based technology provided by the university was adequate. Both genders were more likely to feel they had access to library resources when they felt they had adequate information technology at home or work. Based on these results, it is recommended that faculty collaborate with librarians to market library services so that students are aware of the resources that are available to them. Moreover, implementing strategies such as differentiated learning and optional gender-based library training sessions that utilize learning styles preferred by each gender may be beneficial for students.