Undergraduate Students Of Medicine Research Articles

Neuroethical Issues in Cognitive Enhancement: the Undergraduates’ Point of View

To date, legitimacy of the application of cognitive enhancement programs to healthy individuals is still fueling neuroethics discussions. The aim of the present investigation is analyzing naive conceptions of the ethical implications of different practices—namely, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), psychotropic drugs, diet, hydration, and physical activity—which can be followed to enhance cognitive performance. An online survey targeted the opinions of the general public about the efficacy of the neuroenhancement techniques and ethical concerns in different contexts. Measures of general self-efficacy and beliefs about intelligence have been collected as well. Responses of 89 Italian undergraduate students of medicine or psychology were analyzed statistically and thematically. Findings supported the notion that passive ways of enhancing human performance, which fail to imply any personal effort and individual responsibility, are conceived as infringing moral rules, regardless of the context where they are implemented.

Stigma and perceived aggression towards schizophrenia in female students of medicine and psychology

Introduction. The main attitudes towards people with schizophrenia are fear and rejection, which derive from the idea that patients have no control over their behavior and that they are aggressive, violent, and/or dangerous. Several studies have shown that mental health professionals show negative attitudes towards patients with schizophrenia from the start of their professional training. Objective. To compare the stigmatizing attitudes and perception of aggression of female undergraduate students of medicine and psychology towards people with schizophrenia. Method. Fifty-seven (49.6%) undergraduate medical students and 58 (50.4%) psychology students in the early semesters of their professional training were included. Both groups answered the Opinion Scale on Mental Illness and the Public Concept of Aggressiveness Questionnaire (PCA). Results. Over 60% of the students from both degree courses considered that the individual with schizophrenia described in the vignette could be aggressive, with a higher percentage corresponding to female students enrolled in the medical degree program. In this group, more negative attitudes towards the disease were observed in terms of separatism, restriction, and stigmatization. Discussion and conclusion. It is essential to promote clear, objective information with a biopsychosocial approach to the disease in the syllabus in order to reduce or eliminate stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes regarding schizophrenia acquired prior to professional training.

Metacognitive awareness and the link with undergraduate examination performance and clinical reasoning

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Theory:Metacognitive awareness is a component of self-regulated learning and helps us to understand and control our thinking and learning. Thinking about thinking is also an important aspect of the clinical reasoning process for medical practitioners. Hypotheses: This pilot study researched the link between metacognitive awareness and undergraduate examination performance. The Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) is a validated 52 item survey instrument for measuring metacognitive awareness. It has eight sub-scales grouped into two domains: Knowledge of Cognition and Regulation of Cognition. It was hypothesised that MAI scores would increase between first and fifth-year undergraduate medicine students and secondly that MAI scores would correlate with undergraduate examinations results. Method:Medical students at James Cook University, Australia were invited to complete the MAI and consented to give access to their examination scores. Results:The results of this pilot study found that metacognitive awareness was not significantly different between first and fifth-year undergraduates in this sample. For first-year medical undergraduates there were correlations between the Knowledge of Cognition domain and their end of year examination results, but not with the Regulation of Cognition domain. For fifth-year students there were correlations between both the Knowledge and Regulation of Cognition domains and their end of year examination results. Conclusion:This study identified that metacognitive awareness is not significantly different between first and fifth-year medical students. This may cause concern given that the study identified the importance of both MAI domains in undergraduate medical examinations. This study should be repeated on a larger scale and may confirm that raising metacognitive awareness levels among students is desirable. Increasing metacognitive awareness may raise examination performance and better prepare students for developing clinical reasoning skills.

Interdisciplinary team education promotes innovations in the home care of older people

ABSTRACTThis article describes a new type of team training that involves undergraduate students of medicine, students from the Aalto University (industrial engineering and management, architecture, information networks, collaborative and industrial design and bioinformation technology) and specialized home care nurses. During the course, the students learned interdisciplinary teamwork and created innovations in the care of older people. The 18 participants formed six microteams (three persons in each team: one specialized nurse, one medical student and one from Aalto University). The course consisted of two seminars and 3 full days of home visits to older people’s homes. Participants were encouraged to make one innovation in each home visit that would improve the older person’s well-being or streamline the processes of home care. During the course, the participants promptly formed tight teams. They valued the know-how of the other team members and learned openly from each other. They also created a number of practical innovations in home care which they presented to executives of older people’s care in a final seminar. The course received very good feedback from the students.This course is an encouraging example of how gerontological interdisciplinary team training may be successfully applied. The article describes both the learning outcomes and the innovations the students produced during their home visits. It also discusses the learning theories behind effective interdisciplinary team learning.

Biology and medicine students’ experiences of the relationship between teaching and research

In this study, we aim to deepen our understanding of how biology and medicine undergraduate students experience the relationship between teaching and research. Employing a phenomenographic approach, 34 final-year students of a Bachelor in Biological Sciences and a Bachelor of Medicine, from one research-oriented Chilean university, were interviewed. Four categories of description emerged from interviews analysis. These categories range from experiencing teaching and research as disconnected activities to experiencing the relationship between teaching and research as a space to develop higher order thinking skills. Additionally, three dimensions of variation presented a more detailed picture of their experience: role of students in the research process, teaching focus and learning spaces where research is experienced. Also, when comparing the students’ experiences, we found that medicine students, unlike those of biology, do not experience teaching and research as disconnected activities (category A). Besides, although both biology and medicine students experience the relationship between teaching and research as a space to develop thinking skills (category D), there is a difference between them regarding the type of skills that they can develop: analysis and problem-solving in biology and the ability to make informed decisions and raise scientific questions in medicine. These results provide useful insights on how students experience teaching and research activities and its relationship. This might prove useful to the university community to improve the way in which teaching and research are linked in the curriculum of undergraduate programmes, particularly in the biological sciences.

DSPS-4: a Brief Measure of Perceived Daytime Sleepiness

Sleepiness is a key issue in sleep medicine but its definition remains ambiguous and difficult to address. Some studies have reported that sleepiness should be conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. One of these dimensions is sleepiness propensity accurately assessed by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. However, in the literature, data on other important sleepiness dimensions, such as sleepiness perception, are lacking. In an attempt to fulfil the literature gaps, this study aims at presenting data regarding the development of a brief self-report instrument to assess daytime sleepiness perception, the Daytime Sleepiness Perception Scale (DSPS-4). A sample of 692 undergraduate Medicine students was initially enrolled. The sample was randomly split in order to perform independent exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). A one-factor solution was examined. The DSPS-4 showed good indicators of reliability and validity. The CFA confirmed the one-factor structure of the DSPS-4. The unidimensional structure of the scale was invariant for both sexes. Results highlight the usefulness of DSPS-4 to measure and assess sleepiness perception at daytime. The short length of this scale enables its incorporation in routine assessment protocols for example regarding insomnia complaints. However, more studies are now required to check its suitability for other samples, specifically well-defined clinical groups.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation to Brazil of the scale of attitudes toward physician-pharmacists collaboration.

Background: Despite the increasing complexity of medication therapies and the expansion of pharmaceutical clinical services to optimize patient care working in collaboration with physicians. In this sense, interdisciplinary education has been encouraged. However, no instrument is available to measure attitudes toward collaborative relationships. Objective: To translate, cross-cultural adaptation and validation an instrument to measure collaboration attitudes toward students of medicine/pharmacy and physicians/pharmacists. Methods: The process of cross-cultural adaptation was carried out using international recommendations and was performed from January 2014 to April 2015. The instrument under consideration was translated and re-translated. A panel of experts compared the generated documents and the translation was evaluated for 20 undergraduate students of Pharmacy, 20 undergraduate students of Medicine and professionals (20 pharmacists and 20 physicians). Results: The process of cross-cultural translation and validation result in the Portuguese version. Modifications to the grammatical structures were made in order to establish a cross-cultural similarity between the English and Portuguese versions. Regarding the evaluation of the expert panel, six questions required modifications. Conclusions: Psychometric evaluation demonstrated and confirmed the validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese version to assess collaborative attitudes among pharmacists and physicians. Moreover, the scale can be used to evaluate undergraduates and postgraduates and foster the development of teaching methods that promote comprehensive attitudes in patient care.

Interplays of psychometric abilities on learning gross anatomy

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. In recent years, there has been international debate concerning how students learn anatomy. The rapid increase in scientific knowledge has put pressure on the place of anatomy within the medical and allied health professional curricula, as well as the design and structure of anatomy courses. In this regard, relatively little is known about what medical and allied health professions students want from an anatomy course or how they learn it. To assess students' learning approaches and perceptions of anatomy, a series of psychometric tests were administered to Medical (n=82), Podiatry (n=21), and Pharmacy (n=74) students in the United Kingdom. Analysis of the Anatomy Learning Experience (ALE) questionnaire revealed a predominantly positive attitude towards anatomy and the dissection room, with most valuing cadaveric dissection and not regarding it as a daunting environment. Further to this, analysis of the Approaches to Studying Inventory for Students (ASSIST) revealed predominant preferences for strategic and deep approaches. Personality traits were associated with certain learning approaches; neuroticism with surface (p=0.038), conscientiousness with both a deep and strategic approach (p=0.000 and p=0.060 respectively). Certain personality traits were also found to be associated with anatomy experience e.g. neuroticism and achievement striving felt the most effective way to learn was to get their hands in and feel for structures (p=0.044 and p=0.012 respectively). This study concludes that undergraduate students of medicine, podiatry and pharmacy learn anatomy in slightly different ways. Preparation for classroom activities should centre on the promotion of an optimum learning environment and teaching strategies which promote a deep approach to learning. Understanding students' personality and learning experiences should help teachers improve the students' learning of anatomy for effective application to clinical practice.

Building clinical thinking for the laboratory medicine undergraduate students

The cultivation of laboratory physician become more seriously in modern society. In order to systematically cultivate laboratory physician who are suitable for the national situation, it is important to strengthen the clinical thinking training for laboratory medicine students. This paper was focused on introducing the teaching contents and methods for laboratory medicine students about the clinical communication, monitoring frequency of laboratory testing and providing a reasonable explanation.(Chin J Lab Med, 2016, 39: 871-872) Key words: Medical laboratory science; Teaching; Competency-based education

Prevalencia de síntomas depresivos en estudiantes de la licenciatura en Medicina de Puebla, México

Objetivo: identificar la prevalencia de síntomas depresivos en estudiantes de la licenciatura en Medicina de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (fmbuap) que cursan el octavo cuatrimestre. Métodos: estudio observacional, unicéntrico y transversal; se tomó como muestra poblacional a 63 estudiantes de la fmbuap que se encontraban cursando la licenciatura; 31 mujeres y 32 hombres con un rango de edad de 20 a 23 años. Se aplicó el Cuestionario sobre la salud del paciente (phq-9), evaluando síntomas depresivos. Resultados: 95.23% mencionó por lo menos un síntoma en las últimas dos semanas, cerca de 31.72% de los estudiantes universitarios podría tener un diagnóstico de síndrome depresivo mayor. Los síntomas de mayor prevalencia: sentirse cansado o con poca energía 88.88%; seguido de tener problemas para dormir o dormir demasiado 63.49%; y 44.44% optaron por catalogar al impacto en su vida como algo difícil. Conclusiones: se propone realizar planes preventivos con la finalidad de evitar efectos negativos en el desarrollo académico.

Prevalencia de síntomas depresivos en estudiantes de la licenciatura en Medicina de Puebla, México

Objective: to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms in undergraduate medicine students of the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (fmbuap) enrolled in the eighth semester. Methods: observational, single center and cross-sectional study; it was taken as a population sample of 63 students of the fmbuap who were pursuing a degree; 31 women and 32 men with an age range of 20 to 23 years. It was applied the questionnaire about the health of the patient (phq-9), assessing depressive symptoms. Results: 95.23% mentioned at least a symptom in the last two weeks, near 31.72% of the students could have a diagnosis of major depressive syndrome. The most prevalent symptoms: feeling tired or with low-energy 88.88%; followed by have trouble sleeping or oversleeping 63.49%; and 44.44% chose to catalogue the impact in their life as difficult. Conclusions: it is proposed to make preventive plans with the purpose of avoiding negative effects in the academic development.

El proceso formativo y transformador de la práctica pediátrica de docentes del Área de Niñez: Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Antioquia

<p>Introducción. La consulta pediátrica tiene particularidades a tener en cuenta en la formación de médicos que promuevan la comprensión del universo comunicativo en la tríada niño-acompañante-profesional. Los docentes son modelos de aprendizaje de los estudiantes de esta interacción. Objetivo. Reconocer el proceso formativo y transformador de la práctica pediátrica de docentes del Área de Niñez de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Antioquia. Materiales y método. Estudio con enfoque desde el interaccionismo simbólico en el que participaron 19 docentes, a quienes se les hizo entrevista semiestructurada. El análisis de los datos se hizo bajo los lineamientos de la teoría fundamentada. Resultados. Emergieron tres categorías: 1) cómo llegaron a ser médicos y pediatras, se resalta a los profesores como modelos; 2) lo que transforma su práctica: el tiempo, la experiencia profesional, las instituciones y los grupos de trabajo, y 3) los recursos de los docentes en las interacciones con el niño y su familia: la pregunta, la observación, la explicación, el juego y la educación para la salud. Conclusiones. La reflexión de la práctica de los docentes ha cambiado la interacción en el acto médico. La universidad debe promover la discusión sobre el modelo de interacción que sus profesores ofrecen a los estudiantes.</p>

Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in pharmacy education - a trend

Pharmacy education has undergone a radical change as it evolves towards becoming a more patient oriented profession. With a greater emphasis on problem based teaching and competency, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), supported by its reliability and validity became the gold standard for the evaluation of clinical skills of undergraduate students of medicine and pharmacy worldwide. Core competency evaluation has become a mandatory and critical norm for accountability of educational objectives as the traditional testing tools cannot evaluate clinical competence. Interpersonal and communication skills, professional judgment, skills of resolution etc., may be best assessed through a well- structured OSCE in comparison to oral examinations, multiple choice tests and other methods of assessment. Though OSCEs as an objective method of evaluation offer several advantages to both students and teachers, it also has disadvantages and pitfalls in implementation. This article reviews the OSCE as a trend in pharmacy education.

Procedimentos diagnósticos e terapêuticos: processo de inserção de habilidades e competências médicas no currículo do curso de medicina da Anhanguera-Uniderp

INTRODUÇÃO: Há pouca discussão na literatura sobre quais procedimentos médicos o estudante de Medicina deve ser capaz de realizar no final do curso de graduação e em qual momento do currículo escolar eles devem ser inseridos. METODOLOGIA: Uma comissão formada por especialistas de diversas áreas organizou uma lista de possíveis procedimentos médicos diagnósticos e terapêuticos, sugerida por estudos e debates do grupo e que estivessem de acordo com as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais de 2001. Após consenso do grupo, mediante aprovação de mais de 75% dos integrantes da comissão, os procedimentos que de fato deveriam integrar o currículo foram definidos. RESULTADOS: Mais de 50 procedimentos médicos foram definidos, de acordo com o nível de complexidade esperada para o aluno de graduação. Após esta definição, tais procedimentos foram distribuídos na matriz curricular e divididos didaticamente em momentos de aprendizagem de domínio cognitivo e domínio motor. CONCLUSÃO: O presente estudo apresentou uma proposta de definição das competências e habilidades relativas aos procedimentos médicos a serem alcançadas pelos estudantes de Medicina de graduação em nossa instituição e teve como objetivo sistematizar a sua distribuição na matriz curricular.

Associations between Gender, Year of Study and Empathy Level With Attitudes towards Animal Welfare among Undergraduate Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Students in Universiti Putra Malaysia

Introduction: Attitudes towards animal welfare are important in influencing how animals are treated. Studies of attitudes towards animal welfare in veterinary students are scarce. It is hope that the findings will enhace a diverse research in the future in order to explore variety of factors in relation to animal welfare since such study is currently limited. Objective: The study is to determine the associations of gender,year of study and empathy level of undergraduate DVM students in UPM into their attitude towards animal welfare. Method: Questionnaires were given to 440 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine undergraduate students in UPM to study the associations between gender,year of study and empathy level with attitudes towards animal welfare. Data were collected from respondents through two sets of self guided questionnaires. Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) which assessed empathy level where only two sub-scales from the IRI were used. Empathic Concern (EC) and Perspective Taking (PT). Animal Attitude Scales (AAS) were used to assess attitudes towards animal welfare. Data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Result: 367 (83.4%) out of 440 students participated in this study. Antu-animal welfare attitude (74.9%) was the highest compared to the pro-animal welfare attitude (25.1%). Analysis showed a significant difference (p 0.005) between gender and attitudes towards animal welfare (p=0.057) as well as between empathy level and attitudes towards animal welfarefor empathic concern sub-scale (p=0.194) and perspective taking sub-scale (p=0.320). Conclusion: Majority of sudents were categorized as anti-animal welfareand the attitudes were significantly different among years of study. Female and malestudents have nomsignificant differences in their attitudes towards animal welfare. Students with ggod and poor empathy level also have no significant difference in their attitudes towards animal welfare.

Sentimento de mulheres atendidas por graduandos de Medicina na realização do exame ginecológico em ambulatório de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia da Fundação Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Pará

Introduction: The classes are crucial for medical training. However, issues such as obstetrics and gynecology, physical examination is deeply intimate, dealing with areas of the human body which prevail prejudices and taboos. Objective: Evaluate the consent form from women assisted by undergraduate students of medicine at teaching hospital in the state of Para Reference.Method: The study will be conducted in the months from March to April 2013, with a sample of 110 women attended by undergraduate’s medicine in obstetrics and gynecology clinic of a teaching hospital.Results: The majority of women at study had clarifi cation on the gynecological examination to be performed (79%) and claim that consent was required for the exam (58%), which occurred without pain or discomfort (55%), and 66% of graduates went on to conduct the test in the presence of pain or discomfort. After performing the same 41% of women reported feeling ashamed and who did not receive clarifi cation revealed that they would feel better (48%) or indifferent (48%) if they received. 62% reported not being asked to participate in the graduate examination, however his conduct was considered adequate (64%), and seriously environment during the exam (65%). 55% of women report having knowledge of an academic teaching hospital.Conclusion: Most women got clarifi cation about the gynecological examination, especially by the physician preceptor, claim that consent was required for the exam, and was not questioned the participation of the student in the meantime.

Educação em saúde envolvendo cuidadores de idosos no ambiente domiciliar

O presente relato visa compartilhar a experiência adquirida por discentes de medicina durante o estágio supervisionado em Saúde Coletiva em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde (UBS) com o Projeto “Semana da melhor idade: promovendo saúde e multiplicando o cuidado”. Por intermédio de oficinas e rodas de conversa, foram desenvolvidas ações para a capacitação de cuidadores informais de idosos em ambiente domiciliar. Para tanto, contou-se com o papel multiplicador dos agentes comunitários de saúde (ACS), bem como dos demais integrantes da equipe da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF). Entre as contribuições desse projeto, destaca-se a aquisição de habilidades e competências para a formação do médico generalista, tais como: a integração ensino-comunidade; a organização de atividades em educação em saúde; e o aperfeiçoamento técnico/humanístico no cuidado integral ao idoso. Conclui-se que este projeto foi capaz de alcançar o intuito inicial proposto, indo para além dos muros teóricos da universidade e compartilhando com a comunidade conhecimentos adquiridos na graduação.

Sexuality After Menopause: Ethnographic Study in a Brazilian Hospital School

The present study intends to understand the experience of sexuality after menopause among a group of women, through their life experiences, considering the construction of meanings attributed to this phase by doctors and patients in the gynaecologist's office environment. The issues involving menopausal female sexuality such as low libido and decreased sexual pleasure are associated to oestrogen levels plunges by doctors, frequently described as ‘symptoms’, during the research. During the gynaecological visits, women's perceptions about sexuality during menopause can go through a process of construction/reconstruction and negotiation. It changes the way women perceive the stage, leading to deep consequences in the way women experience the phenomena in their own body. The analysis is based on ethnographic material collected between September 2009 and October 2010 in a Brazilian university hospital. It includes interviews with women attending the Menopause Outpatient Facility and their doctors (gynaecology residents and medicine undergraduate students), observations during gynaecological visits and the group meeting follow-up, responsible to provide psychological assistance at the women's clinic.

Avaliação de treinamento cirúrgico na graduação de medicina

To evaluate the effectiveness of training in surgical techniques in pig feet during medical school. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 87 volunteer medical students from different graduation semesters, who attended a basic workshop for incisions, sutures, biopsies, flaps, grafts, under direct supervision. Pre and post-training self-administered questionnaires were used. The teaching of sutures, biopsies and ear correction was effective for learning of the minimal skills required for the proposed techniques (p <0.005), as well as excisions and flaps, except grafting (p> 0 97). The methodological approach and monitoring of techniques' reproduction were adequate. The training offered complemented cutaneous surgical skills of undergraduate medicine students.

Digital Stethoscope as an Innovative Tool on the Teaching of Auscultatory Skills

Physical cardiovascular examination, particularly cardiac auscultation, is one of the most difficult clinical skills for students during their medical training. Studies suggest that the use of technologies such as digital stethoscope increase the accuracy of clinical examination, however, its impact on the teaching of cardiac auscultation for undergraduate students of medicine is not known. The objective is to demonstrate the usefulness of the digital stethoscope compared to traditional methods as a tool in the teaching of auscultatory skills. nterventional, longitudinal, controlled, unicenter and randomized study. Thirty-eight medicine students were enrolled for a cardiovascular semiology course lasting eight weeks. The course program included lectures and bedside practice in Cardiology wards. In the practical lessons, the students were randomized into two groups: 1) (n = 21) digital stethoscope (Littmann® Model 3200, 3M); and 2) (n = 17) conventional stethoscopes. A pre-training evaluation was conducted through a test using the software Heart Sounds®, which was repeated after the course. The average scores were compared by paired T test and unpaired T test. It is observed that, at the end of the course, there was a significantly greater improvement in the group that used the digital stethoscope (51.9%) compared to the group using the conventional stethoscope (29.5%). Short-term interventions for cardiac semiology teaching are able to contribute significantly to improving proficiency in the identification of heart sounds. The use of digital stethoscope proved to be a positive factor in teaching these skills.