Student Skills (student + skill)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Communication skills knowledge, understanding and OSCE performance in medical trainees: a multivariate prospective study using structural equation modelling

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 9 2002
G M Humphris
Aim, To test the stability of medical student communication skills over a period of 17 months as exhibited by performance in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and to determine the strength of prediction of these skills by initial levels of knowledge and understanding. Design, This is a prospective study using a 2-wave cohort. Participants, Medical undergraduates (n = 383) from 2 years intake (1996 and 1997) were followed through the first 3 years of a medical curriculum. Procedure, The study procedure involved the objective structured video examination (OSVE) conducted at formative and summative examinations during the first year. Two OSCE measures were employed: expert examiners and simulated patients completed the Liverpool Communication Skills Assessment Scale (LCSAS) and the Global Simulated Patient Rating Scale (GSPRS), respectively. The OSCE data were collected at Level 1 and 17 months later at Level 2 examinations. Results, The measurement model followed prediction. A causal model using latent variables was fitted with Level 2 OSCE performance regressed on Level 1 OSCE and OSVE marks. Expert and simulated patient OSCE data were fitted separately and combined to determine strength of model fit according to professional and patient opinion of student skills. The overall fit of the models was acceptable. Communication skills performance showed a high level of stability. Some negative effect of cognitive factors on future skills performance was found. Conclusion, Early development of communication skills shows stable performance following an introductory course. Knowledge of communication skills has a small but significant influence on performance, depending on the time of testing. New assessments of cognitive factors are required to include both tacit and explicit knowledge. [source]


Learning to look: developing clinical observational skills at an art museum

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 12 2001
Charles L Bardes
Context Clinical diagnosis involves the observation, description, and interpretation of visual information. These skills are also the special province of the visual arts. We describe an educational collaboration between a medical school and an art museum, designed for the purpose of developing student skills in observation, description, and interpretation. Objectives In the programme, medical students first examine painted portraits, under the tutelage of art educators and medical school faculty. Then, the students examine photographs of patients' faces and apply the same skills. Conclusion This programme, well-received by students and faculty, appeared to help the students not only in improving their empirical skills in observation, but also in developing increased awareness of emotional and character expression in the human face. [source]


Successful teaching in evidence-based medicine

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2000
William A Ghali
Objectives Several published articles have described the importance of exposing medical trainees to the ,new paradigm' of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Recognizing this, we sought to develop and objectively evaluate a mini-course in EBM for third-year medical students. Design We developed a mini-course consisting of four sessions in which students learn to derive sequentially focused questions, search MEDLINE, review articles critically and apply information from the literature to specific clinical questions. To evaluate the teaching intervention, we performed a controlled educational study. Students at the intervention site (n=34) attended the EBM mini-course, while students at the control site (n=26) received more ,traditional' didactic teaching on various clinical topics. Intervention and control students were surveyed immediately before and after the mini-course to assess changes in reading and literature searching skills, as well as a tendency to use the literature to answer clinical questions. Setting Boston University School of Medicine. Subjects Third-year medical students. Results The intervention was associated with significant changes in students' self-assessed skills and attitudes. MEDLINE and critical appraisal skills increased significantly in the intervention group relative to the control group (significance of between group differences: P=0·002 for MEDLINE and P=0·0002 for critical appraisal), as did students' tendency to use MEDLINE and original research articles to solve clinical problems (significance of between group differences: P=0·002 and P=0·0008, respectively). Conclusions We conclude that this brief teaching intervention in EBM has had a positive impact on student skills and attitudes at our medical school. We believe that the key elements of this intervention are (1) active student involvement, (2), clinical relevance of exercises and (3) integrated teaching targeting each of the component skills of EBM. [source]


Development of critical thinking in occupational therapy students

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2006
Beth P. Velde
Abstract Do students who use the Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning (GRPQ) method increase their ability to think critically? When compared to students in a traditional senior seminar course, the results of this study indicated no significant difference between the groups regarding changes in scores on the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. However, the students in the experimental group asked more questions labelled as critical thinking than the seminar control group. These findings suggest the use of the GRPQ may improve students' skills in asking questions that include application, analysis, and synthesis. Future research regarding the role of questions in stimulating critical analysis and the role of context in the learning environment is warranted. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]