Health Humanities: A Baseline Survey of Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in North America

The authors conducted a baseline survey of baccalaureate and graduate degree health humanities programs in the United States and Canada. The object of the survey was to formally assess the current state of the field, to gauge what kind of resources individual programs are receiving, and to assess their self-identified needs to become or remain programmatically sustainable, including their views on the potential benefits of program accreditation. A 56-question baseline survey was sent to 111 institutions with baccalaureate programs and 20 institutions with graduate programs. Respondents were asked about three areas: (1) program administration (managing unit, paid director, faculty lines, paid staff, funding sources); (2) educational program (curricular structure, CIP code usage, completion rates); and (3) views on accreditation for the field. A clear majority of respondents agreed that some form of accreditation or consultation service could address resource and sustainability issues. Overall, the survey responses to staffing, curricular structure, and support suggest the need for developing a sustainable infrastructure for health humanities.

[Reflections on and Preliminary Practice of Pharmaceutical Curriculum Structure Reform under the Guidance of Coordinated Development Concept]

The structure of pharmaceutical higher education in China needs to be adjusted under the guidance of Xi Jinping's new development philosophy, especially the concept of coordinated development, in order to meet the demands of the campaign to construct new medical education and to develop in coordination with the pharmaceutical industry. Based on the concept of coordinated development, we summarized herein the relationship between pharmaceutical higher education, pharmaceutical research and the pharmaceutical industry, analyzed the adaptability of pharmaceutical higher education and the pharmaceutical industry, and put forward suggestions for and implemented initially the reform of the pharmaceutical curriculum structure under the guidance of the concept of coordinated development. We hope this paper will, under the new circumstances, provide useful reference for the ongoing education reform of the curricular structure of pharmaceutical higher education and pharmaceutical research coordinated along with the development of the pharmaceutical industry.

Surgical suture course for dental students with the Peyton-4-step approach versus the PDCA cycle using video assisted self-monitoring

BACKGROUND

In this prospective study the Peyton 4-step approach of demonstration-deconstruction-comprehension (verbalization by the learner), and performance by the learner was compared to the PDCA cycle/Deming-Circle (Plan-Do-Check (video assisted self-monitoring)-Act) as a teaching method for surgical suturing and nodes with end performance as the primary objective.

METHODS

Students of the third clinical semester in dental medicine were randomly selected to one of the two teaching methods. They completed a first course during the third clinical semester and a subsequent course during the fourth clinical semester. The focus was on learning surgical suturing techniques. Before the course started a questionnaire was handed out to both groups to evaluate their initial level of performance. Each course ended with a practical test to review the content of the course. The evaluation followed standardized parameters. Some of the test tasks in test one were repeated in test two to measure a horizontal as well as vertical difference in performance level.

RESULTS

53 students (Peyton: n = 28/18 female, 10 male; PDCA: n = 25/14 female, 11 male) have completed both courses. The evaluation of the subjective questionnaires showed that the members of the PDCA-groups achieved a higher subjective increase in performance. The objective results also indicated higher learning success in the PDCA-groups compared to the Peyton-Group.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated significant learning success for both groups in their own self-assessment as well as in the results of the practical exercises. Subsequently, the superiority of the PDCA cycle could be shown for almost all criteria for surgical suturing techniques. Several studies prioritize the teaching of practical skills according to Peyton and consider step 3 ("comprehension") to be the essential factor. The PDCA cycle, which has its origins in industrial quality management, and its success can be understood from the perspective of learning theory in terms of Jean Piaget's model of equilibration. The necessity of active reflection on the learning content through practice constitutes the key element for transfer into long-term memory.