A hypergraphic model of medical informatics: curriculum development guide.
(17/1860)
Medical informatics, as a descriptive, scientific study, must be mathematically or theoretically described. Is it important to define a model for medical informatics? The answer is worth pursuing. The medical informatics profession stands to benefit three-fold: first, by clarifying the vagueness of the definition of medical informatics, secondly, by identifying the scope and content for educational programs, and, thirdly, by defining career opportunities for its graduates. Existing medical informatics curricula are not comparable. Consequently, the knowledge and skills of graduates from these programs are difficult to assess. The challenge is to promote academics that develops graduates for prospective employers to fulfill the criteria of the health care industry and, simultaneously, compete with computer science programs that produce information technology graduates. In order to meet this challenge, medical informatics programs must have unique curricula that distinguishes its graduates. The solution is to educate students in a comparable manner across the domain of medical informatics. This paper discusses a theoretical model for medical informatics. (+info)
Education of health professionals using a proposed telehealth system.
(18/1860)
The movement of health care from hospitals to the community has demanded a major shift in the way in which health care professionals are being taught. This paper describes the collaboration of the Schools of Nursing and Medicine in the use of telehealth technology for the education of health care professionals. The specific aims of the project were to use the technology for the verification of the students' assessment and physical examinations, for the conduct of multi-professional patient rounds, and provision of consultations to professionals at remote sites. Capitalizing on the Schools' previous experience for observing students via computer technology at remote sites, we employed PC-based workstations, specialized peripherals, and Internet connecting protocols to implement a telehealth project for professional clinical education. Initial student, faculty and staff reactions were generally positive. The formal evaluation plan focuses on students, faculty, and staff. Structured questionnaires are used and a comparison of learning by telehealth technology will be made with alternative (more conventional) methods in evaluating knowledge and quality of verification of physical examination findings, and satisfaction with the learning process. (+info)
Active Learning Centre: utilization patterns of an interactive educational World Wide Web site.
(19/1860)
The advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) provides unique opportunities to transform medical education. Interactive computer assisted instruction has shown promising results but its growth has been impeded by logistical barriers. We designed an interactive WWW site--Active Learning Centre (ALC)--that offers a novel approach to these problems, combining remotely authored databases with computer-generated self-assessment tests. This study analyzes utilization and user assessment of the site. The site was found to be patronized mostly by students and health professionals from English-speaking countries. Users have been pleased with their experience and suggest further expansion of the ALC. Our data have also tentatively shown that their knowledge improved with repeated visits to the site. (+info)
A model for offering an International Medicine Seminar Course for US medical students: the 13-year experience of the New Jersey Medical School.
(21/1860)
An International Medicine Elective Seminar Course at the New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) was designed in 1985 to present a description of medical education, medical care systems, major global health problems, and intervention programs in other countries. Seminars are scheduled for nine weeks in the fall semester. At the end of each course, the medical students complete evaluations. Almost all (97%) students in 1997-1998 evaluated the course as either good (55%) or excellent (45%). Enrollment in the International Medicine Seminar Course increased from 12 medical students in 1985-1986 to 62 students in 1997-1998. An increasing number of students have applied for a fourth-year overseas International Medicine Elective. This and students' evaluations indicated that they have been motivated toward international medicine. The atmosphere of informal seminars and faculty interaction with students has characterized the course. It has made this model of teaching an ideal forum for medical students' professional growth. This course offers students the opportunity and insight to explore facets of their professional role not explicitly covered in the formal medical curriculum. The International Medicine Seminar Course is a self-supported model and can be adopted readily by other medical schools. (+info)
Life span of Japanese male medical doctors.
(22/1860)
There have been few reports with regard to the life spans of medical doctors. The status of the medical doctors graduating from 1926 to 1974, alive or dead as of October 1996, was ascertained on the basis of the list of graduates from the School of Medicine, Hokkaido University. Excluding data on female doctors and those who died in battle during World War II, data on a total of 3,982 doctors were available for study. Their mortality as of October 1996 decreased in parallel with the graduation year. Their mean future life span at graduation was estimated to be about 52.88 years (95% CI, 52.45-53.31) through linear regression (r = 0.992). Their mean age at graduation was 25.17 years. This was not different from the future life expectancy at 25 years of age of the general population (52.35 years). The future life span of surgeons and gynecologists-obstetricians was shorter than that of the doctors of basic medical sciences and internal medicine. This difference might be accounted for by factors peculiar to each speciality (e.g., exposure to blood) or by the degree of stress from work. (+info)
Power and the teaching of medical ethics.
(23/1860)
This paper argues that ethics education needs to become more reflective about its social and political ethic as it participates in the construction and transmission of medical ethics. It argues for a critical approach to medical ethics and explores the political context in medical schools and some of the peculiar problems in medical ethics education. (+info)
An international survey of medical ethics curricula in Asia.
(24/1860)
SETTING: Medical ethics education has become common, and the integrated ethics curriculum has been recommended in Western countries. It should be questioned whether there is one, universal method of teaching ethics applicable worldwide to medical schools, especially those in non-Western developing countries. OBJECTIVE: To characterise the medical ethics curricula at Asian medical schools. DESIGN: Mailed survey of 206 medical schools in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 100 medical schools responded, a response rate of 49%, ranging from 23%-100% by country. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The degree of integration of the ethics programme into the formal medical curriculum was measured by lecture time; whether compulsory or elective; whether separate courses or unit of other courses; number of courses; schedule; total length, and diversity of teachers' specialties. RESULTS: A total of 89 medical schools (89%) reported offering some courses in which ethical topics were taught. Separate medical ethics courses were mostly offered in all countries, and the structure of vertical integration was divided into four patterns. Most deans reported that physicians' obligations and patients' rights were the most important topics for their students. However, the evaluation was diverse for more concrete topics. CONCLUSION: Offering formal medical ethics education is a widespread feature of medical curricula throughout the study area. However, the kinds of programmes, especially with regard to integration into clinical teaching, were greatly diverse. (+info)