Direct Entry Research Articles

STEP UP to University: Continuity and Belonging for Articulation Students

Articulation plays a key role in widening access to HE, but tailored support is necessary for a smooth transition. Articulating students often see themselves as lacking key skills and express concern at the significant differences between college and university. This case study explores how the academic skills team at the University of Dundee supports articulation through STEP UP: a credit-bearing module designed for students enrolled on a Social Sciences HNC at Dundee and Angus College who hold a direct entry place for second year Humanities at the university. A key strength of the STEP UP approach is its emphasis on continuity between college and university, welcoming students to the University during their college year. Students journal about their college experiences, create an artefact reflecting on their articulation year, and present a group project on "Becoming, Being, and Belonging" as a university student. They also implement feedback on their college writing to complete their first university essay, providing them with a clear link between their college and university assignments. Rather than emphasising the "gap" between college and university, STEP UP empowers students to recognise the skills they have developed during their HNC and identify how to employ these skills at university. By fostering reflexivity and feedback literacy, the module helps students understand what they bring to university and how they can grow within it. As Scottish institutions adjust to the new tertiary landscape, STEP UP demonstrates how emphasising continuity rather than difference can help articulation students develop their sense of belonging at university.

Evaluating perinatal health in Europe: a comparison of routine population birth data sources

Abstract Background International comparisons provide essential benchmarks for evaluating perinatal health policies, but these rely on the availability of routine national birth data. This study aimed to describe population birth data sources in Europe by their ability to provide core perinatal health indicators. Methods The Euro-Peristat Network collected routine national data on a recommended set of core indicators from 2015 to 2021 using a federated protocol based on a common data model with 17 data items. Data providers filled in an on-line questionnaire to describe the sources used in each country. We classified countries by the number of data items they provided (all 16, 15-14, <14). Results 28 out of the 31 countries that provided data responded to the survey. Routine data sources included birth certificates (14 countries), electronic medical records (EMR) from delivery hospitalizations (14 countries), direct entry by health providers (9 countries), EMR from other care providers (6 countries) and Hospital Discharge Summaries (7 countries). Completeness of population coverage was at least 98%, with 15 countries reporting 100%. These databases most often included mothers giving birth on the national territory, regardless of nationality or place of residence (19 countries). In 20 countries, routine sources were linked, including linkage between birth and death certificates (15 countries). Countries providing all 16 items (N = 8) were more likely to use EMRs from delivery hospitalizations, 88%, compared to 50% and 13% in countries with 15-14 items (N = 13) and <14 items (N = 8). Linkage was also more common in these countries, 100%, versus 75% and 50% respectively. Other data source characteristics did not differ by the ability to provide data for the common data model. Conclusions There is high diversity in the data sources used to construct perinatal health indicators in Europe. Countries using EMR with linkage to other sources had the best data availability. Key messages • There is high diversity in the data sources used to construct perinatal health indicators in Europe. • Countries using Electronic Medical Records with linkage to other sources had the best data availability.

Bridging accelerated medical programmes and workforce demands: a critical evaluation of the four-year direct entry medical degree.

Bridging accelerated medical programmes and workforce demands: a critical evaluation of the four-year direct entry medical degree.

Copper-Catalyzed 1,3-Aminocyclization of Cyclopropanes as a Rapid Entry to γ-Amino Heterocycles.

We herein report a copper-catalyzed 1,3-aminocyclization of cyclopropanes as a direct and versatile entry into important heterocycles. This reaction was initiated by a copper-catalyzed, NFSI-promoted ring opening of cyclopropanes, followed by nucleophilic cyclization. A variety of nucleophiles successfully participate in this transformation, including alcohols, carboxylic acids, sulfonamides, and amides, for the construction of diverse cyclic ethers, pyrrolidines, lactones, and iminolactones.

An open comparative randomized prospective study: Direct trocar insertion vs Veress needle technique in laparoscopic surgeries.

Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive technique utilized for both diagnostic and surgical approaches. Minimally invasive procedures compared to laparotomy offer the advantages of reduced hospital stay, lower morbidity, decreased pain, and faster recovery. Common methods for laparoscopic entry include Veress needle insertion (VNI), direct optical trocar entry, direct trocar insertion (DTI), and the Hasson technique. This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of VNI and DTI in laparoscopic gynecological surgeries. An open comparative randomized prospective study was conducted involving 200 women aged 18 to 70 years, scheduled for laparoscopic surgery at 2 tertiary centers. Participants were randomized into 2 groups: 1 using VNI and other using DTI. The groups were homogeneous regarding age, parity, and body mass index. The mean age of the VNI group is 45.22 ± 11.65 and the DTI group is 44.89 ± 10.5 (P = .833). There were no statistical significance in terms of the presence of chronic diseases and history of previous abdominal surgery between the groups (P = .802 and P = .510, respectively). Entry time to the abdomen, the decrease in hemoglobin values, and hospitalization length were found to be statistically significant between the entry methods (P < .001, P = .002, and P < .001, respectively). Entry time, the decrease in hemoglobin value, and hospitalization length were higher in the VNI group. In conclusion, although there is no definitive consensus on the optimal laparoscopic entry technique, direct trocar entry is an effective alternative to the Veress needle insertion technique. Direct trocar entry is associated with shorter entry times, fewer perioperative complications, less reduction in hemoglobin levels, and shorter hospitalization duration compared to VNI.

Translanguaging: Moving away from monolingual ESL classrooms and institutions

Translanguaging, defined as “the deployment of a speaker’s full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and state) languages” (Otheguy et al., 2015, p. 281), has great potential to play a key role in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms and institutions. This article first explores the origins and historical development of the concept of translanguaging before examining more general recent developments and applications of this concept internationally and in Australia. The final section provides suggestions for how to apply some of the principles of translanguaging in the adult ESL classroom, with a particular focus on specific translanguaging practices that have been used with Direct Entry English for Academic Purposes students.

Beyond breathless: a case of air infiltrating every cavity

Hawaii attracts 10 million tourists annually, with non-residents accounting for 9% of trauma cases, half of which are water-related. We experienced a SCUBA tank injury, causing extensive trauma from pressurized air release. A 53-year-old female, post-Scuba diving, fell onto a SCUBA tank, causing rapid pressurized air discharge. She presented with perineal pain, bloating, and extensive subcutaneous emphysema. CT revealed air in every possible cavity. Thoracostomies and exploratory laparotomy performed, revealing an 80-90% anal sphincter transection. An overlapping anal sphincteroplasty with diverting loop ileostomy was performed. Recovery was uncomplicated. This unique case involves a traumatic SCUBA tank air release causing extensive damage. The patient avoided direct anorectal entry, preventing catastrophic damage but sustained an anal sphincter complex injury. Air likely entered the peritoneum through the levator ani, causing pneumoperitoneum and pneumothoracies. The extensive damage emphasizes the need for safe water sports practices. The patient’s recovery highlights the human body’s resilience in unique situations.

Insights from ARCOS-V’s Transition to Remote Data Collection during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Study

Introduction: The ARCOS-V study, an epidemiological study on stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA), faced the challenge of continuing data collection amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to describe the methodological changes and challenges encountered during the transition from paper-based methods to digital data collection for the ARCOS-V study and to provide insights into the potential of using digital tools to transform epidemiological research. Methods: The study adapted to remote data collection using REDCap and Zoom, involving daily health record reviews, direct data entry by trained researchers, and remote follow-up assessments. The process was secured with encryption and role-based access controls. The transition period was analysed to evaluate the effectiveness and challenges of the new approach. Results: The digital transition allowed for uninterrupted monitoring of stroke and TIA cases during lockdowns. Using REDCap and Zoom improved data reach, accuracy, and security. However, it also revealed issues such as the potential for systematic data entry errors and the need for robust security measures to protect sensitive health information. Conclusion: The ARCOS-V study’s digital transformation exemplifies the resilience of epidemiological research in the face of a global crisis. The successful adaptation to digital data collection methods highlights the potential benefits of such tools, particularly as we enter a new age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Public service motivation, public sector preference and employment of Kenyan medical doctor interns: a cross-sectional and prospective study

BackgroundKenya grapples with a paradox; severe public sector workforce shortages co-exist with rising unemployment among healthcare professionals. Medical schools have increased trainee outputs, but only 45% of newly qualified/registered doctors were absorbed by the public sector during 2015–2018. In such a context, we explore what influences doctors’ career choices at labour market entry, specifically understanding the role of public service motivation (PSM).MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional and prospective study of interns and recently graduated doctors to examine PSM, their intention to work in the public sector and their final employment sector and status. We surveyed them on their PSM and job intentions and conducted a prospective follow-up survey of the interns, around one year later, to understand their employment status.FindingsWe recruited 356 baseline participants and followed up 76 out of 129 eligible interns. The overall PSM score was high among all participants (rated 4.50/5.00) irrespective of sector preferences. 48% (171/356) of the participants preferred to work in the public sector immediately after internship, alongside 16% (57/356) preferring direct entry into specialist training—commonly in the public sector. Only 13% (46/356) and 7% (25/365) preferred to work in the private or faith-based sector. Despite the high proportion of interns preferring public sector jobs, only 17% (13/76) were employed in the public sector at follow-up and 13% (10/76) were unemployed, due to lack of job availability.ConclusionHigh PSM scores irrespective of sector preferences suggest that doctors are generally committed to serving the ‘public good’. Many intended to work in the public sector but were unable to due to lack of job opportunities. Policymakers have an opportunity to tackle workforce gaps in the public sector as young doctors continue to express a preference for such work. To do this they should prioritise creating adequate and sustainable job opportunities.

The medical doctor (degree) apprenticeship

In this article we explore the United Kingdom context of apprenticeships and the history of development of the use of the term apprentice in medicine. We describe the development of the Medical Doctor Degree Apprenticeship (MDDA) in England and how Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has approached the development of the MDDA. We explore the rationale for developing the MDDA in Essex, the structure of the apprenticeship at ARU (which comprises 20% of employed time in NHS work and 80% in education undertaking the medical degree), the challenges and issues we encountered and mitigations we put in place. We describe the importance of stakeholder engagement (especially with direct entry medical students, medical professionals, and members of the university staff). The role of the employer is critical to the development and delivery of MDDA. The important role of regulators in developing and monitoring MDDA is the complexity of funding arrangements. Finally, we offer reflections on the development journey thus far.

An innovative Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly project curriculum model: Strategies for supporting learners at various entry levels

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program curriculum must address the challenge of developing Competency Based Education (CBE) curriculum for DNP Scholarly Projects tailored to meet variations in nursing learner preparation and practice, from novice bachelor's entry level and master's advanced nurse practice expert entry level pathways. The recent Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report by the National Academy of Medicine advocates that competency-based education (CBE) approaches in nursing schools should focus upon the advanced practice nursing population within collaborative academic practice partnerships. This article describes an innovative DNP Scholarly Project Curriculum model at an academic health science center that integrates academic partnerships and CBE strategies that have been developed for second degree Bachelor's direct entry to nursing (direct entry), post BS in nursing to DNP (BS to DNP), Post Master's to DNP (PM DNP) entry levels of preparation. The DNP Scholarly Project Curriculum utilizes an innovative, scaffolded approach to fostering CBE for the assessment of learning activities at the doctoral level. The DNP Scholarly Project Curriculum includes domains of quality improvement, critical appraisal of the literature, evidence-based practice models, implementation practice models, policy analysis, and process/outcome evaluations. Preliminary alumni and stakeholder feedback suggests that these projects are not only impacting practice but improving learner competency in quality improvement science. Implementation of this model has led to enhanced CBE-driven curriculum teaching and learning strategies, and sustainable collaborative academic partnerships.

When resilience isn’t enough: natural disaster as an under-researched barrier

Natural disasters significantly impact the study plans of higher education students. This study explores the impact of catastrophic floods in the Australian city of Townsville in January 2019 on three enabling students enrolled in Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies (STEPS) at CQUniversity Australia (CQU). STEPS is a foundation course aimed at widening participation in line with the Australian government objectives to have more Australians complete a tertiary qualification. Students who successfully complete STEPS can gain direct entry to most higher education undergraduate courses. The aim of the study was to develop an understanding of the impacts of the Townsville floods on each participant along with an evaluation of the support offered by the University during the disaster. While the participants in this study showed extraordinary resilience and capacity for recovery throughout the disaster, all three participants withdrew from the STEPS course. While some educators may believe that students withdraw due to low resilience, this research suggests that resilience theory may not be a good fit in the context of natural disasters. Instead, a theory that considers the student and their community context is needed, such as the ecological theory by Bronfenbrenner (as cited in Paquette &amp; Ryan, 2001). When extraordinary events occur, specific forms of institutional support are needed, such as Withdrawal Without Academic Penalty (WWAPs) and Leave of Absence with an acknowledgment of assessments passed to maintain enrolment. Such measures are likely to increase retention of students in widening participation initiatives.

Uncertainty Avoiding Cultural Distance and Foreign Direct Investment Entry Pattern

Uncertainty Avoiding Cultural Distance and Foreign Direct Investment Entry Pattern

Interweaving employability skills in ESL/EFL university direct entry integrated assessment tasks: A systematic review

Integrated assessments are often used to measure English language readiness for university. As language assessment contexts are impacted by variables beyond the classroom, and technologised learners are increasingly striving to achieve “differentiated learning goals” (Peng et al., 2020, p. 88), the challenge is to design assessments that are more “person-centred” (Bensen, 2019, p. 60). One response is to interweave employability soft skills in English for academic purposes (EAP) direct entry program (DEP) integrated assessment. We conducted a systematic review of integrated assessment and soft skills assessment scholarship to inform integrated assessment design for supporting soft skills development in Australian university DEPs. The findings suggest that adopting a person-centred approach to the design and research of integrated assessments may more comprehensively support students’ students’ adaptive communication capacities for 21st century ambitions.

A tale of two centres: A cross-institutional peer review of integrated assessment use in direct entry programs

Direct Entry Programs (DEPs) at Australian universities are designed to enhance students’ English language and academic skills, with the primary goals of preparing and assuring students’ readiness for university studies. Given that university tasks often require the integration of language skills (e.g., writing assignments using information from lectures, articles, and textbooks), this paper proposes the use of integrated assessment tasks in DEPs to increase the authenticity in their assessment approach by using tasks that replicate actual university learning, teaching, and assessment practices. To encourage the shift from standard practice of separate skills testing to integrated assessment, we present key findings of a literature review in integrated assessment use in language programs and show how integrated assessment is implemented in two institutions in Sydney, Australia. The paper also highlights advantages of cross-institutional peer review and proposes an argument-based validity framework for test design that language centres can use to guide good practice.

Assessment symposium assessment practice in a changing world

The University English Centres of Australia (UECA) 'Assessment Symposium: Assessment Practice in a Changing World' at Southern Cross University in October 2022 highlighted the growing interest in integrated assessment in Australian university direct entry programs (DEPs) for English as Additional Language (EAL) students. In keynote presentations, Professor Antony John Kunnan, Carnegie Mellon University; Professor Guoxing Yu, University of Bristol; and Dr Paul Moore, the University of Queensland, shared an overview of their scholarly work on integrated assessment. The Symposium also included practitioner and student voices from Australia’s English language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS) sector in a panel discussion that considered the impacts of integrated and online assessment on assessment practices in their contexts over the previous three years. This paper provides excerpts from these speakers, contextualised with a brief discussion of DEPs globally, and focussing on the Australian university DEP context.

Developing multiple literacies in an EAP direct entry pathway program through integrated assessments

The multiliteracies framework provides a pedagogical approach relevant to English language direct entry pathway (DEP) programs at university, recognising that education and communication in a multicultural, multimodal, and globalised world involves more than language literacy. Integrated assessments, in which some combination of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are included and assessed, offer an appropriate form of assessment for this pedagogical context, but limited research explicitly connects the specific challenges and affordances of integrated assessments for assessing multiple literacies. The aim of this project was to consider how multiple literacies could be assessed through integrated assessment by conducting a review of the literature and applying this research to the collaborative development of an integrated listening-into-speaking task and rubric for use in our DEP programs. The proposed task and an approach to collaborative rubric development for integrated tasks is outlined.

Integrated reading-into-writing: Developing a task blueprint

Integrated reading-into-writing assessment has become increasingly common in second language English for Academic Purposes assessment. It is viewed as a means of potentially increasing the authenticity and therefore validity of assessment that aims to measure a candidate’s readiness for the demands of academic writing. While there is a body of research seeking to identify the distinct sub-skills involved in an integrated reading to write task, there is much more limited work addressing the design of rubrics for integrated tasks for specific contexts. This paper describes the development of an integrated reading-into-writing task and rubric for students at B2+/C1 CEFR level in a PreMasters Direct Entry Program (DEP) at a university language centre in Australia. The project aimed to develop a blueprint for an integrated reading-into-writing task and rubric that captures the core constructs of synthesis writing and can be used as a basis for assessment writers to adapt to suit the parameters of other specific integrated reading into writing tasks in other programs or contexts.

Do Transfers into the Community College Sector Graduate at the Same Rate? Evidence from Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT The overwhelming majority of studies on transfer students have compared the outcomes of vertical transfer students (college-to-university) relative to “native” counterparts, referring to those that directly enter universities from high school and remain within them throughout the course of their studies. In turn, scholars have devoted only minimal attention to the outcomes of students that travel variable pathways into the community college sector (e.g. university to college). Through this study we attempt to correct such imbalance in the existing literature, leveraging various administrative files in Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Linkage Platform (ELMLP) to analyze the pathway-based disparities in graduation rates among those students traveling various routes into the Ontario community college sector. Our logistic regression models reveal that students who transfer into the community college graduate at a rate that is 22 to 27% points lower than direct entries, and that these differences persist even after we control for student traits (e.g. age, sex), field of study, parental income, and familial characteristics (e.g. size, structure). Based on the observed findings, we theorize plausible mechanisms that could be suppressing the success of transfers into the community college sector and identify a series of potential strategies to ameliorate this situation.

Efficiency of eSource Direct Data Capture in Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials in Oncology

BackgroundClinical trials have become larger and more complex. Thus, eSource should be used to enhance efficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the multisite implementation of eSource direct data capture (DDC), which we define as eCRFs for direct data entry in this study, on efficiency by analyzing data from a single investigator-initiated clinical trial in oncology.MethodsOperational data associated with the targeted study conducted in Japan was used to analyze time from data occurrence to data entry and data finalization, and number of visits to the site and time spent at the site by clinical research associates (CRAs). Additionally, simulations were performed on the change in hours at the clinical sites during the implementation of eSource DDC.ResultsNo difference in time from data occurrence to data entry was observed between the DDC and the transcribed data fields. However, the DDC fields could be finalized 4 days earlier than the non-DDC fields. Additionally, although no difference was observed in the number of visits for source data verification (SDV) by CRAs, a comparison among sites that introduced eSource DDC and those that did not showed that the time spent at the site for SDV was reduced. Furthermore, the simulation results indicated that even a small amount of data to be collected or a small percentage of DDC-capable items may lead to greater efficiency when the number of subjects per site is significant.ConclusionsThe implementation of eSource DDC may enhance efficiency depending on the study framework and type and number of items to be collected.