Practice-related Activities Research Articles

Yogic Practice Boosting Gratification on College Going Trainee Teachers’

The modern education system of the teacher training college shapes responsible enlightened citizens and qualified experts without whom no nation can progress socio-economically, culturally, and politically. Since society is becoming knowledge-based it is higher education that is contributing to a cultural socio-economic and environmentally sustainable improvement of the individual, organization, community, and nation. The Indian education system can neither compete nationally nor globally without a systematic and well-planned curriculum for the betterment of the trainee teachers’. Yogic practice in scientific ways daily basis is known as an influential factor on many physiological parameters of them. Studies have identified that yogic practice affects working efficiency. This study aimed to identify the effect of yogic practice on physiological parameters. College settings had been full of stressors that negatively influence pupils' mental health and academic performance. For solving trainee teacher s' academic performance issues, the yogic practice has been used to improve their academic outcomes. These findings further the knowledge of the role played by yogic practice interventions in reducing pupils' burnout symptoms and cultivating their ability and well-being, in promoting a nurturing classroom climate, and also in promoting the ability and well-being of Trainee teacher s. This study applied information process theory to demonstrate the internal mechanism between yogic practice and academic performance in three pathways with three major sections. This study benefited from the summary of the mechanism of yogic practice and academic performance, promoting the development of yogic practice-related activities and applications, and improving trainee teachers' participation in yogic practice interventions, thereby improving their academic performance. The findings suggest that yogic practice can improve the total personality of an individual. These results suggest that mindfulness-based yoga can be a positive tool for the classroom to reduce trainee teacher s’ anxiety, stress, and depression. Benefiting from the summary of the mechanism of yogic practice and academic performance, promoting the development of yogic practice-related activities and applications, and improving trainee teachers' participation in yogic practice interventions, thereby improving their academic performance.

The Report of the 2021-2022 Professional Affairs Standing Committee: Resource Guide for the Integration of Clinical Pharmacy Faculty in Professional Practice Settings

The 2021-22 Professional Affairs Committee was charged to (1) Develop a resource guide for member institutions and faculty regarding payment for the practice-related activities of pharmacy faculty; (2) Nominate at least one person for an elected AACP or Council Office; and (3) Consider ways that AACP can improve its financial health. This report describes the methodology and content utilized for the development of an online resource guide for member institutions, faculty, and practice sites regarding the integration of clinical faculties' patient care services into patient care settings, including models for payment and value-based payment structures that can be utilized to support the practice-related activities of faculty. The committee offers a revision to a current association policy statement, a proposed policy statement as well as recommendations to AACP and suggestions to colleges and schools of pharmacy pertaining to the committee charges.

Storyline in natural science teacher education - An approach to the coherence between theory and practice

The development of teacher identity depends on education rooted in theory- and practice-related activities. The Storyline Approach (TSA) can help to highlight connections between theory- and practice-oriented teaching using stories, characters, places, and tasks performed through role-play variants. In this study, natural science11This study is all about natural science teacher students, studying for being teachers in primary school (6-13 yr. pupils) even if we further on in this paper is writing just science students, or science teacher students. teacher education students at a Norwegian university developed and implemented Storyline projects within the areas of biology, environmental education, and technology. This study suggests that Storyline promotes theory- and practice-oriented knowledge and discusses this in relation to the Aristotelian knowledge forms. Through practical tasks, the students in this study reflected on connections between pedagogical and didactic theories, the need for theoretical and practical knowledge, and their future work as schoolteachers. Through this case study, we have determined that Storyline is fruitful for promoting coherence between practical and theoretical knowledge in science teacher education and for the development of professional practice as future teachers.

Learning to diagnose X-rays: a neuroscientific study of practice-related activation changes in the prefrontal cortex.

Medical expertise manifests itself by the ability of a physician to rapidly diagnose patients. How this expertise develops from a neural-activation perspective is not well understood. The objective of the present study was to investigate practice-related activation changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) as medical students learn to diagnose chest X-rays. The experimental paradigm consisted of a learning and a test phase. During the learning phase, 26 medical students were trained to diagnose four out of eight chest X-rays. These four cases were presented repeatedly and corrective feedback was provided. During the test phase, all eight cases were presented together with near- and far-transfer cases to examine whether participants' diagnostic learning went beyond simple rote recognition of the trained X-rays. During both phases, participants' PFC was scanned using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Response time and diagnostic accuracy were recorded as behavioural indicators. One-way repeated measures ANOVA were conducted to analyse the data. Results revealed that participants' diagnostic accuracy significantly increased during the learning phase (F=6.72, p<0.01), whereas their response time significantly decreased (F=16.69, p<0.001). Learning to diagnose chest X-rays was associated with a significant decrease in PFC activity (F=33.21, p<0.001) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal area, the frontopolar area and the frontal eye field. Further, the results of the test phase indicated that participants' diagnostic accuracy was significantly higher for the four trained cases, second highest for the near-transfer, third highest for the far-transfer cases and lowest for the untrained cases (F=167.20, p<0.001) and response time was lowest for the trained cases, second lowest for the near-transfer, third lowest for the far-transfer cases and highest for the untrained cases (F=9.72, p<0.001). In addition, PFC activity was lowest for the trained and near-transfer cases, followed by the far-transfer cases and highest for the untrained cases (F=282.38, p<0.001). The results suggest that learning to diagnose X-rays is associated with a significant decrease in PFC activity. In terms of dual-process theory, these findings support the notion that students initially rely more on slow analytical system-2 reasoning. As expertise develops, system-2 reasoning transitions into faster and automatic system-1 reasoning.

Defining the Core Skills and Activities of the Attending Physician in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care

The American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (ABPLM) contracted with a psychometric firm to perform a 3-phase Job Analysis following best practices. Literature was reviewed, a task force of subject matter experts was convened, a survey was developed and sent via Survey Monkey to attending physicians practicing in post-acute and long-term care settings (PALTC). The task force refined a comprehensive list of the tasks, knowledge, and medical knowledge needed in the role of attending physician in PALTC. These items were written as statements and edited until consensus was reached on their accuracy, conciseness, and lack of overlap. Task statements described distinct, identifiable, and specific practice-related activities relevant across multiple care settings. Knowledge statements described previously acquired information considered necessary to effectively perform such tasks. The survey consisted of 260 items, including 21 demographic questions, 115 task statements, 73 knowledge statements, and 72 medical knowledge statements. The survey was disseminated via e-mail invitations to Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (AMDA) members and through an online link available through ABPLM’s website. A total of 389 respondents participated. Survey data were analyzed with statistical analysis software SPSS. For each task and knowledge statement, an Overall Task Rating and Knowledge Rating were developed by combining the importance rating weighted at 65% and (for task) the frequency rating or (for knowledge) the cognitive level weighted at 35%. One task statement and 1 medical knowledge statement had a mean importance rating lower than 2.5 and were dropped from further review, resulting in a final count of 114 task, 73 knowledge, and 71 medical knowledge statements (258 total). The results of this Job Analysis highlight the unique and specific nature of medical care provided by attending physicians across a range of PALTC settings. These findings lay a foundation for Focused Practice Designation or Subspecialty in PALTC and changes in practice and policy.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Psychological characteristics, sport engagement, and performance in alpine skiers

Previously, investigators have sought to clarify the role of psychological factors in the development of expertise across numerous sport domains; however, almost no empirical work exists on winter sport athletes. Using a retrospective design, we examined associations between psychological traits, engagement in practice-related activities, and performance among sub-elite level, youth alpine skiers. A total of 169 skiers (88 women) enrolled at professional development academies in the United States completed a battery of questionnaires assessing practice history profiles and performance milestones, as well as various psychological factors (e.g., mental toughness, grit, perfectionism). Performance was assessed using national ranking across both speed and technical disciplines. In addition to linear models and MANOVA/MANCOVA tests, linear mixed-effect regressions were utilized to assess relationships between psychological factors, practice hours, and ranking over time. Higher scores on perfectionistic strivings (personal standards) were associated with improved performance. Also, grit was associated with increased engagement in individual practice hours. Coach-led one-on-one practice hours were associated with increased perfectionistic concerns (e.g., parental pressure), while indirect exposure (e.g., attending events without competing) was associated with decreased mental toughness. Findings highlight potentially important associations between athletes’ dispositional characteristics, prolonged ski engagement, and performance trajectory.

PO261 Need of Capacity Building In Hypertension Management of Primary Care Physicians In India

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience a higher burden of chronic disease yet have poorer access to needed medicines than other Australians. Adverse health outcomes from these illnesses can be minimised with improved prescribing quality. This project aims to improve quality of care outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult patients with chronic disease by integrating a pharmacist within primary health care teams in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs).This non-randomised, prospective, pre and post quasi-experimental study, will be pragmatic, community-based and participatory, comparing outcomes and costs using paired patient data. Pharmacists will be integrated at 22 sites for approximately 15 months to conduct patient-related and practice-related activities through 10 core roles: providing medication management reviews, assessing adherence and medication appropriateness, providing medicines information and education and training, collaborating with healthcare teams, delivering preventive care, liaising with stakeholders, providing trnsitional care, and undertaking a drug utilisation review. With patients’ consent, de-identified client-level data will be extracted from clinical information systems and pharmacists will record deidentified activity in an electronic logbook. Primary expected outcomes include improvements in biometric indices (glycated haemoglobin, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lipids, cardiovascular risk, albumin-creatinine ratio) from baseline to end of study. Expected secondary outcomes include improvements in estimated glomerular filtration rate, prescribing indices (appropriateness, overuse and underuse), medication adherence, self-assessed health, and health service utilisation indices. A qualitative assessment of stakeholder and patient perceptions and a cost-effectiveness analysis will be undertaken.Numerous inquiries have recommended evaluating the impact of pharmacists integrated within primary health care settings. This study is the first to explore this impact on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are medically underserved. Evaluation of innovative integrated workforce models is necessary to address the challenges of delivering quality care together with this population.

Gender differences in SCRABBLE performance and associated engagement in purposeful practice activities

In two studies, the SCRABBLE skill of male and female participants at the National SCRABBLE Championship was analyzed and revealed superior performance for males. By collecting increasingly detailed information about the participants’ engagement in practice-related activities, we found that over half of the variance in SCRABBLE performance was accounted for by measures of starting ages and the amount of different types of practice activities. Males and females did not differ significantly in the benefits to their performance derived from engagement in SCRABBLE-specific practice alone (purposeful practice). However, gender differences in performance were fully mediated by lower engagement in purposeful practice by females and by their rated preference for playing games of SCRABBLE—an activity where more extended engagement is not associated with increased SCRABBLE performance. General implications from our account of gender differences in skill acquisition are discussed, and future research is proposed for how the duration of engagement in effective deliberate practice can be experimentally manipulated.

Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms-An fMRI Study.

Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians' selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution.

Recommendations for Evaluating Practice-Related Activities of Pharmacy Faculty.

To develop definitions of who pharmacy practice faculty and partners are, identify indicators to measure practice-related activities, and provide guidance for evaluating pharmacy practice faculty. A 4-round, online Delphi was conducted. Panelists with experience evaluating pharmacy practice faculty were invited. Consensus was achieved when there was agreement by at least 70% of panelists. Round 1: Panelists were asked to identify the essential distinguishing characteristics of pharmacy practice faculty and practice partners as well as metrics that could be used to measure practice productivity and quality. Responses were grouped into common themes. Round 2: Panelists were asked to agree, agree with changes, or disagree with themes and metrics identified. Round 3: Panelists were asked to agree, agree with changes, or disagree with definitions of pharmacy practice faculty and practice partners. Panelists were asked about procedural elements of evaluation processes that colleges/schools should adopt. Round 4: panelists were asked about areas of uncertainty that had not yet achieved consensus. A total of 17 experts participated. Consensus definitions for pharmacy practice faculty and practice partners were achieved . From 291 submitted indicators, 14 productivity and 10 quality indicators reached consensus along with recommended frequencies for collection and review. Peer review was identified as an important quality indicator. Recommendations regarding who should participate in the evaluation process and how the data should be used also achieved consensus. Formal mechanisms for evaluating the practice-related activities of pharmacy faculty are critical to ensure this area of responsibility is fairly recognized and considered.

Selecting Design Management Activities by SMEs’ Management Characteristics

Background Design is widely recognized as a strategic tool for business success. Not only large corporations but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realize the importance of design. Both in academia and corporate world, attention on the design management of SMEs is growing. Studies on the design management of SMEs mainly focus on case studies and suggest ideal models for adopting design into business. However, in order for general SMEs to adopt design management into business, practical knowledge of design management activities is needed. This research aims to establish knowledge on selecting design management activities according to the various management characteristics of SMEs. Methods First, influential management factors for design were found by conducting a contents analysis on journal articles related to business and design. Second, design management activities were identified by conducting a literature review of six design assessment tools. Third, a survey was conducted on 35 Korean manufacturing SMEs recognized as companies with good design management. The effect of each management factor on design management activities was investigated by a wide range of literature search, questionnaire survey and other relevant methods including cluster analysis, T-test, ANOVA test and regression analysis. Results As a result, 23 design management activities and 12 influential management factors were identified. By cluster analysis, 2 types of design management styles of SMEs were identified. By regression analysis, the influential management factors for each design management activity were identified. As a result, a checklist was developed for adopting design management activity into SMEs according to the management characteristics. Conclusions According to the management characteristics of each company, design management activities were utilized differently. The companies successful in design management were basically good at design concept and design implementation activities. Companies targeting on stable, domestic market that had already established their own way of business concentrated on the design practice-related activities. On the other hand, companies targeting the overseas, unstable market that were trying to survive with their technology competencies, also tried to focus on design practice activities, as well as design planning, design project generating, and design project-managing activities. A checklist for selecting design management activities was developed. This study has significance for adopting action-level design management into SMEs, according to each company’s management characteristics.

Processes and Metrics to Evaluate Faculty Practice Activities at US Schools of Pharmacy

Objective. To determine what processes and metrics are employed to measure and evaluate pharmacy practice faculty members at colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States. Methods. A 23-item web-based questionnaire was distributed to pharmacy practice department chairs at schools of pharmacy fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) (n=114). Results. Ninety-three pharmacy practice chairs or designees from 92 institutions responded. Seventy-six percent reported that more than 60% of the department's faculty members were engaged in practice-related activities at least eight hours per week. Fewer than half (47%) had written policies and procedures for conducting practice evaluations. Institutions commonly collected data regarding committee service at practice sites, community service events, educational programs, and number of hours engaged in practice-related activities; however, only 24% used a tool to longitudinally collect practice-related data. Publicly funded institutions were more likely than private schools to have written procedures. Conclusion. Data collection tools and best practice recommendations for conducting faculty practice evaluations are needed.

Imitation and observational learning of hand actions: Prefrontal involvement and connectivity

The first aim of this event-related fMRI study was to identify the neural circuits involved in imitation learning. We used a rapid imitation task where participants directly imitated pictures of guitar chords. The results provide clear evidence for the involvement of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as the fronto-parietal mirror circuit (FPMC) during action imitation when the requirements for working memory are low. Connectivity analyses further indicated a robust connectivity between left prefrontal cortex and the components of the FPMC bilaterally. We conclude that a mechanism of automatic perception-action matching alone is insufficient to account for imitation learning. Rather, the motor representation of an observed, complex action, as provided by the FPMC, only serves as the 'raw material' for higher-order supervisory and monitoring operations associated with the prefrontal cortex. The second aim of this study was to assess whether these neural circuits are also recruited during observational practice (OP, without motor execution), or only during physical practice (PP). Whereas prefrontal cortex was not consistently activated in action observation across all participants, prefrontal activation intensities did predict the behavioural practice effects, thus indicating a crucial role of prefrontal cortex also in OP. In addition, whilst OP and PP produced similar activation intensities in the FPMC when assessed during action observation, during imitative execution, the practice-related activation decreases were significantly more pronounced for PP than for OP. This dissociation indicates a lack of execution-related resources in observationally practised actions. More specifically, we found neural efficiency effects in the right motor cingulate-basal ganglia circuit and the FPMC that were only observed after PP but not after OP. Finally, we confirmed that practice generally induced activation decreases in the FPMC during both action observation and imitation sessions and outline a framework explaining the discrepant findings in the literature.

The role of the assessor in the assessment of practice: An alternative view

Background: Traditionally, the assessment of the competent practical performance of student health professionals places a high level of confidence upon the ability of a second party to judge whether students are able to apply theory in practical contexts. More often than not, the specific assessment tool has a clear focus on the conduct of skills to explicit performance criteria. However, what has proven particularly problematic is the ability to devise a tool to assess the less overtly procedural qualities, such as professionalism, interpersonal skills, clinical reasoning and so forth. When such assessment tools are designed there is also particular challenge to counter the potential for conscious or unconscious bias on the part of the assessor.Aim: With direct reference to enactivist theory, and using illustrations from undergraduate medical, nursing and physiotherapy education, it is argued that in the conduct of any assessment the assessor is as much an integral part of the assessment as is the student.Conclusion: The enactivist perspective has clear implications for the role of the assessor in the preparation, conduct and outcome of the assessment of practice-related activities.

Association Between Learning Capabilities and Practice-Related Activation Changes in Schizophrenia

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the neural correlates of practice-associated activation changes in patients with schizophrenia and their association with symptom severity. A group of patients (n = 24) were divided into more successful and less successful learners and were asked to perform a verbal overlearning task in the scanner. We found that both patient groups profited from practice, showing significant decreases in mean response times as well as significant learning-related decreases in cerebral activation. Direct comparison between groups yielded a relative hyperactivation in the group of the less successful learners at the beginning of practice, which showed a reduction with increasing practice. This was reflected by relatively stronger signal decreases in a predominantly fronto-parieto-cerebellar network. In the group of less successful learners, there was a negative correlation between general symptom scores and learning-related signal decreases in a task-relevant network involving cerebellar, inferior and middle frontal (BA 45/47, 46), superior parietal (BA 31), and superior temporal (BA 39) regions. Present data indicate that hyperactivity under high task demands might serve to identify those patients with less potential to profit from practice. However, at least in the context of moderate- to low-working memory demands, this activation abnormality seems to constitute a state rather than a trait characteristic, which patients manage to reduce by successful short-term learning. The findings also suggest that successful learners can better compensate potentially interfering effects exerted by disorder-related psychopathology.

Regional specificity and practice: Dynamic changes in object and spatial working memory

Working memory (WM) tasks engage a network of brain regions that includes primary, unimodal, and multimodal associative cortices. Little is known, however, about whether task practice influences these types of regions differently. In this experiment, we used event-related fMRI to examine practice-related activation changes in different region types over the course of a scanning session while participants performed a delayed-recognition task. The task contained separate WM processing stages (encoding, maintenance, retrieval) and different materials (object, spatial), which allowed us to investigate the influence of practice on different component processes. We observed significant monotonic decreases, and not increases, in fMRI signal primarily in unimodal and multimodal regions. These decreases occurred during WM encoding and retrieval, but not during maintenance. Finally, regions specific to the type of memoranda (e.g., spatial or object) showed a lesser degree of sensitivity to practice as compared to regions activated by both types of memoranda, suggesting that these regions may be specialized more for carrying out processing within a particular modality than for experience-related flexibility. Overall, these findings indicate that task practice does not have a uniform effect on stages of WM processing, the type of WM memoranda being processed or on different types of brain regions. Instead, regions engaged during WM encoding and retrieval may have greater capacity for functional plasticity than WM maintenance. Additionally, the degree of specialization within brain regions may determine processing efficiency. Unimodal and multimodal regions that participate in both object and spatial processing may be specialized for flexible experience-related change, while those supporting primary sensorimotor processing may operate at optimal efficiency and are less susceptible to practice.

Telemanagement of hypertension: A qualitative assessment of patient and physician preferences

Prevalence surveys have consistently found that the blood pressure control rate among people with hypertension is less than 25%. Studies of telemedicine as a means of providing care to hypertensive patients have shown that this approach is effective in lowering blood pressure. Major design flaws and high operating costs, however, have hindered its adoption by physicians and patients. In the present commentary, the field of telemedicine, as it pertains to hypertension management, is reviewed, and the investigators' experiences in developing a new telemedicine system are outlined. An applied qualitative case study approach was used to determine the information needs for the design of a telemedicine system. Opinions were elicited separately from type 2 diabetic patients with hypertension (n=24) and family practitioners in active clinical practice (n=18). Physician and patient focus group meetings provided key information that led to changes in the prototype system. The low level of computer and Internet use by patients in everyday life and by physicians in practice-related activities precluded their inclusion in the design of the system for information retrieval and receiving clinical alerts. For patients, the mobile phone appeared to be an acceptable alternative. The only practical, automated means to disseminate reports and alerts to physicians was by fax, which was the most universally available device in a doctor's office. This tightly focused qualitative study led to the development of design principles for a prototype system, increasing the likelihood of user acceptance and improving its effectiveness.

Evaluation of a Pharmacy Continuing Education Program: Long-Term Learning Outcomes and Changes in Practice Behaviors

Objectives. To assess the long-term outcomes from a 3-month, curriculum-based pharmacy continuing education (CPE) program on lipid management and hypertension services, particularly changes in practice behaviors. Methods. An interactive lipid management and hypertension services pharmacy continuing education program focusing on the development of cognitive and psychomotor skills was developed and offered. A pre- and post-program survey was developed to assess participant knowledge related to 12 cognitive and psychomotor concepts derived from program objectives. Participants were asked about their practice settings and percentage of time engaged in practice-related activities, and whether the program influenced subsequent practice behaviors, specifically the provision of clinical services. Results. Forty-six of 49 participants completed the preprogram survey with 65% and 37% post-program response rates at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Significant improvements in participant knowledge base and skills were ...

Multivariate Predictive Relationship between Kinematic and Functional Activation Patterns in a PET Study of Visuomotor Learning

Imaging studies of visuomotor learning have reported practice-related activation in brain regions mediating sensorimotor functions. However, development and testing of functional motor learning models, based on the relationship between imaging and behavioral measures, is complicated by the multidimensional nature of motoric control. In the present study, multivariate techniques were used to analyze [15O]water PET and kinematic correlates of learning in a visuomotor tracing task. Fourteen subjects traced a geometric form over a series of eight tracing trials, preceded and followed by baseline trials in which they passively viewed the geometric form. Simultaneous evaluation of multiple behavioral measures indicated that performance improvement was most strongly associated with a global performance measure and least strongly associated with measures of fine motor control. Results of three independent analytic techniques (i.e., intertrial correlation matrices, power function modeling, iterative canonical variate analysis) indicated that imaging and behavioral measures were most closely related on early learning trials. Performance improvement was associated with covarying increases in normalized activity among superior parietal, postcentral gyrus, and premotor regions and covarying decreases in normalized activity among cerebellar, inferior parietal, pallidal, and medial occipital regions. These findings suggest that performance improvement may be associated with increased activation in neural systems previously implicated in visually guided reaching and decreased activation in neural systems previously implicated in attentive visuospatial processing.