Are multiple-choice questions a good tool for the assessment of clinical competence in Internal Medicine?

Application of trauma-informed care principles in academic nursing settings during the COVID-19 pandemic

The persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a multitude of changes in the ways nursing education, research, and practice are carried out. In addition to the demands of shifting to remote education as well as finding alternatives to direct patient care learning, nursing faculty and students are directly confronting morbidity and mortality among classmates, colleagues, friends, and family members. These experiences unquestionably meet criteria for traumatic experience, and this must be accounted for in nursing education as they can have detrimental effects on learning, teaching, and well-being. The current generation of nursing students and faculty will necessarily carry the traumatic experiences of this chaotic time into workplace, classroom, and community settings. Understanding how to manage this trauma appropriately not only supports individuals through this experience but provides increased opportunity and capacity for the provision of trauma-informed care (TIC) to patients and colleagues going forward. This paper describes some of the ways COVID-19-related trauma may affect nursing faculty and students; and proposes application of TIC principles to research, education, and practice environments to enhance well-being and overall functioning in the profession.

Development and evaluation of an elective course of pharmacist's roles in disaster management in France

PURPOSE

To describe Faculty of Pharmacy experience in the development of an elective course of pharmacist's roles in disaster management for third-year pharmacy students and to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative teaching module in students' knowledge and their perception of the introduction of this specific course into their curriculum.

METHODS

An expert team of physicians, surgeons and pharmacists of the Service de Santé des Armées, pharmacists teaching at the Faculty and pharmacists of Bataillon des Marins Pompiers de Marseille defined the program of a 30-hour module in disaster response in line with previously published recommendations, literature analysis and international guidelines on disaster response training. Students' knowledge of key competencies was assessed after each teaching session through a multiple-choice questionnaire. Assessment of self-perceived students' knowledge, teaching quality and students' degree of satisfaction was carried out using a volunteer survey just after the last teaching, the November 15th.

RESULTS

The creation of the final curriculum resulted in a course of 6 modules. Concerning the students' knowledge of key competencies, a mean score of 19/25 for the multiple-choice questionnaire was obtained. 98.3% of students reported that this teaching allowed them to improve their knowledge in the field of pharmacist's roles in disaster management. 79.3% of them will recommend this optional course.

CONCLUSION

This teaching represents a potential to increase the number of pharmacists prepared to respond to disasters. It also expands students' understanding of pharmacist's roles and stimulates their interest in emergency preparedness. Further formation, including emergency simulation in mass triage will be conducted next year.