Healthcare Courses Research Articles

Enhancing oral health for better mental health: Exploring the views of mental health professionals.

The association between oral health, self-esteem and quality of life is well established yet there is limited research on the impact of addressing the poor oral health of people living with mental health disorders. Greater consideration is warranted on how enhancing oral health in the course of mental healthcare might reduce the burden of a person's ill health. The role of mental health professionals is important in this regard yet uncertainty persists about the role these providers can and should play in promoting oral health care for people with mental health disorders. This qualitative study explored the issue of oral health and mental health with community based mental health professionals in Perth, Western Australia. It examined their views on the oral health status and experiences of their clients, and the different and alternative ways to improve access to care, knowledge and preventative regimens. Findings indicated participants' ambivalence, reluctance and lack of training in raising oral health issues, despite its acknowledged importance, indicating a siloed approach to care. Findings offer an opportunity to reflect on whether a more integrated approach to oral health care for people with mental health disorders would improve health outcomes.

Self-efficacy perceptions of interprofessional education and practice in undergraduate healthcare students

ABSTRACTSelf-efficacy is an individual’s perception of their ability to be successful in a given endeavour and it has been shown to have an important role in successful university education and clinical performance of healthcare workers. This article examines the self-efficacy beliefs of undergraduate healthcare students (n = 388) for the skills required for interprofessional education and interprofessional collaboration. The students were enrolled at an Australian university from the disciplines of public health, social work, and paramedic practice. The Self-Efficacy for Interprofessional Experiential Learning (SEIEL) scale, which is a valid and reliable scale, was used to determine the self-reported perceptions of self-efficacy in this cohort. The 16-item scale was developed for use with medicine and other healthcare professional undergraduate students. Student t-tests were used to compare scores between males and females, with one-way ANOVAs used to explore SEIEL scores across disciplines and year level. A significant difference was found between genders for the scores on SEIEL subscale 2 “Interprofessional evaluation and feedback” (p = 0.01) with the male mean being 2.65 units higher (Cohen’s d = 0.29). There was also a significant gender difference for the overall SEIEL scale (p = 0.029) with the male mean being 4.1 units higher (Cohen’s d = 0.238). No significant gender differences were demonstrated for the subscale “Interprofessional interaction.” Neither subscale demonstrated significant differences between healthcare disciplines or course year. Further investigation is required to explore the reasons for the outcomes of this study. With the increasing importance of interprofessional education and practice within healthcare, it would also appear reasonable to consider further research into the development and support of student self-efficacy for the skills required for interprofessional education and interprofessional collaboration within healthcare curricula.

P.10.8: Mortality from Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding (UGIB): The Role of the Organizational and Health Care Course: A Prospective Multicentre Observational Study in Italy

P.10.8: Mortality from Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding (UGIB): The Role of the Organizational and Health Care Course: A Prospective Multicentre Observational Study in Italy

Career choice and perceptions of nursing among healthcare students in higher educational institutions

BackgroundDue to the ageing population and competition from other healthcare courses, a greater demand in the healthcare workforce has made it challenging for educational institutions to attract school leavers to enter nursing courses. Understanding the considerations of students who have chosen non-nursing healthcare courses and their perceptions of nursing can help identify specific strategies to enhance the attractiveness of nursing course. This study aims to examine the differences between healthcare career choices and perceptions of nursing as a career choice among first-year non-nursing healthcare students. MethodA descriptive survey design was conducted at the beginning of the healthcare courses of seven healthcare groups and from four higher educational institutions in Singapore. A total of 451 students responded, yielding an overall response rate of 52.7%. The online survey was administered using a valid and reliable 35-item parallel scale, known as the Healthcare Career Choice and Nursing Career Choice. ResultsThe participants perceived prior healthcare exposure as the most influential factor and self-efficacy as the least influential factor when choosing nursing as a career. In comparison to their own healthcare career choices, nursing was perceived to have greater gender stigma and, as nurses, they would be less likely to achieve higher qualifications and career advancements, and they would be less likely to enjoy fulfilling careers. They also perceived that they would be less likely to gain their parents' support to pursue nursing and to make their parents proud. ConclusionsThis study provides educators and policy-makers with vital information to develop key strategies to improve nursing enrolment in educational institutions. These strategies include early exposure to nursing as a rewarding career during school years, addressing the issue of gender stigma, and promoting information on the career and educational advancement of a registered nurse to parents of school leavers.

Pharmacotherapy for general practitioners

The objective of this article is to introduce the graduate students of healthcare courses, especially medical students, into the psychopharmacotherapy field for the treatment of mental disorders. To this aim, we performed a comprehensive review of the main psychoactive drugs used today, their mechanisms of action, indications and contraindications, side effects. We also provided guidelines for their use in daily clinical practice

Nursing’s ‘Achilles’ heel’

In October last year, Health Education England (HEE) finally published its annual 'mandate' of key objectives, as agreed with the Department of Health. One major point is that HEE has been 'instructed' to reduce attrition from healthcare courses by 50% by the end of 2017.

Implementation of Competency Based Educational Strategies into a First-Year Seminar for InterProfessional Healthcare Science Majors

Introduction: The Health Educators Academy at Western Carolina University was developed by the Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. Interdisciplinary fellows in the 2015 HEA focused on competency based education (CBE), which naturally incentivizes collaborative, interdisciplinary and interprofessional work. The 2015 Health Educator Academy Fellows researched healthcare competencies and designed curriculum changes that aligned within these parameters. This article discusses the creation of a first-year, interprofessional healthcare course that emphasizes CBE as well as interprofessional practice. Interprofessional Goals: The 2015 Academy Fellows believed that a collaborative course in the first-year curriculum that builds upon integral competencies would help introduce a structure that would support further IPE in later courses. Background of CBE: The recent expansion of CBE in higher education is a result of a number of factors, including changing demographics, the increase in student debt, declining state funding, and the need for accountability markers and improved learning outcomes. First- Year Experience: First-year seminars were first designed to ease the transition to college for students and to increase both retention and persistence to graduation. Proposed CBE Course: Three foundational interprofessional global health competencies domains were implemented into the first-year experience course: collaboration, partnering and communication; ethics; and sociocultural and political awareness. Reflection and Lessons Learned: In reflecting upon the process of designing a first-year interprofessional, competency-based course, the members of the Health Educator Academy organically implemented many educator and curricular best practices that facilitate collaboration in health care delivery. Future Plans: Rather than deal with complex health issues from a single, specialized approach, healthcare providers will need to work as a team to meet the needs of patients as well as the broader community. Courses such as a first-year seminar based on interprofessional competency-based curriculum can begin the process of teaching students to think collaboratively and critically. This type of course will provide some of the tools that students will need once they leave the university and enter the professional realm.

Student Evaluation of the Usefulness of the Self-rating Scale of Self-directed Learning tool in the FdSc in Health and Social Care Course

Background: Student evaluation is the lifeblood of learning/teaching and the SRSSDL tool is a vehicle to enable students to achieve their goals. Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of the tool as perceived by the FdSc students. Methods: A qualitative exploratory approach was used to identify FdSc students' views and experiences of using the SRSSDL tool to establish its effectiveness in developing their SDL skills. A questionnaire comprising of six open-ended semi-structured questions was used to collect data. Analysis: Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The SRSSDL tool was positively evaluated by the students identifying its usefulness in improving their SDL. Conclusion: Students' evaluation of the SRSSDL tool clearly identified its impact on their learning, developing confidence and their positive experiences when applying the tool.

IMPLEMENTATION OF CHOOSING WISELY CAMPAIGN IN HEALTH COURSES IN BRAZIL – DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST STEPS

Introduction. Popular medical decisions regarding testing or treatment are often ineffective or even harmful. Seeking an awareness of healthcare professionals and patients in this regard, it was created the international campaign "Choosing Wisely”, whose strategy is based on creating lists containing situations that are frequent but of low value to patients. Objective. To describe the initial process of implementing Choosing Wisely Campaign in EBMSP. Material and methods. Descriptive study based on observation reports. Results. It was made a presentation and invitation the healthcare courses coordinators of EBMSP, followed by research group formation. The medical course list was written using an expert panel and it was sent to students and medical teachers of the school. The partial results were presented in events of medical education and a Choosing Wisely meeting in Brazil. A student-aimed questionnaire to evaluate perceptions on cost-conscious attitudes and role-modeling behavior is being validated. Conclusion. It is noticeable the high interest of students and teachers about the campaign, the development of a research activity helped systematization and organization of the actions and fast evolution of the research team.

A core syllabus for the teaching of embryology and teratology to medical students.

Clinical relevance in the teaching of biomedical sciences within health care courses presupposes that there is internationally agreed core material within the curricula. However, with the exception of a syllabus for neuroanatomy and gross anatomy of the head and neck for medical students, core syllabuses within many of the specialized anatomical sciences have yet to be developed. The International Federation of Associations of Anatomists aims to formulate internationally accepted core syllabuses for all anatomical sciences disciplines initially using Delphi Panels that comprise anatomists, scientists, and clinicians who evaluate syllabus content. Here, the suggestions of a Delphi Panel for embryology and teratology are presented prior to their publication on the website of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists. Hence, to obtain a more definitive syllabus, it is required that anatomical and embryological/teratological societies, as well as individual anatomists, embryologists and clinicians, freely comment upon, elaborate and amend, this draft syllabus. The goal is to set internationally recognized standards and thereby provide guidelines concerning embryological and teratological knowledge when involved with course development. Clin. Anat. 30:159-167, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Plans in place to reduce nursing student attrition.

The Department of Health (DH) has instructed Health Education England (HEE) to reduce drop-out rates on healthcare courses by 50% by 2017.

Adopt-a-Hospital Project: An instructional tool for hospital administration

Backgournd: More often than not, university health administration curriculums are generic and are not foundational to a specific career track. This is especially true in relation to the transition from graduation to a hospital administration career progression. The overarching question is, “How does one prepare themselves for senior leadership in an acute care hospital setting?”Objective: A semester-long assignment – Adopt-a-Hospital Project – is discussed in the context of a healthcare finance course as tool for preparing students to think administratively regarding hospital operations. This Project is presented as an academic foundation preparing students for the required semester-long internship placement in an acute care hospital.Results: The Project-Internship sequence has, over a four-year period, demonstrated its value as an academic and experiential learning bridge from the academy to the world of work. Informal, qualitative findings are discussed in terms of a future quantitative study incorporating: (1) preceptor surveys, (2) intern surveys, and (3) focus group feedback.Conclusions: The Project-Internship sequence fosters a link between academic content and experiential learning in an acute care hospital – thereby augmenting one’s post-graduation readiness to pursue a hospital administration career track.

Violência no namoro, adaptabilidade e coesão familiar em estudantes do ensino superior

Enquadramento: A violência no namoro é um problema grave, pela prevalência e consequências ao nível da saúde física e mental.Objetivos: Analisar que variáveis sociodemográficas e académicas interferem nos comportamentos de violência no namoro dos estudantes do ensino superior e determinar o modo como a adaptabilidade e coesão familiar interferem nas práticas e comportamentos de violência no namoro.Participantes: A amostra é constituída por 820 estudantes do ensino superior (idade média 20.48 anos, Dp=2.51).Método: É um estudo quantitativo, descrito-correlacional e transversal. O protocolo de investigação é um questionário. Permitiu caracterizar a amostra socio demograficamente, ao nível das Práticas e Comportamentos de Violência no Namoro com a Escala de Dixe, Rodrigues, Freire et al., 2010 e a Adaptabilidade e Coesão Familiar com a Escala de Tribuna, 2000.Resultados: É uma amostra maioritariamente feminina (69.4%), predominam os estudantes solteiros (57.2%), 46.2% frequentam um curso na área da tecnologia e 52.5% frequenta um curso na área da saúde. O sexo, o estado civil e o curso interferem nos comportamentos de violência no namoro. São os estudantes do sexo masculino, do curso na área da tecnologia e a frequentar o 1º ano que manifestam mais comportamentos de violência no namoro, sobretudo a violência stalking e a violência psicológica. A adaptabilidade e a coesão familiar não se mostraram significativas na violência física e sexual, stalking e violência psicológica.Conclusão: Face aos resultados propomos a implementação de programas (debates e fóruns) contra a violência no namoro, nas escolas, focalizados na prevenção primária.Palavras-chave: Violência, Namoro, Estudantes, Ensino Superior, Adaptabilidade e coesão familiarAbstractBackground: Dating violence is a serious problem, whether because of its prevalence and consequences on physical and mental health.Objectives: To identify the sociodemographic and academic variables that affects the behavior of dating violence for students in higher education and determines how the adaptability and family cohesion interfere in the behavior of violence.Participants: The sample consisted of 820 university students (mean age 20,48 years, Sd= 2.51).Method: It is a quantitative, described correlational and cross study. The research protocol is a questionnaire. Allowed to characterize socio demographically and academics sample, in terms of practices and behaviors violence in dating with Dixe, Rodrigues, Freire et al. ( 2010), Scale and Adaptability and Family Cohesion with Tribuna, (2000) Scale.Results: This is a mainly female sample (69.4%), predominance of single students (57.2%), 46.2% attends a course in technology and 52.5% attend a course in health care. Gender, marital status, and course interfere in the conduct of dating violence. Are the male students, the course in the field of technology and to attend the 1st year who exhibit more violent behavior dating, especially stalking violence and psychological violence. The adaptability and family cohesion were not significant in physical and sexual violence, stalking and psychological violence.Conclusion: Given the results we propose the implementation of programs (debates and forums) against dating violence in schools, focused on primary prevention.Keywords: Violence, Dating, Students, Higher education, Adaptability and family cohesion.

Giving advice in medical Spanish: pragmatic and intercultural competence in the Spanish for the health professions curriculum

ABSTRACTThis article presents the results of a study focused on the management of the speech act of giving advice and its linguistic realizations by Spanish second-language learners and heritage learners enrolled on two advanced courses of Professional Spanish. We analyzed how two groups of students gave advice in three discourse completion tasks with different scenarios. Results indicate that both groups relied on a few basic structures with limited consideration of the proposed contexts, and highlight the need for a pragmalinguistic approach in Spanish for Health Care courses. We then propose a pedagogical approach that emphasizes the role of critical reflection, increases language competence beyond medical terminology, and focuses on an understanding of cultural parameters guiding health care interactions.

A review of recommendations for medical undergraduate intellectual disability psychiatry teaching from UK reports

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to amalgamate recommendations from contemporary national reports on healthcare provision and needs of people with intellectual disabilities. The paper combines these with recommendations for undergraduate curricula of medical students from the GMC and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych).Design/methodology/approach– National reports from Mencap, Department of Health, Disability rights commission, NHS Executive, the GMC and RCPsych were searched for relevant recommendations to undergraduate medical education in ID psychiatry. Recommendations were collated and grouped to form a single list for use when planning future curricula or auditing existing teaching.Findings– In total, 13 relevant recommendations were identified in nine groups. These included that people with intellectual disabilities and their carers should be involved in the teaching. That teaching should include the ethical, moral and legal obligations and should include the mental capacity act and equality act. Institutional and individual discrimination should be highlighted as a problem and diagnostic overshadowing should be covered.Originality/value– This paper has collated in a single document the combined recommendations of multiple reports. These are relevant to medical undergraduate teaching and may also be of use to other undergraduate healthcare courses. They are a useful template for others wishing to examine or benchmark the content of their medical undergraduate ID psychiatry teaching against an amalgamated list.

Sistema Nacional de Saúde Cubano: vivências de uma equipe multiprofissional

DOI : 10.12957/interag.2015.15901 In January 2015, a group of Brazilian professors and students participated in the Primary Health Care and Family Medicine Course, in Havana, organized and hosted by the National School of Public Health (ENSAP), of the Health Ministry of Cuba. There, we had the opportunity to know services, strategies and policies of the National Health System. In this text, we intend to report some experiences, with particular focus on social participation, maternal and child health, environmental health and mental health, areas of interest of the authors. The activities developed, with professionals of ENSAP as well as professionals of the services, enabled an approach to the context of the Cuban National Health System, with an understanding of its operating dynamics beyond the technical and scientific issues.

Mental health and empathy: Do nursing students have better attitudes to psychiatric patients?

BackgroundStigma towards mental illness has a major impact on the quality of life and the health care of psychiatric patients. Several studies have reported that health professionals have more negative attitudes than general population.AimsTo explore empathy and attitudes towards mental illness in nursing students (NS) and non-health university students. Our purpose is to see how NS have more empathic and less stigmatizing attitudes towards psychiatric patients, compared to other university students.MethodsWe tested 96 university students (50 NS and 46 non-health university students), with the following questionnaires anonymously filled out:– Community attitudes towards mental ill (CAMI), to evaluate the different students’ attitudes towards mental illness;– Empathy quotient (EQ), to assess empathy.ResultsNS differs from the other group in 5 items of CAMI (P < 0.05 in 3 items and P < 0.01 in 2 items), and Authoritarianism subscale (P = 0.023). This shows that NS have a greater general awareness and less stigmatizing attitudes about the need to hospitalize the mentally ill, the difference between psychiatric patients and general population, the wrong need of segregation and the real causes of mental illness. There is also a significant difference in EQ (items 6, 21, 25, 44, 59): future nurses seem to have a slightly higher empathy, even though the EQ total score does not differ in the two groups.ConclusionsThese results suggest that there is a difference with respect to the attitudes towards psychiatric patients in NS and students who do not follow health-care courses: NS have more empathetic and less stigmatizing attitudes.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Estresse e o estilo de vida dos acadêmicos ingressantes em um curso de graduação em Odontologia

O estresse entre os graduandos de cursos da área da saúde tem sido alvo de estudos nos últimos anos. Dentre as mudanças ocorridas no ingresso na universidade, está a adoção de um novo estilo de vida, o qual pode relacionar-se com o estado de ansiedade. O objetivo nesse estudo foi verificar a autopercepção de estresse, ansiedade e depressão dos ingressantes em um curso de graduação em odontologia, associar à resposta fisiológica do estresse e analisar seu estilo de vida. A amostra foi composta por 25 estudantes de uma universidade pública paulista, ingressantes no curso de odontologia em 2014. Foram aplicados dois instrumentos validados: DASS 21 (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) e PEVI (Perfil do Estilo de Vida Individual), e a dosagem do hormônio cortisol em 75 amostras de saliva, coletadas em três momentos em um dia, utilizando o método laboratorial de ELISA. O estresse e a ansiedade foram presentes em 60% e a depressão observada em 36% dos indivíduos. Quanto ao estilo de vida, 40% apresentaram perfil pouco desejável e 26% indesejável no domínio da nutrição, 40% indesejável na atividade física e nenhum estudante apresentou perfil desejável no controle do estresse. Altas concentrações de cortisol estiveram presentes em 60% da amostra, porém não houve associação significativa com a percepção do estresse (p=0.40). Conclui-se que grande parte dos estudantes teve percepção de estresse e ansiedade e altas concentrações de cortisol salivar. A maioria não apresentou padrão de estilo de vida desejável nos domínios de nutrição, atividade física e controle do estresse.

Nursing Students′ Perceptions on Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

Background : Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has been widely used in the assessment of students' clinical performance. One of the strategies to improve the effectiveness is through assessing feedback from students on OSCE. These data are important to ensure the learning objectives of the OSCE are achieved besides to improve the effectiveness and to ensure it will be practicable in clinical settings. Objective : This study aims to identify nursing students' perceptions on OSCE. Methodology: A cross sectional study using convenience sampling was conducted among 91 nursing students who have experienced in sitting OSCE in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Results : The findings showed that the majority of respondents (85.3 percent) has the positive perception on OSCE whilst 14.7 percent of respondents have the negative perception. For the association between socio-demographic and year of study and gender, it showed both have no significant association with the nursing students' perception. Conclusion: The majority of respondents was identified to have positive perceptions on OSCE. However, some of them have negative perceptions on OSCE. Thus, the relevant authorities should take a step to improve the quality of OSCE exam, as well as its accuracy and reliability. It is hoped that the OSCE will be one of the main assessment in IIUM and other health care courses at the other universities.

Evolution of an Interprofessional Patient Skills Course with the Incorporation of Simulation Scenarios

A university level interprofessional patient care skills course including Nursing, Radiologic Sciences, and Respiratory Care students has evolved over 20 years. The course includes a lecture and laboratory portion with specific content and skills focused on principles common to the three disciplines. Students are placed in interprofessional groups during lab to practice and learn together including a simulation scenario on each week’s content. This educational strategy has enhanced the students’ teamwork and communication skills and prepared them to apply these skills to clinical practice. Further research is needed to look at IPE undergraduate healthcare course outcomes related to teamwork.