Lack Of Exposure Research Articles

“If I Had I Would”: Discovering Barriers in Implementing Centre-based Sexuality Education among Malaysian Preschool Teachers

Teacher-related factors are among significant barriers in implementing centre-based sexuality education (SE). While there is an expanse of literature on SE implementation in schools, literature on its implementation in early childhood settings is scarce, especially in the Malaysian context. This study was conducted in stages and the findings that are discussed here are from the second stage that aims to discover barriers preschool teachers face when implementing SE. Thematic analysis of semi-structured telephone interviews of 20 experienced private preschool teachers reveal two major barriers; personal beliefs and competency. Low parental acceptance and lack of support from administrators are barriers of preschool teachers’ personal beliefs. Lack of exposure, confidence and knowledge, and inadequate SE training are barriers of preschool teachers’ competency. Findings imply that advocating for more meaningful implementation of SE requires targetted and practical SE training in order to overcome sociocultural perceptions and enhance teaching competence.

Exploring the Transtheoretical Model of Change, Barriers, and Motives to Telemedicine Adoption in Athletic Training

Purpose: The delivery of healthcare services by athletic trainers (ATs) has evolved over the past two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has identified an integration of telemedicine as a necessary, urgent replacement for face-to-face patient encounters in athletic training; however, there is a lack of data to support the habitual and intentional change to one’s clinical practice that includes telemedicine. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and analyze ATs respective stages of change related to telemedicine adoption, as well as explore motivating factors and barriers related to the adoption of telemedicine. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 883 credentialed ATs. The survey contained a modified TTM stages of change assessment and 51-item telemedicine barriers and motives tool adapted from previous literature. A logistic regression was performed to assess highest level of education with telemedicine adoption status. Results: Overall, most ATs were categorized in the action, maintenance, and termination stage (n=551/882, 62.4%) for telemedicine adoption. Other participants were categorized in the stages as unaware (n=8, 0.9%), precontemplation (n=82, 9.3%), contemplation (n=78, 8.8%), and preparation (n=164, 18.6%). The logistic regression model was statistically significant (pConclusions: The results of the study suggest that most ATs have recently changed their delivery of healthcare in the last 6+ months and intend to maintain telemedicine use as part of their clinical practice. Additionally, telemedicine success was hampered by a lack of exposure but did feel that telemedicine fills gaps in patient care and addresses improved patient satisfaction. Additionally, increasing an ATs highest level of degree earned was associated with an increased likelihood of being in stage five on the modified-TTM assessment suggesting focused, professional development could sustain telemedicine use in athletic training.

Public health messaging during disasters: A qualitative study of emergency department key informants

BackgroundPatient education is a professional obligation for all nurses. Public health messaging in emergency departments during disasters can help prevent further risk or illness for affected communities. In this study, Australian emergency nurse Key Informants share their perceptions and experiences of preventative messaging provided in their departments during disasters and the governance and processes in place to support this practice. MethodsThe qualitative phase of a mixed methods study, where semi structured interviews were utilised, and data analysed using a six step Thematic analysis. ResultsThree themes were identified: (1) Part of the Job; (2) It’s all in the delivery; and (3) Preparation is the key. These themes include concepts involving the confidence and competence of nurses providing messages, what, when and how messages are being given and how prepared both the department and staff are regarding patient education during disaster events. ConclusionsNurse confidence is a key factor in the delivery of preventative messages during disasters, potentially resulting from a lack of exposure, a junior workforce and minimal training. Leaders agree that departments are not preparing or supporting messaging practice, with an absence of specific training, formal guidelines, and patient education resources; and that improvement is needed.

Open Educational Resources and Institutional Repositories: Roles, Challenges, and Opportunities for Libraries

The adoption of digital-born, Open Educational Resources (OER) has been proven to improve student retention and learning outcomes, and OER has the flexibly to support multiple modalities of instruction. Institutional Repositories are uniquely situated to act as a platform to support and distribute content that can be created collaboratively between faculty researchers as well as students. However, faculty are still largely hesitant to adopt OER sources for a variety of reasons, not least among them being a lack of exposure and understanding of the potential benefits for both faculty and students in keeping curriculum affordable, up-to-date, and nimble through media-rich, annotated platforms. This study seeks to provide a model for institutions to adopt in using their open-institutional repositories to support broader OER adoption and use across institutions. A mixed-method case study will present results from faculty-student surveys and institutional data to provide a framework for the best practices in raising awareness among faculty, in outlining the benefits for students, and in supporting programs via library services.

ENHANCING ESL RURAL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY-ASSISTED PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: CONCEPTUAL PAPER

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has changed and impacted the country's education landscape, a paradigm shift from face-to-face teaching and learning style into home-based learning and teaching (PdPR). During the period, teachers had come out with various teaching strategies to assess pupils’ and some of these strategies are still relevant in this current post pandemic education. Speaking skills in the Malaysian Primary ESL classroom are five elements assessed in the Classroom-Based Assessment (CBA). The CBA achievement of a class in a rural school in Kudat, Sabah, showed that most students performed poorly in speaking skills. Based on the teacher's perspective as a researcher, the problem occurred due to the English Language's lack of exposure and usage. It is only spoken during an English class and not practised outside schooling hours. In this paper, the researcher aims to provide a literature review and past studies on enhancing primary ESL students' speaking skills through multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning. After investigating how multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning could improve the students' speaking skills from the literature review, the researcher proposes this study be carried out at a rural government school in Kudat, Sabah. This research aims to investigate students' speaking performance after the implementation of multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning.

Using random forest to test if two-wheeler experience affects driver behaviour when interacting with two-wheelers

Car drivers are primarily responsible for crashes between cars and bicycle and motorcycle riders (two-wheelers; TWs). A lack of exposure and riding experience with TWs among car drivers may contribute to the occurrence of these crashes. The current research investigates if car drivers with different TW riding experience levels act differently during risky interactions with both types of TWs. A total of 69 drivers completed a 10-minute driving session using the CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator, which included five interactions with TWs based on common crash types. These interactions involve driving manoeuvres in which TWs were initially positioned in front of or at a right angle to the driver. The drivers were divided into two categories based on whether they possessed TW riding experience or not. For analysis, several response features were calculated using the speed and time to collision (TTC) during the time window covering the interaction. Then, a random forest algorithm used the extracted features from the predefined window to classify the drivers. Classification accuracy was calculated using leave one out cross-validation. To test the association between the speed, TTC features and experience as a TW rider, the drivers’ labels were randomly permuted. The random forest models were trained using these permuted labels, and the average classification accuracy was calculated. Overall, the comparison between the average of the original data classification accuracy and the randomly permuted data revealed a statically significant difference. This study found that two-wheeler experience influences driver behaviour when interacting with two-wheelers.

Voice Assistant as a Modern Contrivance to Acquire Oral Fluency: An Acoustical and Computational Analysis

A number of methods have been experimented to improve fluency and accuracy of second language learners in English. In acquisition of fluency in oral communication, the second language learners have many obstacles such as lack of exposure and lack of opportunities. Focus on the skills targeted and individualization of attention are needed to accomplish the objectives. The objective of this article is to enable second language learners to gain fluency in English through the use of Voice Assistant in L2 classrooms. A number of Voice Assistants were experimented to find out the suitable application for the study. The study was carried out in a university in India to find out the effectiveness of Voice Assistant for enhancing fluency. The hypothesis was tested with forty students. Pre-test and post-test were conducted to find out the fluency level of the Experimental and the Control Groups through audio analysis. The data was analyzed to indicate the significance of the method. The progress of the learners experimented with Voice Assistant was most encouraging, and they found this method quite appropriate and easy too in acquisition of oral fluency.

New Evaluation Method for Lateral Ankle Instability using Ultrasound

Category: Ankle; Trauma Introduction/Purpose: Despite the fact that stress fluoroscopy is the most common method of quantifying lateral ankle instability, ultrasound evaluation has grown in popularity as a way to assess ankle stability at the point of care due to its simplicity, accuracy, low cost, and lack of exposure. The aim of this study is to introduce a new method for evaluating lateral ankle instability using ultrasound. Methods: A 37-year-old man with history of lateral ankle ligament injury underwent ultrasound and fluoroscopic evaluation. The anterior drawer distance (ADD) was quantified under anterior drawer stress. During ADD measurement, the patient sat with the knee extended and the heel on the examination table or chair, and the examiner performed the anterior drawer test (Image 1a). The amount of talar movement was measured as an ADD using an ultrasound probe placed on the posteromedial side of the ankle (Image 1b). A lateral clear space (LCS) was also measured under varus stress using ultrasound from the tip of the lateral malleolar to the lateral process of the talus. The aforementioned measurements were repeated under stress fluoroscopy and compared with ultrasound findings. Results: On ultrasound evaluation, the ADD was 7.1 mm and the LCS was 17.1 mm. Furthermore, the stress fluoroscopic evaluation yielded a similar result, with an ADD of 8.7 mm and an LCS of 17.5 mm. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that this new method of evaluation of lateral ankle instability under dynamic ultrasound appears to be a highly accurate and useful alternative for assessing lateral ankle stability at the point of care in a radiation-free, non- invasive, and low-cost manner.

Views and experience of breastfeeding in public: A qualitative systematic review.

Breastfeeding rates in many Global North countries are low. Qualitative research highlights that breastfeeding in public is a particular challenge, despite mothers often having the legal right to do so. To identify barriers and facilitators, we systematically searched the qualitative research from Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries relating to breastfeeding in public spaces from 2007 to 2021. Data were analysed using the Thematic Synthesis technique. The review was registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42017081504). Database searching identified 3570 unique records. In total, 74 papers, theses, or book chapters, relating to 71 studies, were included, accounting for over 17,000 mothers. Overall, data quality was high. Our analysis identified that five core factors influenced mothers' thought processes and their breastfeeding in public behaviour: legal system; structural (in)equality; knowledge; beliefs and the social environment. Macro‐level factors relating to legislation and inequality urgently require redress if breastfeeding rates are to be increased. Widespread culture change is also required to enhance knowledge, change hostile beliefs and thus the social environment in which mother/infant dyads exist. In particular, the sexualisation of breasts, disgust narratives and lack of exposure among observers to baby‐led infant feeding patterns resulted in beliefs which created a stigmatising environment. In this context, many mothers felt unable to breastfeed in public; those who breastfed outside the home were usually highly self‐aware, attempting to reduce their exposure to conflict. Evidence‐based theoretically informed interventions to remove barriers to breastfeeding in public are urgently required.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Changing Patterns of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections.

Seasonal epidemics of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and mortality among children. Preventive measures implemented to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including facemasks, stay-at-home orders, closure of schools and local-national borders, and hand hygiene, may have also prevented the transmission of RSV and influenza. However, with the easing of COVID-19 imposed restrictions, many regions are noticing a delayed RSV outbreak. Some of these regions have also noted an increase in severity of these delayed RSV outbreaks partly due to a lack of protective immunity in the community following a lack of exposure from the previous season. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can be implemented for controlling RSV outbreaks, including: (1) measures to reduce the spread, (2) effective vaccine development, and (3) genomic surveillance tools and computational modeling to predict the timing and severity of RSV outbreaks. These measures can help reduce the severity and prepare the health care system to deal with future RSV outbreaks by appropriate and timely allocation of health care resources.

Kiswahili as an Intercultural Communication Tool for Kenya-Uganda Cross-border Trade

Increased contacts with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds during initial encounters are likely to create high levels of uncertainty. High levels of uncertainty have been shown to increase the chances of misunderstandings and miscommunication. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of Kiswahili as an intercultural communication tool that bridges linguistic differences in polyglosified diverse settings in Busia town. It aims at investigating the status of Kiswahili as a medium of communication in enhancing intercultural interactions and cross-border trade, establishing the limitations Kiswahili faces, and finally, evaluating the communication strategies traders and customers employ to overcome linguistic differences, thereby enhancing intercultural interactions and cross-border trade in the region. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS). Qualitative data were collected through observations, a survey of linguistic landscaping and sound recordings, and analyzed through a narrative analytic approach. Through theory triangulation, the study was underpinned by the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) as the flexible and applicable theory in trader-customer trade interactions. The study revealed that Kiswahili has a significant status in enhancing intercultural interactions among traders and customers in terms of initial encounters, discussions, bargaining, taking instructions, and in advertisements. The study also established that Kiswahili faces limitations, including dialectical differences, colonial influence and mentality, the lack of a uniform status of Kiswahili, negative ethnic attitude, the lack of good political will, religion, age differences, and the lack of exposure. Finally, the study revealed that traders and customers employ different communication accommodation strategies. An approximation strategy was established as the most commonly used strategy. In view of these results, the study recommends Kiswahili use in Busia town for communication accommodation purposes.

Online learning: an effective option for teaching ENT to medical students?

ENT is underrepresented in the curriculum, and this has been compounded by coronavirus disease 2019. Recent restructures have removed ENT placements from the curriculum. This lack of exposure needs to be addressed, and increased use of online learning represents an opportunity to facilitate this. This study aimed to evaluate whether online learning can effectively deliver undergraduate ENT teaching. An online ENT module was created; content was structured on the Sheffield Medical School curriculum. Pre- and post-module tests and 5-point Likert scales were used to assess student knowledge and confidence, respectively. A total of 115 participants were recruited. Test scores improved by 29 per cent (p < 0.001) and confidence by 66 per cent. Anatomy and ENT conditions demonstrated significant improvement in confidence, with a lower confidence score for examination. This study showed improved knowledge and confidence, whilst highlighting greater efficacy in content over practical skills teaching. Online learning is a validated educational tool; however, it should not be used as a replacement but as an adjunct to supplement learning.

Microsatellite-stable tumors with high tumor mutational burden in association with tumor response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy across solid tumors and correlation with specific oncogenic alterations.

2634 Background: High tumor mutational burden (TMB-H) has shown promise as a predictive biomarker in certain tumors, but broad applicability across tumors is unclear. In 2020, pembrolizumab was approved for treatment refractory metastatic or unresectable solid tumors with TMB ≥10 mutations/megabase based on exploratory analysis of the KEYNOTE-158 study. Growing evidence suggest limitations of TMB-H across tumors. Our aim is to evaluate outcomes of patients (pts) with advanced microsatellite-stable (MSS) solid tumors with TMB ≥10 mutations/megabase treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and identify genetic alterations that predict poor response to therapy. Methods: Pts treated between 01/2015 to 12/2020 at Robert H Lurie Cancer Center, Northwestern University, with ICIs and TMB ≥10 mutations/megabase on next generation sequencing by FoundationOne CDx, Tempus xT or Guardant360 CDx platforms were identified. Tumors other than carcinomas and microsatellite instability were excluded. Radiologic response was assessed using iRECIST criteria. Responders (CR/PR) were compared with non-responders (SD/PD). Subgroup analyses were conducted based on tumor type, genetic alterations within signaling pathways. Survival curves were calculated using Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine impact of clinical variables on response. Results: Of 119 pts, median age was 68 yrs, and 61% of pts were male. 15 tumor types were represented, most commonly melanoma (33%), NSCLC (28%), small cell lung carcinoma (5.9%), colorectal carcinoma (5%), and pancreatobiliary carcinoma (5%). When evaluating for efficacy (n = 106), ORR was 36% with CR 14%. Median PFS and OS overall were 10.9 mo and 29.9 mo. Lack of exposure to previous therapy was associated with response (p = 0.039). PD-L1 status, specific ICI regimen, age, and sex did not have prognostic significance. When comparing melanoma/NSCLC (n = 66) and other tumor types (n = 40) there was no significant difference in response (p = 0.3). When comparing response by specific gene mutations, TP53 (p = 0.026) and PIK3CA (p = 0.025) were associated with worse response. Similarly, ROS1 alteration trended to poorer response (p = 0.057). When evaluating genetic pathways, mutations within TP53 pathway were associated inferior response (p = 0.018). There was no significant difference in RTK/RAS, NRF2, PI3K, TGFβ, WNT, MYC, Cell Cycle, and Notch pathways. Conclusions: Growing evidence shows limitations of TMB-H as a predictive biomarker for ICI therapy in MSS tumors. Our data suggests alterations within TP53 and its signaling pathway, PIK3CA mutations, and likely ROS1 alterations are associated with non-responders in MSS TMB-H solid tumors. Further analysis of tumor-specific cohorts and genetic alterations will be presented.

Pharmacy students’ knowledge in the use of glutathione for multiple sclerosis

Objective: To determine first-year pharmacy students’ knowledge of the role of dietary and herbal supplements such as glutathione (GSH) on Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Methods: Forty-two first-year pharmacy students were asked to complete an online survey to assess their knowledge of the use of GSH in the treatment of MS using Likert-scale type questions. Results: Participants were given an optional survey which received a 100% response. The majority of the participants were between the ages of 24 and 26 (n=17, 40.5%), females (n=27, 64.3%); located in the DMV area and had a BA/BSc degree (n=34, 81%) before joining the pharmacy program. The majority of the participants had a full-time job (n=21, 50%) with over one-third with pharmacy-related jobs (n=16, 38.10%) and an annual income of &lt;$10,000 (n=13, 31.0%). The student participants were asked five knowledge questions to analyze their knowledge of the use of GSH. The five knowledge questions were 1. Use of GSH to prevent MS-induced damage; 2. Free radicals as causes of MS; 3. GSH release in MS; 4. The beneficial effect of GSH in MS; and 5. Limitation of GSH in MS. A passing score of 75% or higher was achieved in only a small percentage of student participants (n=14; 33.3%). When asked the knowledge questions, more than seventy percent (70%) of student participants answered at least one of the questions incorrectly with an overall average knowledge score of 56.7%. Question #2 answered by most of them yielding a percentage of 76.2%. Student participants age 24-26 (n=15, 26.2%) significantly agreed to the same question (p-value = 0.007). A small amount of the study participants (n=13; 31.06%) who worked for 1-2 years also significantly agreed to question #3 (p-= 0.010). More than half of the participants between 21 to more than 29 years old and who had worked at least 1-2 years agreed to question #2. Conclusion: Our results indicate that first-year pharmacy students have limited knowledge on the use of glutathione in the treatment of MS. On the knowledge questions, only a small number of participants received a passing score of 75% or higher. The average score was 56.7%. This signifies that there are many areas for improvement. The use of GSH is expanding its use from a dietary supplement to possible treatment of disease states such as MS. Students may have limited knowledge on the use of GSH may be due to lack of exposure in the pharmacy curriculum as first-year professional students.

Environmental Awareness in Batik Making Process

One of the goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to conserve natural resources, such as water, soil, air, and others. Poorly treated industrial effluents discharged into nearby water streams contribute to water pollution. This problem is notably worse among small- and medium-scale industries, such as the local batik industry, which cannot afford proper and costly wastewater treatment facilities in their premises. Batik entrepreneurs should adopt environmentally friendly methods by using currently available technologies. Therefore, this phenomenological study investigated the environmental awareness of three batik entrepreneurs in Malaysia via interviews. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The batik entrepreneurs have adopted different batik making processes but employed almost similar batik waste disposal methods. Despite some level of environmental awareness among the batik entrepreneurs, they still practiced poor environmental batik making and disposal methods due to the lack of affordable technology. The lack of exposure to environmental education, open mindset, the socio-cultural practice of batik making, and production cost influences environmental awareness among batik entrepreneurs. Authorities should advocate green batik making and regulate rules for any malpractice. Future studies should explore the effective technologies used to dispose of batik waste effluents to enable batik entrepreneurs to adopt environmentally friendly batik making and waste disposal methods.

ASSESSING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN BUILDING BLUE SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR MARITIME COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this study is to assess the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the development of maritime communities and to build the concept of blue social capital. Blue social capital comprises a social network, social trust and development resilience that take place in the Internet. As individuals constantly accept ICT changes, it helps them to obtain information easily as well as increase their social capital. However, there are still a handful of maritime communities who do not know that the blue social capital may help promote their well-being and present them with the benefits of development. Lack of exposure in ICT is one of the reasons that some people do not understand the potential of blue social capital. The problem of cybercrime and poverty will also occur if the maritime community members are not trained to use ICT. This study uses a systematic literature review to examine the relationship between ICT and building of blue social capital towards maritime community development. The literature review analyses arguments between social capital components and ICT. An expected result is a positive relationship between ICT and blue social capital in the context of maritime community development. Future research should focus on blue social capital community empowerment in urban areas.

Evaluating the impact of neurosurgical rotation experience in Africa on the interest and perception of medical students towards a career in neurosurgery: a protocol for a continental, cross-sectional study.

IntroductionAfrica has the second highest neurosurgical workforce deficit globally. Despite the many recent advancements in increasing neurosurgical access in Africa, published reports have shown that the vast majority of undergraduate students have little or no exposure to neurosurgery. The lack of exposure may pose a challenge in reducing the neurosurgical workforce deficit, which is one of the long-term strategies of tackling the unmet burden of disease. Students may also miss the opportunity to appreciate the specialty and its demands as well as nurture their interest in the field. This study aims to assess the impact of a neurosurgical rotation during medical school in shaping the perception and interest of students towards a career in neurosurgery.MethodsThe cross-sectional study will be conducted through the dissemination of a self-administered e-survey hosted on Google Forms from 21st February 2021 to 20th March 2021. The survey will contain five-point Likert scale, multiple-choice and free-text questions. The structured questionnaire will have four sections with 27 items: (i) socio-demographic background, (ii) neurosurgical experience, (iii) perception towards a neurosurgical career and (iv) interest in a neurosurgical career. All consenting medical students in African medical schools who are in their clinical years (defined as fourth to sixth years or higher years of study) will be eligible. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Welch t-test and adjusted logistic regression models will be used to test for associations between independent and dependent variables. Statistical significance will be accepted at P < 0.05.

Ophthalmology as a career choice among medical students: a survey of students at a Canadian medical school

BackgroundThere is a lack of investigations into the factors that lead medical students to pursue increasingly competitive post-graduate training programs. We sought to determine the factors that influence medical students’ opinions on ophthalmology as a career and on ophthalmological medical education.MethodsAn anonymous 36-question survey was distributed to all medical students across the four program years at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry as a non-probabilistic convenience sample. Survey results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests to determine significant differences between study sub-populations. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify correlates for positive views towards ophthalmology.Results81% of questions had a mean positive response amongst the students. Students held negative views regarding the amount of exposure to ophthalmology in medical school. The greatest differences in opinion regarding ophthalmology were seen between those with more exposure and interest in ophthalmology compared to their counterparts with less. Regression analysis identified interest in ophthalmology as a significant correlate to a positive opinion in the field.ConclusionsOur survey demonstrates that while most students had positive views about ophthalmology, some aspects were viewed negatively. Students felt there was a lack of exposure, both educationally and clinically to ophthalmology, which may contribute to some misconceptions of the field. Early exposure appeared to be critical to forming positive opinions of ophthalmology and could be emphasized in medical education.

Опыт врачебной профессиональной консультации школьников в условиях детской поликлиники

The article reviews the issues of career counseling for adolescents with health problems. Goal. Show the possibilities and share the experience of providing career advice with focus on health to adolescents with health problems in the settings of primary health care establishments. Patients and methods. Nine hundred forty schoolchildren were counseled in the career advice room. The participants were divided into 3 groups: group 1 — participants with disabilities since early childhood, group 2 — children with chronic diseases, group 3 — children at risk of developing chronic diseases. The inclusion criteria were: status of a schoolchild, signed and submitted informed consent form, lack of exposure to occupational hazards. The conducted study does not endanger the participants and complies with the biomedical ethics requirements. Statistica 10.0 software was used for statistical processing of the data collected. Based on the results of this work and review of the relevant publications, authors of the study suggest a structure of the health- centric career advice service. Conclusions Career advice that factors in health aspects is an important link in medical and psychological rehabilitation aimed at helping the teenager to adapt to current socio-e conomic conditions and realize his/her physical and intellectual capabilities.

Attitudes of general surgical trainees towards endocrine surgery

Abstract Introduction Endocrine surgery is currently recognised by all surgical colleges in the UK as a subspecialty within general surgery. However, subjectively there appear to be very few trainees with an interest in pursuing a career in endocrine surgery. This study aims to assess the attitudes of trainees towards the subspecialty, as well as identifying possible barriers. Methods An online questionnaire was designed and sent to surgical trainees working in different hospitals throughout the London, to be completed anonymously. Results 31 trainees responded - 30 who were currently in training, and 1 post CCT. Only 1 (3.2%) wanted to pursue a career in endocrine surgery with 67.7% stating that they had not considered a career in endocrine surgery. 38.7% had no experience working in endocrine surgery. The most common deterrents to pursuing a career in endocrine surgery were: Conclusion Low numbers of trainees have considered or are pursuing a career in endocrine surgery. Lack of exposure, a shortfall within the curriculum and other perceived barriers play the largest role in deterring trainees. These factors could be resolved through increasing exposure and education, as well as focusing on the factors which trainees find most appealing.