The ability to detect mental disorders varies greatly among general practitioners in primary health care. The aim of this study was to determine the factors underlying the differences between general practitioners in the ability to recognize mental disorders in Finnish patient populations. The group studied consisted of 1000 randomly selected adult patients of primary care facilities in the city of Turku. The Symptom Checklist (SCL-25) was used as the reference method in the identification of psychiatric cases. According to the SCL-25, one fourth of the sample had mental disorders. A good recognition ability was associated with postgraduate psychiatric training and qualification as a specialist in general practice. Surprisingly, Balint group training, which is a method intended to improve the ability of general practitioners to manage their patients' mental health problems, was associated rather with poor than good detection ability.
Abolishment of 24-hour continuous medical call duty in quebec: a quality of life survey of general surgical residents following implementation of the new work-hour restrictions.
The implementation of work hour restrictions across North America have resulted in decreased levels of self injury and medical errors for Residents. An arbitration ruling in Quebec has led to further curtailment of work hours beyond that proposed by the ACGME. This may threaten Resident quality of life and in turn decrease the educational quality of surgical residency training.
We administered a quality of life questionnaire with an integrated education quality assessment tool to all General Surgery residents training at McGill 6 months after the work hour restrictions.
Across several strata respondents reveal a decreased sense of educational quality and quality of life.
The arbitration argued that work- hour restrictions would be necessary to improve quality of life for trainees and hence improve patient safety. Results from this study demonstrate the exact opposite in a large majority of respondents, who report a poorer quality of life and a self-reported inability on their part to provide continuous and safe patient care.
In the article presented the history of foundation of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and its activities during the World War Two and the early postwar years. According to the authors, the scientific development of many fundamental problems from domestic medicine experience during the war has retained its relevance in solving of the contemporary issues in health and medical science in modern Russia.
This study describes and assesses the acceptability of the multiple mini interview (MMI) to both international medical graduate (IMG) applicants to family medicine residency training in Alberta, Canada, and also interviewers for Alberta's International Medical Graduate Program (AIMGP), an Alberta Health and Wellness government initiative designed to help integrate IMGs into Canadian residency training. IMGs are physicians who completed undergraduate medical education outside of Canada and the United States. IMGs who live in the Canadian province of Alberta may obtain a limited number of government-funded positions for residency training by applying to AIMGP.
A literature review and faculty and medical community consultation informed the development of a 12-station MMI designed to identify non-cognitive characteristics associated with professionalism potential. Clinical scenarios were developed by family physicians and medical educators. Applicant and interviewer posttest acceptability was assessed using surveys. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis and thematic description.
Our research demonstrates evidence for applicant and interviewer acceptability of the MMI. Interviewers reported high levels of satisfaction with the time-restricted process that addressed multiple situations pertinent to the Canadian family medicine context. Applicants and interviewers were each satisfied that 8 minutes was enough time at each station. Applicants reported that they felt the process was free from gender and cultural bias. Interviewers agreed that this MMI was a fair assessment of potential for family medicine.
Standardized residency selection interviews can be adapted to measure professionalism potential characteristics important to family medicine in ways that are acceptable to IMG applicants and interviewers.
The authors conducted a nine-item mail questionnaire of the 16 Canadian family medicine teaching programme directors to determine the accessibility and operation of palliative care education for their respective family medicine residents. All 16 faculties of medicine responded (100%). The survey revealed that while all universities offer elective time in palliative care only five out of 16 (31%) have a mandatory rotation. The median durations of the mandatory and elective rotations are limited to two and three-and-a-half weeks, respectively. The majority of the universities offer formal lectures in palliative care (12/16, 75%) and educational reading material (13/16, 81%), with the main format in 14/16 (87%) of the sites being case-based learning. The two most common sites for teaching to occur for the residents are the community/outpatient environment and an acute palliative care unit. Fifty-six per cent (9/16) of the universities have designated faculty positions for palliative medicine with a median number of two positions per site. Only one centre offers a specific palliative medicine examination during the rotation. Feedback from the residents regarding their respective palliative medicine programmes were positive overall. Findings from our survey indicate an ongoing need for improved education in palliative medicine at the postgraduate level.
This is an intervention-study discussing the long-term effects of a 3-day "Train the trainers course" (TTC). In the intervention (I) group 98.4% of doctors participated in a TTC, both specialists and trainees. Knowledge about teaching skills increased in the I group by 25% after the TTC; a result which was sustained at six months. Teaching behaviour was significantly changed as the use of feedback and supervision had increased from a score of 4 to 6 (max. score = 9).
A 3-day residential TTC has a significant impact on knowledge gain concerning teaching skills, teaching behaviour and clinical learning culture after six months.
