Are medical students in Palestine adequately trained to care for individuals with autism spectrum disorders? A multicenter cross-sectional study of their familiarity, knowledge, confidence, and willingness to learn

Teaching approaches and satisfaction of medical students during anesthesia rotations: a multicenter cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Anesthesia training is an important component of medical education. This multicenter study was conducted to determine the teaching approaches used during anesthesia training or rotations and to assess the satisfaction of the medical students.

METHODS

This multicenter study was conducted in a cross-sectional design. The study was conducted among 5th and 6th year medical students who completed their anesthesia rotations in different training centers in Palestine. The data were collected using a questionnaire in adherence to the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology statement.

RESULTS

Questionnaires were returned by 385 medical students. The mean anesthesia rotation length was 12.4 ± 2.1 days. On average, the students witnessed 7.8 ± 4.9 procedures performed under general, regional, and local anesthesia in a week. Of the students, 135 (35.1%) and 126 (32.8%) stated that the educators always or often explained how and why they did procedures or techniques during the anesthesia rotation and assessed their baseline level of knowledge before giving new knowledge or explaining things. On the other hand, stepping back and allowing the trainees to work through, presenting articles or literature relevant to the case, and being open to trying new or different procedures or techniques were less often reported by the medical students. Less than half of the students were satisfied with their competencies gained through the anesthesia rotation.

CONCLUSION

Educators used active and effective teaching or training approaches less frequently during the anesthesia rotations. The findings of this study also showed that the medical students were not satisfied with their competencies after their anesthesia rotations. More studies are still needed to determine the best ways to improve anesthesia rotations and medical education or training in Palestine.

Knowledge and beliefs about autism spectrum disorders among physicians: a cross-sectional survey from China

BACKGROUND

The incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is increasing greatly, with high demands for earlier diagnosis and intervention. However, little is known about ASD knowledge and beliefs among physicians in China.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey was used to assess the knowledge and beliefs about the diagnosis and management of ASD and 24 beliefs regarding the treatment and prognostic aspects of ASD among physicians of any medical specialty in China.

RESULTS

A total of 1160 physicians were recruited and surveyed, with an average score of 8.48±2.66 (total of 18 points) for the questionnaire on the main symptoms of ASD and 14.35±3.69 (total of 24 points) for beliefs about ASD. Physicians' age, sex, specialty and practice years were related to their knowledge of identifying patients with ASD. Physicians specialising in paediatrics/psychology/psychiatry scored higher than those specialising in other specialties both in response to diagnostic questions (8.98±2.63 vs 8.30±2.65, p<0.001) and beliefs about ASD (15.57±3.44 vs 13.97±3.97, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Knowledge and beliefs about ASD symptoms, diagnosis and treatment are insufficient among physicians in China. Education and training programmes on this topic should be enhanced in physicians of all specialties, especially for male physicians who have short years in practice.

The impact of autism-related training programs on physician knowledge, self-efficacy, and practice behavior: A systematic review

LAY ABSTRACT

Autism spectrum disorder is estimated to impact 1.5 million children and almost 5.5 million adults. However, most physicians do not receive training on how to provide care to this increasingly large group of people. After performing a systematic review of the literature and screening over 4,500 unique articles focused on the effectiveness of autism-specific training programs designed for physicians and physician trainees, we determined that 17 studies met the pre-determined criteria for inclusion in this systematic review. The results reported by these studies suggest that by completing specialized training programs related to autism, physicians were more knowledgeable on topics related to the condition, more confident in their ability to provide care to autistic individuals, and more likely to screen their patients for autism spectrum disorder. However, further studies with higher quality data are needed to validate these findings and provide additional insight on the ability of these programs to improve physician behavior and patient outcomes. We are therefore advocating that medical educators develop and evaluate specialized autism training programs with an increased focus on improving physician behavior related to all aspects of providing care to autistic people.

Self-rated familiarity with autism spectrum disorders among practicing nurses: a cross-sectional study in the palestinian nursing practice

Background

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disabilities of early childhood. Practicing nurses are in a key position to help patients with ASDs and/or their caregivers/families. This study was conducted to assess self-rated familiarity with ASDs among practicing nurses in Palestine. The study also aimed to identify the sociodemographic and practice variables that could predict high self-rated familiarity scores.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire. The study was conducted in the period between January 2019 and May 2019. The questionnaire collected: 1) the sociodemographic, pedagogic, and practice variables of the nurses, 2) their self-rated familiarity with signs and symptoms, treatment options, and community resources of ASDs, 3) their self-rated confidence in their abilities to provide counseling for parents/family/caregivers on the drugs prescribed for children/patients with ASDs and their potential adverse effects, and 4) their willingness to receive education/training on issues in ASDs.

Results

The questionnaire was completed by 357 practicing nurses. The practicing nurses self-reported inadequate familiarity with symptoms, treatment, and community resources of ASDs. The mean familiarity score was 35.8% (SD: 18.9%). The nurses also expressed low confidence in their ability to provide counseling services to caregivers/families of children with ASDs. About 75% of the nurses agreed that they could benefit from taking a continuing educational/training program in the area of ASDs and about 82% of the nurses agreed that the nursing school curriculum should include courses in the area of ASDs. The multiple linear regression model showed that higher familiarity scores were predicted by having longer practical experience, having a higher academic degree in nursing, and having a continuing educational course/program on ASDs.

Conclusion

Findings of this study highlighted inadequate familiarity with issues of ASDs among practicing nurses. Higher familiarity was predicted by the length of practical experience, higher academic degree in nursing, and having continuing educational course/program on ASDs. Specifically designed pedagogic interventions might be helpful in increasing familiarity of practicing nurses on ASDs. More investigations are still needed to evaluate if these interventions can improve familiarity and services provided to patients with ASDs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-021-00764-3.

Construct validity for the self-reported competency and sub-construct associated characteristics of Romanian physicians in autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

Lack of physicians' knowledge regarding mental health, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) could have adverse effects on affected individuals' health and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to provide construct validity for a modified questionnaire in order to determine the self-reported competency for underlying sub-constructs in ASD, make inferences on perceived competence in ASD based on a sample of Romanian physicians, and identify physicians' characteristics associated with these sub-domains of competency.

METHODS

For this survey, we modified a questionnaire that was used in Pakistan and Turkey, and administered it to a sample of 383 practicing physicians in Romania to assess their perceived competency regarding ASD. Exploratory factor analysis on 12 knowledge questions revealed five sub-domains: stigma, potential causes, children's behavior, misconceptions, and educational needs associated with ASD knowledge. Using General Linear Models, we determined physicians' characteristics that predict the total competency score and various competency sub-scores.

RESULTS

Seventy-five percent of the responding physicians were female and 30% had over 30 years practicing medicine. The majority (73-94%) of physicians have correctly responded to some basic questions regarding knowledge about ASD. We also found that younger physicians were more knowledgeable about potential causes of ASD than older physicians (Adjusted Mean Score (AMS): 2.90 vs. 2.18, P < 0.01), while older physicians knew more about the behavior of children with ASD (AMS: 0.64 vs. 0.37, P = 0.02). We found a significant interaction (P < 0.01) between television as source of ASD knowledge and city where the clinic is located in relation to knowledge of the physicians regarding stigma related to ASD. However, the total score was not associated with the variables associated with sub-domains.

CONCLUSION

Using factor analysis, we demonstrated construct validity of five sub-domains related to Romanian physicians' knowledge about ASD that include stigma, potential causes, behavior in ASD children, special education needs, and misconceptions related to ASD. The lack of significant association of the knowledge of physicians on ASD neither with the Psychiatry nor the Pediatric ward rotations at medical school may support the need for improving the curriculum on ASD in Romanian medical schools.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physiotherapists with regard to epilepsy and patients with epilepsy: A systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND

In today's healthcare systems, physiotherapists are one of the most important providers of care services to patients with disabilities including those with epilepsy. The aims of this systematic scoping review were to identify, summarize, and present narrative synthesis of qualitative evidence on knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physiotherapists toward epilepsy and patients with epilepsy.

METHODS

Primary studies were searched in Medline/PubMed, Embase, Science Direct, SpringerLink, CInAHL/EBSCO, Cochrane library, and Scopus as late as July 02, 2021. Appraisal of the methodological quality was conducted for the studies included in this systematic scoping review. Due to the heterogenous nature of the collected data, results of this study are presented as narrative synthesis.

RESULTS

A total of 11 were finally included in the qualitative synthesis. The selected studies were published in the period between 2016 and 2020. The studies included in this review had acceptable methodological quality in many of the 11 domains of the quality assessment tool. Contents of the included studies were grouped into the 11 themes and 8 subthemes. The major themes were related education/access to information, interaction with patients, witnessing seizures, barriers and promoters of adequate knowledge and attitudes, and interventions to improve knowledge and attitudes.

CONCLUSION

Currently, high-quality interventional studies are needed to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physiotherapists with regard to epilepsy and patients with epilepsy. Future studies are still needed to investigate if improving knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physiotherapists with regard to epilepsy and patients with epilepsy can improve health-related outcomes of the patients.