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Skills Assessment (skill + assessment)
Selected AbstractsImprovement in social competence in patients with schizophrenia: a pilot study using a performance-based measure using virtual reality,HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 8 2009Kyung-Min Park Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of the use of Virtual Reality Functional Skills Assessment (VRFSA) in a future regular clinical trial, as well as to report a preliminary result about effectiveness of atypical antipsychotics to social competence in schizophrenia. Methods We developed the VRFSA that measured subjects' performances automatically and used analogue scale rather than Likert scale. Twenty-four female patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 15 healthy females were recruited. This was a 6-week, randomized, open-label, and flexible dose study, and 2 treatments (baseline versus post-treatment),×,2 skills phases (receptive versus expressive),×,2 patient groups (aripiprazole versus risperidone) analysis of variance was used in the final analysis. Results There was a significant difference in the VRFAS between the patients and the healthy subjects (p,<,0.05). Eighteen patients were included in the final analysis. We found larger treatment effect than those found in previous studies, and significant treatment,×,skills phase,×,group interaction effect on the VRFAS. Conclusions Our results suggest that the VRFAS is strongly sensitive to changes in social competence and thus especially beneficial in short-term clinical trials. In addition, atypical antipsychotics can improve social competence and differentially improve receptive skills and expressive skills in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] How neighborhoods matter for rural and urban children's language and cognitive development at kindergarten and Grade 4,JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Jennifer E.V. Lloyd The authors took a population-based approach to testing how commonly studied neighborhood socioeconomic conditions are associated with the language and cognitive outcomes of residentially stable rural and urban children tracked from kindergarten (ages 5,6) to Grade 4 (ages 9,10). Child-level kindergarten Early Development Instrument (EDI) data were probabilistically linked to scores on Grade 4's Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), 4 years later, and to socioeconomic data describing the children's residential neighborhoods. Multilevel analyses were performed for a study population of 5,022 children residing in 105 neighborhoods across British Columbia, Canada: 635 children in 20 rural neighborhoods and 4,825 children in 85 urban neighborhoods. Concentrated immigration consistently predicted better child outcomes. Moreover, the determinants of children's language and cognitive outcomes analyzed cross-sectionally differed from the determinants of outcomes analyzed longitudinally. Furthermore, there were notable differences in the extent of the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic conditions and rural and urban children's outcomes over time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] USE OF SIMULATED CLIENTS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY EDUCATIONJOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2007Jennifer L. Hodgson Knowledge of how one should manage suicidal, homicidal, child maltreatment, and domestic violence situations is paramount in the training of marriage and family therapists (MFTs). Simulated patient modules were created to help clinical faculty address these crisis situations in a protected learning environment. The modules were implemented by the MFT faculty in collaboration with the Office of Clinical Skills Assessment and Education at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine. Qualitative data over the course of 2 years revealed six thematic domains regarding therapists' performance, therapists' emotions, the simulation experiences, and lessons learned. Educational, clinical, and research recommendations include tools to implement simulation exercises into marriage and family therapy programs as well as suggestions to assess for teaching effectiveness. [source] Comparing two programs of cognitive training in Alzheimer's disease: a pilot studyACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2002E. Farina Objectives ,,To evaluate the efficacy of two different procedures of individual cognitive training in mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Material and methods ,,Twenty-two AD patients entered the study. We compared stimulation of procedural memory (group 1) with training of partially spared cognitive functions (group 2). Assessment included: neuropsychological tests, scales, and the Functional Living Skills Assessment (FLSA), a standardized battery built to directly evaluate patients' performance in everyday life. Results ,,We observed a significant improvement for both groups after training in FLSA total score (P=0.005) and subscales. For group 1, we also found a slightly improved performance in two tests: Attentional Matrices (P=0.041), and Verbal Fluency for Letters (P=0.059). After 3 months, patients' results showed a tendency to regress to the pre-training level. Conclusion ,,Both AD groups showed a substantial improvement after training in a direct performance measure of everyday functioning. However, results at neuropsychological tests suggest that training activities of daily living (supported by procedural memory) may be more effective than stimulating `residual' cognitive functions. [source] Reactions to skill assessment: The forgotten factor in explaining motivation to learnHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2007Bradford S. Bell The study presented here examined the effects of trainees' reactions to skill assessment on their motivation to learn. A model was developed that suggests that two dimensions of trainees' assessment reactions, distributive justice and utility, influence training motivation and overall training effectiveness. The model was tested using a sample of individuals (N = 113) enrolled in a truck driving training program. Results revealed that trainees who perceived higher levels of distributive justice and utility had higher motivation to learn. Training motivation was found to significantly predict several measures of training effectiveness. Trainees' performance on the pretraining assessment and trait goal orientation exhibited direct and interactive effects on their reactions to the skill assessment. Implications of these findings for future research on reactions to skill assessments are identified, along with the practical implications for the design and conduct of training needs assessment. [source] Comparing narrative and multiple-choice formats in online communication skill assessmentMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2009Sara Kim Objectives, We compared multiple-choice and open-ended responses collected from a web-based tool designated ,Case for Change', which had been developed for assessing and teaching medical students in the skills involved in integrating sexual risk assessment and behaviour change discussions into patient-centred primary care visits. Methods, A total of 111 Year 3 students completed the web-based tool. A series of videos from one patient encounter illustrated how a clinician uses patient-centred communication and health behaviour change skills while caring for a patient presenting with a urinary tract infection. Each video clip was followed by a request for students to respond in two ways to the question: ,What would you do next?' Firstly, students typed their statements of what they would say to the patient. Secondly, students selected from a multiple-choice list the statements that most closely resembled their free text entries. These two modes of students' answers were analysed and compared. Results, When articulating what they would say to the patient in a narrative format, students frequently used doctor-centred approaches that focused on premature diagnostic questioning or neglected to elicit patient perspectives. Despite the instruction to select a matching statement from the multiple-choice list, students tended to choose the most exemplary patient-centred statement, which was contrary to the doctor-centred approaches reflected in their narrative responses. Conclusions, Open-ended questions facilitate in-depth understanding of students' educational needs, although the scoring of narrative responses is time-consuming. Multiple-choice questions allow efficient scoring and individualised feedback associated with question items but do not fully elicit students' thought processes. [source] Assessing suturing techniques using a virtual reality surgical simulatorMICROSURGERY, Issue 6 2010Hamed Kazemi M.Eng. Advantages of virtual-reality simulators surgical skill assessment and training include more training time, no risk to patient, repeatable difficulty level, reliable feedback, without the resource demands, and ethical issues of animal-based training. We tested this for a key subtask and showed a strong link between skill in the simulator and in reality. Suturing performance was assessed for four groups of participants, including experienced surgeons and naive subjects, on a custom-made virtual-reality simulator. Each subject tried the experiment 30 times using five different types of needles to perform a standardized suture placement task. Traditional metrics of performance as well as new metrics enabled by our system were proposed, and the data indicate difference between trained and untrained performance. In all traditional parameters such as time, number of attempts, and motion quantity, the medical surgeons outperformed the other three groups, though differences were not significant. However, motion smoothness, penetration and exit angles, tear size areas, and orientation change were statistically significant in the trained group when compared with untrained group. This suggests that these parameters can be used in virtual microsurgery training. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 30:479,486, 2010. [source] Virtual reality simulators: Current status in acquisition and assessment of surgical skillsANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 1 2002Peter H. Cosman Medical technology is currently evolving so rapidly that its impact cannot be analysed. Robotics and telesurgery loom on the horizon, and the technology used to drive these advances has serendipitous side-effects for the education and training arena. The graphical and haptic interfaces used to provide remote feedback to the operator , by passing control to a computer , may be used to generate simulations of the operative environment that are useful for training candidates in surgical procedures. One additional advantage is that the metrics calculated inherently in the controlling software in order to run the simulation may be used to provide performance feedback to individual trainees and mentors. New interfaces will be required to undergo evaluation of the simulation fidelity before being deemed acceptable. The potential benefits fall into one of two general categories: those benefits related to skill acquisition, and those related to skill assessment. The educational value of the simulation will require assessment, and comparison to currently available methods of training in any given procedure. It is also necessary to determine , by repeated trials , whether a given simulation actually measures the performance parameters it purports to measure. This trains the spotlight on what constitutes good surgical skill, and how it is to be objectively measured. Early results suggest that virtual reality simulators have an important role to play in this aspect of surgical training. [source] Reactions to skill assessment: The forgotten factor in explaining motivation to learnHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2007Bradford S. Bell The study presented here examined the effects of trainees' reactions to skill assessment on their motivation to learn. A model was developed that suggests that two dimensions of trainees' assessment reactions, distributive justice and utility, influence training motivation and overall training effectiveness. The model was tested using a sample of individuals (N = 113) enrolled in a truck driving training program. Results revealed that trainees who perceived higher levels of distributive justice and utility had higher motivation to learn. Training motivation was found to significantly predict several measures of training effectiveness. Trainees' performance on the pretraining assessment and trait goal orientation exhibited direct and interactive effects on their reactions to the skill assessment. Implications of these findings for future research on reactions to skill assessments are identified, along with the practical implications for the design and conduct of training needs assessment. [source] Comparison of Outcomes of Two Skills-teaching Methods on Lay-rescuers' Acquisition of Infant Basic Life Support SkillsACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 9 2010Itai Shavit MD ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:979,986 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Abstract Objectives:, The objective was to determine if lay-rescuers' acquisition of infant basic life support (BLS) skills would be better when skills teaching consisted of videotaping practice and providing feedback on performances, compared to conventional skills-teaching and feedback methods. Methods:, This pilot-exploratory, single-blind, prospective, controlled, randomized study was conducted on November 12, 2007, at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion,Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. The population under study consisted of all first-year medical students enrolled in the 2007,2008 year. BLS training is part of their mandatory introductory course in emergency medicine. Twenty-three students with previous BLS training were excluded. The remaining 71 were randomized into four and then two groups, with final allocation to an intervention and control group of 18 and 16 students, respectively. All the students participated in infant BLS classroom teaching. Those in the intervention group practiced skills acquisition independently, and four were videotaped while practicing. Tapes were reviewed by the group and feedback was provided. Controls practiced using conventional teaching and feedback methods. After 3 hours, all subjects were videotaped performing an unassisted, lone-rescuer, infant BLS resuscitation scenario. A skills assessment tool was developed. It consisted of 25 checklist items, grouped into four sections: 6 points for "categories" (with specific actions in six categories), 14 points for "scoring" (of accuracy of performance of each action), 4 points for "sequence" (of actions within a category), and 1 point for "order" of resuscitation (complete and well-sequenced categories). Two blinded expert raters were given a workshop on the use of the scoring tool. They further refined it to increase scoring consistency. The main outcome of the study was defined as evidence of better skills acquisition in overall skills in the four sections and in the specific skills sets for actions in any individual category. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics. Results:, Means and mean percentages were greater in the intervention group in all four sections compared to controls: categories (5.72 [95.33%] and 4.69 [92.66%]), scoring (10.57 [75.50%] and 7.41 [43.59%]), sequence (2.28 [57.00%] and 1.66 [41.50%]), and order of resuscitation (0.96 [96.00%] and 0.19 [19.00%]). The means and mean percentages of the actions (skill sets) in the intervention group were also larger than those of controls in five out of six categories: assessing responsiveness (1.69 [84.50%] and 1.13 [56.50%]), breathing technique (1.69 [93.00%] and 1.13 [47.20%]), chest compression technique (3.19 [77.50%] and 1.84 [46.00%]), activating emergency medical services (EMS) (3.00 [100.00%] and 2.81 [84.50%]), and resuming cardiopulmonary resuscitation (0.97 [97.00%] and 0.47 [47.00%]). These results demonstrate better performance in the intervention group. Conclusions:, The use of videotaped practice and feedback for the acquisition of overall infant BLS skills and of specific skill sets is effective. Observation and participation in the feedback and assessment of nonexperts attempting infant BLS skills appeared to improve the ability of this group of students to perform the task. [source] Comparison of NOHARM and DETECT in Item Cluster Recovery: Counting Dimensions and Allocating ItemsJOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, Issue 2 2005Holmes Finch This study examines the performance of a new method for assessing and characterizing dimensionality in test data using the NOHARM model, and comparing it with DETECT. Dimensionality assessment is carried out using two goodness-of-fit statistics that are compared to reference ,2 distributions. A Monte Carlo study is used with item parameters based on a statewide basic skills assessment and the SAT. Other factors that are varied include the correlation among the latent traits, the number of items, the number of subjects, skewness of the latent traits, and the presence or absence of guessing. The performance of the two procedures is judged by the accuracy in determining the number of underlying dimensions, and the degree to which items are correctly clustered together. Results indicate that the new, NOHARM-based method appears to perform comparably to DETECT in terms of simultaneously finding the correct number of dimensions and clustering items correctly. NOHARM is generally better able to determine the number of underlying dimensions, but less able to group items together, than DETECT. When errors in item cluster assignment are made, DETECT is more likely to incorrectly separate items while NOHARM more often incorrectly groups them together. [source] Surgical Intern Olympics: skills assessmentMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 11 2009Kyla P Terhune No abstract is available for this article. [source] Using Screen-Based Simulation to Improve Performance During Pediatric ResuscitationACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2009Kevin J. Biese MD Abstract Objectives:, To assess the ability of a screen-based simulation-training program to improve emergency medicine and pediatric resident performance in critical pediatric resuscitation knowledge, confidence, and skills. Methods:, A pre,post, interventional design was used. Three measures of performance were created and assessed before and after intervention: a written pre-course knowledge examination, a self,efficacy confidence score, and a skills-based high-fidelity simulation code scenario. For the high-fidelity skills assessment, independent physician raters recorded and reviewed subject performance. The intervention consisted of eight screen-based pediatric resuscitation scenarios that subjects had 4 weeks to complete. Upon completion of the scenarios, all three measures were repeated. For the confidence assessment, summary pre- and post-test summary confidence scores were compared using a t-test, and for the skills assessment, pre-scores were compared with post-test measures for each individual using McNemar's chi-square test for paired samples. Results:, Twenty-six of 35 (71.3%) enrolled subjects completed the institutional review board,approved study. Increases were observed in written test scores, confidence, and some critical interventions in high-fidelity simulation. The mean improvement in cumulative confidence scores for all residents was 10.1 (SD ±4.9; range 0,19; p < 0.001), with no resident feeling less confident after the intervention. Although overall performance in simulated codes did not change significantly, with average scores of 6.65 (±1.76) to 7.04 (±1.37) out of 9 possible points (p = 0.58), improvement was seen in the administering of appropriate amounts of IV fluids (59,89%, p = 0.03). Conclusions:, In this study, improvements in resident knowledge, confidence, and performance of certain skills in simulated pediatric cardiac arrest scenarios suggest that screen-based simulations may be an effective way to enhance resuscitation skills of pediatric providers. These results should be confirmed using a randomized design with an appropriate control group. [source] Surgical skills assessment: an ongoing debateBJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 7 2001J. Shah First page of article [source] | ||||||||||