Level Of Professional Experience Research Articles

Workplace stressor factors, profiles and the relationship to career stage in UK veterinarians, veterinary nurses and students.

Veterinary professionals experience higher psychological distress and lower wellbeing compared with the general population. Identifying workplace stressors is key to understanding and alleviating these difficulties. Identify the severity of workplace stressors in veterinary professions across different levels of professional experience. A cross-sectional quantitative design was utilised via administration of a veterinary stressor questionnaire that measured the severity of 93 generic and veterinary-specific workplace stressors. A total of 658 participants reported stressor severity score. Factor analysis revealed four main stressor categories: workload and job demands, client relations stress, performance and accountability, patient care challenges. An inverse relationship was found between experience level and stressor severity scores. Furthermore, the most severe stressors varied as a function of career stage. Stressor severity tends to decrease with increasing experience levels. Stressors can be categorised by theme and unique stressor profiles can be derived for practitioners according to experience level. This knowledge can assist in the design and delivery of workplace support initiatives. Identify key stressors across different levels of experience is important in focusing efforts to support people in the workplace.

Clinical reasoning skills of German and Dutch manual therapists: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Introduction Reflective clinical reasoning (CR) is believed to play a crucial role in achieving an efficient therapy process, supported by evidence-based approaches that improve patient outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CR process of German manual therapists (MTs) using the CR skills of Dutch MTs as a reference. Methods This cross-sectional study evaluated the CR process and diagnostic ability of German MTs. Dutch MTs served as the reference standard due to their experience with direct access. The CR skills were assessed using the Diagnostic Thinking Inventory (DTI), a questionnaire measuring diagnostic competence. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to compare the groups. Subgroup analyses were performed to analyze the influence of work experience (in years) and the level of education on CR. Results 396 manual therapists (229 German and 167 Dutch) completed the DTI. Dutch MTs revealed higher DTI sum-scores compared to German MTs (p < .001; Cohen´s d = .41). Subgroup analyses regarding professional education revealed no significant differences in DTI sum-scores within German MTs and between both groups. In the subgroup analyses regarding professional experience, differences of moderate effect size were reached between German and Dutch novice MTs (in favor of Dutch novice MTs; p = .001; Cohen´s d = .62), and between German novice MTs and experienced German MTs (in favor of experienced German MTs; p < .001; Cohen´s d = .6). Conclusion The results suggest that academically educated German and Dutch MTs as well as experienced German and Dutch MTs are similar in terms of their hypothetical-deductive CR skills. In turn, German novice MTs seem to use hypothetical-deductive processing to a lesser extent compared to Dutch novice MTs and experienced German MTs, which in turn may support the hypothesis that the level of professional experience and education has a significant impact on the development of hypothetical-deductive CR skills.

Perceptions of Clinical Experience and Scientific Evidence in Medical Decision Making: A Survey of a Stratified Random Sample of Swedish Health Care Professionals.

Evidence-based medicine recognizes that clinical expertise gained through experience is essential to good medical practice. However, it is not known what beliefs clinicians hold about how personal clinical experience and scientific knowledge contribute to their clinical decision making and how those beliefs vary between professions, which themselves vary along relevant characteristics, such as their evidence base. We investigate how years in the profession influence health care professionals' beliefs about science and their clinical experience through surveys administered to random samples of Swedish physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, dentists, and dental hygienists. The sampling frame was each profession's most recent occupational registry. Participants (N = 1,627, 46% response rate) viewed science as more important for decision making, more certain, and more systematic than experience. Differences among the professions were greatest for systematicity, where physicians saw the largest gap between the 2 types of knowledge across all levels of professional experience. The effect of years in the profession varied; it had little effect on assessments of importance across all professions but otherwise tended to decrease the difference between assessments of science and experience. Physicians placed the greatest emphasis on science over clinical experience among the 5 professions surveyed. Health care professions appear to share some attitudes toward professional knowledge, despite the variation in the age of the professions and the scientific knowledge base available to practitioners. Training and policy making about clinical decision making might improve by accounting for the ways in which knowledge is understood across the professions. Study participants, representing 5 health care professions-medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, dentistry, and dental hygiene-viewed science as more important for decision making, more certain, and more systematic than their personal clinical experience.Of all the professions represented in the study, physicians saw the greatest differences between the 2 types of knowledge.The effect of years of professional experience varied but tended to be small, attenuating the differences seen between science and clinical experience.

A Study on Factors Influencing Designers’ Behavioral Intention in Using AI-Generated Content for Assisted Design: Perceived Anxiety, Perceived Risk, and UTAUT

This study aims to comprehensively understand the intention to use Artificial Intelligence Generated Assistance in Design Tools (AIGC) among design students and practitioners, along with its influencing factors. Utilizing Smart-PLS software and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique, we constructed a comprehensive research model. Based on 404 valid questionnaire responses, we systematically analyzed the underlying mechanisms of designers’ attitudes towards AIGC tools. The sample encompasses diverse schools and levels of professional experience, ensuring the wide applicability of research outcomes. In the data analysis process, professional statistical analysis methods, including path analysis and standardized path coefficients, were employed to ensure a profound exploration of research questions. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions significantly positively influence the willingness to use AIGC tools, while perceived anxiety and perceived risk exert negative impacts. This study, by integrating traditional and novel factors, provides crucial theoretical and practical guidance for the actual application of AIGC technology in the design field, offering profound insights for the future development and education of design technology.

ChatGPT: The brightest student in the class

This paper presents a research study that evaluated the score ChatGPT would get when summarizing a reading comprehension text from the PISA international tests with a prompt that made it simulate doing this as if it were a 15-year-old student. For this purpose, the text was camouflaged among 30 other summaries made by real 15-year-old students and was evaluated by 30 Spanish language teachers with different profiles in terms of age, professional experience, and gender who were unaware that one of the texts was made by artificial intelligence (AI). The evaluation of the summary, for which a homogeneous rubric is used, is based on two fundamental criteria: content and style. For the data analysis descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used. The results show that the ChatGPT summary obtained the best marks in terms of content and style, with its respective marks being 3 and 2.5 points higher than those of the students. Therefore, we can deduce that the style and content of the ChatGPT summary greatly exceeded those presented by the students. These results are independent of the ages, levels of professional experience, and genders of the teachers who corrected the summary. The integration of AI tools such as ChatGPT must be based on solid methodological proposals that integrate their use from a creative and critical perspective that allows learning with the support of these tools and not using them as substitutes for the development of basic student competencies.

Effects of knowledge, experience and coordinationon cost certainty for structural engineering designs of high-rise building projectsin Nairobi, Kenya

Clients are increasingly demanding a high degree of cost certainty from their project design teams to ensure that their building projects are completed within the budgeted resources. However, this objective has been negated by various challenges that unfortunately cause budget overruns. This study investigated the effects of experience and project management skills on Change Orders for Structural Engineering High-Rise Buildings in Nairobi County, Kenya. Data was collected from 150 consulting Civil Engineers drawn from the Engineers Board of Kenya register using a web-based structured questionnaire. Analysis of variance and Chi-square tests showed that coordination and experience directly correlated to cost certainty at 5% confidence level. Design coordination significantly helped to narrow gaps for cost certainty as well enhancing better understanding of the project scope. The level of professional experience was found to be critical for problem solving, effective use of design software, quality control of design and documentation and integration. Therefore, professional experience and coordination played a critical role in the reduction of cost overruns during the construction of high-rise buildings in Nairobi.

Educatorium – from theory to practice

Teaching foreign languages is based on teaching materials understood as all means used to ensure the achievement of the assumed goals of teaching a foreign language (Styszyński, 2004). Some of these materials are intended for students and others for use by teachers. Among the latter, the most popular are methodological guides and teaching packages concerning the implementation of effective ways of teaching a foreign language. However, due to their specificity, the theoretical aspect is rather undeveloped, and the examples are usually given in only one foreign language, without demonstrating the possibility of creative modification. These challenges are faced by the development of a new type of teaching materials – an educatorium, which has been designed and published for the first time in Poland. This type of monograph, containing an extensive theoretical part and a large set of exercises, is addressed to both academic and non-academic teachers of foreign languages, at different levels of professional experience, as a tool for self-development. Our main aim is to present the goals and functions of an educatorium, intended for teachers as innovators, researchers, and reflective practitioners. The paper also explains the methods of developing teachers’ professional creativity, presents the structure and content of the educatorium, and discusses a system of listening exercises given in Polish, Russian, German, and English.

Development of effective human factors interventions for aviation safety management.

In the aviation industry, safety management has moved away from capturing frontline failures toward the management of systemic conditions through organizational safety management systems (SMS). However, subjective differences can influence the classification of active failures and their associated systemic precursors. With levels of professional experience known to influence safety attitudes, the present research examines whether experience levels among airline pilots had an impact on the classification of causal factors using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). Differences in the paths of association between categories were evaluated in an open-system context. Pilots working in a large, international airline were categorized into high (≥10,000 total flight hours) and low (<10,000 h) experience groups and asked to classify aircraft accident causal factors using the HFACS framework. One-way ANOVA tests were carried out to determine experience effects on the utilization of the HFACS categories, and chi-squared analyses were used to assess the strength of association between different categories within the framework. Results from 144 valid responses revealed differences in the attribution of human factors conditions. The high experience group was more inclined to attribute deficiencies to high-level precursors and found fewer paths of associations between different categories. In contrast, the low experience group presented a greater number of associations and was comparatively more affected by stress and uncertainty conditions. The results confirm that the classification of safety factors can be influenced by professional experience, with hierarchical power distance impacting the attribution of failures to higher-level organizational faults. Different paths of association between the two groups also suggest that safety interventions can be targeted through different entry points. Where multiple latent conditions are associated, the selection of safety interventions should be made with consideration of the concerns, influences, and actions across the entire system. Higher-level anthropological interventions can change the interactive interfaces affecting concerns, influences, and actions across all levels, whereas frontline-level functional interventions are more efficient for failures linked to many precursor categories.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF MEANING-LIFE ORIENTATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL MOTIVATION OF RESIDENTS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Background. In the modern educational conditions of Russian reality, the pedagogical community of medical universities at the stage of postgraduate education pays great attention to the readiness of doctors for professional activities, which determines the conduct of research involving the study of the relationship between meaning-life orientations and educational and professional motivation of residents with different levels of professional experience. In the 2021-2022 academic year, a study illustrating the stated problems was conducted at the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University at the Faculty of Clinical Psychology.&#x0D; Purpose. To study the relationship between meaningful life orientations and educational and professional motivation of residents with different levels of professional experience.&#x0D; Materials and methods. The present study involved 65 residents of 2 years of training in various clinical specialties, their average age is 25.5 years. The entire sample of study participants was divided into two subgroups according to the parameter of involvement in professional activities. This parameter was considered necessary for studying the relationship between meaning-life orientation and educational and professional motivation of residents.&#x0D; Of the total number of respondents, 69% combined residency training with work in their specialty, 31% mastered the specialty at the stage of postgraduate education. Permission was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University to organize the study. Respondents agreed to participate in the study. To evaluate the results, descriptive statistical methods, a comparative analysis using the U-Mann-Whitney criterion for explanatory variables and the Wilcoxon T-test for dependent variables, a correlation analysis of the relationships of indicators using the Spearman criterion, calculated using the STATISTICA 12.0 application package, were used.&#x0D; Outcomes. The study allowed to form an idea of the relationship between meaning-life orientations and educational and professional motivation of residents with different levels of professional experience.&#x0D; Conclusions. The results of the study will serve as the basis for rethinking the approaches to the organization of the educational process of students at the stage of residency, the search for ways of education and training that ensured the development of their educational and professional motivation and affect the formation of a system of meaning-life orientations.

Sharing Digital Health Educational Resources in a One-Stop Shop Portal: Tutorial on the Catalog and Index of Digital Health Teaching Resources (CIDHR) Semantic Search Engine.

Access to reliable and accurate digital health web-based resources is crucial. However, the lack of dedicated search engines for non-English languages, such as French, is a significant obstacle in this field. Thus, we developed and implemented a multilingual, multiterminology semantic search engine called Catalog and Index of Digital Health Teaching Resources (CIDHR). CIDHR is freely accessible to everyone, with a focus on French-speaking resources. CIDHR has been initiated to provide validated, high-quality content tailored to the specific needs of each user profile, be it students or professionals. This study's primary aim in developing and implementing the CIDHR is to improve knowledge sharing and spreading in digital health and health informatics and expand the health-related educational community, primarily French speaking but also in other languages. We intend to support the continuous development of initial (ie, bachelor level), advanced (ie, master and doctoral levels), and continuing training (ie, professionals and postgraduate levels) in digital health for health and social work fields. The main objective is to describe the development and implementation of CIDHR. The hypothesis guiding this research is that controlled vocabularies dedicated to medical informatics and digital health, such as the Medical Informatics Multilingual Ontology (MIMO) and the concepts structuring the French National Referential on Digital Health (FNRDH), to index digital health teaching and learning resources, are effectively increasing the availability and accessibility of these resources to medical students and other health care professionals. First, resource identification is processed by medical librarians from websites and scientific sources preselected and validated by domain experts and surveyed every week. Then, based on MIMO and FNRDH, the educational resources are indexed for each related knowledge domain. The same resources are also tagged with relevant academic and professional experience levels. Afterward, the indexed resources are shared with the digital health teaching and learning community. The last step consists of assessing CIDHR by obtaining informal feedback from users. Resource identification and evaluation processes were executed by a dedicated team of medical librarians, aiming to collect and curate an extensive collection of digital health teaching and learning resources. The resources that successfully passed the evaluation process were promptly included in CIDHR. These resources were diligently indexed (with MIMO and FNRDH) and tagged for the study field and degree level. By October 2023, a total of 371 indexed resources were available on a dedicated portal. CIDHR is a multilingual digital health education semantic search engine and platform that aims to increase the accessibility of educational resources to the broader health care-related community. It focuses on making resources "findable," "accessible," "interoperable," and "reusable" by using a one-stop shop portal approach. CIDHR has and will have an essential role in increasing digital health literacy.

Clinical Accuracy of the Lateral-Anterior Drawer Test for Diagnosing Posterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture

BackgroundCommonly used clinical posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tests present with diagnostic weaknesses requiring alternative clinical tests. The Lateral-Anterior Drawer test (LAD-test) is a suggested alternative that previously demonstrated concurrent validity in situ. Further in vivo LAD-test clinical accuracy examination is required prior to any recommendation for clinical adoption. Thus, this case–control study aims to (1) investigate the LAD-test’s in vivo interrater and intra-rater reliability; (2) establish LAD-test concurrent validity against MRI as the reference standard; and (3) examine the correspondence between examiners’ professional working experience and LAD-test diagnostic accuracy.MethodsThree examiners with different professional experience levels, blindfolded during testing, and blinded from subjects’ identity, medical history, and reference test outcome performed all LAD-testing twice per subject. Reliability analyses included percent agreement, Fleiss’ kappa and Cohen’s kappa coefficients with 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) and prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted kappa (PABAK) calculations. Validation parameters included sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LR + ; LR-), and predictive values (PPV; NPV) each accompanied by 95%CIs; each tester’s percent agreement with the MRI; and their Youden Index.ResultsThe study sample was comprised of 31 subjects of which 14 had a history of unilateral full-thickness PCL-rupture. Their 14 contralateral knees and both knees of 17 healthy subjects served as controls. In vivo LAD-test performance did not produce any negative ramifications for the tested subjects. Interrater reliability was moderate (test-1: Fleiss’κ = 0.41; 95% CI 0.40;0.41; test-2:Fleiss’κ = 0.51; 95% CI 0.50;0.51). Pairwise examiner’s LAD-test outcome agreement ranged from 74 to 89%. Pairwise interrater reliability was fair-to-substantial (κ = 0.27 to κ = 0.65) with moderate-to-substantial PABAK (0.48–0.77). Intra-rater reliability was substantial-to-almost perfect (PABAK 0.65–0.97). Sensitivity and specificity ranged from 57 to 86% and 83 to 98%, respectively. The advanced and novice clinicians’ Youden Indexes were acceptable. The same examiners’ positive likelihood ratios revealed important and relative important effects, respectively. Positive predictive values were considerable for the advanced and novice clinicians, while negative predictive values were high for all examiners.ConclusionOverall, the study results suggested LAD-test practicability. In vivo LAD-test performance did not produce any negative ramifications for the tested subjects. In subjects presenting with a chronic PCL-deficiency (i.e., > 3 months since initial injury), the LAD-test’s clinical accuracy was comparable-to-superior to other commonly used clinical PCL-tests. Future studies to establish the LAD-test’s usefulness in isolation as well as in combination with other clinical tests for acute PCL-rupture diagnostics are warranted.Trial registration numberDRKS00013268 (09. November 2017).

Experience-Dependent Effects to Situational Awareness in Police Officers: An Eye Tracking Study.

Police work requires making suitable observations which form the basis of situational awareness (SA) of the encounter in progress. Incomplete early-stage SA (i.e., perception) can lead to errors in subsequent judgement and decision-making that can have severe consequences for performance, learning, and occupational health. SA in police contexts is still relatively understudied and requires closer examination using objective measures. The current preliminary study aimed to measure the gaze and fixation patterns among novice and expert police officers to understand early-stage SA at different levels of professional experience. Participants included 23 novices (10 early, 13 intermediate) and 11 experienced officers and instructors in tactics and use of force. Visit duration and fixation order were measured while participants viewed various static images of staged encounters. Results showed that all participants fixated longer on targets compared to the periphery, and fixated earlier on suspects’ faces compared to hands, bodies, or the environment. Further, experts fixated earlier on hands and spent less time scanning the environment than early novices. The current findings reveal eye movement patterns while officers engaged in typical police encounters. Future research can inform evidence-based police training to achieve optimal SA and minimize negative outcomes in training and operational field settings.

MR imaging detection of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: impact of intravenous contrast administration and reader’s experience on diagnostic performance

ObjectiveCorrect identification of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder (ACS) has an important impact on adequate therapy. The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of intravenous contrast administration and of reader’s experience on sensitivity and specificity of MRI in diagnosing ACS.Materials and methodsA total of 180 patients were included in a retrospective study: 60 subjects with at least 4 of 5 clinical signs of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder and 120 patients with other shoulder diseases who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI. In a first session, only non-enhanced images and in a second session also contrast-enhanced (CE) series were independently evaluated by three radiologists with various levels of professional experience. Readers were blinded to all clinical information and had to rate the shoulder MRIs for absence or presence of adhesive capsulitis. Data analysis included McNemar’s test, t test, and U test (p < .05).ResultsUsing non-enhanced MRI, readers achieved a mean sensitivity of 63.9% and a mean specificity of 86.4%. By additional use of CE sequences, the mean sensitivity (85.5%) and the sensitivity for each reader increased significantly (p = .046, p < .01, p < .001, p = .045) while the improvement in mean specificity was not significant. Reader’s experience had a positive effect on sensitivity and specificity, which was in part but not consistently significant.ConclusionThe addition of CE sequences can significantly increase the sensitivity of MRI in the diagnosis of ACS. Reader’s experience has shown to be another important factor for the diagnostic outcome.

Knowledge of COVID-19 Infection Guidelines among the Dental Health Care Professionals of Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia.

Background: This study aimed to assess the knowledge about guidelines related to COVID-19 infection control procedures among dental health care professionals (DHCPs) in the Jazan region. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving DHCPs (dental students, interns, and dentists) of the Jazan region between January and March 2021. A questionnaire with 35 items was developed and circulated online among the DHCPs. The dimensionality of the questionnaire was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The level of awareness (LOA) was compared across the genders, level of professional experience, and exposure to guidelines. Participants were considered to have high LOA when they responded to 26 or more items correctly. Results: A total of 363 DHCPs participated in the survey. The questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable. EFA revealed a distinct three-factor structure. Moreover, 61.2% of the respondents had high LOA related to COVID-19 infection prevention. Among those who had high LOA, dentists (65.5%) were relatively more than the students (62.5%) and interns (46.2%). Among the six guideline statements related explicitly to operative dentistry, more than 50% of the respondents were aware of 3 guideline statements, while less than 50% of the respondents were aware of the remaining statements. Conclusions: Most DHCP had a high LOA for general COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidelines. Dentists, males, and those who read the guidelines had higher LOA than their counterparts.

Clinical acceptance of advanced visualization methods: a comparison study of 3D-print, virtual reality glasses, and 3D-display

BackgroundTo compare different methods of three-dimensional representations, namely 3D-Print, Virtual Reality (VR)-Glasses and 3D-Display regarding the understanding of the pathology, accuracy of details, quality of the anatomical representation and technical operability and assessment of possible change in treatment in different disciplines and levels of professional experience.MethodsInterviews were conducted with twenty physicians from the disciplines of cardiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthopedic surgery, and radiology between 2018 and 2020 at the University Hospital of Basel. They were all presented with three different three-dimensional clinical cases derived from CT data from their area of expertise, one case for each method. During this, the physicians were asked for their feedback written down on a pencil and paper questionnaire.ResultsConcerning the understanding of the pathology and quality of the anatomical representation, VR-Glasses were rated best in three out of four disciplines and two out of three levels of professional experience. Regarding the accuracy of details, 3D-Display was rated best in three out of four disciplines and all levels of professional experience. As to operability, 3D-Display was consistently rated best in all levels of professional experience and all disciplines. Possible change in treatment was reported using 3D-Print in 33%, VR-Glasses in 44%, and 3D-Display in 33% of participants. Physicians with a professional experience of more than ten years reported no change in treatment using any method.Conclusions3D-Print, VR-Glasses, and 3D-Displays are very well accepted, and a relevant percentage of participants with less than ten years of professional work experience could imagine a possible change in treatment using any of these three-dimensional methods. Our findings challenge scientists, technicians, and physicians to further develop these methods to improve the three-dimensional understanding of pathologies and to add value to the education of young and inexperienced physicians.

Etiology-based strabismus classification scheme for pediatricians.

Pediatricians are regularly involved in the initial examination of children presenting with strabismus, a common ocular condition occurring in 3% of children. The objective of this review was to gain insight into pediatric residents, fellows and attendings` understanding of strabismus, and to propose an etiology-based strabismus classification scheme to aid this understanding. A survey was conducted in a single Department of Pediatrics in a university academic institution in order to assess the degree of understanding of the classification, etiology and nomenclature of strabismus. A targeted literature review, pertinent to our classification scheme for strabismus in the pediatric age group, is provided to clarify the various underlying etiological conditions for pediatricians. The surveyed cohort (n=26) consisted of 10 (38.5%) attendings and 16 (61.5%) pediatricians-in-training. Although 69% of survey participants felt comfortable performing an ocular motility evaluation, only 19% had a clear understanding of the underlying etiology of strabismus, 8% had a clear understanding of strabismus nomenclature and none of the participants had clear knowledge of a classification scheme of strabismus. We propose an etiologic-based strabismus classification scheme with streamlined nomenclature geared towards Pediatricians to facilitate the management of pediatric patients with various ocular misalignments. Eight major categories of this classification scheme include (1) physiologic, (2) comitant, (3) paralytic, (4) sensory, (5) syndromic, (6) orbital, (7) supranuclear and (8) pseudostrabismus. Pediatricians at all levels of professional experience have a limited command of strabismus. An etiology-based classification scheme of strabismus may assist in understanding the underlying causes and facilitate the management of strabismus in the pediatrician`s office.

A user survey on the adoption of crowd-based software engineering instructional screencasts by the new generation of software developers

Context:In recent years, crowd-based content in the form of instructional screencast videos has gained popularity among software engineers. For organizations to remain competitive in attracting and retaining their workforce, they must accommodate the use of such crowd-based documentation content. Objective:We conduct a user survey to gain insights on how a user’s background and work tasks influence the use of different documentation media types. In our analysis we focus on how-to tutorial screencasts and how the new generation of software engineers is using such videos as an information resource. Methods:For this research, we report results from our user survey, including benefits and challenges software engineers face in using screencasts as project documentation. We discuss potential avenues on how to improve the usefulness of how-to tutorial screencasts. Results:The level of professional experience, job position or reason for resorting to a documentation, affect the type of resource being used. As most (78%) of our survey participants were junior software engineers, our survey results are in particular applicable to this user group. Conclusion:We conclude our paper with lessons learned and provide some recommendations for screencast creators, such as: building a dedicated platform, making screencasts searchable and link their content to other artifacts.

Assessment of the knowledge and attitudes about the management of dental trauma among ear, nose and throat physicians.

Ear, nose and throat physicians (ENTp) encounter dental trauma (DT) when patients refer to the emergency department, as well as during operations such as tonsillectomy and suspension laryngoscopy. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes and knowledge of ENTp about managing DT, and motivation for further education. This study was a cross-sectional observational survey on a sample of ENTp from 15 different private/public hospitals. A questionnaire of 22 questions was divided into three parts: the level of professional experience and the frequency of encountering DT; specific questions on the management of DT; self-assessment of educational approach and level of knowledge regarding DT. A total of 128 surveys were accomplished and included in the evaluation. A larger percentage (96.9%) of the participants have experienced at least one case in the practice, and one-third (31.3%) have encountered more than ten DT cases. Although the duration of experience significantly affected the total number of correct responses to knowledge and attitudes regarding DT questions (p:0.028), more than half of the participants (44.38%) responded incorrectly to the questions. The majority of participants (97.7%) stated that they had no education on DT, and 90.6% were willing to receive DT training. The results of this study emphasize the deficiency of ENTp' knowledge level about the management of DT. In addition, results demonstrated the enthusiasm of ENTp for further training, which can contribute to the requirement of education for providing appropriate management of DT cases.

NeoAct: A Randomized Prospective Pilot Study on Communication Skill Training of Neonatologists.

Background: This randomized interventional study evaluated the impact of a 1-day experiential communication skills training on neonatologists' performance in doctor-parents-communication.Methods: 17 neonatologists with different levels of professional experience from the Medical University of Vienna were randomized into one of two study groups: The intervention group (IG) as opposed to the control group (CG) participated in a 1-day experiential communication training. Eight weeks after the training, participants' communication skills were assessed during an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Neonatologists were assessed in a simulated conversation by how effectively they performed when conveying complex health-related information to parents of ill infants. Participants in the control group (CG) were assessed first during the OSCE and received their communication training later on. Self-assessment questionnaires before and after the workshop and OSCE were completed.Results: The study determined that neonatologists in the IG subjectively perceived that their competence level regarding their communication skills had increased after the workshop, while this was not reflected by their performance during the OSCE assessment.Discussion: A 1-day experiential communication skills training significantly increased physicians' self-evaluation concerning their communicative competence. This perceived competence did not manifest itself in increased communication skills during the OSCE.Conclusion: Repeated training is needed.

The chest x-ray in acute bronchiolitis: technical quality, findings, and an assessment of its reliability

IntroductionDespite the recommendations of the current Clinical Practice Guidelines, the chest x-ray continues to be a widely used diagnostic test in the assessment of infants with acute bronchiolitis (AB). However, there have not been many studies that have assessed its reproducibility in these patients. In the present study, an evaluation is made on the radiographs, describing their quality, their radiological findings, and provides new evidence on the agreement between observers. MethodOut of a total of 281 infants admitted due to acute bronchiolitis, 140 chest x-rays were performed. Twelve doctors from different specialities evaluated the presence or absence of 10 radiological signs previously agreed by consensus. The level of agreement between 2 observers, and in groups of 3 or more, were analysed using the Cohen and Fleiss kappa index, respectively. ResultsOnly 8.5% of the radiographs showed evidence of a complicated AB. The between-observer agreement in groups of 3 or more was medium, and with little variability (kappa: 0.20−0.40). However, between 2 observers, specialists in radiology, the variability was wider, (kappa: −0.20 to 0.60). This level of agreement was associated with factors including, the sign to evaluate, the medical specialty, and level of professional experience. ConclusionThe low levels of agreement between observers and the wide variability, makes the chest x-ray an unreliable diagnostic tool, and is not recommended for the assessment of infants with AB.