An Interesting Review on Soft Skills and Dental Practice

PubMed Central

Ishaquddin, Syed; Ghadage, Mahesh; Hatte, Geeta

2015-01-01

In today’s world of education, we concentrate on teaching activities and academic knowledge. We are taught to improve our clinical skills. Soft skills refer to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, and personal habits, facility with language, friendliness and personal habits that mark people to varying degrees. Soft Skills are interpersonal, psychological, self-promoted and non-technical qualities for every practitioner and academician, whereas hard skills are new tools or equipment and professional knowledge. Hence, more and more clinicians now days consider soft skills as important job criteria. An increase in service industry and competitive practices emphasizes the need for soft skills. Soft Skills are very important and useful in personal and professional life. PMID:25954720

An interesting review on soft skills and dental practice.

PubMed

Dalaya, Maya; Ishaquddin, Syed; Ghadage, Mahesh; Hatte, Geeta

2015-03-01

In today's world of education, we concentrate on teaching activities and academic knowledge. We are taught to improve our clinical skills. Soft skills refer to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, and personal habits, facility with language, friendliness and personal habits that mark people to varying degrees. Soft Skills are interpersonal, psychological, self-promoted and non-technical qualities for every practitioner and academician, whereas hard skills are new tools or equipment and professional knowledge. Hence, more and more clinicians now days consider soft skills as important job criteria. An increase in service industry and competitive practices emphasizes the need for soft skills. Soft Skills are very important and useful in personal and professional life.

Social Media as Avenue for Personal Learning for Educators: Personal Learning Networks Encourage Application of Knowledge and Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eller, Linda S.

2012-01-01

Social media sites furnish an online space for a community of practice to create relationships and trust, collaboration and connections, and a personal learning environment. Social networking sites, both public and private, have common elements: member profiles, groups, discussions, and forums. A community of practice brings participants together…

"Let Your Data Tell a Story:" Climate Change Experts and Students Navigating Disciplinary Argumentation in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Elizabeth Mary; McGowan, Veronica Cassone

2017-01-01

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students' development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot…

Enhancing Personal Hygiene Behavior and Competency of Elementary School Adolescents through Peer-Led Approach and School-Friendly: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

PubMed

Tamiru, Dessalegn; Argaw, Alemayehu; Gerbaba, Mulusew; Ayana, Girmay; Nigussie, Aderajew; Jisha, Hunduma; Belachew, Tefera

2017-05-01

Recent studies showed that poor personal hygiene practices play a major role in the increment of communicable disease burden in developing countries. In Ethiopia, 60% of the disease burden is related to poor sanitation practices. This school based study was aimed to assess the effectiveness of school-friendly and peer-led approach in improving personal hygiene practices of school adolescents in Jimma Zone, Southwest of Ethiopia. A total of 1000 students from 10 to 19 years were included into the study. The intervention was done using peer-led approach, health clubs and linking the school events with parents. Data were collected at baseline, midline and end-line using structured questionnaires. Repeated measurement analysis was done and statistical significance was considered at alpha 0.05. The findings of this study indicated that there was a significant difference in personal hygiene practices and knowledge between the intervention and control groups (P<0.001). A significant difference was also observed with the duration of time in the intervention schools (P<0.05). The proportion of adolescents who reported illness before the baseline survey was significantly high among the intervention schools (P<0.01). However, at midline of the survey, the proportion of self-reported illness was significantly high among the control group(P<0.001). The findings of this study showed that there was a significant improvement in personal hygiene knowledge and practice of students in the intervention schools. Therefore, there is a need for proper health education intervention through the framework of schools for the students to improve their personal hygiene knowledge and practices.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Indonesian farmers regarding the use of personal protective equipment against pesticide exposure.

PubMed

Yuantari, Maria G C; Van Gestel, Cornelis A M; Van Straalen, Nico M; Widianarko, Budi; Sunoko, Henna R; Shobib, Muhammad N

2015-03-01

The use of synthetic pesticides in tropical countries has increased over the years, following the intensification of agriculture. However, awareness among farmers of the importance of protecting themselves from hazards associated with pesticide application is still lacking, especially in Indonesia. This paper reports results of an inventory on knowledge and attitudes regarding pesticide use by melon farmers of a village in Central Java, Indonesia. The importance of using personal protective equipment such as hats, masks, goggles, boots, and gloves on agricultural land is known and well understood by the farmers. However, in practice, only 3.8 % were wearing glasses and 1.9 % were using boots. In fact, the masks used only consisted of a part of their shirt tied around the mouth. The farmers were not wearing long pants and shirts with long sleeves and used the same clothes for more than 1 day without washing. Almost no farmers used personal protective equipment that was standard, in good condition, and complete. Based on the results of statistical analysis, no significant relationship was found between knowledge and attitude on the required practices on the one hand and the use of personal protective equipment in practice on the other hand. This shows that improved knowledge and attitudes are not enough to change the behavior of farmers to work in a healthy and safe way. The gap between knowledge and practice needs to be bridged by a more interactive and participatory training model. It is therefore of paramount importance to develop a special toolkit for pesticide risk reduction which is developed in a participatory manner involving the farmers as the main actors through a series of focus group discussions and field simulations.

Impact of school health education program on personal hygiene among school children of Lucknow district.

PubMed

Khatoon, Ruby; Sachan, Beena; Khan, Mohsin Ali; Srivastava, J P

2017-01-01

Personal hygiene plays a major role to promote healthy life. This study was performed to assess the current level of knowledge and practicing behavior in regard to hand washing, bathing, tooth brushing, and taking care of nail and hair. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 800 students of Lucknow district. All the students were interviewed with a structured questionnaire (pretest). A visual display of good and bad personal hygiene was shown on projector and explained the benefits of good personal hygiene behavior. Again, structured questionnaire was given (posttest). Most of the students belonged to the 10-12 years age group. The knowledge of the students regarding general body cleanliness was 87.5% in posttest as compared to 53.8% in pretest. Keeping the hair well-trimmed was considered as a part of personal hygiene by 38.0% of students. Knowledge about eating less food in diarrhea was positive in 80% of students. Only 12.5% of students accepted that diarrhea can kill children (pretest) while 100% (posttest) children were aware of this fact. Practice regarding change of clothes was on alternate day in 79.5% of students. Most of the students were found washing their hair once a week (72.5%) and 70% students were washing hands before meal. Overall trend of knowledge and practice about personal hygiene was in poor condition among students at the time of pretest. Posttest results were highly satisfactory.

Developing and Validating Field Measurement Scales for Absorptive Capacity and Experienced Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cadiz, David; Sawyer, John E.; Griffith, Terri L.

2009-01-01

Research on knowledge transfer in organizations has been hampered by the lack of tools yielding valid scores for studying critical constructs in concert. The authors developed survey measures of absorptive capacity (the ability to transform new knowledge into usable knowledge) and experienced community of practice (the extent to which a person is…

High School Physics Students' Personal Epistemologies and School Science Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alpaslan, Muhammet Mustafa; Yalvac, Bugrahan; Loving, Cathleen

2017-01-01

This case study explores students' physics-related personal epistemologies in school science practices. The school science practices of nine eleventh grade students in a physics class were audio-taped over 6 weeks. The students were also interviewed to find out their ideas on the nature of scientific knowledge after each activity. Analysis of…

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Physicians Regarding Smoking Cessation Counseling in Family Practice Centers, Suez Canal University, Egypt

PubMed Central

Eldein, Hebatallah Nour; Mansour, Nadia M.; Mohamed, Samar F.

2013-01-01

Introduction: Family physicians are the first point of medical contact for most patients, and they come into contact with a large number of smokers. Also, they are well suited to offer effective counseling to people, because family physicians already have some knowledge of patients and their social environments. Aims: The present study was conducted to assess family physicians’ knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking cessation counseling aiming to improve quality of smoking cessation counseling among family physicians. Materials and Methods: The study was descriptive analytic cross sectional study. It was conducted within family medicine centers. Sample was comprehensive. it included 75 family physicians. They were asked to fill previously validated anonymous questionnaire to collect data about their personal characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking cessation counseling, barriers and recommendations of physicians. Equal or above the mean scores were used as cut off point of the best scores for knowledge, attitude and practice. Statistical Analysis: SPSS version 18 was used for data entry and statistical analysis. Results: The best knowledge, attitude and practice scores among family physicians in the study sample were (45.3 %, 93.3% and 44% respectively). Age (P = 0.039) and qualification of family physicians (P = 0.04) were significant variables regarding knowledge scores while no statistically significance between personal characteristics of family physicians and their attitude or practice scores regarding smoking cessation counseling. More than half of the family physicians recommended training to improve their smoking cessation counseling. Conclusions: Favorable attitude scores of family physicians exceed passing knowledge scores or practice scores. Need for knowledge and training are stimulus to design an educational intervention to improve quality of smoking cessation counseling. PMID:24479071

Knowledge, attitude and practice of family physicians regarding smoking cessation counseling in family practice centers, suez canal university, egypt.

PubMed

Eldein, Hebatallah Nour; Mansour, Nadia M; Mohamed, Samar F

2013-04-01

Family physicians are the first point of medical contact for most patients, and they come into contact with a large number of smokers. Also, they are well suited to offer effective counseling to people, because family physicians already have some knowledge of patients and their social environments. The present study was conducted to assess family physicians' knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking cessation counseling aiming to improve quality of smoking cessation counseling among family physicians. The study was descriptive analytic cross sectional study. It was conducted within family medicine centers. Sample was comprehensive. it included 75 family physicians. They were asked to fill previously validated anonymous questionnaire to collect data about their personal characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking cessation counseling, barriers and recommendations of physicians. Equal or above the mean scores were used as cut off point of the best scores for knowledge, attitude and practice. SPSS version 18 was used for data entry and statistical analysis. The best knowledge, attitude and practice scores among family physicians in the study sample were (45.3 %, 93.3% and 44% respectively). Age (P = 0.039) and qualification of family physicians (P = 0.04) were significant variables regarding knowledge scores while no statistically significance between personal characteristics of family physicians and their attitude or practice scores regarding smoking cessation counseling. More than half of the family physicians recommended training to improve their smoking cessation counseling. Favorable attitude scores of family physicians exceed passing knowledge scores or practice scores. Need for knowledge and training are stimulus to design an educational intervention to improve quality of smoking cessation counseling.

Maternal Personality, Parenting Cognitions, and Parenting Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hahn, Chun-Shin; Haynes, O. Maurice

2011-01-01

A community sample of 262 European American mothers of firstborn 20-month-olds completed a personality inventory and measures of parenting cognitions (knowledge, self-perceptions, and reports about behavior) and was observed in interaction with their children from which measures of parenting practices (language, sensitivity, affection, and play)…

Tapestries: A Phenomenological Study on the Experience of Teaching in the Inclusive One-Teacher School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Krystal

This study was designed to better understand teachers as users of personal knowledge, examining teachers in inclusive one-teacher, Seventh Day Adventist schools. The study examined teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning, teachers' personal practical knowledge, teachers' professional identity, contextual factors that enabled or constrained…

Introducing a Personal Learning Environment in Higher Education. An Analysis of Connectivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saz, Alexandra; Engel, Anna; Coll, César

2016-01-01

Universities have a key role to play in the progress and development of the Knowledge Society. They should lead the way in the design of teaching strategies that promote knowledge building. Personal learning environments (PLE) represent a groundbreaking new development in educational practices through the incorporation of Information and…

"We're All in This Together, the Kids and Me": Beginning Teachers' Use of Their Personal Life Knowledge in the Religious Education Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everington, Judith

2012-01-01

In the context of international debates about teachers' knowledge, this essay reports a study of how and why a cohort of English trainee teachers of Religious Education used their personal life knowledge in their teaching. Four possible reasons for their commitment to this practice are examined. A belief in the value of openness, a desire to…

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Knowledge of Personal and Target Levels of Cardiovascular Health Indicators.

PubMed

Ma, Mindy; Ma, Alyson

2015-10-01

This study aimed to examine ethnic differences in knowledge of personal and target levels of cardiovascular health indicators between non-Hispanic whites and African Americans. A secondary objective was to evaluate the associations between knowledge of cardiovascular health indicators and health promotion behaviors. Participants (66.7% female) consisted of 265 whites and 428 African Americans, ages 18 and older recruited from primary care clinics and churches. Respondents completed a brief survey on blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol, blood glucose, body mass index (BMI), diet, and physical activity. Whites were more likely than African Americans to report knowing their personal and target levels of cardiovascular health indicators. Knowledge of personal BP and/or BMI was positively associated with actual physical activity, and awareness of personal blood glucose was positively associated with healthy dietary practices for participants in both groups. Among whites, awareness of personal BP and knowledge of target levels for BP, total cholesterol, and BMI were also associated with healthy diet. Results suggest there are racial/ethnic disparities in knowledge of personal and ideal levels of cardiovascular health indicators, and that this knowledge is related to health promotion behaviors. Targeted educational efforts are warranted to enhance knowledge of personal risk indicators among African Americans.

School food practices of prospective teachers.

PubMed

Rossiter, Melissa; Glanville, Theresa; Taylor, Jennifer; Blum, Ilya

2007-12-01

Schoolteachers can affect students' eating habits in several ways: through nutrition knowledge, positive role modeling, and avoidance of unhealthy classroom food practices. In this study, the knowledge, attitudes, and eating behaviors of prospective teachers as determinants of intended classroom food practices and the school environment and its potential impact on classroom food practices were examined and explored. One hundred and three students (response rate 79%) enrolled in the final year of a bachelor of education program with at least 22 weeks of practice teaching completed a self-administered questionnaire adapted from the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School teaching staff survey. Indexes related to classroom food practices, school food environment, personal health, fat intake, and nutrition knowledge were constructed and explored quantitatively using linear modeling techniques and contingency table analysis. The majority of respondents reported a high fat intake (65%) and had mid-to-low nutrition knowledge (72%). While most respondents (93%) believed that a healthy school food environment was important, two thirds reported unhealthy classroom food practices. Unhealthy classroom food practices were more likely to be used by those intending to teach at the secondary level, those who held a high personal health belief, and those who demonstrated less support for a healthy school environment. These findings suggest that knowledge, attitudes, and food behaviors of prospective teachers may be barriers to promoting healthy food habits to their future students. Further, prospective teachers would benefit from policies and programs that support healthy classroom practices and from compulsory nutrition education in the teacher training curriculum.

Making Each Other’s Daily Life: Nurse Assistants’ Experiences and Knowledge on Developing a Meaningful Daily Life in Nursing Homes

PubMed Central

James, Inger; Fredriksson, Carin; Wahlström, Catrin; Kihlgren, Annica; Blomberg, Karin

2014-01-01

Background: In a larger action research project, guidelines were generated for how a meaningful daily life could be developed for older persons. In this study, we focused on the nurse assistants’ (NAs) perspectives, as their knowledge is essential for a well-functioning team and quality of care. The aim was to learn from NAs’ experiences and knowledge about how to develop a meaningful daily life for older persons in nursing homes and the meaning NAs ascribe to their work. Methods: The project is based on Participatory and Appreciative Action and Reflection. Data were generated through interviews, participating observations and informal conversations with 27 NAs working in nursing homes in Sweden, and a thematic analysis was used. Result: NAs developed a meaningful daily life by sensing and finding the “right” way of being (Theme 1). They sense and read the older person in order to judge how the person was feeling (Theme 2). They adapt to the older person (Theme 3) and share their daily life (Theme 4). NAs use emotional involvement to develop a meaningful daily life for the older person and meaning in their own work (Theme 5), ultimately making each other’s daily lives meaningful. Conclusion: It was obvious that NAs based the development of a meaningful daily life on different forms of knowledge: the oreticaland practical knowledge, and practical wisdom, all of which are intertwined. These results could be used within the team to constitute a meaningful daily life for older persons in nursing homes. PMID:25246997

Narrative in cancer research and policy: voice, knowledge and context

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Sarah; Rubinelli, Sara

2014-01-01

The potential applications of narrative within medical practice are attracting increased interest. In particular, personal narratives afford rich insights into how encounters with cancer and the associated provision of care are experienced, understood and represeted. Such first-person accounts are practically useful in indicating improvements to cancer care and politically significant in providing a means to enable the patient voice and legitimising experiential knowledge alongside a biomedical paradigm. However, personal narratives are necessarily and always constructed in particular social and political contexts and through existing ‘meta-narratives’ relating to cancer, health, illness and a flourishing life. The paper first examines work on personal cancer narratives to critically review the opportunities for narrative within cancer care. We then reflect on the crucial role of meta-narratives of cancer as framings within which personal narratives can be both enabled and constrained. PMID:23347413

78 FR 78474 - Knowledge Testing of New Entrant Motor Carriers, Freight Forwarders and Brokers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-26

... regulations and industry practices for persons seeking registration authority as motor carriers (property... held at the Music City Center, 201 Fifth Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37203 in Room 202 C. In addition to... evidence of the individuals' knowledge of related rules, regulations, and industry practices.'' In...

The Preparation of a Piano Repertoire According to Elliot's Musical Knowledge Model: Three Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teixeira dos Santos, Regina Antunes; Hentschke, Liane

2010-01-01

In academic education, undergraduate students develop musical knowledge through the preparation of a repertoire within the western classical music tradition during a certain period of formal music practice. During the practice, the student makes choices and deals with personal strategies that assume forms of thinking and, therefore, differentiated…

Teachers' Identity, Self and the Process of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoveid, Halvor; Hoveid, Marit Honerod

2008-01-01

In this paper we try, by drawing on some insights from practical knowledge, to bridge a gap between common conceptions of teaching on the one hand, and of learning on the other. In Western traditions of educational thought and discourse, practical knowledge--i.e. the dynamics of thinking, speaking, acting, and personal writing--is frequently…

Plato, Pascal, and the Dynamics of Personal Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Otte, Michael Friedrich; Campos, Tania M. M.; Abido, Alexandre S.

2013-01-01

Educational practices are to be based on proven scientific knowledge, not least because the function science has to perform in human culture consists of unifying practical skills and general beliefs, the episteme and the techne (Amsterdamski, 1975, pp. 43-44). Now, modern societies first of all presuppose regular and standardized ways of…

Thinking together: What makes Communities of Practice work?

PubMed Central

Pyrko, Igor; Dörfler, Viktor; Eden, Colin

2016-01-01

In this article, we develop the founding elements of the concept of Communities of Practice by elaborating on the learning processes happening at the heart of such communities. In particular, we provide a consistent perspective on the notions of knowledge, knowing and knowledge sharing that is compatible with the essence of this concept – that learning entails an investment of identity and a social formation of a person. We do so by drawing richly from the work of Michael Polanyi and his conception of personal knowledge, and thereby we clarify the scope of Communities of Practice and offer a number of new insights into how to make such social structures perform well in professional settings. The conceptual discussion is substantiated by findings of a qualitative empirical study in the UK National Health Service. As a result, the process of ‘thinking together’ is conceptualized as a key part of meaningful Communities of Practice where people mutually guide each other through their understandings of the same problems in their area of mutual interest, and this way indirectly share tacit knowledge. The collaborative learning process of ‘thinking together’, we argue, is what essentially brings Communities of Practice to life and not the other way round. PMID:28232754

Political Microtargeting: Relationship Between Personalized Advertising on Facebook and Voters' Responses.

PubMed

Kruikemeier, Sanne; Sezgin, Minem; Boerman, Sophie C

2016-06-01

This study examines the relationship between exposure to political personalized ads on Facebook and voters' responses toward those ads and studies the mediating role of the use of persuasion knowledge in this relationship. Results from an online experiment (N = 122) demonstrate that exposure to a personalized ad from a political party activates persuasion knowledge, which in turn leads to lower intentions to engage in electronic word of mouth, but only for those participants who recall seeing the Sponsored label. We found no effects on source trustworthiness. Adding a text explaining the practice of personalized advertising did not lead to higher levels of persuasion knowledge and did not change the responses toward the message.

Experiential Knowledge: How Literacy Practices Seek to Mediate Personal and Systemic Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorzelsky, Gwen

2013-01-01

By analyzing Zen guided meditations, I argue that literacy researchers can improve the field's conceptual tools by investigating experiential knowledge. Using work on procedural knowledge and the emotional bases of perception, cognition, and decision making, I show that experiential knowledge drives perceptions and action, thus shaping…

Knowing for Nursing Practice: Patterns of Knowledge and Their Emulation in Expert Systems

PubMed Central

Abraham, Ivo L.; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J.

1987-01-01

This paper addresses the issue of clinical knowledge in nursing, and the feasibility of emulating this knowledge into expert system technology. The perspective on patterns of knowing for nursing practice, advanced by Carper (1978), serves as point of departure. The four patterns of knowing -- empirics, esthetics, ethics, personal knowledge -- are evaluated as to the extent to which they can be emulated in clinical expert systems, given constraints imposed by the current technology of these systems.

Hindu, Muslim and Sikh Religious Education Teachers' Use of Personal Life Knowledge: The Relationship between Biographies, Professional Beliefs and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everington, Judith

2014-01-01

The article reports the findings of a qualitative study of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh teachers of religious education and the relationship between their biographies, professional beliefs and use of personal life knowledge in English, secondary school classrooms. This relationship was explored through a study of five beginning teachers and provided…

Occupational sun protection: workplace culture, equipment provision and outdoor workers' characteristics.

PubMed

Reeder, Anthony I; Gray, Andrew; McCool, Judith P

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to describe outdoor workers' sun-protective practices, workplace sun-safety culture and sun-protective equipment provision; investigate the association of demographic, personal and occupational factors with sun-protective practices; and identify potential strategies for improving workers' sun protection. The present study used a clustered survey design with randomly identified employers in nine occupations. Employees provided questionnaire measures of demographics, personal characteristics (skin type, skin cancer risk perceptions, tanning attitudes, sun-exposure knowledge), personal occupational sun protection practices (exposure reduction, use of sun-protective clothing, sunscreen and shade), workplace sun-protective equipment provision and perceived workplace sun-safety culture. Summative scores were calculated for attitudes, knowledge, workplace provision and culture. A multivariable model was built with worker and workplace variables as plausible predictors of personal sun protection. In this study, 1,061 workers (69% participation) from 112 workplaces provided sufficient information for analysis. Sex, age, prioritized ethnicity, education and risk perception differed significantly between occupational groups (p<0.001), as did workers' sun-protective practices and workplace sun-protection equipment provision and supportive culture. After adjustment, each one-point increase in Workplace Sun-safety Culture 2013Score (range 12 points) was associated with a 0.16 higher Personal Sun-Protection Score (p<0.001), and each one-point increase in Workplace Provision Score (range 4 points) was associated with a 0.14 higher score (p<0.001). Sun Protection Score was significantly associated with skin response to sun exposure (p<0.001), female sex (p=0.021), tanning attitudes (p=0.022) and occupation (p=0.049), but not ethnicity, age education, knowledge or skin cancer risk perception. Protective equipment provision and sun-protective workplace culture are promising components for the development of comprehensive programmes to improve outdoor workers' sun-protective practices.

Identifying knowledge-attitude-practice gaps to enhance HPV vaccine diffusion.

PubMed

Cohen, Elisia L; Head, Katharine J

2013-01-01

To examine differences in knowledge, attitudes, and related practices among adopters and nonadopters of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the researchers conducted 83 in-depth interviews with 18- to 26-year-old women. The study identified knowledge-attitude-practice gaps in the context of the HPV vaccine to explain why diffusion of a preventive innovation (such as the HPV vaccine) requires targeted risk communication strategies in order to increase demand. Salient findings included similarities between vaccinated and unvaccinated women's lack of knowledge and uncertainties about HPV and cervical cancer. Vaccinated women who had no knowledge of HPV or no-risk/low-risk perceptions of HPV reported receiving vaccination, indicating HPV risk protection behavior could precede knowledge acquisition for vaccinated women. These vaccinated women identified an interpersonal network supportive of vaccination and reported supportive social influences. Among unvaccinated women, unsupportive vaccination attitudes included low perceived personal risk of HPV. In contrast, unvaccinated women often cited erroneous beliefs that HPV could be avoided by abstinence, monogamy, and knowledge of their partners' sexual history as reasons that the vaccine was not personally relevant. Unvaccinated women cited interpersonal influences that activated short- and long-term vaccination safety and efficacy concerns. Different levels of fear regarding the HPV vaccine may underlie (a) attitudinal differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated women in perceived vaccination value and (b) attitude-practice gaps.

What's your strategy for managing knowledge?

PubMed

Hansen, M T; Nohria, N; Tierney, T

1999-01-01

The rise of the computer and the increasing importance of intellectual assets have compelled executives to examine the knowledge underlying their businesses and how it is used. Because knowledge management as a conscious practice is so young, however, executives have lacked models to use as guides. To help fill that gap, the authors recently studied knowledge management practices at management consulting firms, health care providers, and computer manufacturers. They found two very different knowledge management strategies in place. In companies that sell relatively standardized products that fill common needs, knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases, where it can be accessed and used--over and over again--by anyone in the organization. The authors call this the codification strategy. In companies that provide highly customized solutions to unique problems, knowledge is shared mainly through person-to-person contacts; the chief purpose of computers is to help people communicate. They call this the personalization strategy. A company's choice of knowledge management strategy is not arbitrary--it must be driven by the company's competitive strategy. Emphasizing the wrong approach or trying to pursue both can quickly undermine a business. The authors warn that knowledge management should not be isolated in a functional department like HR or IT. They emphasize that the benefits are greatest--to both the company and its customers--when a CEO and other general managers actively choose one of the approaches as a primary strategy.

Designing for health in school buildings: between research and practice.

PubMed

Kirkeby, Inge Mette; Jensen, Bjarne Bruun; Larsen, Kristian; Kural, René

2015-05-01

To investigate the kinds of knowledge practitioners use when planning and designing for health in school buildings. Twelve semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with architects, teachers and officials to investigate use of knowledge in the making of school buildings. Practitioners drew on many kinds and sources of knowledge, but in particular they made use of concepts, examples or pictures or thought-provoking knowledge. However, the interviews indicate a number of hurdles for efficient knowledge sharing between research and practice: (1) a considerable discrepancy between kinds of knowledge used by practice and knowledge traditionally produced by research; (2) research-knowledge and practice-knowledge form two circuits and the flow from one circuit to the other is weak; (3) practitioners' knowledge was often based on experience and therefore person-dependent. It makes the knowledge vulnerable. Special attention has to be paid by research to concepts and principles to guide the decision-making in practice. Further is recommended to consider new kinds of collaboration between researchers and practitioners. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

Knowledge and practices related to plague in an endemic area of Uganda.

PubMed

Kugeler, Kiersten J; Apangu, Titus; Forrester, Joseph D; Griffith, Kevin S; Candini, Gordian; Abaru, Janet; Okoth, Jimmy F; Apio, Harriet; Ezama, Geoffrey; Okello, Robert; Brett, Meghan; Mead, Paul

2017-11-01

Plague is a virulent zoonosis reported most commonly from Sub-Saharan Africa. Early treatment with antibiotics is important to prevent mortality. Understanding knowledge gaps and common behaviors informs the development of educational efforts to reduce plague mortality. A multi-stage cluster-sampled survey of 420 households was conducted in the plague-endemic West Nile region of Uganda to assess knowledge of symptoms and causes of plague and health care-seeking practices. Most (84%) respondents were able to correctly describe plague symptoms; approximately 75% linked plague with fleas and dead rats. Most respondents indicated that they would seek health care at a clinic for possible plague; however plague-like symptoms were reportedly common, and in practice, persons sought care for those symptoms at a health clinic infrequently. Persons in the plague-endemic region of Uganda have a high level of understanding of plague, yet topics for targeted educational messages are apparent. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Michael Polanyi: Science as Personal Knowledge and Social Practice.

PubMed

Nye, Mary Jo

2017-03-20

Tacit knowing: 2016 marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of the physical chemist Michael Polanyi, as well as the 40th of his death. This essay discusses his philosophy of science-in particular, his most significant work in this area, Personal Knowledge-from the perspective of his personal biography, as well as its lasting influence on the social sciences. In the photograph: Michael Polanyi at the Fritz Haber Institute in 1968. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Online communities of practice as a communication resource for community health nurses working with homeless persons.

PubMed

Valaitis, Ruta K; Akhtar-Danesh, Noori; Brooks, Fiona; Binks, Sally; Semogas, Dyanne

2011-06-01

This study explored community health nurses' viewpoints about a Canadian online community of practice to support their practice with homeless or under-housed populations. Community health nurses who specifically work with homeless and marginally housed populations often report feelings of isolation and stress in managing complex problems in resource constraints. To strengthen intra-professional ties and enhance information access, an online community of practice was designed, implemented and evaluated by and for them. Q-methodology was used. Sixty-six statements about the community of practice were collected from an online survey and focus groups, refined and reduced to 44 statements. In 2009, sixteen participants completed the Q-sort activity, rating each statement relative to the others. Scores for each participant were subjected to by-person factor analysis. Respondents fell into two groups -tacit knowledge warriors and tacit knowledge communicators. Warriors strongly believed that the community of practice could combat stigma associated with homelessness and promote awareness of homelessness issues, and valued its potential to validate and improve practice. Communicators would have used the community of practice more with increased discussion, facilitation and prompt responses. Generally, nurses viewed the community of practice as a place to share stories, validate practice and adapt best practices to their work context. Online communities of practice can be valuable to nurses in specialized fields with limited peer support and access to information resources. Tacit knowledge development is important to nurses working with homeless populations: this needs to be valued in conjunction with scientifically based knowledge. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Maternal Personality, Parenting Cognitions and Parenting Practices

PubMed Central

Bornstein, Marc H.; Hahn, Chun-Shin; Haynes, O. Maurice

2011-01-01

A community sample of 262 European American mothers of firstborn 20-month-olds completed a personality inventory and measures of parenting cognitions (knowledge, self-perceptions, and reports about behavior) and was observed in interaction with their children from which measures of parenting practices (language, sensitivity, affection, and play) were independently coded. Factor analyses of the personality inventory replicated extraction of the Five-Factor model of personality (Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, the five personality factors qua variables and in patterns qua clusters related differently to diverse parenting cognitions and practices, supporting the multidimensional, modular, and specific nature of parenting. Maternal personality in the normal range, a theoretically important but empirically neglected factor in everyday parenting, has meaning in studies of parenting, child development, and family process. PMID:21443335

Transformation of Topic-Specific Professional Knowledge into Personal Pedagogical Content Knowledge through Lesson Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stender, Anita; Brückmann, Maja; Neumann, Knut

2017-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between two different types of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): the topic-specific professional knowledge (TSPK) and practical routines, so-called teaching scripts. Based on the Transformation Model of Lesson Planning, we assume that teaching scripts originate from a transformation of TSPK during lesson…

Advanced practice nursing students' knowledge, self-efficacy, and attitudes related to depression in older adults: teaching holistic depression care.

PubMed

Delaney, Colleen; Barrere, Cynthia

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of advanced practice nursing students toward depression in older adults. Findings suggest that advanced practice nursing students are interested in caring for the whole person and desired more information on the physical and emotional-spiritual needs of older patients with depression. Suggestions for holistic nursing depression care education are presented.

The Quality of Questions and Use of Resources in Self-Directed Learning: Personal Learning Projects in the Maintenance of Certification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horsley, T.; O'Neill, J.; Campbell, C.

2009-01-01

Introduction: To engage effectively and efficiently in self-directed learning and knowledge-seeking practices, it is important that physicians construct well-formulated questions; yet, little is known about the quality of good questions and their relationship to self-directed learning or to change in practice behavior. Methods: Personal learning…

The Value of Measurement for Development of Nursing Knowledge:Underlying Philosophy, Contributions and Critiques.

PubMed

Durepos, Pamela; Orr, Elizabeth; Ploeg, Jenny; Kaasalainen, Sharon

2018-06-26

A philosophical discussion of constructive realism and measurement in the development of nursing knowledge is presented. Through Carper's four patterns of knowing, nurses come to know a person holistically. However, measurement as a source for nursing knowledge has been criticized for underlying positivism and reductionist approach to exploring reality. Which seems mal-alignment with person-centered care. Discussion paper. Constructive realism bridges positivism and constructivism, facilitating the measurement of physical and psychological phenomena. Reduction of complex phenomena and theoretical constructs into measurable properties is essential to building nursing's empiric knowledge and facilitates (rather than inhibits) person-knowing. Nurses should consider constructive realism as a philosophy to underpin their practice. This philosophy supports measurement as a primary method of inquiry in nursing research and clinical practice. Nurses can carefully select, and purposefully integrate, measurement tools with other methods of inquiry (such as qualitative research methods) to demonstrate the usefulness of nursing interventions and highlight nursing as a science. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Expert and non-expert knowledge in medical practice.

PubMed

Nordin, I

2000-01-01

One problematic aspect of the rationality of medical practice concerns the relation between expert knowledge and non-expert knowledge. In medical practice it is important to match medical knowledge with the self-knowledge of the individual patient. This paper tries to study the problem of such matching by describing a model for technological paradigms and comparing it with an ideal of technological rationality. The professionalised experts tend to base their decisions and actions mostly on medical knowledge while the rationality of medicine also involves just as important elements of the personal evaluation and knowledge of the patients. Since both types of knowledge are necessary for rational decisions, the gap between the expert and the non-expert has to be bridged in some way. A solution to the problem is suggested in terms of pluralism, with the patient as ultimate decision-maker.

[Influence of personal attitude of the manager on antibiotic use in pig production].

PubMed

Malik, J; Kaufmann, G; Hirsiger, P; Kümmerlen, D; Arnold, C; Spring, P; Sidler, X

2015-12-01

The attitude as well as the expertise of a person affect the behavior and actions in daily life. To investigate the influence of attitude and knowledge of pig producers on the use of antibiotics in farms, 220 Swiss pig producers were questioned on health awareness, attitude towards sustainable production, risk behavior, intrinsic motivation and knowledge about antibiotics and resistance development. In addition, the strategy of antibiotic use (therapeutic or prophylactic) and the business practice (single or group therapy) for the amount of antibiotics on one hand and for the risk of antibiotic resistance development on the other hand, were determined in a personal interview. Farmers using antibiotics only therapeutically had a better business practice. A direct link between the personal attitude and the antibiotic use or a higher risk of development of antibiotic resistance was not found in this investigation.

Illness perception, diabetes knowledge and self-care practices among type-2 diabetes patients: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Kugbey, Nuworza; Oppong Asante, Kwaku; Adulai, Korkor

2017-08-10

Self-care practices among persons living with type-2 diabetes are very crucial in diabetes manages as poor self-care results in complications. However, little research exists within the Ghanaian context. This study examined whether type-2 diabetes patients' illness perception and diabetes knowledge significantly predict diabetes self-care practices. A cross-sectional survey design was employed and a total of 160 participants (45 males and 115 females) were sampled from a general hospital in Accra. A self-administered questionnaire measuring illness perception, diabetes knowledge and diabetes self-care practices as well as demographic checklist were used collect data. Results showed that illness perception and diabetes knowledge significantly predicted overall diabetes self-care practices. Analysis of domain specific self-care practices showed that patients' diet was significantly predicted by illness perception and diabetes knowledge. Exercise was significantly predicted by only illness perception while blood sugar testing and diabetes foot-care were significantly predicted by diabetes knowledge. Cognitive and emotional representation of diabetes and diabetes knowledge are key determinants of patients' diabetes self-care practices. It is therefore important that appropriate psychosocial interventions are developed to help patients' adherence to recommended self-care practices.

The knowledge and attitude of non-ophthalmic medical doctors towards glaucoma in two tertiary institutions in south eastern Nigeria.

PubMed

Achigbu, E O; Chuka-Okosa, C M

2014-06-01

This study is aimed at determining how much knowledge of glaucoma the non-ophthalmic medical doctors still possess and their personal attitudes toward glaucoma. Self- administered questionnaires were randomly distributed to the non-ophthalmic medical doctors in two specialist hospitals in south eastern Nigeria: The data obtained were the age, sex, professional and number of years of practice of the participants, their knowledge of the symptoms/ aetiology/risk factors, examination/investigation, treatment of glaucoma as well as their personal attitude towards glaucoma. There were two hundred respondents; one hundred and forty two males and fifty eight females (M:F=2.4:1); comprising 82.5% Resident doctors; 51% of whom had been in practice for less than 5 years.All the doctors had heard of glaucoma; approximately seventy two per cent (72.5%) had a good knowledge of glaucoma symptoms and 52.0% of these had been in practice for only 5 years or less. Similarly, of the 83% of the doctors who correctly answered the questions on the aetiology of glaucoma, majority (84.3%) had been in practice for 5 years or less. Only 24.5% and 38.5% respectively of the doctors had a good knowledge of the basic examination and treatment required for the management of glaucoma.There was no statistically significant relationship between most variables tested. Only the relationship between the knowledge of the symptoms of glaucoma and the duration of practice of the doctors was statistically significant (p< 0.005). Most of the non-ophthalmic medical doctors have a basic knowledge of glaucoma and how to investigate it but showed a poor knowledge of examination and treatment modalities. They also acknowledged the importance of regular eye checks but only very few had had their eyes examined.

Mental health nurses' attitudes, behaviour, experience and knowledge regarding adults with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder: systematic, integrative literature review.

PubMed

Dickens, Geoffrey L; Lamont, Emma; Gray, Sarah

2016-07-01

To establish whether mental health nurses responses to people with borderline personality disorder are problematic and, if so, to inform solutions to support change. There is some evidence that people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder are unpopular among mental health nurses who respond to them in ways which could be counter-therapeutic. Interventions to improve nurses' attitudes have had limited success. Systematic, integrative literature review. Computerised databases were searched from inception to April 2015 for papers describing primary research focused on mental health nurses' attitudes, behaviour, experience, and knowledge regarding adults diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Analysis of qualitative studies employed metasynthesis; analysis of quantitative studies was informed by the theory of planned behaviour. Forty studies were included. Only one used direct observation of clinical practice. Nurses' knowledge and experiences vary widely. They find the group very challenging to work with, report having many training needs, and, objectively, their attitudes are poorer than other professionals' and poorer than towards other diagnostic groups. Nurses say they need a coherent therapeutic framework to guide their practice, and their experience of caregiving seems improved where this exists. Mental health nurses' responses to people with borderline personality disorder are sometimes counter-therapeutic. As interventions to change them have had limited success there is a need for fresh thinking. Observational research to better understand the link between attitudes and clinical practice is required. Evidence-based education about borderline personality disorder is necessary, but developing nurses to lead in the design, implementation and teaching of coherent therapeutic frameworks may have greater benefits. There should be greater focus on development and implementation of a team-wide approach, with nurses as equal partners, when working with patients with borderline personality disorder. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice: a focus group approach.

PubMed

Atkinson, Nancy L; Permuth-Levine, Rachel

2009-01-01

To explore perceived benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice among adults. Focus groups were conducted with persons who had never practiced yoga, practitioners of one year or less, and practitioners for more than one year. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical foundation of inquiry. All participants acknowledged a variety of benefits of yoga. Barriers outweighed benefits among persons who had never practiced despite knowledge of benefits. Positive experiences with yoga and yoga instructors facilitated practice. Newly identified benefits and barriers indicate the need for quantitative research and behavioral trials.

A Computer-Supported Method to Reveal and Assess Personal Professional Theories in Vocational Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van den Bogaart, Antoine C. M.; Bilderbeek, Richel J. C.; Schaap, Harmen; Hummel, Hans G. K.; Kirschner, Paul A.

2016-01-01

This article introduces a dedicated, computer-supported method to construct and formatively assess open, annotated concept maps of Personal Professional Theories (PPTs). These theories are internalised, personal bodies of formal and practical knowledge, values, norms and convictions that professionals use as a reference to interpret and acquire…

Personal responsibility in oral health: ethical considerations.

PubMed

Albertsen, Andreas

2012-11-30

Personal responsibility is a powerful idea supported by many values central to West European thought. On the conceptual level personal responsibility is a complex notion. It is important to separate the concept of being responsible for a given state of affairs from the concept of holding people responsible by introducing measures that decrease their share of available resources. Introducing personal responsibility in oral health also has limitations of a more practical nature. Knowledge, social status and other diseases affect the degree to which people can be said to be responsible for their poor oral health. These factors affect people's oral health and their ability to take care of it. Both the conceptual and practical issues at stake are not reasons to abandon the idea of personal responsibility in oral health, but they do affect what the notion means and when it is reasonable to hold people responsible. They also commit people who support the idea of personal responsibility in oral health to supporting the idea of societal responsibility for mitigating the effects of factors that diminish people's responsibility and increase the available information and knowledge in the population.

Medical student preparedness for an era of personalized medicine: findings from one US medical school.

PubMed

Eden, Caroline; Johnson, Kipp W; Gottesman, Omri; Bottinger, Erwin P; Abul-Husn, Noura S

2016-03-01

The objective of this research was to assess medical student preparedness for the use of personalized medicine. A survey instrument measuring attitude toward personalized medicine, perceived knowledge of genomic testing concepts and perceived ability to apply genomics to clinical care was distributed to students in medical school (MS) years 1-4. Of 212 participants, 79% felt that it was important to learn about personalized medicine, but only 6% thought that their medical education had adequately prepared them to practice personalized medicine. Attitude did not vary across years; knowledge and ability increased after MS1, but not after MS2. While medical students support the use of personalized medicine, they do not feel prepared to apply genomics to clinical care.

Do Providers Know What They Do Not Know? A Correlational Study of Knowledge Acquisition and Person-Centered Care.

PubMed

Matthews, Elizabeth B; Stanhope, Victoria; Choy-Brown, Mimi; Doherty, Meredith

2018-07-01

Person-centered care (PCC) is a central feature of health care reform, yet the tools needed to deliver this practice have not been implemented consistently. Person-centered care planning (PCCP) is a treatment planning approach operationalizing the values of recovery. To better understand PCCP implementation, this study examined the relationship between recovery knowledge and self-reported PCCP behaviors among 224 community mental health center staff. Results indicated that increased knowledge decreased the likelihood of endorsing non-recovery implementation barriers and self-reporting a high level of PCCP implementation. Findings suggest that individuals have difficulty assessing their performance, and point to the importance of objective fidelity measures.

Evaluating a dental practice for purchase or associateship.

PubMed

Diecidue, Robert J

2008-07-01

Private dental practice can be achieved through either outright ownership or an associateship in conjunction with senior dentists; the decision depends on personal and professional objectives and goals. Once a decision is made, the time and effort required to identify an appropriate practice, negotiate the terms of purchase or associateship, and transition to the new practice can be daunting. This article reviews the process and provides an overview of the general steps involved in the evaluation of a dental practice for purchase or associateship. With appropriate knowledge and preparation, due diligence, and ethical and sensitive behavior, transitioning to private practice can be successful and lead to professional and personal fulfillment.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Personal Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Occupational Therapy Educators in the United States.

PubMed

Bradshaw, Michelle L

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to establish a baseline description of American occupational therapy educators' knowledge, attitudes, and personal use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a first step in exploring the larger issue of future occupational therapy practitioners' preparedness for meeting clients' occupational needs in today's evolving healthcare environment. Results of this cross-sectional survey highlighted limitations of occupational therapy educators' knowledge of common CAM concepts and therapies across all demographic variables, varying attitudes towards CAM in general and its inclusion in occupational therapy education, and personal use of common CAM therapies. Without increased occupational therapy educator knowledge about CAM and engagement in the current healthcare practices, occupational therapy practitioners are at risk for having a limited role in integrative healthcare.

Nurses' knowledge, clinical practice and attitude towards unconventional medicine: Implications for intercultural healthcare.

PubMed

Gyasi, Razak Mohammed; Abass, Kabila; Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel; Accam, Burnett Tetteh

2017-11-01

The aim of this hospital-based, cross-sectional study was to examine nurses' knowledge, personal and professional practices and attitude towards complementary and alternative medical therapies in urban Ghana. Using convenience sampling technique, cross-sectional data were collected from 210 registered and practicing nurses with self-administered questionnaire based on the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ). Descriptive statistics and the associations between variables were calculated using Pearson's Chi-square test and/or Fisher's exact test with p < 0.05. The mean score of nurses' knowledge on CAM therapies was low (mean ± SD, 38.39 ± 10.11; possible range, 18-72) which was built on nurses' personal experiences. Nurses, therefore, lacked the confidence to recommend CAM therapies to patients. Despite the isolated cases of non-herbal supplements, relaxation techniques, massage and prayer healing, the study found an overall low personal use of CAM (mean ± SD, 32.97 ± 10.78; possible range, 18-72) among nurses over the last 12 months. Yet, nurses exhibited a positive attitude towards CAM (mean ± SD, 72.7 ± 12.5, possible range, 67-110). We observed significant associations among nurses' CAM knowledge and education [χ 2 (2) = 6.69, p = 0.035] and religion [χ 2 (2) = 7.96, p = 0.019]; nurses' personal use of CAM and income [χ 2 (2) = 16.07, p < 0.001] and religion [χ 2 (2) = 18.65, p < 0.001]; and nurses' clinical CAM use and income [χ 2 (2) = 7.01, p = 0.030]. Despite the overall positive attitude towards CAM therapies, Ghanaian nurses do not perceive themselves to have sufficient knowledge of CAM. Integrating CAM education into the nurses' training curriculum can improve CAM knowledge and professional practice among nurses, and in turn, enhance evidence-based patient care within the framework of intercultural healthcare system in Ghana. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community health nursing practices in contexts of poverty, uncertainty and unpredictability: a systematization of personal experiences.

PubMed

Laperrière, Hélène

2007-01-01

Several years of professional nursing practices, while living in the poorest neighbourhoods in the outlying areas of Brazil's Amazon region, have led the author to develop a better understanding of marginalized populations. Providing care to people with leprosy and sex workers in riverside communities has taken place in conditions of uncertainty, insecurity, unpredictability and institutional violence. The question raised is how we can develop community health nursing practices in this context. A systematization of personal experiences based on popular education is used and analyzed as a way of learning by obtaining scientific knowledge through critical analysis of field practices. Ties of solidarity and belonging developed in informal, mutual-help action groups are promising avenues for research and the development of knowledge in health promotion, prevention and community care and a necessary contribution to national public health programmers.

Patient Perspectives on Improving Oral Health-Care Practices Among People Living with HIV/AIDS

PubMed Central

Rajabiun, Serena; Fox, Jane E.; McCluskey, Amanda; Guevara, Ernesto; Verdecias, Niko; Jeanty, Yves; DeMayo, Michael; Mofidi, Mahyar

2012-01-01

This qualitative study explored the impact on oral health-care knowledge, attitudes, and practices among 39 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) participating in a national initiative aimed at increasing access to oral health care. Personal values and childhood dental experiences, beliefs about the importance of oral health in relation to HIV health, and concerns for appearance and self-esteem were found to be determinants of oral health knowledge and practice. Program participation resulted in better hygiene practices, improved self-esteem and appearance, relief of pain, and better physical and emotional health. In-depth exploration of the causes for these changes revealed a desire to continue with dental care due to the dental staff and environmental setting, and a desire to maintain overall HIV health, including oral health. Our findings emphasize the importance of addressing both personal values and contextual factors in providing oral health-care services to PLWHA. PMID:22547879

Social workers' knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding driving and dementia.

PubMed

Adler, Geri

2010-01-01

Drivers with dementia present a significant public safety concern. Failure to recognize and address declines in driving skills associated with dementia can have hazardous consequences for the driver and others. A random sample of social workers was surveyed to better understand their knowledge, beliefs, and practices toward drivers with dementia. Six-hundred five social workers completed the questionnaire. Results reported are based on the analyses of the 152 respondents (25.1% of the sample) who indicated that they worked with persons with dementia. Social workers were significantly more likely to address driving if they had seen more clients with dementia, were more knowledgeable about driving-related issues, and believed they should have a strong role in helping persons with dementia and their families deal with mobility concerns. Social workers who reported that driving situations were more difficult to address than other topics were significantly less likely to broach it in their practices. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Effect of intensive education on knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding upper respiratory infections among urban Latinos.

PubMed

Larson, Elaine L; Ferng, Yu-Hui; McLoughlin, Jennifer Wong; Wang, Shuang; Morse, Stephen S

2009-01-01

Although upper respiratory infections (URIs) take a major social and economic toll, little research has been conducted to assess the impact of educational interventions on knowledge, attitudes, and practices of community members regarding prevention and treatment of URIs, particularly among recently immigrated urban Latinos who may not be reached by the mainstream healthcare system. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a culturally appropriate, home-based educational intervention on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding prevention and treatment of URIs among urban Latinos. Using a pretest-posttest design, Spanish-language educational materials available from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were adapted based on feedback from community focus groups and provided to households during an in-person home visit every 2 months (generally three to four visits). Outcome data regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices were collected in home-based interviews using an 85-item instrument adapted and pilot tested from three other validated instruments. Nonparametric and multiple linear regression analyses were used to summarize data and identify predictors of knowledge scores. Four hundred twenty-two households had complete data at baseline and 6 months. Knowledge and attitude scores were improved significantly, and use of alcohol hand sanitizer and rates of influenza vaccine were increased significantly (all p <.01). Although this home-based educational intervention was successful in improving knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices among urban Latinos regarding prevention and treatment of URIs, further research is needed to determine the cost-effectiveness of such a person-intensive intervention, the long-term outcomes, and whether less intensive interventions might be equally effective.

Knowledge and Health Practices of High School Students with Respect to Heart Disease Risk Factors--A Pilot Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oswald, Marianne T.; And Others

1980-01-01

Examines questionnaire responses of ninth- and twelfth-grade students to investigate the level of knowledge possessed by high school students concerning cardiovascular disease. Results are summarized of student knowledge pertaining to personal life-style associated with smoking, obesity, exercise, and dietary habits. (CS)

An elective course in personal finance for health care professionals.

PubMed

Chui, Michelle A

2009-02-19

To create, implement, and assess an elective course on the principles and applications of personal finance. A 1.5 unit (15 hours total) elective course was designed using active-learning pedagogy, lecture, and group discussion. Homework assignments were designed to provide practical tools and materials that students could individualize and apply to their personal financial goals. Student satisfaction, using a standard course evaluation form, revealed consistent high ratings. Student enrollment increased from 19 students in its initial year to 90 students in its fourth year. Student knowledge, assessed using the Jump$tart Financial Literacy Survey, indicated significant knowledge acquisition. Many pharmacy students are ill equipped to effectively handle the complex financial decisions they face after graduation. This course provides students with practical tools to identify appropriate ways to achieve their financial goals and critically evaluate financial advice and advisors.

Specialty training and the personal use of benzodiazepines by physicians affect their proneness to prescribe tranquilizers.

PubMed

Linden, M; Gothe, H

1998-03-01

The decision on how to treat a patient does not depend on clinical matters or illness characteristics alone, but also on patient, physician and setting variables such as personality, training, or reimbursement. No research has yet been carried out to answer the question whether personal experience with medications also influences prescribing behavior. In this study, 124 physicians stratified according to specialty (neuropsychiatrists vs. general practitioners), type of institution (private practice vs. hospital), years of professional experience (young vs. old), and region (rural vs. urban) participated in a structured interview to evaluate their proneness to prescribe benzodiazepines for sleep disorders as well as their personal experience in taking benzodiazepines for their own sleep problems. Both specialty and personal experience were significantly related to proneness to prescribe. Other variables tested (region, institution, age, gender) did not help to explain the variance in benzodiazepine prescribing practice. Thus physician variables and, importantly, their own personal experience in taking the medication significantly influence treatment choice. Rational medical decision making and treatment guidelines must therefore take into account medical knowledge as well as knowledge of personal treatment preferences and professional biases.

Utilisation of Evidence-Based Practices by ASD Early Intervention Service Providers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paynter, Jessica M.; Ferguson, Sarah; Fordyce, Kathryn; Joosten, Annette; Paku, Sofia; Stephens, Miranda; Trembath, David; Keen, Deb

2017-01-01

A number of autism intervention practices have been demonstrated to be effective. However, the use of unsupported practices persists in community early intervention settings. Recent research has suggested that personal, professional and workplace factors may influence intervention choices. The aim of this research was to investigate knowledge and…

Scotland's Knowledge Network: translating knowledge into action to improve quality of care.

PubMed

Wales, A; Graham, S; Rooney, K; Crawford, A

2012-11-01

The Knowledge Network (www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk) is Scotland's online knowledge service for health and social care. It is designed to support practitioners to apply knowledge in frontline delivery of care, helping to translate knowledge into better health-care outcomes through safe, effective, person-centred care. The Knowledge Network helps to combine the worlds of evidence-based practice and quality improvement by providing access to knowledge about the effectiveness of clinical interventions ('know-what') and knowledge about how to implement this knowledge to support individual patients in working health-care environments ('know-how'). An 'evidence and guidance' search enables clinicians to quickly access quality-assured evidence and best practice, while point of care and mobile solutions provide knowledge in actionable formats to embed in clinical workflow. This research-based knowledge is complemented by social networking services and improvement tools which support the capture and exchange of knowledge from experience, facilitating practice change and systems improvement. In these cases, the Knowledge Network supports key components of the knowledge-to-action cycle--acquiring, creating, sharing and disseminating knowledge to improve performance and innovate. It provides a vehicle for implementing the recommendations of the national Knowledge into Action review, which outlines a new national approach to embedding knowledge in frontline practice and systems improvement.

Reducing adverse self-medication behaviors in older adults with the Next Generation Personal Education Program (PEP-NG): Design and methodology

PubMed Central

Neafsey, Patricia J; Anderson, Elizabeth; Coleman, Craig; Lin, Carolyn A; M’lan, Cyr E; Walsh, Stephen

2009-01-01

A randomized controlled efficacy trial targeting older adults with hypertension is providing a tailored education intervention with a Next Generation Personal Education Program (PEP-NG) in primary care practices in New England. Ten participating advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) completed online knowledge and self-efficacy measures pre-onsite training and twice more after completing a continuing education program. Patient participants self-refer in response to study recruitment brochures and posters. Twenty-four participants from each APRN practice (total N = 240) are randomly assigned by the PEP-NG software to either control (data collection and four routine APRN visits) or tailored intervention (PEP-NG interface and four focused APRN visits) conditions. Patients access the PEP-NG interface via wireless tablet and use a stylus to answer demographic, knowledge, and self-efficacy questions as well as prescription and over-the-counter self-medication practice questions. The PEP-NG analyzes patient-reported information and delivers tailored educational content. Patients’ outcome measures are self-reported antihypertensive medication adherence, blood pressure, knowledge and self-efficacy concerning potential adverse self-medication practices, adverse self-medication behavior “risk” score and satisfaction with the PEP-NG and APRN provider relationship. APRN outcome measures are knowledge and self-efficacy concerning adverse self-medication practices, self-efficacy for communicating with older adults and satisfaction with the PEP-NG. Time–motion and cost–benefit analyses will be conducted. PMID:20016796

The Capabilities of Nurses for Complementary and Traditional Medicine Integration in Africa.

PubMed

Gyasi, Razak Mohammed; Abass, Kabila; Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel; Accam, Burnett Tetteh; Nyamadi, Victoria Mensah

2018-03-01

Despite the political commitment of national governments and collaborative efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) toward the actualization of intercultural healthcare system over the past decades, sub-Saharan African countries feature medical cohabitation rather than a truly integrated medical system. This hospital-based cross-sectional study analyzed the capabilities of nurses for complementary and traditional medicine (CTM) integration in Africa. Practicing nurses (n = 210) were recruited to respond to the CTM Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ) in December 2016. Normality of data was evaluated using Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic with a Lilliefors significance correction. The authors assessed the relationship among nurses' knowledge, personal use, and clinical practice of CTM, using Spearman's Rank Order Correlation (rho). The differences and associations in continuous and categorical baseline variables were determined with Mann-Whitney U test/Kruskal-Wallis H test and Pearson's Chi-square test, respectively, at p < 0.05 as statistically significant. The overall mean score of nurses' knowledge of CTM therapies was 38 (interquartile range [IQR] 16). This low CTM-related knowledge reflected in the poor mean performance score of 30 (IQR 17) and 22 (IQR 6) for personal use and clinical practice of CTM, respectively, among nurses. Nurses, therefore, lacked the confidence to recommend CTM therapies to patients. Yet, nurses exhibited a high positive attitude to CTM (72.7 ± 12.5). In addition to significant associations among CTM-related knowledge, education (p = 0.023), and religion (p < 0.001), the study found a positive and statistically significant correlation among CTM-related knowledge, personal use (r = 0.556, p < 0.001), and professional practice of CTM (r = 0.349, p < 0.001). Given their substantial role in the primary and public healthcare system, improving nurses' knowledge of CTM through evidence-based nursing education and training remains the surest way to achieve appropriate CTM integration in Africa as outlined in the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023.

Medical student preparedness for an era of personalized medicine: findings from one US medical school

PubMed Central

Eden, Caroline; Johnson, Kipp W; Gottesman, Omri; Bottinger, Erwin P; Abul-Husn, Noura S

2016-01-01

Aim The objective of this research was to assess medical student preparedness for the use of personalized medicine. Materials & methods A survey instrument measuring attitude toward personalized medicine, perceived knowledge of genomic testing concepts and perceived ability to apply genomics to clinical care was distributed to students in medical school (MS) years 1–4. Results Of 212 participants, 79% felt that it was important to learn about personalized medicine, but only 6% thought that their medical education had adequately prepared them to practice personalized medicine. Attitude did not vary across years; knowledge and ability increased after MS1, but not after MS2. Conclusion While medical students support the use of personalized medicine, they do not feel prepared to apply genomics to clinical care. PMID:27528879

Primary care providers’ experiences with and perceptions of personalized genomic medicine

PubMed Central

Carroll, June C.; Makuwaza, Tutsirai; Manca, Donna P.; Sopcak, Nicolette; Permaul, Joanne A.; O’Brien, Mary Ann; Heisey, Ruth; Eisenhauer, Elizabeth A.; Easley, Julie; Krzyzanowska, Monika K.; Miedema, Baukje; Pruthi, Sandhya; Sawka, Carol; Schneider, Nancy; Sussman, Jonathan; Urquhart, Robin; Versaevel, Catarina; Grunfeld, Eva

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To assess primary care providers’ (PCPs’) experiences with, perceptions of, and desired role in personalized medicine, with a focus on cancer. Design Qualitative study involving focus groups. Setting Urban and rural interprofessional primary care team practices in Alberta and Ontario. Participants Fifty-one PCPs. Methods Semistructured focus groups were conducted and audiorecorded. Recordings were transcribed and analyzed using techniques informed by grounded theory including coding, interpretations of patterns in the data, and constant comparison. Main findings Five focus groups with the 51 participants were conducted; 2 took place in Alberta and 3 in Ontario. Primary care providers described limited experience with personalized medicine, citing breast cancer and prenatal care as main areas of involvement. They expressed concern over their lack of knowledge, in some circumstances relying on personal experiences to inform their attitudes and practice. Participants anticipated an inevitable role in personalized medicine primarily because patients seek and trust their advice; however, there was underlying concern about the magnitude of information and pace of discovery in this area, particularly in direct-to-consumer personal genomic testing. Increased knowledge, closer ties to genetics specialists, and relevant, reliable personalized medicine resources accessible at the point of care were reported as important for successful implementation of personalized medicine. Conclusion Primary care providers are prepared to discuss personalized medicine, but they require better resources. Models of care that support a more meaningful relationship between PCPs and genetics specialists should be pursued. Continuing education strategies need to address knowledge gaps including direct-to-consumer genetic testing, a relatively new area provoking PCP concern. Primary care providers should be mindful of using personal experiences to guide care. PMID:27737998

Primary care providers' experiences with and perceptions of personalized genomic medicine.

PubMed

Carroll, June C; Makuwaza, Tutsirai; Manca, Donna P; Sopcak, Nicolette; Permaul, Joanne A; O'Brien, Mary Ann; Heisey, Ruth; Eisenhauer, Elizabeth A; Easley, Julie; Krzyzanowska, Monika K; Miedema, Baukje; Pruthi, Sandhya; Sawka, Carol; Schneider, Nancy; Sussman, Jonathan; Urquhart, Robin; Versaevel, Catarina; Grunfeld, Eva

2016-10-01

To assess primary care providers' (PCPs') experiences with, perceptions of, and desired role in personalized medicine, with a focus on cancer. Qualitative study involving focus groups. Urban and rural interprofessional primary care team practices in Alberta and Ontario. Fifty-one PCPs. Semistructured focus groups were conducted and audiorecorded. Recordings were transcribed and analyzed using techniques informed by grounded theory including coding, interpretations of patterns in the data, and constant comparison. Five focus groups with the 51 participants were conducted; 2 took place in Alberta and 3 in Ontario. Primary care providers described limited experience with personalized medicine, citing breast cancer and prenatal care as main areas of involvement. They expressed concern over their lack of knowledge, in some circumstances relying on personal experiences to inform their attitudes and practice. Participants anticipated an inevitable role in personalized medicine primarily because patients seek and trust their advice; however, there was underlying concern about the magnitude of information and pace of discovery in this area, particularly in direct-to-consumer personal genomic testing. Increased knowledge, closer ties to genetics specialists, and relevant, reliable personalized medicine resources accessible at the point of care were reported as important for successful implementation of personalized medicine. Primary care providers are prepared to discuss personalized medicine, but they require better resources. Models of care that support a more meaningful relationship between PCPs and genetics specialists should be pursued. Continuing education strategies need to address knowledge gaps including direct-to-consumer genetic testing, a relatively new area provoking PCP concern. Primary care providers should be mindful of using personal experiences to guide care. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

The Genesis of Mentors' Professional and Personal Knowledge about Teaching: Perspectives from the Republic of Ireland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, Marie; Killeavy, Maureen; Moloney, Anne

2013-01-01

This study investigates the sources of mentors' knowledge about teaching. A mixed-method research design combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods was used to examine this area. The findings of the study suggest that: mentors' knowledge about teaching is practice orientated and emerges from their professional experiences,…

Transition support for new graduate and novice nurses in critical care settings: An integrative review of the literature.

PubMed

Innes, Tiana; Calleja, Pauline

2018-05-01

Transition into critical care areas for new graduate nurses may be more difficult than transitioning into other areas due to the specialised knowledge needed. It is unknown which aspects of transition programs best support new graduate nurses improve competence and confidence to transition into critical care nursing specialties. Identifying these aspects would assist to design and implement best practice transition programs for new graduates in critical care areas. Themes identified in the literature include; having a designated resource person, workplace culture, socialisation, knowledge and skill acquisition, orientation, and rotation. Allocation of a quality resource person/s, supportive workplace culture, positive socialisation experiences, knowledge and skill acquisition and structured orientation based on new graduates' learning needs all positively supported increased confidence, competence and transition into nursing practice. Rotations between areas within graduate programs can potentially have both positive and negative impacts on the transition process. Negative impacts of including a rotation component in a transition program should be carefully considered alongside perceived benefits when designing new graduate nurse transition programs. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Significant Structuring Resources in the Reading Practices of a Digital Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molin, Lisa; Lantz-Andersson, Annika

2016-01-01

Since reading and writing digitally demand partially different competencies, there is a change in some of the premises of related educational practices. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of educational reading practices by scrutinizing how literacy events evolve in a digital classroom where each student has a personal digital device…

Gestalt Practice and Arts-Based Training for Leadership, Innovation and Change Management Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liotas, Naoum

2014-01-01

Gestalt practice and arts-based training has been examined and evaluated using evidence from the literature and personal experience. Gestalt practice allows the training and learning process to take into account the intrapersonal as well as the interpersonal aspects of the group and the individuals involved: the resulting knowledge and…

A Mathematics Teacher's Practice in a Technological Environment: A Case Study Analysis Using Two Complementary Theories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabach, Michal

2011-01-01

Integrating technology in school mathematics has become more and more common. The teacher is a key person in integrating technology into everyday practice. To understand teacher practice in a technological environment, this study proposes using two theoretical perspectives: the theory of technological pedagogical content knowledge to analyze…

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Regarding Vector-borne Diseases in Western Jamaica.

PubMed

Alobuia, Wilson M; Missikpode, Celestin; Aung, Maung; Jolly, Pauline E

2015-01-01

Outbreaks of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as dengue and malaria can overwhelm health systems in resource-poor countries. Environmental management strategies that reduce or eliminate vector breeding sites combined with improved personal prevention strategies can help to significantly reduce transmission of these infections. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of residents in western Jamaica regarding control of mosquito vectors and protection from mosquito bites. A cross-sectional study was conducted between May and August 2010 among patients or family members of patients waiting to be seen at hospitals in western Jamaica. Participants completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic factors and KAPs regarding VBDs. KAP scores were calculated and categorized as high or low based on the number of correct or positive responses. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of KAP and linear regression analysis conducted to determine if knowledge and attitude scores predicted practice scores. In all, 361 (85 men and 276 women) people participated in the study. Most participants (87%) scored low on knowledge and practice items (78%). Conversely, 78% scored high on attitude items. By multivariate logistic regression, housewives were 82% less likely than laborers to have high attitude scores; homeowners were 65% less likely than renters to have high attitude scores. Participants from households with 1 to 2 children were 3.4 times more likely to have high attitude scores compared with those from households with no children. Participants from households with at least 5 people were 65% less likely than those from households with fewer than 5 people to have high practice scores. By multivariable linear regression knowledge and attitude scores were significant predictors of practice score. The study revealed poor knowledge of VBDs and poor prevention practices among participants. It identified specific groups that can be targeted with vector control and personal protection interventions to decrease transmission of the infections. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Take Charge of Your Personal and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goble, Carla B.; Horm, Diane M.

2010-01-01

The need for professional development is universal, whatever a person's profession. Professionals must continually enrich their knowledge and increase their sense of professionalism over the course of their careers so as to implement current research-based practice. Early childhood professional development brings to the forefront the significance…

An Elective Course in Personal Finance for Health Care Professionals

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Objectives To create, implement, and assess an elective course on the principles and applications of personal finance. Design A 1.5 unit (15 hours total) elective course was designed using active-learning pedagogy, lecture, and group discussion. Homework assignments were designed to provide practical tools and materials that students could individualize and apply to their personal financial goals. Assessment Student satisfaction, using a standard course evaluation form, revealed consistent high ratings. Student enrollment increased from 19 students in its initial year to 90 students in its fourth year. Student knowledge, assessed using the Jump$tart Financial Literacy Survey, indicated significant knowledge acquisition. Conclusion Many pharmacy students are ill equipped to effectively handle the complex financial decisions they face after graduation. This course provides students with practical tools to identify appropriate ways to achieve their financial goals and critically evaluate financial advice and advisors. PMID:19513143

Pre-Service Science Teachers' Opinions about Using the Feedback Process in the Preparation of Teaching Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koray, Özlem

2016-01-01

Practical courses are very important in teachers' professional training. It is important that teachers learn professional knowledge and skills by personal experience, and it can increase the quality of their teaching. The accuracy of the practice should be considered for the practical studies of pre-service teachers. When the practices do not…

The Direction of Web-based Training: A Practitioner's View.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilby, Tim

2001-01-01

Web-based training has had achievements and disappointments as online learning has matured. Best practices include user-centered design, knowledge object structures, usability engineering, and formal evaluation. Knowledge management, peer-to-peer learning, and personal learning appliances will continue to alter the online learning landscape. (SK)

A Focus Group Study Exploring Student Nurse's Experiences of an Educational Intervention Focuse don Working with People with a Diagnosis of Personality Disorder.

PubMed

Stacey, G; Baldwin, V; Thompson, B; Aubeeluck, A

2018-05-21

Negative attitudes exist in practice towards those with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Preregistration training offers the opportunity to address this by developing understanding of the diagnosis, confidence in working with people with the diagnosis and empowering new nurses to challenge prevailing attitudes. Attempts to integrate and evaluate specific educational interventions of this nature into pre-registration nurse education have not been explored elsewhere. To explore preregistration nurses' experience of a programme of training focused on personality disorder and their perception of its influence on attitudes, understanding of clients and their experience of practice. A qualitative study using thematic analysis of two focus groups of pre-registration mental health nursing students. Evidence of positive attitudes and confidence to supportively challenge negative attitudes in practice were found. Students showed a shift away from a focus on changing the perceived 'difficult' behaviour of a client towards an understanding of their own emotional responses to the behaviours. The Knowledge and Understanding Framework training shows potential for students to change attitudes and develop progressive practice working with people with personality disorder. The integration of the Knowledge and Understanding Framework should be considered as part of preregistration training. Further research into the sustained influence of the training post registration is required. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Telling Stories, Speaking Personally: Reconsidering the Place of Lived Experience in Composition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahala, Daniel; Swilky, Jody

1996-01-01

Highlights the move towards a practice of storytelling and personal, aesthetic reflections that deliberately challenges the boundaries of the reserved space for these things in Western culture. Discusses academic storytelling and the limits of conventional knowledge; storytelling and the social turn in composition; and examining experience in…

New York Community Environment Study Questionnaire.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glaser, Daniel; Snow, Mary

This questionnaire assesses neighborhood drug problem concern, drug use practices, knowledge of drugs and agencies dealing with drugs, and views on drug education in persons aged 13 or older. The questionnaire has 31 items (multiple-choice or free response), most with several parts. The items deal with demographic and personal data, problems in…

The Socratic Gymnasium: Learning Lessons of Life through Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gubacs-Collins, Klara Dianna

2015-01-01

What constitutes appropriate practice in physical education? NASPE suggests the outcome of a physical education program should be that adolescents have gained the skills and knowledge to be physically active for a lifetime. Furthermore, a physically educated person consistently demonstrates responsible personal and social behavior in physical…

Concordance between Preservice Teachers' Personal Responsibilities and Intended Instructional Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniels, Lia M.; Radil, Amanda; Wagner, Amanda K.

2016-01-01

During their education, preservice teachers begin to assume professional responsibilities and gain pedagogical knowledge. However, the question remains whether preservice teachers intend to use instructional practices that are effective in meeting their assumed responsibilities. Thus, we examined the concordance between preservice teachers'…

Professional Development Perceptions and Practices Among U.S. Physicians: A Cross-Specialty National Survey.

PubMed

Cook, David A; Blachman, Morris J; Price, David W; West, Colin P; Berger, Richard A; Wittich, Christopher M

2017-09-01

Professional development (PD)-both for-credit continuing medical education (CME) and informal self-directed or point-of-care learning-is vital to all physicians. The authors sought to understand physicians' PD perceptions and practices and how these vary by specialty and practice type. The authors administered an Internet and paper survey, from September 2015 to April 2016, to randomly sampled U.S. physicians. Survey items addressed perceived PD needs and barriers and how physicians identify knowledge/skills gaps. Of 4,648 invitees, 988 (21.6%) responded. Respondents believed that they already know what they need to learn (mean 5.8 [1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree]), can answer clinical questions using available resources (5.9), and want credit for learning during patient care (5.1). They did not strongly desire help identifying learning gaps (4.0) or indicate difficulty accumulating CME credits (3.1). Most PD was done during personal time (5.5). Competencies regarding medical knowledge/skills, wellness, informatics, and practice/systems improvement were rated the highest priority, while research, teaching, and professionalism were rated the lowest. The most important sources used to identify knowledge/skills gaps were immediate patient care needs (4.1 [1 = not important; 5 = extremely important]), personal awareness (3.8), and practice updates (3.7). The most important barriers were time (3.5) and cost (2.9). Differences by specialty and practice type were generally small and not statistically significant. Physicians feel confident in identifying their own learning needs, perceive medical knowledge/skills as their highest-priority need, and desire more credit for learning during patient care.

Cancer Knowledge and Examination Frequency in College Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craun, Ann M.; Deffenbacher, Jerry L.

1981-01-01

A study investigated whether the personality construct of repression-sensitization could identify which college students would or would not practice regular examinations for breast, cervical, or testicular cancer. Although knowledge of cancer increased after the lecture, no change was found in the frequency of breast self-examination while…

Reframing Knowing, Being, and Doing in the Seminary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahalan, Kathleen A.

2011-01-01

Seminary education requires that students learn a complex body of theological knowledge, engage in the practices of ministry, and develop as persons of faith and vocation. Utilizing the six aspects of significant learning experiences defined by L. Dee Fink--foundational knowledge, application, integration, the human dimension, caring, and learning…

Civil Defense: An Analysis of Attitudes and Knowledge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marko, George Franklin

The study aimed at constructing, validating, and testing two instruments, one of which measured attitude change toward Civil Defense adult education, and one which measured level of knowledge about Civil Defense practices; and evaluating the effectiveness of the Personal and Family Survival (PFS) Course in terms of attitude change and knowledge…

Genetics educational needs in China: physicians' experience and knowledge of genetic testing.

PubMed

Li, Jing; Xu, Tengda; Yashar, Beverly M

2015-09-01

The aims of this study were to explore the relationship between physicians' knowledge and utilization of genetic testing and to explore genetics educational needs in China. An anonymous survey about experience, attitudes, and knowledge of genetic testing was conducted among physicians affiliated with Peking Union Medical College Hospital during their annual health evaluation. A personal genetics knowledge score was developed and predictors of personal genetics knowledge score were evaluated. Sixty-four physicians (33% male) completed the survey. Fifty-eight percent of them had used genetic testing in their clinical practice. Using a 4-point scale, mean knowledge scores of six common genetic testing techniques ranged from 1.7 ± 0.9 to 2.4 ± 1.0, and the average personal genetics knowledge score was 2.1 ± 0.8. In regression analysis, significant predictors of higher personal genetics knowledge score were ordering of genetic testing, utilization of pedigrees, higher medical degree, and recent genetics training (P < 0.05). Sixty-six percent of physicians indicated a desire for specialized genetic services, and 84% reported a desire for additional genetics education. This study demonstrated a sizable gap between Chinese physicians' knowledge and utilization of genetic testing. Participants had high self-perceived genetics educational needs. Development of genetics educational platforms is both warranted and desired in China.Genet Med 17 9, 757-760.

It's "Supposed" to Be Personal: Personal and Educational Factors Associated with Sexual Health Attitudes, Knowledge, Comfort and Skill in Health Profession Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Lindsey M.; Stepleman, Lara M.; Wilson, Christina K.; Campbell, Jeff; Villarosa, Margo; Bodie, Brittany; Decker, Matthew

2012-01-01

The health professional and the patient are cultural beings with beliefs and attitudes that are shaped by family traditions, social development, and exposure to novel experiences. As such, it is especially important for health profession students to gain awareness about the personal and educational factors that likely inform their practice and…

Effect of health education on knowledge, attitude and practices of personal hygiene among secondary school students in rural Sokoto, North West, Nigeria.

PubMed

Abiola, A O; Nwogu, E E; Ibrahim, M T O; Hassan, R

2012-01-01

Personal hygiene related diseases are serious public health problems in developing countries. To assess the effect of health education on knowledge, attitude, and practices of personal hygiene among rural secondary school students in Sokoto state, north western Nigeria. A quasi-experimental controlled study with pretest and post-test design was carried out. A total 120 subjects per group were selected by multistage sampling technique. Two pre-tested instruments, structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and observer's checklist for personal hygiene practices were used for data collection. Health education intervention was carried out one week after baseline data collection and repeated after four weeks for the intervention group only. Postintervention data collection was carried out in both intervention and control groups three months after the 2nd intervention. However, for ethical consideration, the control group was also provided with the health education intervention similar to that provided to the intervention group. A total of 120 and 116 subjects in the intervention and control groups respectively participated in all phases of the study. The mean knowledge score (%) of the study subjects was high and similar (73.18 +/- 25.82; 77.06 +/- 21.79; p = 0.21) in both the intervention and control groups at baseline, but differed very significantly (91.16 +/- 11.03; 81.74 +/- 21.78; p < 0.0001) at post-intervention. The mean attitude score (%) was high but differ significantly (82.6 +/- 12.73; 86.38 +/- 10.74; p = 0.01) between the intervention and control groups at baseline, and further differed very significantly (95.5 +/- 3.66; 86.90 +/- 10.44; p < 0.0001) at post intervention. The mean reported practice score (%) was high but differ significantly (94.86 +/- 3.00; 93.25 +/- 6.31; p = 0.01) between the intervention and control groups at baseline, and further differed very significantly (96.68 +/- 4.08; 93.7 +/- 6.28; p < 0.0001) at post-intervention. The mean observed practice score (%) was high and similar (57.50 +/- 29.65; 61.35 +/- 28.49; p = 0.31) in both the intervention and control groups at baseline, but differed very significantly (88.20 +/- 9.99; 62.10 +/- 26.94; p < 0.0001) at post-intervention. Health education intervention had impact on knowledge base, attitude and practice of study subjects in intervention group compared to control group. Personal hygiene health education is therefore recommended to be taught in secondary schools.

The making of a nurse manager: the role of experiential learning in leadership development.

PubMed

Cathcart, Eloise Balasco; Greenspan, Miriam; Quin, Matthew

2010-05-01

To articulate the experientially acquired knowledge, skill and ethics embedded in nurse manager practice and describe the ways in which they were developed. The role of the nurse manager is usually described in lists of competencies, talents and traits which fail to capture the experience-based judgment and practical knowledge in this pivotal organizational role. Using Benner's methodology of practice articulation, 32 nurse managers wrote and interpreted first person narratives of their practice. The experience level of the group ranged from new nurse managers to those with more than 10 years' role tenure. The seminars were facilitated by a seasoned nurse executive and nurse manager with expertise in narrative interpretation. Interpretation of the paradigm case of one nurse manager suggests that complex leadership challenges can be a source of significant experiential learning for the individual and for the group. CONCLUSIONS; Articulating and reflecting on experiential learning elucidates the skilled knowledge and judgment embedded in nurse manager practice which cannot be accessed in any other way. Articulating the practical knowledge which is necessary for effective nurse manager practice can hasten the development of role incumbents.

Attitude and knowledge of physicians about cancer pain management: young doctors of South Korea in their early career.

PubMed

Kim, Myung-Hyun; Park, Hyeonggeun; Park, Eun Chul; Park, Keeho

2011-06-01

This study is aimed at evaluating the attitude and knowledge about the optimal use of opioids and finding out the barriers to cancer pain management especially for young doctors in South Korea. A survey through questionnaire form was conducted on 1204 physicians. Physicians were grouped by their medical specialties and personal characteristics. Specialties were grouped into internal medicine and family medicine doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, other board holders and general physicians. Personal characteristics were grouped by their past experiences and current surroundings. Though many doctors thought that they were fairly well educated for pain management strategy, a large population of physicians showed a negative attitude and inadequate knowledge status about cancer pain management. The degree of attitude and knowledge status was different as their specialties and personal experiences. The factors that affected doctors' attitude and knowledge were: (i) medical specialty, (ii) past history of using practical pain assessment tool, (iii) self-perception of knowledge status about pain management, (iv) experience of prescribing opioids, (v) experience of education for cancer pain management. Although many physicians had a passive attitude in prescribing opioid analgesics, they are willingly open to use opioids for cancer pain management in the future. The most important perceived barriers to optimal cancer pain management were the fear for risk of tolerance, drug addiction, side effects of opioid analgesics and knowledge deficit about opioid analgesics. From this study, we found that further education and practical training will be needed for adequate cancer pain management for young physicians in their early career.

Michael Polanyi on the Education and Knowledge of Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, Struan

Rich in insights, groundbreaking in its interpretations, Personal Knowledge deserves to be better known. Modestly contributing to this end, the present paper explains why teachers addressing the nature of science should spend time on Polanyi. Outlining his intellectual career (from medicine to the cutting edge of chemical research, to the analysis of science and society), his ideas on education of scientists, on research and knowledge are then examined. Much of what he found in science - personal knowledge, intellectual passion, faith, trust, tacit understanding, method rules embodied in practice but seldom amenable to formulation - contradicted the orthodox understanding of it. He presaged Kuhn, Feyerabend, and the constructivists, yet insisted that science produces true knowledge about reality. Tension between tradition and innovation characterizes Polanyi's thought, as it does Polanyian scientific research.

Formation in professional education: an examination of the relationship between theories of meaning and theories of the self.

PubMed

Benner, Patricia

2011-08-01

Being formed through learning a practice is best understood within a constitutive theory of meaning as articulated by Charles Taylor. Disengaged views of the person cannot account for the formative changes in a person's identity and capacities upon learning a professional practice. Representational or correspondence theories of meaning cannot account for formation. Formation occurs over time because students actively seek and take up new concerns and learn new knowledge and skills. Engaged situated reasoning about underdetermined practice situations requires well-formed skillful clinicians caring for particular patients in particular situations.

Mapping More than Aboriginal Studies: Pedagogy, Professional Practice and Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norman, Heidi

2014-01-01

As undergraduate curriculum is increasingly required to meet a range of intellectual, professional practice and personal learning outcomes, what purpose does Australian Aboriginal Studies have in curriculum? Most Australian universities are currently in the process of developing institution-wide approaches to Indigenous Australian content in…

The place of knowledge and evidence in the context of Australian general practice nursing.

PubMed

Mills, Jane; Field, John; Cant, Robyn

2009-01-01

The purpose of the study was to ascertain the place of knowledge and evidence in the context of Australian general practice nursing. General practice nursing is a rapidly developing area of specialized nursing in Australia. The provision of primary care services in Australia rests largely with medical general practitioners who employ nurses in a small business model. A statistical research design was used that included a validated instrument: the developing evidence-based practice questionnaire (Gerrish et al. 2007). A total of 1,800 Victorian practice nurses were surveyed with a return of 590 completed questionnaires, equaling a response rate of 33%. Lack of time to access knowledge for practice was a barrier for participants in this study. In-service education and training opportunities were ranked as the number one source of knowledge for general practice nurses. Experiential learning and interactions with clients, peers, medical practitioners, and specialist nurses were also considered very important sources of knowledge. Research journals were ranked much lower than experiential learning and personal interactions. Participants assessed their own skills at sourcing and translating evidence into practice knowledge as low. Younger general practice nurses were more likely than older nurses to assess themselves as competent at using the library and Internet to locate evidence. The predominantly oral culture of nursing needs to be identified and incorporated into methods for disseminating evidence from research findings in order to increase the knowledge base of Australian general practice nurses. Findings from this study will be significant for policy makers and funders of Australian nursing in general practice. The establishment of a career structure for general practice nurses that includes salaried positions for clinical nurse specialists would assist in the translation of evidence into knowledge for utilization at the point of care.

Optimal teaching strategy in periodic impulsive knowledge dissemination system.

PubMed

Liu, Dan-Qing; Wu, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Yu-Xin; Guo, Qiang; Liu, Jian-Guo

2017-01-01

Accurately describing the knowledge dissemination process is significant to enhance the performance of personalized education. In this study, considering the effect of periodic teaching activities on the learning process, we propose a periodic impulsive knowledge dissemination system to regenerate the knowledge dissemination process. Meanwhile, we put forward learning effectiveness which is an outcome of a trade-off between the benefits and costs raised by knowledge dissemination as objective function. Further, we investigate the optimal teaching strategy which can maximize learning effectiveness, to obtain the optimal effect of knowledge dissemination affected by the teaching activities. We solve this dynamic optimization problem by optimal control theory and get the optimization system. At last we numerically solve this system in several practical examples to make the conclusions intuitive and specific. The optimal teaching strategy proposed in this paper can be applied widely in the optimization problem of personal education and beneficial for enhancing the effect of knowledge dissemination.

Optimal teaching strategy in periodic impulsive knowledge dissemination system

PubMed Central

Liu, Dan-Qing; Wu, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Yu-Xin; Guo, Qiang

2017-01-01

Accurately describing the knowledge dissemination process is significant to enhance the performance of personalized education. In this study, considering the effect of periodic teaching activities on the learning process, we propose a periodic impulsive knowledge dissemination system to regenerate the knowledge dissemination process. Meanwhile, we put forward learning effectiveness which is an outcome of a trade-off between the benefits and costs raised by knowledge dissemination as objective function. Further, we investigate the optimal teaching strategy which can maximize learning effectiveness, to obtain the optimal effect of knowledge dissemination affected by the teaching activities. We solve this dynamic optimization problem by optimal control theory and get the optimization system. At last we numerically solve this system in several practical examples to make the conclusions intuitive and specific. The optimal teaching strategy proposed in this paper can be applied widely in the optimization problem of personal education and beneficial for enhancing the effect of knowledge dissemination. PMID:28665961

Herbal Medicines: Personal Use, Knowledge, Attitude, Dispensing Practice, and the Barriers among Community Pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia

PubMed Central

Birarra, Mequanent Kassa

2017-01-01

Background Herbal medicine use is increasing and the global market is estimated to be US$107 billion by the year 2017. Objectives This study aimed at assessing community pharmacists' personal use, knowledge, attitude, dispensing practice, and the barriers regarding herbal medicines. Methods Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 47 community pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, using a structured interviewing questionnaire. Results Nearly half of the respondents (n = 22, 46.8%) sometimes use herbal medicines. Although knowledge related to such preparations was self-rated as poor/acceptable (n = 34, 72.4%), majority (n = 44, 93.7%) of community pharmacists agree/strongly agree that herbal medicines have beneficial effects. Only 6 (12.7%) of them are sometimes/often engaged in dispensing herbal medicines and most of them (n = 34, 72.3%) rarely/never counseled clients regarding these preparations. Limited knowledge on and access to information regarding herbal medicines are the main barriers to the pharmacists' practice. Conclusion Although community pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, commonly use and demonstrated good attitude towards herbal medicines, they are less involved in dispensing such products. They are also challenged with limited knowledge on and access to herbal medicine information. Thus, pharmacy educators, professional organizations, and the government shall pay more attention to solve the problem. Regulatory provisions on herbal medicine dispensing must be enacted and communicated very well. PMID:28904558

Herbal Medicines: Personal Use, Knowledge, Attitude, Dispensing Practice, and the Barriers among Community Pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia.

PubMed

Asmelashe Gelayee, Dessalegn; Binega Mekonnen, Gashaw; Asrade Atnafe, Seyfe; Birarra, Mequanent Kassa; Asrie, Assefa Belay

2017-01-01

Herbal medicine use is increasing and the global market is estimated to be US$107 billion by the year 2017. This study aimed at assessing community pharmacists' personal use, knowledge, attitude, dispensing practice, and the barriers regarding herbal medicines. Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 47 community pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, using a structured interviewing questionnaire. Nearly half of the respondents ( n = 22, 46.8%) sometimes use herbal medicines. Although knowledge related to such preparations was self-rated as poor/acceptable ( n = 34, 72.4%), majority ( n = 44, 93.7%) of community pharmacists agree/strongly agree that herbal medicines have beneficial effects. Only 6 (12.7%) of them are sometimes/often engaged in dispensing herbal medicines and most of them ( n = 34, 72.3%) rarely/never counseled clients regarding these preparations. Limited knowledge on and access to information regarding herbal medicines are the main barriers to the pharmacists' practice. Although community pharmacists in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, commonly use and demonstrated good attitude towards herbal medicines, they are less involved in dispensing such products. They are also challenged with limited knowledge on and access to herbal medicine information. Thus, pharmacy educators, professional organizations, and the government shall pay more attention to solve the problem. Regulatory provisions on herbal medicine dispensing must be enacted and communicated very well.

The cost-effectiveness of health education in improving knowledge and awareness about intestinal parasites in rural Bangladesh.

PubMed

Mascie-Taylor, C G N; Karim, R; Karim, E; Akhtar, S; Ahmed, T; Montanari, R M

2003-12-01

The impact of regular health education in improving knowledge, attitude and practices in the control of intestinal parasites was examined in four rural areas of Bangladesh; two areas received health education and the other two areas were controls. By the end of the 18-month study households receiving health education showed highly significant improvements in knowledge, water and sanitation facilities and personal hygiene compared with households in the control areas. Improving knowledge by 1% cost between US dollars 0.75 and 0.82 per household, while a 1% improvement in personal hygiene cost between US dollars 1.10 and 1.32 per household and water and sanitation between US dollars 1.39 and 1.52 per household.

Nursing students' knowledge and practices of standard precautions: A Jordanian web-based survey.

PubMed

AL-Rawajfah, Omar M; Tubaishat, Ahmad

2015-12-01

The main purpose of this web-based survey was to evaluate Jordanian nursing students' knowledge and practice of standard precautions. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used. Six public and four private Jordanian universities were invited to participate in the study. Approximately, seventeen hundred nursing students in the participating universities were invited via the students' portal on the university electronic system. For schools without an electronic system, students received invitations sent to their personal commercial email. The final sample size was 594 students; 65.3% were female with mean age of 21.2 years (SD=2.6). The majority of the sample was 3rd year students (42.8%) who had no previous experience working as nurses (66.8%). The mean total knowledge score was 13.8 (SD=3.3) out of 18. On average, 79.9% of the knowledge questions were answered correctly. The mean total practice score was 67.4 (SD=9.9) out of 80. There was no significant statistical relationship between students' total knowledge and total practice scores (r=0.09, p=0.032). Jordanian nursing educators are challenged to introduce different teaching modalities to effectively translate theoretical infection control knowledge into safe practices. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Information management to enable personalized medicine: stakeholder roles in building clinical decision support.

PubMed

Downing, Gregory J; Boyle, Scott N; Brinner, Kristin M; Osheroff, Jerome A

2009-10-08

Advances in technology and the scientific understanding of disease processes are presenting new opportunities to improve health through individualized approaches to patient management referred to as personalized medicine. Future health care strategies that deploy genomic technologies and molecular therapies will bring opportunities to prevent, predict, and pre-empt disease processes but will be dependent on knowledge management capabilities for health care providers that are not currently available. A key cornerstone to the potential application of this knowledge will be effective use of electronic health records. In particular, appropriate clinical use of genomic test results and molecularly-targeted therapies present important challenges in patient management that can be effectively addressed using electronic clinical decision support technologies. Approaches to shaping future health information needs for personalized medicine were undertaken by a work group of the American Health Information Community. A needs assessment for clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to support personalized medical practices was conducted to guide health future development activities. Further, a suggested action plan was developed for government, researchers and research institutions, developers of electronic information tools (including clinical guidelines, and quality measures), and standards development organizations to meet the needs for personalized approaches to medical practice. In this article, we focus these activities on stakeholder organizations as an operational framework to help identify and coordinate needs and opportunities for clinical decision support tools to enable personalized medicine. This perspective addresses conceptual approaches that can be undertaken to develop and apply clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to achieve personalized medical care. In addition, to represent meaningful benefits to personalized decision-making, a comparison of current and future applications of clinical decision support to enable individualized medical treatment plans is presented. If clinical decision support tools are to impact outcomes in a clear and positive manner, their development and deployment must therefore consider the needs of the providers, including specific practice needs, information workflow, and practice environment.

Information management to enable personalized medicine: stakeholder roles in building clinical decision support

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Advances in technology and the scientific understanding of disease processes are presenting new opportunities to improve health through individualized approaches to patient management referred to as personalized medicine. Future health care strategies that deploy genomic technologies and molecular therapies will bring opportunities to prevent, predict, and pre-empt disease processes but will be dependent on knowledge management capabilities for health care providers that are not currently available. A key cornerstone to the potential application of this knowledge will be effective use of electronic health records. In particular, appropriate clinical use of genomic test results and molecularly-targeted therapies present important challenges in patient management that can be effectively addressed using electronic clinical decision support technologies. Discussion Approaches to shaping future health information needs for personalized medicine were undertaken by a work group of the American Health Information Community. A needs assessment for clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to support personalized medical practices was conducted to guide health future development activities. Further, a suggested action plan was developed for government, researchers and research institutions, developers of electronic information tools (including clinical guidelines, and quality measures), and standards development organizations to meet the needs for personalized approaches to medical practice. In this article, we focus these activities on stakeholder organizations as an operational framework to help identify and coordinate needs and opportunities for clinical decision support tools to enable personalized medicine. Summary This perspective addresses conceptual approaches that can be undertaken to develop and apply clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to achieve personalized medical care. In addition, to represent meaningful benefits to personalized decision-making, a comparison of current and future applications of clinical decision support to enable individualized medical treatment plans is presented. If clinical decision support tools are to impact outcomes in a clear and positive manner, their development and deployment must therefore consider the needs of the providers, including specific practice needs, information workflow, and practice environment. PMID:19814826

Information Retention and Overload in First-Time Hearing Aid Users: An Interactive Multimedia Educational Solution.

PubMed

Ferguson, Melanie; Brandreth, Marian; Brassington, William; Wharrad, Heather

2015-09-01

An educational intervention to improve knowledge of hearing aids and communication in first-time hearing aid users was assessed. This intervention was based on the concept of reusable learning objects (RLOs). A randomized controlled trial was conducted. One group received the educational intervention, and the other acted as a control group. RLOs were delivered online and through DVD for television and personal computer. Knowledge of both practical and psychosocial aspects of hearing aids and communication was assessed using a free-recall method 6 weeks postfitting. Knowledge of both practical and psychosocial issues was significantly higher in the group that received the RLOs than in the control group. Moderate to large effect sizes indicated that these differences were clinically significant. An educational intervention that supplements clinical practice results in improved knowledge in first-time hearing aid users.

Personalized medicine. Closing the gap between knowledge and clinical practice.

PubMed

Anaya, Juan-Manuel; Duarte-Rey, Carolina; Sarmiento-Monroy, Juan C; Bardey, David; Castiblanco, John; Rojas-Villarraga, Adriana

2016-08-01

Personalized medicine encompasses a broad and evolving field informed by a patient distinctive information and biomarker profile. Although terminology is evolving and some semantic interpretations exist (e.g., personalized, individualized, precision), in a broad sense personalized medicine can be coined as: "To practice medicine as it once used to be in the past using the current biotechnological tools." A humanized approach to personalized medicine would offer the possibility of exploiting systems biology and its concept of P5 medicine, where predictive factors for developing a disease should be examined within populations in order to establish preventive measures on at-risk individuals, for whom healthcare should be personalized and participatory. Herein, the process of personalized medicine is presented together with the options that can be offered in health care systems with limited resources for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Heuristic Sandbox: Developing Teacher Know-How through Play in simSchool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopper, Susan B.

2018-01-01

simSchool is a game-based, virtual, and interactive tool that allows pre-service teachers to acquire new skills while constructing knowledge through experimentation with learning situations. Pre-service teachers develop know-how--or heuristic knowledge--through repeated practice in the "Personality Plus Higher-Order Thinking" module to…

A Suggested In-Service Training Model Based on Turkish Preschool Teachers' Conceptions for Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kabadayi, Abdulkadir

2016-01-01

Nowadays, teacher professionalization has been upgrading and the status, training and working conditions of teachers have received a great deal of interest for sustainable education. It is recognized that if teachers are equipped with adequate professional knowledge and personal practical knowledge, they will become active curriculum planners at…

Change in Knowledge of Learning and Teaching through Journal Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dart, B. C.; Boulton-Lewis, G. M.; Brownlee, J. M.; McCrindle, A. R.

1998-01-01

Investigated changes in graduate teacher-education students' knowledge of teaching and learning resulting from the use of personal journals. Analysis of participants' journals found that their insights became more profound as their journals progressed, and the nature and quality of thinking and reflection, as well as their influence on practice,…

Perspectives from practice: complexities of personal care workers.

PubMed

Martyn, Julie-Anne; Zanella, Sally; Wilkinson, Adele

2017-11-14

Personal care workers (PCWs) make up the bulk of the workforce in residential and community care services. The knowledge and skill set needed for safe and effective practice in care settings is extensive. A diverse range of registered training organisations (RTOs) offering Certificate III and IV in Individual Support (aging, home and community) are tasked with producing job-ready PCWs. However, the curricula of these programs vary. Additionally, a national code of conduct for healthcare workers became effective in October 2015 as a governance framework for PCWs. The language of the code statements is ambiguous making it unclear how this framework should be translated by RTOs and applied in the preservice practice preparation of PCWs. Employers of PCWs need to feel confident that the content of the preservice education of PCWs satisfactorily prepares them for the diverse contexts of their practice. Likewise, the health professionals who supervise PCWs must be assured about the knowledge and skills of the PCW if they are to safely delegate care activities. The perspectives presented in this discussion make it clear that investigation into the nebulous nature of PCW education, regulation and practice is needed to identify the shortcomings and enable improved practice.

"You have to take action": changing knowledge and attitudes towards newborn care practices during crisis in South Sudan.

PubMed

Sami, Samira; Kerber, Kate; Tomczyk, Barbara; Amsalu, Ribka; Jackson, Debra; Scudder, Elaine; Dimiti, Alexander; Meyers, Janet; Kenneth, Kemish; Kenyi, Solomon; Kennedy, Caitlin E; Ackom, Kweku; Mullany, Luke C

2017-11-01

Highest rates of neonatal mortality occur in countries that have recently experienced conflict. International Medical Corps implemented a package of newborn interventions in June 2016, based on the Newborn health in humanitarian settings: field guide, targeting community- and facility-based health workers in displaced person camps in South Sudan. We describe health workers' knowledge and attitudes toward newborn health interventions, before and after receiving clinical training and supplies, and recommend dissemination strategies for improved uptake of newborn guidelines during crises. A mixed methods approach was utilised, including pre-post knowledge tests and in-depth interviews. Study participants were community- and facility-based health workers in two internally displaced person camps located in Juba and Malakal and two refugee camps in Maban from March to October 2016. Mean knowledge scores for newborn care practices and danger signs increased among 72 community health workers (pre-training: 5.8 [SD: 2.3] vs. post-training: 9.6 [SD: 2.1]) and 25 facility-based health workers (pre-training: 14.2 [SD: 2.7] vs. post-training: 17.4 [SD: 2.8]). Knowledge and attitudes toward key essential practices, such as the use of partograph to assess labour progress, early initiation of breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care and weighing the baby, improved among skilled birth attendants. Despite challenges in conflict-affected settings, conducting training has the potential to increase health workers' knowledge on neonatal health post-training. The humanitarian community should reinforce this knowledge with key actions to shift cultural norms that expand the care provided to women and their newborns in these contexts.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of hygiene among school children in Angolela, Ethiopia.

PubMed

Vivas, A P; Gelaye, B; Aboset, N; Kumie, A; Berhane, Y; Williams, M A

2010-06-01

Poor hygiene practices and inadequate sanitary conditions play major roles in the increased burden of communicable diseases within developing countries. This study evaluated the KAP of hygiene among rural school children in Ethiopia and assessed the extent to which proper knowledge of hygiene was associated with personal hygiene characteristics. This cross-sectional study was comprised of 669 students who were interviewed by trained staff Participants were in grades 1-6 at Angolela Primary School, located in rural Ethiopia. Data consisted of hygiene and hand washing practices, knowledge about sanitation, personal hygiene characteristics, and presence of gastrointestinal parasitic infection. Results. Approximately 52% of students were classified as having adequate knowledge of proper hygiene. Most students reported hand washing before meals (99.0%), but only 36.2% reported using soap. Although 76.7% of students reported that washing hands after defecation was important, only 14.8% reported actually following this practice. Students with adequate knowledge of proper hygiene were more likely to have clean clothes (AOR 1.62, CI 1.14-2.29) and to have a lower risk of parasitic infection (AOR 0.78, CI 0.56-1.09) although statistical significance was not achieved for the latter Study findings underscore the need for more hand washing and hygiene education in schools; and provide objective evidence that may guide the development of comprehensive health and hygiene intervention programs in rural Ethiopian schools. Successful implementation of these programs is likely to substantially attenuate the transmissible disease burden borne by school children in rural settings.

Innovations in workplace accessibility and accommodation for persons with hearing loss: using social networking and community of practice theory to promote knowledge exchange and change.

PubMed

Shaw, Lynn; Jennings, Mary Beth; Poost-Foroosh, Laya; Hodgins, Heather; Kuchar, Ashley

2013-01-01

Despite widespread availability of assistive technology and the role of occupational therapists and audiologists in workplace health, little is known about how these groups influence the health of workers with hearing loss. Based on a previously conducted study, this paper explores the need for networking and community of practice theory to promote knowledge sharing and use between occupational therapists, audiologists, educators, regulators, workers, and employers. Five occupational therapists and five audiologists participated in in-depth interviews. Grounded theory was used to investigate the processes that hinder or support these professionals in addressing the accommodation needs of and workplace accessibility for workers with hearing loss. Constraints to addressing the needs of workers with hearing loss included: lack of knowledge about professional practice processes, lack of networking, lack of knowledge on current research, and lack of knowledge on the realm of expertise of audiologists by occupational therapists and of occupational therapists by audiologists. Innovations in workplace practice in hearing loss require engagement of occupational therapists, audiologists, and employers in knowledge transfer, networking, and learning. This column introduces two theories that may guide the use and development of evidence, knowledge, and expertise toward innovations in hearing work practice.

["Jump in at the deep end" : simulator-based learning in acute care].

PubMed

Breuer, G; Schweizer, K; Schüttler, J; Weiß, M; Vladut, A

2014-01-01

With high-fidelity simulators in a modern blended learning setting, students are able to acquire knowledge and practical skills in acute medicine in realistic scenarios. However, it has not yet been clarified if the sequence of linking between knowledge and simulator-based training of practical skills plays an important role for increasing knowledge, for the self-concept and learning emotions of trainees. In a pilot study the influence of the type of knowledge acquisition under two independent conditions was investigated in which the order of presenting the learning material (firstly theory and then simulation vs. simulation elements before the theory) was reversed. In addition the influence of individual attributes of personality on the construction of situated knowledge was correlated with these conditions in two groups. To investigate the outcome of simulator-based learning 20 students were randomly allocated to one of the two conditions and undertook two scenarios (anaphylactic shock and myocardial infarction), whereby the theoretical lessons were given either before or after the scenarios. Using standardized questionnaires and problem-centered semi-standardized interviews, the following variables of the participants were assessed: personality traits, current positive and negative feelings, professional self-concept, general self-efficacy and coping strategies for stress. Theoretical knowledge and practical skills were assessed using a knowledge test and standardized assessment questionnaires which also focused on performance and patient safety. All together the results showed a slight advantage for the condition of theory before simulation which was not determined by the acquisition of knowledge but by a better performance of trainees as assessed by the trainers. Regarding knowledge acquisition, no statistically significant differences could be shown. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found for negative feelings (very intense negative emotional state) and for the professional self-concept (perception of own professional skills) in favor of the theory then simulation condition. More extrovert participants showed poorer results which could not be attributed to one of the conditions. However, the participants always assessed the allocated learning condition as the best premise for effective learning outcome. Reaction to stress has been described as "jumping in at the deep end" as well as the lasting effect on learning from errors. In the context of simulation-based teaching, the learning outcome not only depends on knowledge, practical skills and motivational variables but also on the presence of negative feelings, ability self-concepts and various personality traits. There was a trend which showed that simulation in the field of anesthesiology and emergency medicine should be set up with the theoretical basis first in order to avoid negative feelings.

Picturing the nurse-person/family/community process in the year 2050.

PubMed

Mitchell, Gail J

2007-01-01

How will nurses relate with persons in the year 2050? And, how might technology enable or limit the nursing process with persons, families, and communities? These are the questions addressed in this column. Imaging practice in light of the technological imaginings and projections is facilitated by a possible scenario that includes robotics that not only monitor human biological processes, they also emote compassion and caring that may one day be dosed according to the latest diagnostic prescription. Three nurses in this column present their views of how nursing might evolve. Karnick, aligned with the human becoming school of thought, imagines a practice anchored in respect for humanity and quality of life and an accompanying respect for nursing knowledge and nursing work. Senesac and Sato, aligned with Roy's adaptation model, call for nurses to envision and choose the future they want to have. Clear in both perspectives is a reverence for human values and human experience and for the critical role of nursing knowledge as we move toward the not-yet of 2050.

Descartes the doctor: rationalism and its therapies.

PubMed

Shapin, S

2000-06-01

During the Scientific Revolution one important gauge of the quality of reformed natural philosophical knowledge was its ability to produce a more effective medical practice. Indeed, it was sometimes thought that philosophers who pretended to possess new and more potent philosophical knowledge might display that possession in personal health and longevity. Rene Descartes repeatedly wrote that a better medical practice was a major aim of his philosophical enterprise. He said that he had made important strides towards achieving that aim, on that basis, he offered practical medical advice to others and advertised the expectation that, taking his own advice, he would live a very long time. This paper describes what Cartesian medicine looked like in practice and what that practice owed to the power of modernist Reason.

Leave Her out of It: Person-Presentation of Strategies is Harmful for Transfer.

PubMed

Riggs, Anne E; Alibali, Martha W; Kalish, Charles W

2015-11-01

A common practice in textbooks is to introduce concepts or strategies in association with specific people. This practice aligns with research suggesting that using "real-world" contexts in textbooks increases students' motivation and engagement. However, other research suggests this practice may interfere with transfer by distracting students or leading them to tie new knowledge too closely to the original learning context. The current study investigates the effects on learning and transfer of connecting mathematics strategies to specific people. A total of 180 college students were presented with an example of a problem-solving strategy that was either linked with a specific person (e.g., "Juan's strategy") or presented without a person. Students who saw the example without a person were more likely to correctly transfer the novel strategy to new problems than students who saw the example presented with a person. These findings are the first evidence that using people to present new strategies is harmful for learning and transfer. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of persons with and without disabilities from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2011: Differential access to HIV/AIDS information and services.

PubMed

Abimanyi-Ochom, Julie; Mannan, Hasheem; Groce, Nora Ellen; McVeigh, Joanne

2017-01-01

Uganda is among the first to use the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on Disability to identify persons with disabilities in its Demographic and Health Survey. In this paper, we review the HIV Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour component of the 2011 Ugandan Demographic and Health Survey, analysing a series of questions comparing those with and without disabilities in relation to HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and practices. We found comparable levels of knowledge on HIV/AIDS for those with and those without disabilities in relation to HIV transmission during delivery (93.89%, 93.26%) and through breastfeeding (89.91%, 90.63%), which may reflect increased attention to reaching the community of persons with disabilities. However, several gaps in the knowledge base of persons with disabilities stood out, including misconceptions of risk of HIV infection through mosquito bites and caring for a relative with HIV in own household (34.39%, 29.86%; p<0.001; 91.53%, 89.00%; p = 0.001, respectively). The issue is not just access to appropriate information but also equitable access to HIV/AIDS services and support. Here we found that persons with multiple disabilities were less likely than individuals without disabilities to return to receive results from their most recent HIV test (0.60[0.41-0.87], p<0.05). HIV testing means little if people do not return for follow-up to know their HIV status and, if necessary, to be connected to available services and supports. Additional findings of note were that persons with disabilities reported having a first sexual encounter at a slightly younger age than peers without disabilities; and persons with disabilities also reported having a sexually transmitted disease (STD) within the last 12 months at significantly higher rates than peers without disabilities (1.38[1.18-1.63], p<0.01), despite reporting comparable knowledge of the need for safer sex practices. This analysis is among the first to use HIV/AIDS-related questions from Demographic Health Surveys to provide information about persons with disabilities in Uganda in comparison to those without disabilities. These findings present a more complex and nuanced understanding of persons with disabilities and HIV/AIDS. If persons with disabilities are becoming sexually active earlier, are more likely to have an STD within the preceding 12 month period and are less likely to receive HIV test results, it is important to understand why. Recommendations are also made for the inclusion of disability measures in Uganda's AIDS Indicator Survey to provide cyclical and systematic data on disability and HIV/AIDS, including HIV prevalence amongst persons with disabilities.

HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of persons with and without disabilities from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2011: Differential access to HIV/AIDS information and services

PubMed Central

Abimanyi-Ochom, Julie; Mannan, Hasheem; Groce, Nora Ellen; McVeigh, Joanne

2017-01-01

Uganda is among the first to use the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on Disability to identify persons with disabilities in its Demographic and Health Survey. In this paper, we review the HIV Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour component of the 2011 Ugandan Demographic and Health Survey, analysing a series of questions comparing those with and without disabilities in relation to HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and practices. We found comparable levels of knowledge on HIV/AIDS for those with and those without disabilities in relation to HIV transmission during delivery (93.89%, 93.26%) and through breastfeeding (89.91%, 90.63%), which may reflect increased attention to reaching the community of persons with disabilities. However, several gaps in the knowledge base of persons with disabilities stood out, including misconceptions of risk of HIV infection through mosquito bites and caring for a relative with HIV in own household (34.39%, 29.86%; p<0.001; 91.53%, 89.00%; p = 0.001, respectively). The issue is not just access to appropriate information but also equitable access to HIV/AIDS services and support. Here we found that persons with multiple disabilities were less likely than individuals without disabilities to return to receive results from their most recent HIV test (0.60[0.41–0.87], p<0.05). HIV testing means little if people do not return for follow-up to know their HIV status and, if necessary, to be connected to available services and supports. Additional findings of note were that persons with disabilities reported having a first sexual encounter at a slightly younger age than peers without disabilities; and persons with disabilities also reported having a sexually transmitted disease (STD) within the last 12 months at significantly higher rates than peers without disabilities (1.38[1.18–1.63], p<0.01), despite reporting comparable knowledge of the need for safer sex practices. This analysis is among the first to use HIV/AIDS-related questions from Demographic Health Surveys to provide information about persons with disabilities in Uganda in comparison to those without disabilities. These findings present a more complex and nuanced understanding of persons with disabilities and HIV/AIDS. If persons with disabilities are becoming sexually active earlier, are more likely to have an STD within the preceding 12 month period and are less likely to receive HIV test results, it is important to understand why. Recommendations are also made for the inclusion of disability measures in Uganda’s AIDS Indicator Survey to provide cyclical and systematic data on disability and HIV/AIDS, including HIV prevalence amongst persons with disabilities. PMID:28406929

The "Physically Educated" Person: Physical Education in the Philosophy of Reid, Peters and Aristotle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacAllister, James

2013-01-01

This article will derive a definition and account of the physically educated person, through an examination of the philosophy of Andrew Reid, Richard Peters and Aristotle. Initially, Reid's interpretation of Peters' views about the educational significance of practical knowledge (and physical education) will be considered. While it will…

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Meningitis in Northern Ghana

PubMed Central

Hayden, Mary H.; Dalaba, Maxwell; Awine, Timothy; Akweongo, Patricia; Nyaaba, Gertrude; Anaseba, Dominic; Pelzman, Jamie; Hodgson, Abraham; Pandya, Rajul

2013-01-01

Meningitis has a significant impact in the Sahel, but the mechanisms for transmission and factors determining a person's vulnerability are not well understood. Our survey examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of people in a meningitis-endemic area in the Upper East region of northern Ghana to identify social, economic, and behavioral factors that may contribute to disease transmission and possible interventions that might improve health outcomes. Key results suggest potential interventions in response to the risk posed by migration, especially seasonal migration, a lack of knowledge about early symptoms causing delayed treatment, and a need for further education about the protective benefits of vaccination. PMID:23775016

Closing the gap between knowledge and clinical application: challenges for genomic translation.

PubMed

Burke, Wylie; Korngiebel, Diane M

2015-01-01

Despite early predictions and rapid progress in research, the introduction of personal genomics into clinical practice has been slow. Several factors contribute to this translational gap between knowledge and clinical application. The evidence available to support genetic test use is often limited, and implementation of new testing programs can be challenging. In addition, the heterogeneity of genomic risk information points to the need for strategies to select and deliver the information most appropriate for particular clinical needs. Accomplishing these tasks also requires recognition that some expectations for personal genomics are unrealistic, notably expectations concerning the clinical utility of genomic risk assessment for common complex diseases. Efforts are needed to improve the body of evidence addressing clinical outcomes for genomics, apply implementation science to personal genomics, and develop realistic goals for genomic risk assessment. In addition, translational research should emphasize the broader benefits of genomic knowledge, including applications of genomic research that provide clinical benefit outside the context of personal genomic risk.

Ontological knowledge engine and health screening data enabled ubiquitous personalized physical fitness (UFIT).

PubMed

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu; Chih, Meng-Chun

2014-03-07

Good physical fitness generally makes the body less prone to common diseases. A personalized exercise plan that promotes a balanced approach to fitness helps promotes fitness, while inappropriate forms of exercise can have adverse consequences for health. This paper aims to develop an ontology-driven knowledge-based system for generating custom-designed exercise plans based on a user's profile and health status, incorporating international standard Health Level Seven International (HL7) data on physical fitness and health screening. The generated plan exposing Representational State Transfer (REST) style web services which can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device and deployed in cloud computing environments. To ensure the practicality of the generated exercise plans, encapsulated knowledge used as a basis for inference in the system is acquired from domain experts. The proposed Ubiquitous Exercise Plan Generation for Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT) will not only improve health-related fitness through generating personalized exercise plans, but also aid users in avoiding inappropriate work outs.

Impacts of a Peer-Group Intervention on HIV-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Personal Behaviors for Urban Hospital Workers in Malawi

PubMed Central

Kaponda, Chrissie P. N.; Jere, Diana L.; Chimango, Jane L.; Chimwaza, Angela F.; Crittenden, Kathleen S.; Kachingwe, Sitingawawo I.; McCreary, Linda L.; Norr, James L.; Norr, Kathleen F.

2014-01-01

This report describes the effects of a peer-group intervention on Malawian urban hospital workers’ HIV-related personal knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. More than 850 clinical and nonclinical hospital workers received the intervention. Evaluation used independent surveys of a sample of workers at baseline (N = 366) and postintervention (N = 561). Compared with the baseline survey, after the intervention, workers had higher knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention; more positive attitudes including more hope, less stigmatization of persons with HIV, more positive attitudes toward HIV testing and condom use, and higher self-efficacy for practicing safer sex and for community prevention; more reported recent personal HIV tests, more discussion of safer sex with partners, and more reported community HIV prevention activities. However, health workers’ risky sexual behaviors did not differ at baseline and postintervention. The intervention should be strengthened to support more sexual risk reduction and be made available to all health workers in Malawi. PMID:19427600

Ontological Knowledge Engine and Health Screening Data Enabled Ubiquitous Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT)

PubMed Central

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu; Chih, Meng-Chun

2014-01-01

Good physical fitness generally makes the body less prone to common diseases. A personalized exercise plan that promotes a balanced approach to fitness helps promotes fitness, while inappropriate forms of exercise can have adverse consequences for health. This paper aims to develop an ontology-driven knowledge-based system for generating custom-designed exercise plans based on a user's profile and health status, incorporating international standard Health Level Seven International (HL7) data on physical fitness and health screening. The generated plan exposing Representational State Transfer (REST) style web services which can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device and deployed in cloud computing environments. To ensure the practicality of the generated exercise plans, encapsulated knowledge used as a basis for inference in the system is acquired from domain experts. The proposed Ubiquitous Exercise Plan Generation for Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT) will not only improve health-related fitness through generating personalized exercise plans, but also aid users in avoiding inappropriate work outs. PMID:24608002

Reflective education for professional practice: discovering knowledge from experience.

PubMed

Lyons, J

1999-01-01

To continually develop as a discipline, a profession needs to generate a knowledge base that can evolve from education and practice. Midwifery reflective practitioners have the potential to develop clinical expertise directed towards achieving desirable, safe and effective practice. Midwives are 'with woman', providing the family with supportive and helpful relationships as they share the deep and profound experiences of childbirth. To become skilled helpers students need to develop reflective skills and valid midwifery knowledge grounded in their personal experiences and practice. Midwife educators and practitioners can assist students and enhance their learning by expanding the scope of practice, encouraging self-assessment and the development of reflective and professional skills. This paper explores journal writing as a learning strategy for the development of reflective skills within midwifery and explores its value for midwifery education. It also examines, through the use of critical social theory and adult learning principles, how midwives can assist and thus enhance students learning through the development of professional and reflective skills for midwifery practice.

Practice innovation: the need for nimble data platforms to implement precision oncology care.

PubMed

Elfiky, Aymen; Zhang, Dongyang; Krishnan Nair, Hari K

2015-01-01

Given the drive toward personalized, value-based, and coordinated cancer care delivery, modern knowledge-based practice is being shaped within the context of an increasingly technology-driven healthcare landscape. The ultimate promise of 'precision medicine' is predicated on taking advantage of the range of new capabilities for integrating disease- and individual-specific data to define new taxonomies as part of a systems-based knowledge network. Specifically, with cancer being a constantly evolving complex disease process, proper care of an individual will require the ability to seamlessly integrate multi-dimensional 'omic' and clinical data. Importantly, however, the challenges of curating knowledge from multiple dynamic data sources and translating to practice at the point-of-care highlight parallel needs. As patients, caregivers, and their environments become more proactive in clinical care and management, practical success of precision medicine is equally dependent on the development of proper infrastructures for evolving data integration, platforms for knowledge representation in a clinically-relevant context, and implementation within a provider's work-life and workflow.

[The influence of professional degree on the knowledge of HIV, HBV and HCV infections in dentistry practice].

PubMed

Vitale, F; Di Benedetto, M A; Casuccio, A; Firenze, A; Calandra, G; Ballarò, F; Romano, N

2005-01-01

The knowledge and preventive practices toward the risk of infection with HIV, HBV and HCV were evaluated in a sample of 254 dentists and odontostomatologies in Palermo, by answering to an anonymous questionnaire sent by mail. Overall, most of the participants showed a good knowledge of the transmission pattern of blood-borne viruses as well as good practice for personal hygiene (washing of hands, routine use of gloves, etc.). However 80.8% answered to recap needles after use and more than 40% have had at least one needle injury during the last year in their occupational setting. Moreover, nearly 24% of the interviewed declared to have not made vaccination against Hepatitis B virus infection. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between better knowledge, safer practice and different teaching training suggesting that odontostomatology degree might be more appropriate for a better training in preventive medicine for blood borne pathogens. Data also suggest the need of continuous worker education to reduce occupational blood exposures in dentistry.

Mindfulness meditation and explicit and implicit indicators of personality and self-concept changes

PubMed Central

Crescentini, Cristiano; Capurso, Viviana

2015-01-01

The scientific interest on mindfulness meditation (MM) has significantly increased in the last two decades probably because of the positive health effects that this practice exerts in a great variety of clinical and non-clinical conditions. Despite attention regulation, emotional regulation, and body awareness have been argued to be critical mechanisms through which MM improves well-being, much less is known on the effects of this practice on personality. Here we review the current state of knowledge about the role of MM in promoting changes in practitioners’ personality profiles and self-concepts. We first focus on studies that investigated the relations between mindfulness and personality using well-known self-report inventories such as the Five-Factor model of personality traits and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Second, based on the intrinsic limitations of these explicit personality measures, we review a key set of results showing effects of MM on implicit, as well as explicit, self-representations. Although the research on MM and personality is still in its infancy, it appears that this form of meditative practice may notably shape individuals’ personality and self-concept toward more healthy profiles. PMID:25688222

Evaluating knowledge transfer practices among construction organization in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaidi, Mohd Azian; Baharuddin, Mohd Nurfaisal; Bahardin, Nur Fadhilah; Yasin, Mohd Fadzil Mat; Nawi, Mohd Nasrun Mohd; Deraman, Rafikullah

2016-08-01

The aims of this paper is to identify a key dimension of knowledge transfer component to improve construction organization performance. It investigates the effectiveness of present knowledge transfer practices currently adopted by the Malaysian construction organizations and examines the relationship between knowledge transfer factors and organizational factors. A survey among 151 respondents including a different contractor registration grade was employed for the study. The survey shows that a seven-teen (17) factors known as creating shared awareness for information sharing, communication, personal skills,individual attitude,training, organizational culture, information technology,motivation, monitoring and supervision, service quality,information accessibility, information supply, socialization process,knowledge tools, coaching and monitoring, staff briefing and information sharing were identify as a key dimension for knowledge transfer success. This finding suggest that through improvement of each factor, the recognition of the whole strategic knowledge transfer process can be increase thus helping to strengthen the Malaysian construction organization for competitive advantages.

Food Safety Knowledge and Practices of Male Adolescents in West of Iran.

PubMed

Mirzaei, Amin; Nourmoradi, Heshmatollah; Zavareh, Mohammad Sadegh Abedzadeh; Jalilian, Mohsen; Mansourian, Morteza; Mazloomi, Sajad; Mokhtari, Neda; Mokhtari, Fariba

2018-05-20

Every year many people around the world become infected with food-borne infections. Insufficient knowledge and skills related to food safety and hygiene are among the factors affecting the incidence of food-borne diseases, especially in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and practices associated with food safety and hygiene in Ilam city male adolescents. Three hundred and eighty of male adolescents aged 13 to 19 were selected randomly and entered the cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire From December 2016 to February 2017. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data in SPSS software (version 19.0). The findings of the study showed a positive and significant relationship between knowledge and practices related to food safety and hygiene (r = 0.122; p = 0.018). Also, the findings showed that food safety knowledge and practice of adolescents were significantly affected by the level of their education, parental education level, parental employment status and household economic conditions, (p < 0.005). Also, the results showed that the participants generally obtained 57.74% of the knowledge score and 57.63% of practices score. The subjects had the most knowledge about food supply and storage (60%), and the highest practice was related to personal and environmental hygiene, (61.73%). The inadequacy of knowledge and performance of adolescents about food safety and hygiene shows the need for implementation of health education interventions in this area.

Conveying Respect and Empathy: Becoming a Relational Teacher Educator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitchen, Julian

2005-01-01

This is the second of two self-studies of my efforts to prepare preservice teachers for the practical realities of the classroom while being respectful of their personal practical knowledge. I coined the term "relational teacher education" to convey my approach, which is informed by Rogers' "helping relationships" and Hollingsworth, Dybdahl, and…

Teachers' Sources of Knowledge for Field Trip Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rebar, Bryan M.

2012-01-01

Teachers draw from many personal and professional experiences when organising and leading field trips. In order to identify the influences on teachers' field trip practices, I used surveys, interviews, artifacts and observations gathered from teachers who led trips to an aquarium. Findings clarified the types of influence and the impact that these…

Employing the Five-Factor Mentoring Instrument: Analysing Mentoring Practices for Teaching Primary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Peter; Usak, Muhammet; Savran-Gencer, Ayse

2009-01-01

Primary science education is a concern around the world and quality mentoring within schools can develop pre-service teachers' practices. A five-factor model for mentoring has been identified, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback. Final-year pre-service teachers (mentees, n = 211) from…

The Joint Venture Model of Knowledge Utilization: a guide for change in nursing.

PubMed

Edgar, Linda; Herbert, Rosemary; Lambert, Sylvie; MacDonald, Jo-Ann; Dubois, Sylvie; Latimer, Margot

2006-05-01

Knowledge utilization (KU) is an essential component of today's nursing practice and healthcare system. Despite advances in knowledge generation, the gap in knowledge transfer from research to practice continues. KU models have moved beyond factors affecting the individual nurse to a broader perspective that includes the practice environment and the socio-political context. This paper proposes one such theoretical model the Joint Venture Model of Knowledge Utilization (JVMKU). Key components of the JVMKU that emerged from an extensive multidisciplinary review of the literature include leadership, emotional intelligence, person, message, empowered workplace and the socio-political environment. The model has a broad and practical application and is not specific to one type of KU or one population. This paper provides a description of the JVMKU, its development and suggested uses at both local and organizational levels. Nurses in both leadership and point-of-care positions will recognize the concepts identified and will be able to apply this model for KU in their own workplace for assessment of areas requiring strengthening and support.

An in-home video study and questionnaire survey of food preparation, kitchen sanitation, and hand washing practices.

PubMed

Scott, Elizabeth; Herbold, Nancie

2010-06-01

Foodborne illnesses pose a problem to all individuals but are especially significant for infants, the elderly, and individuals with compromised immune systems. Personal hygiene is recognized as the number-one way people can lower their risk. The majority of meals in the U.S. are eaten at home. Little is known, however, about the actual application of personal hygiene and sanitation behaviors in the home. The study discussed in this article assessed knowledge of hygiene practices compared to observed behaviors and determined whether knowledge equated to practice. It was a descriptive study involving a convenience sample of 30 households. Subjects were recruited from the Boston area and a researcher and/or a research assistant traveled to the homes of study participants to videotape a standard food preparation procedure preceded by floor mopping. The results highlight the differences between individuals' reported beliefs and actual practice. This information can aid food safety and other health professionals in targeting food safety education so that consumers understand their own critical role in decreasing their risk for foodborne illness.

Records of Practice and the Development of Collective Professional Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ball, Deborah Loewenberg; Ben-Peretz, Miriam; Cohen, Rhonda B.

2014-01-01

Although recent years have seen an increase in professional learning communities, use of video and lesson study groups, most teachers still work and learn in isolation. What they know is personal and remains private; little opportunity exists for most teachers to develop shared knowledge or language. The scale of the teaching force, and the rapid…

Food Safety Knowledge, Behavior, and Attitudes of Vendors of Poultry Products Sold at Pennsylvania Farmers' Markets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheinberg, Joshua; Radhakrishna, Rama; Cutter, Catherine N.

2013-01-01

A needs assessment survey was developed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of poultry vendors at farmers' markets in Pennsylvania, on food safety, regulation, and poultry production. Vendors were administered a 32-question paper survey, in person, during market hours. The results revealed critical vendor practices and identified important…

An Assessment of Food Safety Needs of Restaurants in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

PubMed Central

Onyeneho, Sylvester N.; Hedberg, Craig W.

2013-01-01

One hundred and forty five head chefs and catering managers of restaurants in Owerri, Nigeria were surveyed to establish their knowledge of food safety hazards and control measures. Face-to-face interviews were conducted and data collected on their knowledge of risk perception, food handling practices, temperature control, foodborne pathogens, and personal hygiene. Ninety-two percent reported that they clean and sanitize food equipment and contact surfaces while 37% engaged in cross-contamination practices. Forty-nine percent reported that they would allow a sick person to handle food. Only 70% reported that they always washed their hands while 6% said that they continued cooking after cracking raw eggs. All respondents said that they washed their hands after handling raw meat, chicken or fish. About 35% lacked knowledge of ideal refrigeration temperature while 6% could not adjust refrigerator temperature. Only 40%, 28%, and 21% had knowledge of Salmonella, E. coli, and Hepatitis A, respectively while 8% and 3% had knowledge of Listeria and Vibrio respectively, as pathogens. Open markets and private bore holes supplied most of their foods and water, respectively. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient analysis revealed almost perfect linear relationship between education and knowledge of pathogens (r = 0.999), cooking school attendance and food safety knowledge (r = 0.992), and class of restaurant and food safety knowledge (r = 0.878). The lack of current knowledge of food safety among restaurant staff highlights increased risk associated with fast foods and restaurants in Owerri. PMID:23917815

Knowledge, attitude and practice of aspects of laboratory safety in Pathology Laboratories at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

PubMed

Ejilemele, A A; Ojule, A C

2005-12-01

To assess current knowledge, attitudes and practice of aspects of laboratory safety in pathology laboratories at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital in view of perceived inadequacies in safety practices in clinical laboratories in developing countries. Sixty (60) self- administered questionnaires were distributed to all cadres of staff in four (4) different laboratories (Chemical Pathology, Haematology, Blood bank and Medical Microbiology) at the Hospital. Gross deficiencies were found in the knowledge, attitudes and practice of laboratory safety by laboratory staff in areas of use of personal protective equipment, specimen collection and processing, centrifuge--related hazards, infective hazards waste disposal and provision and use of First Aid Kits. Issues pertaining to laboratory safety are not yet given adequate attention by both employers and employees in developing countries in this ear of resurgence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis Band C, is emphasized.

Professional development in person: identity and the construction of teaching within a high school science department

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deneroff, Victoria

2016-06-01

This is a narrative inquiry into the role of professional development in the construction of teaching practice by an exemplary urban high school science teacher. I collected data during 3 years of ethnographic participant observation in Marie Gonzalez's classroom. Marie told stories about her experiences in ten years of professional development focused on inquiry science teaching. I use a social practice theory lens to analyze my own stories as well as Marie's. I make the case that science teaching is best understood as mediated by socially-constructed identities rather than as the end-product of knowledge and beliefs. The cognitive paradigm for understanding teachers' professional learning fails to consistently produce transformations of teaching practice. In order to design professional development with science teachers that is generative of new knowledge, and is self-sustaining, we must understand how to build knowledge of how to problematize identities and consciously use social practice theory.

[Attrition and poor performance in general practice training: age, competence and knowledge play a role].

PubMed

Vermeulen, Margit I; Kuyvenhoven, Marijke M; Zuithoff, N P A Peter; van der Graaf, Yolanda; Pieters, H M Ron

2011-01-01

To investigate which determinants are related to poor performance and forced attrition in the first year residency in general practice (GP). Observational retrospective cohort study. We collected data relating to personal characteristics such as age, sex and clinical experience from residents who started the GP training in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in the period March 2005-August 2007. We also collected competence scores from the domains 'medical expertise', 'doctor-patient communication' and 'professionalism', as well as scores on a national GP knowledge test. The outcome measures were 'poor performance' and 'forced attrition'. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse correlations between personal characteristics, competence scores on the 3 domains and knowledge scores in the first trimester on the one hand and poor performance or forced attrition on the other. 215 residents started the GP training. In the first trimester a quarter of the residents had an insufficient score in 1 or more of the domains. Competence scores were mutually correlated, but did not correlate with the knowledge score. 18 residents showed poor performance and 3 were forced to stop their training. Poor performance and forced attrition were correlated with age (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.1; 95% CI: 1.0-1.3), insufficient knowledge (adjusted OR: 8.9; 3.0-26.3) and medical expertise (adjusted OR: 2.1; 1.1-4.0) at the beginning of the training. Age, insufficient knowledge of general practice, and insufficient competence in the domain of 'medical expertise' at the beginning of the training are risk factors for poor performance by residents and attrition from their GP training.

Semantically enabling pharmacogenomic data for the realization of personalized medicine

PubMed Central

Samwald, Matthias; Coulet, Adrien; Huerga, Iker; Powers, Robert L; Luciano, Joanne S; Freimuth, Robert R; Whipple, Frederick; Pichler, Elgar; Prud’hommeaux, Eric; Dumontier, Michel; Marshall, M Scott

2014-01-01

Understanding how each individual’s genetics and physiology influences pharmaceutical response is crucial to the realization of personalized medicine and the discovery and validation of pharmacogenomic biomarkers is key to its success. However, integration of genotype and phenotype knowledge in medical information systems remains a critical challenge. The inability to easily and accurately integrate the results of biomolecular studies with patients’ medical records and clinical reports prevents us from realizing the full potential of pharmacogenomic knowledge for both drug development and clinical practice. Herein, we describe approaches using Semantic Web technologies, in which pharmacogenomic knowledge relevant to drug development and medical decision support is represented in such a way that it can be efficiently accessed both by software and human experts. We suggest that this approach increases the utility of data, and that such computational technologies will become an essential part of personalized medicine, alongside diagnostics and pharmaceutical products. PMID:22256869

Reasoning about Knowledge and Action.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-10-01

actions is one ot the areas which has received the most attention from researchers in artificial intelligence (Al). Systems such as SHRDLU (Winograd...however. little attention has been paid to the important role that the agent’s knowledge plays in planning and acting to achieve a goal. Almost all...practiced. The difference between such a person and a concert pianist , though, would .* not be a matter of knowledge (in the sense we have been using) at

Rift Valley Fever: A survey of knowledge, attitudes, and practice of slaughterhouse workers and community members in Kabale District, Uganda

PubMed Central

Nyakarahuka, Luke; Purpura, Lawrence; Ervin, Elizabeth; Tumusiime, Alex; Balinandi, Stephen; Kyondo, Jackson; Mulei, Sophia; Tusiime, Patrick; Manning, Craig; Rollin, Pierre E.; Knust, Barbara; Shoemaker, Trevor

2018-01-01

Background Rift Valley Fever virus (RVF) is a zoonotic virus in the Phenuiviridae family. RVF outbreaks can cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. Following the diagnosis of two RVF cases in March 2016 in southern Kabale district, Uganda, we conducted a knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) survey to identify knowledge gaps and at-risk behaviors related to RVF. Methodology/Principal findings A multidisciplinary team interviewed 657 community members, including abattoir workers, in and around Kabale District, Uganda. Most participants (90%) had knowledge of RVF and most (77%) cited radio as their primary information source. Greater proportions of farmers (68%), herdsmen (79%) and butchers (88%) thought they were at risk of contracting RVF compared to persons in other occupations (60%, p<0.01). Participants most frequently identified bleeding as a symptom of RVF. Less than half of all participants reported fever, vomiting, and diarrhea as common RVF symptoms in either humans or animals. The level of knowledge about human RVF symptoms did not vary by occupation; however more farmers and butchers (36% and 51%, respectively) had knowledge of RVF symptoms in animals compared to those in other occupations (30%, p<0.01). The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling animals varied by occupation, with 77% of butchers using some PPE and 12% of farmers using PPE. Although most butchers said that they used PPE, most used gumboots (73%) and aprons (60%) and less than 20% of butchers used gloves or eye protection when slaughtering. Conclusions Overall, knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding RVF in Kabale District Uganda could be improved through educational efforts targeting specific populations. PMID:29505579

Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding lifestyle modification in type 2 diabetic patients.

PubMed

Okonta, Henry I; Ikombele, John B; Ogunbanjo, Gboyega A

2014-12-09

The number of persons suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus continues to rise worldwide and causes significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. Behaviour change and adoption of healthy lifestyle habits help to prevent or slow down the complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the knowledge and practice of healthy lifestyles in many diabetic patients have been inadequate. This study sought to establish the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding lifestyle modification amongst type 2 diabetic patients. The diabetic clinic of Mamelodi hospital, Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A cross-sectional study was done using a structured questionnaire amongst 217 type 2 diabetic patients seen at the diabetic clinic of Mamelodi hospital. Baseline characteristics of the participants were obtained and their knowledge, attitude and practice regarding lifestyle modification were assessed. Of the 217 participants, 154 (71%) were obese and 15 (7%) were morbidly obese. The majority of respondents (92.2%) had poor knowledge of the benefits of exercise, weight loss and a healthy diet. What is interesting is that the majority (97.7%) demonstrated bad practices in relation to lifestyle modifications, although over four-fifths (84.3%) had a positive attitude toward healthy lifestyle modifications. Despite the positive attitudes of respondents toward healthy lifestyle modifications, the knowledge and practice regarding lifestyle modifications amongst type 2 diabetes mellitus participants seen at Mamelodi hospital were generally poor.

Personal profile of medical students selected through a knowledge-based exam only: are we missing suitable students?

PubMed Central

Abbiati, Milena; Baroffio, Anne; Gerbase, Margaret W.

2016-01-01

Introduction A consistent body of literature highlights the importance of a broader approach to select medical school candidates both assessing cognitive capacity and individual characteristics. However, selection in a great number of medical schools worldwide is still based on knowledge exams, a procedure that might neglect students with needed personal characteristics for future medical practice. We investigated whether the personal profile of students selected through a knowledge-based exam differed from those not selected. Methods Students applying for medical school (N=311) completed questionnaires assessing motivations for becoming a doctor, learning approaches, personality traits, empathy, and coping styles. Selection was based on the results of MCQ tests. Principal component analysis was used to draw a profile of the students. Differences between selected and non-selected students were examined by Multivariate ANOVAs, and their impact on selection by logistic regression analysis. Results Students demonstrating a profile of diligence with higher conscientiousness, deep learning approach, and task-focused coping were more frequently selected (p=0.01). Other personal characteristics such as motivation, sociability, and empathy did not significantly differ, comparing selected and non-selected students. Conclusion Selection through a knowledge-based exam privileged diligent students. It did neither advantage nor preclude candidates with a more humane profile. PMID:27079886

Knowledge creation through total clinical outcomes management: a practice-based evidence solution to address some of the challenges of knowledge translation.

PubMed

Lyons, John S

2009-02-01

The challenges of knowledge translation in behavioural health care are unique to this field for a variety of reasons including the fact that effective treatment is invariably embedded in a strong relationship between practitioners and the people they serve. Practitioners' knowledge gained from experience and intuition become an even more important consideration in the knowledge translation process since clinicians are, in fact, a component of most treatments. Communication of findings from science must be conceptualized with sensitivity to this reality. Considering knowledge translation as a communication process suggests the application of contemporary theories of communication which emphasize the creation of shared meaning over the transmission of knowledge from one person to the next. In this context outcomes management approaches to create a learning environment within clinical practices that facilitate the goals of knowledge transfer while respecting that the scientific enterprise is neither the sole nor primary repository of knowledge.

Implementation of personalized medicine services in community pharmacies: perceptions of independent community pharmacists.

PubMed

Alexander, Katelyn M; Divine, Holly S; Hanna, Cathy R; Gokun, Yevgeniya; Freeman, Patricia R

2014-01-01

To evaluate the perceptions of independent community pharmacists within a regional independent community pharmacy cooperative on implementing personalized medicine services at their pharmacies and to gauge the pharmacists' self-reported knowledge of pharmacogenomic principles. Descriptive, exploratory, nonexperimental study. American Pharmacy Services Corporation (APSC), 2011-12. Pharmacists (n = 101) affiliated with the independent pharmacies of APSC. Single-mode survey. Independent community pharmacists' interest in implementing personalized medicine services, perceived readiness to provide such services, and perceived barriers to implementation. 101 completed surveys were returned for data analysis. The majority of pharmacists surveyed (75%) expressed interest in offering personalized medicine services. When asked to describe their knowledge of pharmacogenomics and readiness to implement such services, more than 50% said they were not knowledgeable on the subject and would not currently be comfortable making drug therapy recommendations to physicians or confident counseling patients based on results of genetic screenings without further training and education. Respondents identified cost of providing the service, reimbursement issues, current knowledge of pharmacogenomics, and time to devote to the program as the greatest barriers to implementing personalized medicine services. The majority of independent community pharmacists are interested in incorporating personalized medicine services into their practices, but they require further education before this is possible. Future initiatives should focus on the development of comprehensive education programs to further train pharmacists for provision of these services.

Cultural transition of international medical graduate residents into family practice in Canada.

PubMed

Triscott, Jean A C; Szafran, Olga; Waugh, Earle H; Torti, Jacqueline M I; Barton, Martina

2016-05-04

To identify the perceived strengths that international medical graduate (IMG) family medicine residents possess and the challenges they are perceived to encounter in integrating into Canadian family practice. This was a qualitative, exploratory study employing focus groups and interviews with 27 participants - 10 family physicians, 13 health care professionals, and 4 family medicine residents. Focus group/interview questions addressed the strengths that IMGs possess and the challenges they face in becoming culturally competent within the Canadian medico-cultural context. Qualitative data were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. Participants identified that IMG residents brought multiple strengths to Canadian practice including strong clinical knowledge and experience, high education level, the richness of varied cultural perspectives, and positive personal strengths. At the same time, IMG residents appeared to experience challenges in the areas of: (1) communication skills (language nuances, unfamiliar accents, speech volume/tone, eye contact, directness of communication); (2) clinical practice (uncommon diagnoses, lack of familiarity with care of the opposite sex and mental health conditions); (3) learning challenges (limited knowledge of Canada's health care system, patient-centered care and ethical principles, unfamiliarity with self-directed learning, unease with receiving feedback); (4) cultural differences (gender roles, gender equality, personal space, boundary issues; and (5) personal struggles. Residency programs must recognize the challenges that can occur during the cultural transition to Canadian family practice and incorporate medico-cultural education into the curriculum. IMG residents also need to be aware of cultural differences and be open to different perspectives and new learning.

Sustained Transfer of Knowledge to Practice in Long-Term Care: Facilitators and Barriers of a Mental Health Learning Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stolee, Paul; McAiney, Carrie A.; Hillier, Loretta M.; Harris, Diane; Hamilton, Pam; Kessler, Linda; Madsen, Victoria; Le Clair, J. Kenneth

2009-01-01

This article explores facilitators and barriers to the impact and sustainability of a learning initiative to increase capacity of long-term care (LTC) homes to manage the mental health needs of older persons, through development of in-house Psychogeriatric Resource Persons (PRPs). Twenty interviews were conducted with LTC staff. Management…

Professional Culture and Personality Traits of Hospital Pharmacists across Canada: A Fundamental First Step in Developing Effective Knowledge Translation Strategies.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Meagen; Hall, Kevin W; Bussières, Jean-François; Tsuyuki, Ross T

2015-01-01

Evidence for the value of pharmacists' interventions in the care of patients is strong and continues to grow, but the rate at which these new practice opportunities are being integrated into daily practice has not kept pace. The knowledge translation literature suggests that before effective change strategies can be implemented, a better understanding of the current environment must be obtained. Two important factors within the practice environment are the professional culture and personality traits of group members. To gain insight, at a national level, into the culture of hospital pharmacy, using the Organizational Culture Profile, and into hospital pharmacists' personality traits, using the Big Five Inventory. A cross-sectional survey of hospital pharmacists from across Canada was conducted intermittently over the period August 2012 to September 2013. The online survey contained questions about demographic characteristics and practice setting, as well as questions from the Organizational Culture Profile and Big Five Inventory. The survey link was distributed directly to hospital pharmacists or made available through provincial monthly newsletters. All data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. In total, 401 surveys were returned. Descriptive analyses from the Organizational Culture Profile revealed that most respondents perceived value in the factors of supportiveness, competitiveness, and stability. Descriptive analyses from the Big Five Inventory revealed that respondents may have been more likely to exhibit behaviours in line with the trait of conscientiousness. Several significant subgroup differences were noted in relation to levels of education, regions of practice within Canada, years in practice, and proportion of time spent conducting clinical duties. The results from this survey provide preliminary insight into the professional culture and personality traits of Canadian hospital pharmacists. It will be important to explore these findings in more depth to maximize the success of any future practice change initiatives.

Professional Culture and Personality Traits of Hospital Pharmacists across Canada: A Fundamental First Step in Developing Effective Knowledge Translation Strategies

PubMed Central

Rosenthal, Meagen; Hall, Kevin W; Bussières, Jean-François; Tsuyuki, Ross T

2015-01-01

Background: Evidence for the value of pharmacists’ interventions in the care of patients is strong and continues to grow, but the rate at which these new practice opportunities are being integrated into daily practice has not kept pace. The knowledge translation literature suggests that before effective change strategies can be implemented, a better understanding of the current environment must be obtained. Two important factors within the practice environment are the professional culture and personality traits of group members. Objective: To gain insight, at a national level, into the culture of hospital pharmacy, using the Organizational Culture Profile, and into hospital pharmacists’ personality traits, using the Big Five Inventory. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of hospital pharmacists from across Canada was conducted intermittently over the period August 2012 to September 2013. The online survey contained questions about demographic characteristics and practice setting, as well as questions from the Organizational Culture Profile and Big Five Inventory. The survey link was distributed directly to hospital pharmacists or made available through provincial monthly newsletters. All data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Results: In total, 401 surveys were returned. Descriptive analyses from the Organizational Culture Profile revealed that most respondents perceived value in the factors of supportiveness, competitiveness, and stability. Descriptive analyses from the Big Five Inventory revealed that respondents may have been more likely to exhibit behaviours in line with the trait of conscientiousness. Several significant subgroup differences were noted in relation to levels of education, regions of practice within Canada, years in practice, and proportion of time spent conducting clinical duties. Conclusions: The results from this survey provide preliminary insight into the professional culture and personality traits of Canadian hospital pharmacists. It will be important to explore these findings in more depth to maximize the success of any future practice change initiatives. PMID:25964684

Health care education for dialogue and dialogic relationships.

PubMed

Glen, S

1999-01-01

This article will address the question: how can health care education best take seriously the task of educating for professional practice within a post-traditional, liberal democratic society? In the setting of modernity, the altered personal and professional self has to be explored and constructed as part of a reflective process of connecting personal and professional change: in essence, to develop self-knowledge. A moral life, or 'working morality', that evolves out of a process of ongoing dialogue and conversation is required. What is advocated here is a more social model of health care education that acknowledges a social or communal dimension to knowledge and the centrality of relationships for the full development of the individual personally and professionally, fosters our capacity to identify who we are both personally and professionally, connects reason and dialogue, and educates for dialogue and dialogic relationships.

The Fountain of Health: Bringing Seniors’ Mental Health Promotion into Clinical Practice

PubMed Central

Thoo, Vanessa; Freer, Janya; Cassidy, Keri-Leigh

2015-01-01

Background The Fountain of Health (FoH) initiative offers valuable evidence-based mental health knowledge and provides clinicians with evaluated tools for translating knowledge into practice, in order to reduce seniors’ risks of mental disorders, including dementia. Methods A presentation on mental health promotion and educational materials were disseminated to mental health clinicians including physicians and other allied health professionals either in-person or via tele-education through a provincial seniors’ mental health network. Measures included: 1) a tele-education quality evaluation form, 2) a knowledge transfer questionnaire, 3) a knowledge translation-to-practice evaluation tool, and 4) a quality assurance questionnaire. Results A total of 74 mental health clinicians received the FoH education session. There was a highly significant (p < .0001) difference in clinicians’ knowledge transfer questionnaire scores pre- and post-educational session. At a two-month follow-up, 19 (25.7%) participants completed a quality assurance questionnaire, with all 19 (100%) of respondents stating they would positively recommend the FoH information to colleagues and patients. Eleven (20.4%) translation-to-practice forms were also collected at this interval, tracking clinician use of the educational materials. Conclusions The use of a formalized network for knowledge transfer allows for education and evaluation of health-care practitioners in both acquisition of practical knowledge and subsequent clinical behavior change. PMID:26740830

Knowledge, attitude and practices of students about first aid epilepsy seizures management in a Northern Indian City.

PubMed

Goel, Sonu; Singh, Navpreet; Lal, Vivek; Singh, Amarjeet

2013-10-01

Knowledge about epilepsy and its management is not satisfactory among school students in developing countries. The present study was planned to ascertain the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of students regarding first-aid management of epilepsy seizures in school setting. A total of 177 students of government schools of Chandigarh, a city of northern India, were taken. They were administered with a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire (for knowledge and attitude assessment) and an observational checklist after role play (for practice assessment) on first-aid management of epilepsy. A scoring system was devised to quantify the knowledge and practices of students. Seventy-one percent of them had either heard or read about epilepsy. Half of the students believed epilepsy as a hindrance to education. Ayurvedic treatment was preferred by more than half of the students; however, many believed that visit to religious places and exorcism as ways to cure epilepsy. Nearly 74% of students would call a doctor as first-aid measure for seizure in a person with epilepsy. We concluded that the knowledge about various aspects of epilepsy was average among school students in Chandigarh. However, there was no significant difference in knowledge, attitude and practice between students who lived in urban, urban slum and rural areas. It is recommended that first-aid management of seizures in epilepsy should be a part of school curriculum.

Knowledge, attitude and practice about malaria in south-western Saudi Arabia: A household-based cross-sectional survey.

PubMed

Khairy, Sami; Al-Surimi, Khaled; Ali, Anna; Shubily, Hussam M; Al Walaan, Nisreen; Househ, Mowafa; El-Metwally, Ashraf

This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) concerning malaria and malaria prevention among rural populations residing in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. This was a household-based cross-sectional survey, using structured questionnaire that was developed and distributed among households selected randomly from 19 villages (clusters) located in a southwestern region of Saudi Arabia, north of the border with Yemen. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 20. A majority of respondents (98.4%) reported that they had heard about malaria, but only 21.7% reported that they had sufficient information about the disease. Surprisingly, the most popular source of information was the internet and social media (proportion responding positively in parenthesis) (25.5%), followed by family (21.7%), while information from health facilities contributed only 12.4%. A majority of respondents were aware that malaria is a communicable (89.1%) and deadly (70%) disease; however, only 30.2% of the respondents responded that malaria is a treatable disease. Almost all of the aware respondents (97.5%) were inclined to seek treatment from health facilities, and 63.2% preferred to seek treatment within 24h of presenting with symptoms. Regarding personal precautions, the most common practice adopted by respondents was indoor residual spraying IRS (47.3%), followed by anti-mosquito spraying (29.8%), mosquito bed nets (13.2%) and combined anti-mosquito sprays and nets on windows (4.7%). This KAP study did not show any statistically significant differences in KAP due to age; however the practices of preventive measures against malaria differed significantly by nationality (Saudi versus non-Saudi). We conclude that most populations living in the villages have an acceptable level of knowledge and awareness about malaria and seek timely treatment. However, the positive attitudes and practices in relation to personal protection and prevention measures against malaria require marked improvement. The obvious gap between the knowledge and practice related to malaria prevention requires innovative strategies based on local evidence that well suits the local circumstances to promote and encourage the adoption and practice of personal protective measures. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Fostering person-centered care among nursing students: creative pedagogical approaches to developing personal knowing.

PubMed

Schwind, Jasna K; Beanlands, Heather; Lapum, Jennifer; Romaniuk, Daria; Fredericks, Suzanne; LeGrow, Karen; Edwards, Susanna; McCay, Elizabeth; Crosby, Jamie

2014-06-01

Person-centered care (PCC) is grounded in principles of respect, autonomy, and empowerment and requires the development of interpersonal relationships. For nursing students to engage in PCC, they need to intentionally develop personal knowing, which is an essential attribute of therapeutic relationships. Developing personal knowing, as well as professional knowledge, positions students to enact PCC in their practice. Faculty members play a vital role in fostering the development of personal knowing by creating opportunities for students in which genuine and respectful dialogue, reflection, self-awareness, and critical thinking can take place. This article explores several creative approaches faculty have used to actualize these qualities in their teaching-learning encounters with nursing students at various stages of their students' professional development. These approaches offer experiential teaching-learning opportunities that foster the development of personal knowing, as well as constructive and respectful relationships between faculty and students, therefore laying the groundwork for PCC in practice settings. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

49 CFR 1103.3 - Persons not attorneys-at-law-qualifications and requirements for practice before the Board.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... burden of proof is on the applicant to establish that the formal education satisfies the standards set... standards. A non-attorney applicant for admission to practice must meet one of the following requirements... secondary education and must possess technical knowledge, training or experience in the field of...

Teachers' Practices, Values and Beliefs for Successful Inquiry-Based Teaching in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Twigg, Vani Veikoso

2010-01-01

Through narrative inquiry, this study investigated the role of personal and professional aspects of teaching and learning which teachers have developed and practiced, in relation to the dispositions, values, beliefs and knowledge that may assist them in successfully transforming to inquiry-based teaching, specifically in the implementation of the…

Elaboration and formalization of current scientific knowledge of risks and preventive measures illustrated by colorectal cancer.

PubMed

Giorgi, R; Gouvernet, J; Dufour, J; Degoulet, P; Laugier, R; Quilichini, F; Fieschi, M

2001-01-01

Present the method used to elaborate and formalize current scientific knowledge to provide physicians with tools available on the Internet, that enable them to evaluate individual patient risk, give personalized preventive recommendations or early screening measures. The approach suggested in this article is in line with medical procedures based on levels of evidence (Evidence-based Medicine). A cyclical process for developing recommendations allows us to quickly incorporate current scientific information. At each phase, the analysis is reevaluated by experts in the field collaborating on the project. The information is formalized through the use of levels of evidence and grades of recommendations. GLIF model is used to implement recommendations for clinical practice guidelines. The most current scientific evidence incorporated in a cyclical process includes several steps: critical analysis according to the Evidence-based Medicine method; identification of predictive factors; setting-up risk levels; identification of prevention measures; elaboration of personalized recommendation. The information technology implementation of the clinical practice guideline enables physicians to quickly obtain personalized information for their patients. Cases of colorectal prevention illustrate our approach. Integration of current scientific knowledge is an important process. The delay between the moment new information arrives and the moment the practitioner applies it, is thus reduced.

Occupational heat exposure among municipal workers.

PubMed

Uejio, Christopher K; Morano, Laurel Harduar; Jung, Jihoon; Kintziger, Kristina; Jagger, Meredith; Chalmers, Juanita; Holmes, Tisha

2018-06-05

Outdoor workers face elevated and prolonged heat exposures and have limited access to air-conditioned spaces. This study's overarching research aim is to increase knowledge of municipal worker heat exposure and adaptation practices. The study's sub-objectives are: (1) quantifying exposure misclassification from estimating personal heat exposure from the official weather station; (2) surveying worker's knowledge and practices to adapt to extreme heat; and (3) relating heat exposure and adaptation practices to self-reported thermal comfort. Participants wore a personal heat exposure sensor over 7 days from June 1st to July 3rd, 2015 in Tallahassee, Florida US. Next, participants confirmed the days that they wore the sensor and reported their daily thermal comfort and heat adaptations. Finally, participants completed an extreme heat knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey. Some participants (37%) experienced hotter and more humid conditions (heat index > 2) than the weather station. The most common heat adaptations were staying hydrated (85%), wearing a hat (46%), and seeking shade (40%). During work hours, higher temperatures increased the odds (odds ratio: 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-1.41, p = 0.016) of a participant feeling too hot. Shifting work duty indoors made workers to feel more comfortable (odds ratio: 0.28, 95% confidence interval: 0.11-0.70, p = 0.005). In hot and humid climates, everyday, heat exposures continuously challenge the health of outdoor workers.

Exploring the opinions of registered nurses working in a clinical transfusion environment on the contribution of e-learning to personal learning and clinical practice: results of a small scale educational research study.

PubMed

Cottrell, Susan; Donaldson, Jayne H

2013-05-01

To explore the opinions of registered nurses on the Learnbloodtransfusion Module 1: Safe Transfusion Practice e-learning programme to meeting personal learning styles and learning needs. A qualitative research methodology was applied based on the principles of phenomenology. Adopting a convenience sampling plan supported the recruitment of participants who had successfully completed the e-learning course. Thematic analysis from the semi-structured interviews identified common emerging themes through application of Colaizzis framework. Seven participants of total sample population (89) volunteered to participate in the study. Five themes emerged which included learning preferences, interactive learning, course design, patient safety and future learning needs. Findings positively show the e-learning programme captures the learning styles and needs of learners. In particular, learning styles of a reflector, theorist and activist as well as a visual learner can actively engage in the online learning experience. In an attempt to bridge the knowledge practice gap, further opinions are offered on the course design and the application of knowledge to practice following completion of the course. The findings of the small scale research study have shown that the e-learning course does meet the diverse learning styles and needs of nurses working in a clinical transfusion environment. However, technology alone is not sufficient and a blended approach to learning must be adopted to meet bridging the theory practice gap supporting the integration of knowledge to clinical practice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HIV/AIDS-related attitudes and practices among traditional healers in Zambézia Province, Mozambique.

PubMed

Audet, Carolyn M; Blevins, Meridith; Moon, Troy D; Sidat, Mohsin; Shepherd, Bryan E; Pires, Paulo; Vergara, Alfredo; Vermund, Sten H

2012-12-01

To document HIV knowledge, treatment practices, and the willingness of traditional healers to engage with the health system in Zambézia Province, Mozambique. Traditional healers offer culturally acceptable services and are more numerous in Mozambique than are allopathic providers. Late presentation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is reported among persons who have first sought care from traditional healers. One hundred and thirty-nine (139) traditional healers were interviewed in their native languages (Chuabo or Lomwe) in Zambézia Province. Furthermore, 24 traditional healers were observed during patient encounters. Healers answered a semistructured questionnaire regarding their knowledge of HIV/AIDS, general treatment practices, attitudes toward the allopathic health system, and their beliefs in their abilities to cure AIDS. Traditional healers were older and had less formal education than the general population. Razor cutting in order to rub herbs into blooded skin was observed, and healers reported razor cutting as a routine practice. Healers stated that they did not refer HIV patients to clinics for two principal reasons: (1) patient symptoms/signs of HIV were unrecognized, and (2) practitioners believed they could treat the illness effectively themselves. Traditional healers were far more likely to believe in a spiritual than an infectious origin of HIV disease. Prior HIV/AIDS training was not associated with better knowledge or referral practices, though 81% of healers were interested in engaging allopathic providers. It was found that the HIV-related practices of traditional healers probably increase risk for both HIV-infected and uninfected persons through delayed care and reuse of razors. Mozambican traditional healers attribute HIV pathogenesis to spiritual, not infectious, etiologies. Healers who had received prior HIV training were no more knowledgeable, nor did they have better practices. The willingness expressed by 4 in 5 healers to engage local formal health providers in HIV/AIDS care suggests a productive way forward, though educational efforts must be effective and income concerns considered.

A cross-sectional study on person-centred communication in the care of older people: the COMHOME study protocol

PubMed Central

Hafskjold, Linda; Sundler, Annelie J; Holmström, Inger K; Sundling, Vibeke; van Dulmen, Sandra

2015-01-01

Introduction This paper presents an international cross-sectional study on person-centred communication with older people receiving healthcare (COMHOME). Person-centred care relies on effective communication, but few studies have explored this with a specific focus on older people. The main aim of the COMHOME study is to generate knowledge on person-centred communication with older people (>65 years) in home healthcare services, radiographic and optometric practice. Methods and analysis This study will explore the communication between care providers and older persons in home care services. Home healthcare visits will be audiorecorded (n=500) in Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. Analyses will be performed with the Verona Coding Definitions for Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES), the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) and qualitative methods. The content of the communication, communicative challenging situations as well as empathy, power distance, decision-making, preservation of dignity and respect will be explored. In Norway, an additional 100 encounters, 50 in optometric practice (video recorded) and 50 in radiographic practice (audiorecorded), will be analysed. Furthermore, healthcare providers’ self-reported communication skills, empathy, mindfulness and emotional intelligence in relation to observed person-centred communication skills will be assessed using well-established standardised instruments. Ethics and dissemination Depending on national legislation, approval of either the central ethical committees (eg, nation or university), the national data protection officials or the local ethical committees (eg, units of home healthcare) was obtained. Study findings will be disseminated widely through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. The research findings will add knowledge to improve services provided to this vulnerable group of patients. Additionally, the findings will underpin a training programme for healthcare students and care providers focusing on communication with older people. PMID:25877282

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among Australian hospital-based nurses: knowledge, attitude, personal and professional use, reasons for use, CAM referrals, and socio-demographic predictors of CAM users.

PubMed

Shorofi, Seyed Afshin; Arbon, Paul

2017-05-01

This study was intended to examine CAM among Australian hospital-based nurses, identifying their knowledge, attitude, personal and professional use, reasons for use, CAM referrals, and socio-demographic predictors of CAM users. Nurses holding a qualification in nursing and working in surgical wards were included using a convenience sampling technique. A self-complete questionnaire was developed to achieve the aims of the study. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were calculated to describe and analyse data. Overall, 95.7% and 49.7% of nurses reported personal and professional use of CAM, respectively. The most popular CAM/CAM domain personally and professionally used by nurses was massage therapy and mind-body therapies. The primary reason for personal use of CAM was "[it] fits into my way of life/philosophy". Furthermore, massage therapists were the most commonly recommended CAM practitioners to patients. Only 15.8% of nurses would always ask patients about use of herbal medicines as part of nursing history taking. Over one-fifth (22.4%) of nurses rated their attitude as having a very positive, and 60.3% rated themselves as having very little or no knowledge of CAM. A positive correlation was also found between knowledge and attitude about CAM. Positive attitude and higher knowledge about CAM were positively correlated to CAM referrals. Several socio-demographic factors predicted personal and professional use of CAM. This study revealed that nurses generally believe not to have sufficient knowledge of CAM but are open to use CAM with patients. Nurses' positive attitude toward and personal use of CAM could be an indication that they are poised for further integration of evidence-based CAM into nursing practice to treat whole person. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prisoners' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and its prevention in Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran.

PubMed

Nakhaee, F H

2002-11-01

Knowledge of prisoners regarding HIV/AIDS in Kerman was evaluated. Analysis indicated that the sample (n = 350) of prisoners had relatively high knowledge about HIV/AIDS and its modes of transmission. However, they had a lower level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention. The overall knowledge of men about AIDS was significantly lower than women. Persons aged 46 years and older and illiterate inmates had the least knowledge about modes of transmission. In addition, the knowledge of illiterate prisoners about HIV/AIDS prevention was significantly lower than others. Evaluation of attitudes and practices of prisoners and implementation of educational programmes regarding HIV/AIDS are suggested.

A Knowledge Base for Teaching Biology Situated in the Context of Genetic Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Zande, Paul; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Brekelmans, Mieke; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Vermunt, Jan D.

2011-10-01

Recent developments in the field of genomics will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who teach genetics in secondary education. This study reports on the first results of a research project aimed at enhancing biology teacher knowledge for teaching genetics in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge concerning genetic testing and the related consequences for decision-making indicate the societal relevance of such a situated learning approach. What content knowledge do biology teachers need for teaching genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing? This study describes the required content knowledge by exploring the educational practice and clinical genetic practices. Nine experienced teachers and 12 respondents representing the clinical genetic practices (clients, medical professionals, and medical ethicists) were interviewed about the biological concepts and ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA) of testing they considered relevant to empowering students as future health care clients. The ELSA suggested by the respondents were complemented by suggestions found in the literature on genetic counselling. The findings revealed that the required teacher knowledge consists of multiple layers that are embedded in specific genetic test situations: on the one hand, the knowledge of concepts represented by the curricular framework and some additional concepts (e.g. multifactorial and polygenic disorder) and, on the other hand, more knowledge of ELSA and generic characteristics of genetic test practice (uncertainty, complexity, probability, and morality). Suggestions regarding how to translate these characteristics, concepts, and ELSA into context-based genetics education are discussed.

Participatory approach to the development of a knowledge base for problem-solving in diabetes self-management.

PubMed

Cole-Lewis, Heather J; Smaldone, Arlene M; Davidson, Patricia R; Kukafka, Rita; Tobin, Jonathan N; Cassells, Andrea; Mynatt, Elizabeth D; Hripcsak, George; Mamykina, Lena

2016-01-01

To develop an expandable knowledge base of reusable knowledge related to self-management of diabetes that can be used as a foundation for patient-centric decision support tools. The structure and components of the knowledge base were created in participatory design with academic diabetes educators using knowledge acquisition methods. The knowledge base was validated using scenario-based approach with practicing diabetes educators and individuals with diabetes recruited from Community Health Centers (CHCs) serving economically disadvantaged communities and ethnic minorities in New York. The knowledge base includes eight glycemic control problems, over 150 behaviors known to contribute to these problems coupled with contextual explanations, and over 200 specific action-oriented self-management goals for correcting problematic behaviors, with corresponding motivational messages. The validation of the knowledge base suggested high level of completeness and accuracy, and identified improvements in cultural appropriateness. These were addressed in new iterations of the knowledge base. The resulting knowledge base is theoretically grounded, incorporates practical and evidence-based knowledge used by diabetes educators in practice settings, and allows for personally meaningful choices by individuals with diabetes. Participatory design approach helped researchers to capture implicit knowledge of practicing diabetes educators and make it explicit and reusable. The knowledge base proposed here is an important step towards development of new generation patient-centric decision support tools for facilitating chronic disease self-management. While this knowledge base specifically targets diabetes, its overall structure and composition can be generalized to other chronic conditions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participatory approach to the development of a knowledge base for problem-solving in diabetes self-management

PubMed Central

Cole-Lewis, Heather J.; Smaldone, Arlene M.; Davidson, Patricia R.; Kukafka, Rita; Tobin, Jonathan N.; Cassells, Andrea; Mynatt, Elizabeth D.; Hripcsak, George; Mamykina, Lena

2015-01-01

Objective To develop an expandable knowledge base of reusable knowledge related to self-management of diabetes that can be used as a foundation for patient-centric decision support tools. Materials and methods The structure and components of the knowledge base were created in participatory design with academic diabetes educators using knowledge acquisition methods. The knowledge base was validated using scenario-based approach with practicing diabetes educators and individuals with diabetes recruited from Community Health Centers (CHCs) serving economically disadvantaged communities and ethnic minorities in New York. Results The knowledge base includes eight glycemic control problems, over 150 behaviors known to contribute to these problems coupled with contextual explanations, and over 200 specific action-oriented self-management goals for correcting problematic behaviors, with corresponding motivational messages. The validation of the knowledge base suggested high level of completeness and accuracy, and identified improvements in cultural appropriateness. These were addressed in new iterations of the knowledge base. Discussion The resulting knowledge base is theoretically grounded, incorporates practical and evidence-based knowledge used by diabetes educators in practice settings, and allows for personally meaningful choices by individuals with diabetes. Participatory design approach helped researchers to capture implicit knowledge of practicing diabetes educators and make it explicit and reusable. Conclusion The knowledge base proposed here is an important step towards development of new generation patient-centric decision support tools for facilitating chronic disease self-management. While this knowledge base specifically targets diabetes, its overall structure and composition can be generalized to other chronic conditions. PMID:26547253

Knowledge-based personalized search engine for the Web-based Human Musculoskeletal System Resources (HMSR) in biomechanics.

PubMed

Dao, Tien Tuan; Hoang, Tuan Nha; Ta, Xuan Hien; Tho, Marie Christine Ho Ba

2013-02-01

Human musculoskeletal system resources of the human body are valuable for the learning and medical purposes. Internet-based information from conventional search engines such as Google or Yahoo cannot response to the need of useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality human musculoskeletal resources related to medical processes, pathological knowledge and practical expertise. In this present work, an advanced knowledge-based personalized search engine was developed. Our search engine was based on a client-server multi-layer multi-agent architecture and the principle of semantic web services to acquire dynamically accurate and reliable HMSR information by a semantic processing and visualization approach. A security-enhanced mechanism was applied to protect the medical information. A multi-agent crawler was implemented to develop a content-based database of HMSR information. A new semantic-based PageRank score with related mathematical formulas were also defined and implemented. As the results, semantic web service descriptions were presented in OWL, WSDL and OWL-S formats. Operational scenarios with related web-based interfaces for personal computers and mobile devices were presented and analyzed. Functional comparison between our knowledge-based search engine, a conventional search engine and a semantic search engine showed the originality and the robustness of our knowledge-based personalized search engine. In fact, our knowledge-based personalized search engine allows different users such as orthopedic patient and experts or healthcare system managers or medical students to access remotely into useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality HMSR information for their learning and medical purposes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An approach to facilitate healthcare professionals' readiness to support technology use in everyday life for persons with dementia.

PubMed

Malinowsky, Camilla; Rosenberg, Lena; Nygård, Louise

2014-05-01

Everyday technologies (ETs) like microwave ovens and automatic telephone services as well as assistive technologies (ATs) are often used in the performance of everyday activities. As a consequence, the ability to manage technology is important. This pilot study aimed to clarify the applicability of a model for knowledge translation to support healthcare professionals, to support technology use among older adults with dementia and their significant others. An additional aim was to explore the process of translating the model into practice. The applicability of the model (comprising a one-day course, including introduction and provision of tools, followed by interviews during and after a period of practice) was clarified for 11 healthcare professionals using a constant comparative approach. The content of the model gave the participants an eye-opening experience of technology use among persons with dementia. They also described how they had incorporated the model as a new way of thinking which supported and inspired new investigations and collaborations with colleagues and significant others. This study provided an applicable model of how research knowledge about technology use can be translated into clinical practice and be used by healthcare professionals to support the use of technology for persons with dementia.

The virtue of multiculturalism: personal transformation, character, and openness to the other.

PubMed

Fowers, Blaine J; Davidov, Barbara J

2006-09-01

The social, intellectual, and moral movement known as multiculturalism has been enormously influential in psychology. Its ability to reshape psychology has been due to its ethical force, which derives from the attractiveness of its aims of inclusion, social justice, and mutual respect. The cultivation of cultural competence, presented as a developmental process of acquiring self-awareness, cultural knowledge, and skills, is an important emphasis in the multicultural literature. The authors place the cultural competence literature in dialogue with virtue ethics (a contemporary ethical theory derived from Aristotle) to develop a rich and illuminating way for psychologists to understand and embody the personal self-examination, commitment, and transformation required for learning and practicing in a culturally competent manner. According to virtue ethics, multiculturalism can be seen as the pursuit of worthwhile goals that require personal strengths or virtues, knowledge, consistent actions, proper motivation, and practical wisdom. The authors term the virtue of multiculturalism openness to the other and conclude by describing how attention to cultural matters also transforms virtue ethics in important and necessary ways. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Media Educational Practices in Teacher Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedorov, Alexander

2010-01-01

This article described the methods of media education development of personality (including the audience's individual, "creative critical thinking" corresponding to "conceptual" (knowledge of media culture theory), "sensory" (intentional communication with mass media, orientational experience in genre and topical…

The driver with dementia: a survey of physician attitudes, knowledge, and practice.

PubMed

Adler, Geri; Rottunda, Susan J

2011-02-01

One of the most difficult issues physicians must address when caring for persons with dementia is fitness to drive. The purpose of this project was to investigate the attitudes, knowledge, and practices of physicians toward drivers with dementia. A questionnaire that obtained perspectives about and experiences with drivers' with dementia was mailed to physicians from North Carolina and South Carolina. The sample was comprised of 239 physicians who worked with persons with dementia. Respondents who were aware of the Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers, had a strong perceived role regarding driving, were older, and believed it was important to address driving were more likely to engage in driving discussions. Concerns associated with the driver with dementia have implications for not only patient care but also public safety. We recommend that all physicians be encouraged to address the issue and utilize existing educational materials.

Combining Concept Maps and Interviews to Produce Representations of Personal Professional Theories in Higher Vocational Education: Effects of Order and Vocational Domain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van den Bogaart, Antoine C. M.; Schaap, Harmen; Hummel, Hans G. K.; Kirschner, Paul A.

2017-01-01

This article presents the use of personal professional theories (PPTs) in Dutch higher vocational education. PPTs are internalised bodies of formal and practical knowledge and convictions that professionals use to direct their behaviour. With the aid of high-quality representations of students' PPTs teachers can access, monitor, and support the…

Scaffolding Student Learning in the Discipline-Specific Knowledge through Contemporary Science Practices: Developing High-School Students' Epidemiologic Reasoning through Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oura, Hiroki

Science is a disciplined practice about knowing puzzling observations and unknown phenomena. Scientific knowledge of the product is applied to develop technological artifacts and solve complex problems in society. Scientific practices are undeniably relevant to our economy, civic activity, and personal lives, and thus public education should help children acquire scientific knowledge and recognize the values in relation to their own lives and civil society. Likewise, developing scientific thinking skills is valuable not only for becoming a scientist, but also for becoming a citizen who is able to critically evaluate everyday information, select and apply only the trustworthy, and make wise judgments in their personal and cultural goals as well as for obtaining jobs that require complex problem solving and creative working in the current knowledge-based economy and rapid-changing world. To develop students' scientific thinking, science instruction should focus not only on scientific knowledge and inquiry processes, but also on its epistemological aspects including the forms of causal explanations and methodological choices along with epistemic aims and values under the social circumstances in focal practices. In this perspective, disciplinary knowledge involves heterogeneous elements including material, cognitive, social, and cultural ones and the formation differs across practices. Without developing such discipline-specific knowledge, students cannot enough deeply engage in scientific "practices" and understand the true values of scientific enterprises. In this interest, this dissertation explores instructional approaches to make student engagement in scientific investigations more authentic or disciplinary. The present dissertation work is comprised of three research questions as stand-alone studies written for separate publication. All of the studies discuss different theoretical aspects related to disciplinary engagement in epidemiologic inquiry and student development in epidemiologic reasoning. The first chapter reviews literature on epistemological instruction and explores theoretical frameworks for epistemically-guided instruction. The second chapter explores methodological strategies to elicit students' disciplinary understanding and demonstrates an approach with a case study in which students engaged in a curriculum unit for an epidemiologic investigation. The last chapter directs the focus into scientific reasoning and demonstrates how the curriculum unit and its scaffolds helped students develop epidemiologic reasoning with a focus on population-based reasoning.

Health Risks Awareness of Electronic Waste Workers in the Informal Sector in Nigeria.

PubMed

Ohajinwa, Chimere M; Van Bodegom, Peter M; Vijver, Martina G; Peijnenburg, Willie J G M

2017-08-13

Insight into the health risk awareness levels of e-waste workers is important as it may offer opportunities for better e-waste recycling management strategies to reduce the health effects of informal e-waste recycling. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with occupational health risk awareness of e-waste workers compared with a control group (butchers) in the informal sector in Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was used to assess health risk awareness of 279 e-waste workers (repairers and dismantlers) and 221 butchers from the informal sector in three locations in Nigeria in 2015. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic backgrounds, occupational history, knowledge, attitude, and work practices. The data was analysed using Analysis of Variance. The three job designations had significantly different knowledge, attitude, and practice mean scores ( p = 0.000), with butchers consistently having the highest mean scores. Only 43% of e-waste workers could mention one or more Personal Protective Equipment needed for their job compared with 70% of the butchers. The health risk awareness level of the e-waste workers was significantly lower compared with their counterparts in the same informal sector. A positive correlation existed between the workers' knowledge and their attitude and practice. Therefore, increasing the workers' knowledge may decrease risky practices.

Changing Perspectives for Practice in Stuttering: Echoes from a Celtic Past, when Wordlessness Was Entitled to Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leahy, Margaret M.

2005-01-01

Changing perspectives for practice in stuttering therapy are informed by the changes in knowledge, social values, and belief systems of a society. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; World Health Organization, 2001) has a sociological emphasis with a focus on the ability and functioning of the person, and…

[The nurse's thought for a significant social contribution by the production and use of scientific knowledge].

PubMed

Pépin, Jacinthe

2015-06-01

The social contribution of nurses to the health of the population is mainly defined by the knowledge supporting their actions. Conceptualization in nursing guides the production and utilisation of scientific knowledge within the discipline. The purpose of this paper is to present the recent thoughts on nursing theory and to provide some strategies to integrate them within the activities of knowledge mobilization, in practice, research, and education. When nurses are engaged in mobilizing theoretical and empirical knowledge in answering nursing practice questions and in discussing social health issues, they participate in persons, families, and communities health improvement, while affirming their disciplinary and social identity. Called to be change agents in health care systems, with other professional team members, it is important that nurses be prepared to mobilize knowledge and to engage in critical reasoning, and ethical conduct. Their social contribution will be as strong as the value they assign to nursing knowledge and their participation in producing it.

Trainees' knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards caring for the substance-exposed mother-infant dyad.

PubMed

Schiff, Davida M; Zuckerman, Barry; Wachman, Elisha M; Bair-Merritt, Megan

2017-01-01

As rates of substance use disorder during pregnancy rise, pediatric trainees are increasingly caring for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). This study evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of trainees caring for substance-exposed newborns and their families, comparing differences by level and type of training, and personal experience with addiction or trauma. A cross-sectional survey of medical students and pediatric, medicine/pediatric, and family medicine residents in 2015-2106. Measures included knowledge about NAS, attitudes towards mothers who use drugs, and practices around discussing addiction and trauma with families. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted. The overall response rate was 70%, with 229 trainees included in the final sample (99 students, 130 residents). Fifty percent of trainees endorsed personal experience with addiction, 50% with trauma, and 35% with both addiction and trauma. Increasing years of pediatric training was associated with greater comfort in managing symptoms of NAS but decreased comfort discussing addiction and trauma. Family medicine and medicine/pediatric residents were more comfortable discussing addiction and trauma than categorical pediatric residents (P < .01). Twenty-two percent of trainees felt confident that mothers would disclose illicit drug use, 39% felt that they would actively care for their infants with NAS, and 43% felt that mothers would not make unreasonable demands. Personal experience with addiction or trauma did not significantly impact trainees' attitudes towards women with substance use disorder. Trainees may benefit from educational interventions focused on developing a 2-generational model of trauma-informed care to improve attitudes and ultimately the care of substance-exposed infants and their families.

Cultural transition of international medical graduate residents into family practice in Canada

PubMed Central

Triscott, Jean A.C.; Waugh, Earle H.; Torti, Jacqueline M.I.; Barton, Martina

2016-01-01

Objectives To identify the perceived strengths that international medical graduate (IMG) family medicine residents possess and the challenges they are perceived to encounter in integrating into Canadian family practice. Methods This was a qualitative, exploratory study employing focus groups and interviews with 27 participants - 10 family physicians, 13 health care professionals, and 4 family medicine residents. Focus group/interview questions addressed the strengths that IMGs possess and the challenges they face in becoming culturally competent within the Canadian medico-cultural context. Qualitative data were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. Results Participants identified that IMG residents brought multiple strengths to Canadian practice including strong clinical knowledge and experience, high education level, the richness of varied cultural perspectives, and positive personal strengths.  At the same time, IMG residents appeared to experience challenges in the areas of:  (1) communication skills (language nuances, unfamiliar accents, speech volume/tone, eye contact, directness of communication); (2) clinical practice (uncommon diagnoses, lack of familiarity with care of the opposite sex and mental health conditions); (3) learning challenges (limited knowledge of Canada’s health care system, patient-centered care and ethical principles, unfamiliarity with self-directed learning,  unease with receiving feedback); (4) cultural differences (gender roles, gender equality, personal space, boundary issues; and (5) personal struggles.   Conclusions Residency programs must recognize the challenges that can occur during the cultural transition to Canadian family practice and incorporate medico-cultural education into the curriculum.  IMG residents also need to be aware of cultural differences and be open to different perspectives and new learning. PMID:27149322

[Precision Nursing: Individual-Based Knowledge Translation].

PubMed

Chiang, Li-Chi; Yeh, Mei-Ling; Su, Sui-Lung

2016-12-01

U.S. President Obama announced a new era of precision medicine in the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI). This initiative aims to accelerate the progress of personalized medicine in light of individual requirements for prevention and treatment in order to improve the state of individual and public health. The recent and dramatic development of large-scale biologic databases (such as the human genome sequence), powerful methods for characterizing patients (such as genomics, microbiome, diverse biomarkers, and even pharmacogenomics), and computational tools for analyzing big data are maximizing the potential benefits of precision medicine. Nursing science should follow and keep pace with this trend in order to develop empirical knowledge and expertise in the area of personalized nursing care. Nursing scientists must encourage, examine, and put into practice innovative research on precision nursing in order to provide evidence-based guidance to clinical practice. The applications in personalized precision nursing care include: explanations of personalized information such as the results of genetic testing; patient advocacy and support; anticipation of results and treatment; ongoing chronic monitoring; and support for shared decision-making throughout the disease trajectory. Further, attention must focus on the family and the ethical implications of taking a personalized approach to care. Nurses will need to embrace the paradigm shift to precision nursing and work collaboratively across disciplines to provide the optimal personalized care to patients. If realized, the full potential of precision nursing will provide the best chance for good health for all.

Sex-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of U.S. medical students.

PubMed

Frank, Erica; Coughlin, Steven S; Elon, Lisa

2008-08-01

To understand the personal and clinical safe-sex-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices of U.S. medical students. Sixteen medical schools were selected to survey the class of 2003 based on their characteristics similar to the national average. Students were surveyed at freshman orientation, at entrance to wards, and during their senior year. The primary personal outcome was the response to the question, "Are you currently trying to practice safe sex when sexually involved? (no, not applicable/no, not trying/yes, low priority/yes, high priority)." The primary professional outcomes were answers to: 1) "How relevant do you think talking to patients about safe sex will be in your intended practice? (not at all/somewhat/highly)," and 2) "With a typical general medicine patient, how often do you actually talk about safe sex? (never-rarely/sometimes/usually-always)." A total of 2,316 students provided data, and the response rate was 80%. Personally practicing safe-sex habits was a high priority for 75% of the sexually active, single medical students, especially for women, African Americans, and those earlier in their medical education. Among seniors, 41% reported extensive training in discussing safe sex with patients, and 57% were highly confident about conducting such discussions. Overall, 55% of students believed it would be highly relevant to counsel patients about safe sex (59% of freshmen, 62% of those at entry to wards, and 41% of seniors); 73% answered all four true/false questions on human papillomavirus correctly. About half of U.S. medical students believed that counseling their patients about safe sex will not be highly relevant to their practice. These findings should be considered by those trying to interest a new generation of physicians in helping patients have safe-sex practices.

Vulnerable Women’s Self-Care Needs in Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Concerning Sexually Transmitted Diseases

PubMed Central

Alimohammadi, Nasrollah; Baghersad, Zahra; Boroumandfar, Zahra

2016-01-01

Background: Vulnerable women are prone to sexually transmitted diseases (STD) due to their special conditions and poor knowledge about these diseases in the society. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the vulnerable women’s self-care needs in knowledge, attitude and practice concerning STD. Methods: This is a cross-sectional-descriptive study conducted in 2014. The data collection was carried out using a self-administered structured questionnaire. 120 vulnerable women referring to centers affiliated to health and well-being center in Isfahan participated in this study. They were selected through proportional rationing sampling and filled out a researcher developed questionnaire containing information on personal characteristics, self-care knowledge, attitude, and practice needs toward the STD. The data were analyzed using statistical methods including Spearman & Pearson correlation co-efficient, independent t-test and ANOVA. All analyses were carried out using SPSS, 20. Results: Based on the results, most of the subjects mentioned that their priorities of self-care needs in domains of knowledge, attitude and practice were “familiarization with the types and contamination ways of sexually transmitted diseases” (57.9%); “diagnosis of STD only makes us anxious” (24.8), and “the method of washing the genital area before and after intercourse” 41.3%), respectively. There was a significant association among marital status, education, history of addiction, and self-care needs in domains of knowledge, attitude and practice (P<0.05). Conclusion: Results showed that vulnerable women not only knew their need about STD, but also paid attention to their attitude and practice needs toward STD. Therefore, educational programs should be designed and administrated by the experts, based on vulnerable women’s self-care needs concerning their knowledge, attitude and practice to prevent and control STD in vulnerable individuals. PMID:27382588

Public health-specific personal disaster preparedness training: an academic-practice collaboration.

PubMed

Kohn, Sivan; Semon, Natalie; Hedlin, Haley K; Thompson, Carol B; Marum, Felicity; Jenkins, Sebra; Slemp, Catherine C; Barnett, Daniel J

2014-01-01

To measure the following three relevant outcomes of a personal preparedness curriculum for public health workers: 1) the extent of change (increase) in knowledge about personal preparedness activities and knowledge about tools for conducting personal preparedness activities; 2) the extent of change (increase) in preparedness activities performed post-training and/or confidence in conducting these tasks; and 3) an understanding of how to improve levels of personal preparedness using the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) framework. Cross-sectional preinterventional and postinterventional survey using a convenience sample. During 2010, three face-to-face workshops were conducted in three locations in West Virginia. One hundred thirty-one participants (baseline survey); 69 participants (1-year resurvey)-representing West Virginia local health department (LHD) and State Health Department employees. A 3-hour interactive, public health-specific, face-to-face workshop on personal disaster preparedness. Change in 1) knowledge about, and tools for, personal preparedness activities; 2) preparedness activities performed post-training and/or confidence in conducting these activities; and 3) the relationship of EPPM categories to personal preparedness activities. One year postworkshop, 77 percent of respondents reported having personal emergency kits (40 percent at baseline) and 67 percent reported having preparedness plans (38 percent at baseline) suggesting some participants assembled supply kits and plans postworkshop. Within the context of EPPM, respondents in high-threat categories agreed more often than respondents in low-threat categories that severe personal impacts were likely to result from a moderate flood. Compared to respondents categorized as low efficacy, respondents in high-efficacy categories perceived confidence in their knowledge and an impact of their response on their job success at higher rates. Personal disaster preparedness trainings for the LHD workforce can yield gains in relevant preparedness behaviors and attitudes but may require longitudinal reinforcement. The EPPM can offer a useful threat and efficacy-based lens to understand relevant perceptions surrounding personal disaster preparedness behaviors among LHD employees.

Career paths and personality in pharmacy.

PubMed

Cordina, Maria; Lauri, Mary-Anne; Lauri, Josef

2012-12-01

Pharmacists choose different career paths which may have different requirements in terms of demands and environments, irrespective of knowledge and intellectual capability. A contributing factor could be personality whereby pharmacists seek to work in an environment which is compatible with their personality. To explore the relationship between personality and career paths taken by pharmacists. Data regarding pharmacists' personality profile as determined by The Gordon Personal Profile Inventory (GPPI) were gathered using an anonymous survey. The inventory booklet was mailed to all pharmacists registered to practice in Malta who were at the time residing in the country. Demographic data and information regarding areas of practice was also gathered. Analysis was carried out using variety of statistical tests including t-test, Manova and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Most of the types of pharmacists considered, lie somewhat close to the average categories of the GPPI attributes, with those who work in importation and wholesale being the ones who stand out most from the rest by scoring high on self esteem, ascendency, original thinking, vigour, sociability. Those who work in industry and, especially, in hospitals are the two categories of pharmacists who seem to score low on the GPPI traits in general, while those who work in the Community scored high in personal relations and are a little more likely to score higher in cautiousness and responsibility. Pharmacists are not a homogeneous group of individuals. It is evident that their personality is a significant factor in the career path that they have chosen. Not all pharmacists possess personalities that are conducive to patient-oriented practice. Those that do not primarily possess the latter personality traits, appear to have chosen to practice in non-traditional areas where, possibly, they have found a good fit with their personality and other factors.

High School Physics Students' Personal Epistemologies and School Science Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpaslan, Muhammet Mustafa; Yalvac, Bugrahan; Loving, Cathleen

2017-11-01

This case study explores students' physics-related personal epistemologies in school science practices. The school science practices of nine eleventh grade students in a physics class were audio-taped over 6 weeks. The students were also interviewed to find out their ideas on the nature of scientific knowledge after each activity. Analysis of transcripts yielded several epistemological resources that students activated in their school science practice. The findings show that there is inconsistency between students' definitions of scientific theories and their epistemological judgments. Analysis revealed that students used several epistemological resources to decide on the accuracy of their data including accuracy via following the right procedure and accuracy via what the others find. Traditional, formulation-based, physics instruction might have led students to activate naive epistemological resources that prevent them to participate in the practice of science in ways that are more meaningful. Implications for future studies are presented.

Toward patient-centered, personalized and personal decision support and knowledge management: a survey.

PubMed

Leong, T-Y

2012-01-01

This paper summarizes the recent trends and highlights the challenges and opportunities in decision support and knowledge management for patient-centered, personalized, and personal health care. The discussions are based on a broad survey of related references, focusing on the most recent publications. Major advances are examined in the areas of i) shared decision making paradigms, ii) continuity of care infrastructures and architectures, iii) human factors and system design approaches, iv) knowledge management innovations, and v) practical deployment and change considerations. Many important initiatives, projects, and plans with promising results have been identified. The common themes focus on supporting the individual patients who are playing an increasing central role in their own care decision processes. New collaborative decision making paradigms and information infrastructures are required to ensure effective continuity of care. Human factors and usability are crucial for the successful development and deployment of the relevant systems, tools, and aids. Advances in personalized medicine can be achieved through integrating genomic, phenotypic and other biological, individual, and population level information, and gaining useful insights from building and analyzing biological and other models at multiple levels of abstraction. Therefore, new Information and Communication Technologies and evaluation approaches are needed to effectively manage the scale and complexity of biomedical and health information, and adapt to the changing nature of clinical decision support. Recent research in decision support and knowledge management combines heterogeneous information and personal data to provide cost-effective, calibrated, personalized support in shared decision making at the point of care. Current and emerging efforts concentrate on developing or extending conventional paradigms, techniques, systems, and architectures for the new predictive, preemptive, and participatory health care model for patient-centered, personalized medicine. There is also an increasing emphasis on managing complexity with changing care models, processes, and settings.

'I await your apology': a polyphonic narrative interpretation.

PubMed

Cash, Penelope A

2007-10-01

A patient's experience unfolds through a nurse's personal conversation with herself. Conveyed through three voices, the nurse's dialogue highlights her many internal struggles; those with her conscience on what she understands to be best practice, those important to her as a person, those of an ethical nature that profoundly affect one's search for meaning, and those in the personal-professional realm driven in part by institutional culture. These multivoiced knowledges are confronted in ways that foreground language and understanding as performative acts. At the same time, another journey is co-constructed with the reader, one that weaves in-between the symbolic and the real, engaging the imaginary in (inter)play. The nurse's response to the inner conversation with her 'self/selves' problematizes practice, illuminates the patient's perspective while highlighting the nurse's sense of her marginal position. Insight into reified and hegemonic assumptions, strategies of how control is maintained through organizational surveillance, trust and moral agency help to foreground personal expectations as the nurse begins to grapple with her own feelings of betrayal. Tackling these insights offers opportunities to rethink oppressive practices in the provision of care. It also enables an alternative appreciation of the everyday dilemmas confronting nurses and offers new meaning to practice.

Factors Influencing Knowledge, Food Safety Practices and Food Preferences During Warm Weather of Salmonella and Campylobacter Cases in South Australia.

PubMed

Milazzo, Adriana; Giles, Lynne C; Zhang, Ying; Koehler, Ann P; Hiller, Janet E; Bi, Peng

2017-03-01

To assess food safety practices, food shopping preferences, and eating behaviors of people diagnosed with Salmonella or Campylobacter infection in the warm seasons, and to identify socioeconomic factors associated with behavior and practices. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Salmonella and Campylobacter cases with onset of illness from January 1 to March 31, 2013. Multivariable logistic regression analyses examined relationships between socioeconomic position and food safety knowledge and practices, shopping and food preferences, and preferences, perceptions, and knowledge about food safety information on warm days. Respondents in our study engaged in unsafe personal and food hygiene practices. They also carried out unsafe food preparation practices, and had poor knowledge of foods associated with an increased risk of foodborne illness. Socioeconomic position did not influence food safety practices. We found that people's reported eating behaviors and food preferences were influenced by warm weather. Our study has explored preferences and practices related to food safety in the warm season months. This is important given that warmer ambient temperatures are projected to rise, both globally and in Australia, and will have a substantial effect on the burden of infectious gastroenteritis including foodborne disease. Our results provide information about modifiable behaviors for the prevention of foodborne illness in the household in the warm weather and the need for information to be disseminated across the general population. An understanding of the knowledge and factors associated with human behavior during warmer weather is critical for public health interventions on foodborne prevention.

Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, and Status of Infection Control among Iranian Dentists and Dental Students: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Moradi Khanghahi, Behnam; Jamali, Zahra; Pournaghi Azar, Fatemeh; Naghavi Behzad, Mohammad; Azami-Aghdash, Saber

2013-01-01

Background and aims Infection control is an important issue in dentistry, and the dentists are primarily responsible for observing the relevant procedures. Therefore, the present study evaluated knowledge, attitude, practice, and status of infection control among Iranian dentists through systematic review of published results. Materials and methods In this systematic review, the required data was collected searching for keywords including infection, infection control, behavior, performance, practice, attitude, knowledge, dent*, prevention, Iran* and their Persian equivalents in PubMed, Science Direct, Iranmedex, SID, Medlib, and Magiran databases with a time limit of 1985 to 2012. Out of 698 articles, 15 completely related articles were finally considered and the rest were excluded due to lake of relev-ance to the study goals. The required data were extracted and summarized in an Extraction Table and were analyzed ma-nually. Results Evaluating the results of studies indicated inappropriate knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding infection control among Iranian dentists and dental students. Using personal protection devices and observing measures required for infection control were not in accordance with global standards. Conclusion The knowledge, attitudes, and practice of infection control in Iranian dental settings were found to be inadequate. Therefore, dentists should be educated more on the subject and special programs should be in place to monitor the dental settings for observing infection control standards. PMID:23875081

Health Risks Awareness of Electronic Waste Workers in the Informal Sector in Nigeria

PubMed Central

Van Bodegom, Peter M.; Vijver, Martina G.

2017-01-01

Insight into the health risk awareness levels of e-waste workers is important as it may offer opportunities for better e-waste recycling management strategies to reduce the health effects of informal e-waste recycling. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with occupational health risk awareness of e-waste workers compared with a control group (butchers) in the informal sector in Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was used to assess health risk awareness of 279 e-waste workers (repairers and dismantlers) and 221 butchers from the informal sector in three locations in Nigeria in 2015. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic backgrounds, occupational history, knowledge, attitude, and work practices. The data was analysed using Analysis of Variance. The three job designations had significantly different knowledge, attitude, and practice mean scores (p = 0.000), with butchers consistently having the highest mean scores. Only 43% of e-waste workers could mention one or more Personal Protective Equipment needed for their job compared with 70% of the butchers. The health risk awareness level of the e-waste workers was significantly lower compared with their counterparts in the same informal sector. A positive correlation existed between the workers’ knowledge and their attitude and practice. Therefore, increasing the workers’ knowledge may decrease risky practices. PMID:28805712

Health education: Effect on knowledge and practice of workplace personal hygiene and protective measures among woodworkers in Enugu, Nigeria.

PubMed

Ezeugwu, L; Aguwa, E N; Arinze-Onyia, S U; Okeke, T A

2017-07-01

There has been increasing incidence of occupational diseases among woodworkers due to exposure to preventable hazards in the workplace. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of health education on the knowledge and practice of workplace hygiene and protective measures among woodworkers in Enugu timber market. This was a before and after study conducted among 290 woodworkers using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire and manual on workplace hazards prevention. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 and P-value of 0.05 was set as the significance level. Two hundred and ninety respondents participated in the study; 282 (97.2%) were males, most completed secondary education and had worked for less than 10 years (71% and 58.3%, respectively). The mean knowledge score of participants pre- and postintervention were 89.5% ± 9.03 and 98.5% ± 1.84, respectively (P < 0.001). Educational status had effect on knowledge of participants (P < 0.001), whereas work experience had no effect (P = 0.285). Preintervention, 37.9% of the participants used protective materials regularly, which increased to 65.8% post intervention (P < 0.001). Personal hygiene practices showed mixed responses most of which improved post intervention. The most common reason for eating in workplace was excessive workload (60.3%), while lack of PPEs (29.3%) and lack of training (23.8%) were the most common reasons for nonuse of PPEs. Majority of the participants had good knowledge of workplace hygiene but had poor use of PPEs. Health education intervention improved the use of PPEs and should be recommended.

Food safety knowledge, practices and beliefs of primary food preparers in families with young children. A mixed methods study.

PubMed

Meysenburg, Rebecca; Albrecht, Julie A; Litchfield, Ruth; Ritter-Gooder, Paula K

2014-02-01

Food preparers in families with young children are responsible for safe food preparation and handling to prevent foodborne illness. To explore the food safety perceptions, beliefs, and practices of primary food preparers in families with children 10 years of age and younger, a mixed methods convergent parallel design and constructs of the Health Belief Model were used. A random sampling of 72 primary food handlers (36.2±8.6 years of age, 88% female) within young families in urban and rural areas of two Midwestern states completed a knowledge survey and participated in ten focus groups. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. Transcribed interviews were analyzed for codes and common themes. Forty-four percent scored less than the average knowledge score of 73%. Participants believe children are susceptible to foodborne illness but perceive its severity to be low with gastrointestinal discomfort as the primary outcome. Using safe food handling practices and avoiding inconveniences were benefits of preventing foodborne illness. Childcare duties, time and knowledge were barriers to practicing food safety. Confidence in preventing foodborne illness was high, especially when personal control over food handling is present. The low knowledge scores and reported practices revealed a false sense of confidence despite parental concern to protect their child from harm. Food safety messages that emphasize the susceptibility and severity of foodborne illness in children are needed to reach this audience for adoption of safe food handling practices. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Knowledge and practice of food hygiene and safety among food handlers in fast food restaurants in Benin City, Edo State.

PubMed

Isara, A R; Isah, E C

2009-09-01

To assess the knowledge and practice of food hygiene and safety among food handlers in fast food restaurants in Benin City, Edo State. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 350 respondents who were selected by means of a systematic sampling method and interviewed using a semi-structured researcher-administered questionnaire. An observational checklist was thereafter used to inspect their personal hygiene status. The mean age of the food handlers was 26.4 +/- 6.1 years. Two hundred and twenty eight (65.1%) were females while 34.9% were males. A majority (98%) of the respondents had formal education. There was good knowledge and practice of food hygiene and safety among the respondents. Knowledge was significantly influenced by previous training in food hygiene and safety (p = 0.002). Food handlers who had worked for longer years in the fast food restaurants had better practice of food hygiene and safety (p = 0.036). The level of education of respondents did not significantly influenced their practice of food hygiene and safety (p = 0.084). Although, 299 (85.4%) food handlers were generally clean, skin lesions was seen in 4 (7.3%) of them. This study showed good knowledge and practice of food hygiene and safety by food handlers in the fast food restaurants in Benin City, but there is need for improvement through training and retraining of food handlers by the management of the restaurants and the local government authorities.

Special Issue: Using Drama to Improve Person-Centred Dementia Care

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Gail J.; Mistry, Bhavnita; Ballon, Bruce

2013-01-01

Background Person-centred dementia care guidelines emphasize the assessment of individual needs, and, where appropriate, the use of non-pharmacological interventions before resorting to pharmacological management. Yet dementia care is not consistent with these guidelines suggesting conceptual limitations and reliance on passive knowledge translation strategies. Aims and Objectives We implemented a 12-week drama-based educational intervention to introduce to dementia practitioners person-centred care that emphasizes the notion of embodied selfhood (defined as non-verbal self-expression). Design and Methods Focus groups and semi-structured interviews with practitioners (n=24) in two nursing homes in central Canada were undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the drama-based components of the intervention. Results Our findings suggest that drama was effective as an educational modality, and helped implement the person-centred approach into practice. Significant practice outcomes included: new awareness that residents’ body movements and dispositions convey meaning; seeking biographical information from families; increased time efficiency; and supporting residents’ independence. Conclusions Our findings make an important contribution to person-centred dementia care by broadening the notion of personhood, and by facilitating implementation using drama. Implications for Practice As an enhancement of person-centered care, the support of embodied selfhood may significantly improve residents’ quality of life, quality of care, and practitioners’ caregiving experience. PMID:20925717

Managing the Social Determinants of Health: Part I: Fundamental Knowledge for Professional Case Management.

PubMed

Fink-Samnick, Ellen

PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING(S):: Applicable to health and behavioral health settings, wherever case management is practiced. The SDH pose major challenges to the health care workforce in terms of effective resource provision, health and behavioral health treatment planning plus adherence, and overall coordination of care. Obstacles and variances to needed interventions easily lead to less than optimal outcomes for case managers and their health care organizations. Possessing sound knowledge and clear understanding of each SDH, the historical perspectives, main theories, and integral dynamics, as well as creative resource solutions, all support a higher level of intentional and effective professional case management practice. Those persons and communities impacted most by the SDH comprise every case management practice setting. These clients can be among the most vulnerable and disenfranchised members of society, which can easily engender biases on the part of the interprofessional workforce. They are also among the costliest to care for with 50% of costs for only 5% of the population. Critical attention to knowledge about managing the SDH leverages and informs case management practice, evolves more effective programming, and enhances operational outcomes across practice settings.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hantavirus disease and acceptance of a vaccine trial in rural communities of southern Chile

PubMed Central

Valdivieso, Francisca; Gonzalez, Claudia; Najera, Manuel; Olea, Andrea; Cuiza, Analia; Aguilera, Ximena; Mertz, Gregory

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Andes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, transmitted by Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, has no approved treatment, a case fatality rate of 35%, and documented person-to-person transmission. An Andes vaccine, highly needed for prevention, is in development. We aimed to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding hantavirus disease and willingness to participate in a future Andes vaccine trials through a cross sectional face-to-face oral survey of a randomly selected adult sample from 2 rural communes in southern Chile. Human subjects approval was obtained from our institutional IRBs, and participants signed informed consent. We enrolled 319 subjects from Corral and 321 from Curarrehue; 98% had heard about hantavirus disease and its reservoir but only half knew about transmission, symptoms and prevention. Participants fear the disease but are only partially aware of their own risk. One third of participants reported presence of rodents inside their homes. Despite moderate confidence in their health system, most subjects perceived vaccines as beneficial, and 93% would accept an approved hantavirus vaccine. Half would agree to participate in a vaccine trial and 29% would allow their children to participate. Motivations to participate were mainly altruistic, while risk perception was the main reason for declining. Knowledge about hantavirus disease and prevention practices require reinforcement, and a vaccine trial seems feasible in these populations. PMID:27830976

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hantavirus disease and acceptance of a vaccine trial in rural communities of southern Chile.

PubMed

Valdivieso, Francisca; Gonzalez, Claudia; Najera, Manuel; Olea, Andrea; Cuiza, Analia; Aguilera, Ximena; Mertz, Gregory

2017-04-03

Andes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, transmitted by Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, has no approved treatment, a case fatality rate of 35%, and documented person-to-person transmission. An Andes vaccine, highly needed for prevention, is in development. We aimed to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding hantavirus disease and willingness to participate in a future Andes vaccine trials through a cross sectional face-to-face oral survey of a randomly selected adult sample from 2 rural communes in southern Chile. Human subjects approval was obtained from our institutional IRBs, and participants signed informed consent. We enrolled 319 subjects from Corral and 321 from Curarrehue; 98% had heard about hantavirus disease and its reservoir but only half knew about transmission, symptoms and prevention. Participants fear the disease but are only partially aware of their own risk. One third of participants reported presence of rodents inside their homes. Despite moderate confidence in their health system, most subjects perceived vaccines as beneficial, and 93% would accept an approved hantavirus vaccine. Half would agree to participate in a vaccine trial and 29% would allow their children to participate. Motivations to participate were mainly altruistic, while risk perception was the main reason for declining. Knowledge about hantavirus disease and prevention practices require reinforcement, and a vaccine trial seems feasible in these populations.

Sustained transfer of knowledge to practice in long-term care: facilitators and barriers of a mental health learning initiative.

PubMed

Stolee, Paul; McAiney, Carrie A; Hillier, Loretta M; Harris, Diane; Hamilton, Pam; Kessler, Linda; Madsen, Victoria; Le Clair, J Kenneth

2009-01-01

This article explores facilitators and barriers to the impact and sustainability of a learning initiative to increase capacity of long-term care (LTC) homes to manage the mental health needs of older persons, through development of in-house Psychogeriatric Resource Persons (PRPs). Twenty interviews were conducted with LTC staff. Management support, particularly designation of time for PRP activities, development of PRP teams, and supportive learning strategies were significant factors affecting sustained knowledge transfer. Continuing education that is provided and evaluated on an ongoing basis, secures management commitment, is integrated within a broader system strategy, and provides on-the-job support has the greatest potential to affect care.

HIV/AIDS-Related Attitudes and Practices Among Traditional Healers in Zambézia Province, Mozambique

PubMed Central

Blevins, Meridith; Moon, Troy D.; Sidat, Mohsin; Shepherd, Bryan E.; Pires, Paulo; Vergara, Alfredo; Vermund, Sten H.

2012-01-01

Abstract Objectives To document HIV knowledge, treatment practices, and the willingness of traditional healers to engage with the health system in Zambézia Province, Mozambique. Settings/location Traditional healers offer culturally acceptable services and are more numerous in Mozambique than are allopathic providers. Late presentation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is reported among persons who have first sought care from traditional healers. Design One hundred and thirty-nine (139) traditional healers were interviewed in their native languages (Chuabo or Lomwe) in Zambézia Province. Furthermore, 24 traditional healers were observed during patient encounters. Healers answered a semistructured questionnaire regarding their knowledge of HIV/AIDS, general treatment practices, attitudes toward the allopathic health system, and their beliefs in their abilities to cure AIDS. Results Traditional healers were older and had less formal education than the general population. Razor cutting in order to rub herbs into bloodied skin was observed, and healers reported razor cutting as a routine practice. Healers stated that they did not refer HIV patients to clinics for two principal reasons: (1) patient symptoms/signs of HIV were unrecognized, and (2) practitioners believed they could treat the illness effectively themselves. Traditional healers were far more likely to believe in a spiritual than an infectious origin of HIV disease. Prior HIV/AIDS training was not associated with better knowledge or referral practices, though 81% of healers were interested in engaging allopathic providers. Conclusions It was found that the HIV-related practices of traditional healers probably increase risk for both HIV-infected and uninfected persons through delayed care and reuse of razors. Mozambican traditional healers attribute HIV pathogenesis to spiritual, not infectious, etiologies. Healers who had received prior HIV training were no more knowledgeable, nor did they have better practices. The willingness expressed by 4 in 5 healers to engage local formal health providers in HIV/AIDS care suggests a productive way forward, though educational efforts must be effective and income concerns considered. PMID:23171035

From dental science to clinical practice: Knowledge translation and evidence-based dentistry principles.

PubMed

Afrashtehfar, Kelvin I; Assery, Mansour K

2017-07-01

It has been claimed that in order to decrease the gap between what we know and what we do, research findings must be translated from knowledge to action. Such practices better enable dentists to make evidence-based decisions instead of personal ideas and judgments. To this end, this literature review aims to revisit the concepts of knowledge translation and evidence-based dentistry (EBD) and depict their role and influence within dental education. It addresses some possible strategies to facilitate knowledge translation (KT), encourage dental students to use EBD principles, and to encourage dental educators to create an environment in which students become self-directed learners. It concludes with a call to develop up-to-date and efficient online platforms that could grant dentists better access to EBD sources in order to more efficiently translate research evidence into the clinic.

Traditional Knowledge of Western Herbal Medicine and Complex Systems Science

PubMed Central

Niemeyer, Kathryn; Bell, Iris R.; Koithan, Mary

2013-01-01

Traditional knowledge of Western herbal medicine (WHM) supports experiential approaches to healing that have evolved over time. This is evident in the use of polyherb formulations comprised of crude plant parts, individually tailored to treat the cause of dysfunction and imbalance by addressing the whole person holistically. The challenge for WHM is to integrate science with traditional knowledge that is a foundation of the practice of WHM. The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausible theoretical hypothesis by applying complex systems science to WHM, illustrating how medicinal plants are complex, adaptive, environmentally interactive systems exhibiting synergy and nonlinear healing causality. This paper explores the conceptual congruence between medicinal plants and humans as complex systems coherently coupled through recurrent interaction. Complex systems science provides the theoretical tenets that explain traditional knowledge of medicinal plants while supporting clinical practice and expanding research and documentation of WHM. PMID:24058898

Traditional Knowledge of Western Herbal Medicine and Complex Systems Science.

PubMed

Niemeyer, Kathryn; Bell, Iris R; Koithan, Mary

2013-09-01

Traditional knowledge of Western herbal medicine (WHM) supports experiential approaches to healing that have evolved over time. This is evident in the use of polyherb formulations comprised of crude plant parts, individually tailored to treat the cause of dysfunction and imbalance by addressing the whole person holistically. The challenge for WHM is to integrate science with traditional knowledge that is a foundation of the practice of WHM. The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausible theoretical hypothesis by applying complex systems science to WHM, illustrating how medicinal plants are complex, adaptive, environmentally interactive systems exhibiting synergy and nonlinear healing causality. This paper explores the conceptual congruence between medicinal plants and humans as complex systems coherently coupled through recurrent interaction. Complex systems science provides the theoretical tenets that explain traditional knowledge of medicinal plants while supporting clinical practice and expanding research and documentation of WHM.

Development of knowledge base of intellectual system for support of formal and informal training of IT staff

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurvaeva, L. V.; Gavrilova, I. V.; Mahmutova, M. V.; Chichilanova, S. A.; Povituhin, S. A.

2018-05-01

The choice of educational digital content, according to education goals (descriptors which are formed by competences, labor functions, etc.), becomes an important practical task because of the variety of existing educational online systems that is available to persons within formal, informal IT education formats. Ontologies can form a basis for working out knowledge bases, which are center of intellectual system support in IT specialist training. The paper describes a technology of ontological model creation; analyzes the structure and the content of basic data. The structure of knowledge interrelation of the considered subject and IT education is considered. This knowledge base is applied for solving tasks of educational and methodical supplementation of educational programs of the higher and additional professional education, corporate training; for creating systems of certification and testing for students and practicing experts; for forming individual trajectories of training and career development.

Changes in knowledge and practices related to taeniasis/cysticercosis after health education in a south Indian community.

PubMed

Alexander, A M; Mohan, V R; Muliyil, J; Dorny, P; Rajshekhar, V

2012-09-01

A health education programme for taeniasis/cysticercosis was implemented and evaluated among schoolchildren and the general community in a rural block in southern India, an area that is endemic for cysticercosis. The baseline survey among 831 participants from three randomly selected villages showed poor knowledge regarding the spread of taeniasis and neurocysticercosis. There was also a lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation practices. Health education was given in these villages and in the schools located in these villages regarding the lifecycle of the pork tapeworm, spread of taeniasis and cysticercosis, and prevention of these conditions. The post-intervention test conducted 6 months later among 1060 participants revealed a 46% increase in the overall score of knowledge and practices. Awareness about the mode of spread of taeniasis and cysticercosis improved by almost 3 times and the reported practice of washing hands with soap and water before eating improved by 4.8 times and after using the toilet by 3.6 times. One person who reported the passage of tapeworm segments was confirmed to be a carrier of Taenia solium and was treated. The health education given on prevention of taeniasis and cysticercosis was useful in improving the knowledge and practices of the community and also in diagnosing taeniasis through self-reporting.

Personalized E- learning System Based on Intelligent Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duo, Sun; Ying, Zhou Cai

Lack of personalized learning is the key shortcoming of traditional e-Learning system. This paper analyzes the personal characters in e-Learning activity. In order to meet the personalized e-learning, a personalized e-learning system based on intelligent agent was proposed and realized in the paper. The structure of system, work process, the design of intelligent agent and the realization of intelligent agent were introduced in the paper. After the test use of the system by certain network school, we found that the system could improve the learner's initiative participation, which can provide learners with personalized knowledge service. Thus, we thought it might be a practical solution to realize self- learning and self-promotion in the lifelong education age.

Community Knowledge and Experience of Mosquitoes and Personal Prevention and Control Practices in Lhasa, Tibet

PubMed Central

Liu, Xiaobo; Wan, Fangjun; Cirendunzhu; Cirenwangla; Bai, Li; Pengcuociren; Zhou, Lin; Baimaciwang; Guo, Yuhong; Dazhen; Xu, Junfang; Sang, Shaowei; Li, Xiaolu; Gu, Shaohua; Wu, Haixia; Wang, Jun; Dawa; Xiraoruodeng; Liu, Qiyong

2014-01-01

Since 2009, great public attention has been paid in Lhasa City (Tibet, China) to mosquito bites and accompanying inflammatory complications. However, the potential contribution of knowledge levels, experiences, disease control and preventive practices (KEP) towards mosquitoes has not received much attention. To investigate community KEP concerning mosquitoes in Lhasa, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken in four sub-districts of urban Lhasa in 2012. Questionnaires were designed to collect information regarding socio-demographics and KEP concerning the harmful effects of mosquitoes on participants. The scoring for KEP was developed after consultation of literature. A total of 591 eligible questionnaires were examined. The majority of respondents were female (61.8%) with a mean age of 46 years. Nearly all of the respondents were of Tibetan nationality (97.4%) and living in registered native households (92.7%), who have less than primary school education. The averages of overall score, knowledge score, experience score, and practice score were 9.23, 4.53, 1.80, 2.90, respectively. The registered household with the highest overall score, knowledge score and practice score was non-native. Female subjects with monthly incomes between 1000 and 3000 RMB had higher experience scores. The correlation analysis revealed that significant positive linear correlations existed between knowledge and experience, knowledge and practices, and experience and practices towards mosquitoes. Past experiences with mosquitoes can result in a better knowledge of effective mosquito control practices in the present and the future. Though the average of overall scores related to mosquitoes is high among the participants in Lhasa, however, the knowledge about the ecological habits of mosquitoes should be strengthened. The findings in this study may help to develop strategies and measures of mosquito and mosquito-borne diseases in the future, not only in Lhasa, but also in similar altitude, latitude and longitude regions worldwide. PMID:25250847

Community knowledge and experience of mosquitoes and personal prevention and control practices in Lhasa, Tibet.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaobo; Wan, Fangjun; Cirendunzhu; Cirenwangla; Bai, Li; Pengcuociren; Zhou, Lin; Baimaciwang; Guo, Yuhong; Dazhen; Xu, Junfang; Sang, Shaowei; Li, Xiaolu; Gu, Shaohua; Wu, Haixia; Wang, Jun; Dawa; Xiraoruodeng; Liu, Qiyong

2014-09-23

Since 2009, great public attention has been paid in Lhasa City (Tibet, China) to mosquito bites and accompanying inflammatory complications. However, the potential contribution of knowledge levels, experiences, disease control and preventive practices (KEP) towards mosquitoes has not received much attention. To investigate community KEP concerning mosquitoes in Lhasa, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken in four sub-districts of urban Lhasa in 2012. Questionnaires were designed to collect information regarding socio-demographics and KEP concerning the harmful effects of mosquitoes on participants. The scoring for KEP was developed after consultation of literature. A total of 591 eligible questionnaires were examined. The majority of respondents were female (61.8%) with a mean age of 46 years. Nearly all of the respondents were of Tibetan nationality (97.4%) and living in registered native households (92.7%), who have less than primary school education. The averages of overall score, knowledge score, experience score, and practice score were 9.23, 4.53, 1.80, 2.90, respectively. The registered household with the highest overall score, knowledge score and practice score was non-native. Female subjects with monthly incomes between 1000 and 3000 RMB had higher experience scores. The correlation analysis revealed that significant positive linear correlations existed between knowledge and experience, knowledge and practices, and experience and practices towards mosquitoes. Past experiences with mosquitoes can result in a better knowledge of effective mosquito control practices in the present and the future. Though the average of overall scores related to mosquitoes is high among the participants in Lhasa, however, the knowledge about the ecological habits of mosquitoes should be strengthened. The findings in this study may help to develop strategies and measures of mosquito and mosquito-borne diseases in the future, not only in Lhasa, but also in similar altitude, latitude and longitude regions worldwide.

'Two sides of the coin'--the value of personal continuity to GPs: a qualitative interview study.

PubMed

Ridd, Matthew; Shaw, Alison; Salisbury, Chris

2006-08-01

Continuity is thought to be important to GPs but the values behind this are unknown. To explore the values that doctors working in general practice attach to continuity of patient care and to outline how these values are applied in practice. In-depth qualitative interview with 24 GPs in England. Participants were purposefully sampled according to personal and practice characteristics. Analysis was thematic, drawing on the constant comparative method. The majority of doctors valued doctor-patient, or personal, continuity in their everyday work. It was most valued in patients with serious, complex or psychological problems. GPs believed that through their personal knowledge of the patient and the doctor-patient relationship, personal continuity enabled them to provide higher quality care. However, the benefits of personal continuity were balanced against problems, and GPs identified personal, professional and external constraints that limited its provision. GPs seemed to have resolved the tension between the benefits, limits and constraints they described by accepting an increased reliance on continuity being provided within teams. Personal continuity may offer important benefits to doctors and patients, but we do not know how unique its values are. In particular, it is not clear whether the same benefits can be achieved within teams, the level at which continuity is increasingly being provided. The relative advantages and limits of the different means of delivering continuity need to be better understood, before further policy changes that affect personal continuity are introduced.

Why undertake a pilot in a qualitative PhD study? Lessons learned to promote success.

PubMed

Wray, Jane; Archibong, Uduak; Walton, Sean

2017-01-23

Background Pilot studies can play an important role in qualitative studies. Methodological and practical issues can be shaped and refined by undertaking pilots. Personal development and researchers' competence are enhanced and lessons learned can inform the development and quality of the main study. However, pilot studies are rarely published, despite their potential to improve knowledge and understanding of the research. Aim To present the main lessons learned from undertaking a pilot in a qualitative PhD study. Discussion This paper draws together lessons learned when undertaking a pilot as part of a qualitative research project. Important methodological and practical issues identified during the pilot study are discussed including access, recruitment, data collection and the personal development of the researcher. The resulting changes to the final study are also highlighted. Conclusion Sharing experiences of and lessons learned in a pilot study enhances personal development, improves researchers' confidence and competence, and contributes to the understanding of research. Implications for practice Pilots can be used effectively in qualitative studies to refine the final design, and provide the researcher with practical experience to enhance confidence and competence.

[Variation in closeness to reality of standardized resuscitation scenarios : Effects on the success of cognitive learning of medical students].

PubMed

Schaumberg, A

2015-04-01

Simulation often relies on a case-based learning approach and is used as a teaching tool for a variety of audiences. The knowledge transfer goes beyond the mere exchange of soft skills and practical abilities and also includes practical knowledge and decision-making behavior; however, verification of knowledge or practical skills seldom unfolds during simulations. Simulation-based learning seems to affect many learning domains and can, therefore, be considered to be multifactorial in nature. At present, studies examining the effects of learning environments with varying levels of reality on the cognitive long-term retention of students are lacking. The present study focused on the question whether case scenarios with varying levels of reality produce differences in the cognitive long-term retention of students, in particular with regard to the learning dimensions knowledge, understanding and transfer. The study was conducted on 153 students in the first clinical semester at the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen. Students were randomly selected and subsequently assigned, also in a random fashion, to two practice groups, i.e. realistic and unrealistic. In both groups the students were presented with standardized case scenarios consisting of three case studies, which were accurately defined with a case report containing a detailed description of each scenario and all relevant values so as to ensure identical conditions for both groups. The unrealistic group sat in an unfurnished practice room as a learning environment. The realistic group sat in a furnished learning environment with various background pictures and ambient noise. Students received examination questions before, immediately following and 14 days after the practice. Examination questions were identical at each of the three time points, classified into three learning dimensions following Bloom's taxonomy and evaluated. Furthermore, examination questions were supplemented by a questionnaire concerning the individual perception of reality and own learning success, to be filled in by students immediately after the practice. Examination questions and questionnaires were anonymous but associated with each other. Even with less experienced participants, realistic simulation design led to a significant increase of knowledge immediately after the end of the simulation. This effect, however, did not impact the cognitive long-term retention of students. While the realistic group showed a higher initial knowledge after the simulation, this "knowledge delta" was forgotten within 14 days, putting them back on par with the unrealistic comparison group. It could be significantly demonstrated that 2 weeks after the practice, comprehension questions were answered better than those on pure knowledge. Therefore, it can be concluded that even vaguely realistic simulation scenarios affect the learning dimension of understanding. For simulation-based learning the outcome depends not only on knowledge, practical skills and motivational variables but also on the onset of negative emotions, perception of own ability and personality profile. Simulation training alone does not appear to guarantee learning success but it seems to be necessary to establish a simulation setting suitable for the education level, needs and personality characteristics of the students.

75 FR 9763 - Relief for U.S. Military and Civilian Personnel Who Are Assigned Outside the United States in...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-04

... take a practical test after passing a knowledge test. For example, 14 CFR 61.39(a)(1) gives a person 24... operations. SFAR 100-2 also continues to allow FSDOs to accept expired airman written test reports for certain practical tests from U.S. personnel who are assigned outside the United States in support of U.S...

Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Helen

2004-11-01

This study presents comparative case studies of preservice and first-year teachers' and expert teachers' conceptions of the concept of prior knowledge. Kelly's (The Psychology of Personal Construct, New York: W.W. Norton, 1955) theory of personal constructs as discussed by Akerson, Flick, and Lederman (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2000, 37, 363-385) in relationship to prior knowledge underpins the study. Six teachers were selected to participate in the case studies based upon their level experience teaching science and their willingness to take part. The comparative case studies of the novice and expert teachers provide insights into (a) how novice and expert teachers understand the concept of prior knowledge and (b) how they use this knowledge to make instructional decisions. Data collection consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings suggest that novice teachers hold insufficient conceptions of prior knowledge and its role in instruction to effectively implement constructivist teaching practices. While expert teachers hold a complex conception of prior knowledge and make use of their students' prior knowledge in significant ways during instruction. A second finding was an apparent mismatch between the novice teachers' beliefs about their urban students' life experiences and prior knowledge and the wealth of knowledge the expert teachers found to draw upon.

'Your experiences were your tools'. How personal experience of mental health problems informs mental health nursing practice.

PubMed

Oates, J; Drey, N; Jones, J

2017-09-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: 'Expertise by experience' has become an increasingly valued element of service design and delivery by mental health service providers. The extent and influence of mental health professionals' personal experience of mental ill health on clinical practice has seldom been interrogated in depth. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: We investigate how mental health nurses' own personal experience of mental ill health informs their mental health nursing practice with particular reference to direct work with service users. Participants said that personal experience could impact on work in three positive ways: to develop their relationship with service users, to enhance their understanding of service users and as a motivation for potential mental health nurses to join the profession. This study moves the discussion of the state of mental health nurses' mental health further towards the recovery and well-being focus of contemporary mental health care, where 'expertise by experience' is highly valued. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: We must address the taboo of disclosure within clinical nursing practice and debate the extent to which personal and professional boundaries are negotiated during clinical encounters. Introduction 'Expertise by experience' is a highly valued element of service delivery in recovery-oriented mental health care, but is unacknowledged within the mental health nursing literature. Aim To explore the extent and influence of mental health professionals' personal experience of mental ill health on clinical practice. Method Twenty-seven mental health nurses with their own personal experience of mental ill health were interviewed about how their personal experience informed their mental health nursing practice, as part of a sequential mixed methods study. Results The influence of personal experience in nursing work was threefold: first, through overt disclosure; second, through the 'use of the self as a tool'; and third, through the formation of professional nursing identity. Discussion Mental health nurses' experience of mental illness was contextualized by other life experiences and by particular therapeutic relationships and clinical settings. In previous empirical studies, nurses have cited personal experience of mental illness as a motivator and an aspect of their identity. In this study, there was also an association between personal experience and enhanced nursing expertise. Implications for practice If drawing on personal experience is commonplace, then we must address the taboo of disclosure and debate the extent to which personal and professional boundaries are negotiated during clinical encounters. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Inter-personal violence and abuse in adolescent intimate relationships: mental health impact and implications for practice.

PubMed

Barter, Christine; Stanley, Nicky

2016-10-01

This paper provides a narrative review of the knowledge on inter-personal violence and abuse (IPVA) in adolescents' intimate relationships. It draws on the authors' own research, published reviews, and a rapid review on IPVA victimization and mental health outcomes for adolescents. The research reviewed identified associations between adolescent IPVA and substance misuse, depressive symptoms and PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal thinking, and behaviour in young people. Generally, girls appeared more likely to report severe mental health outcomes than boys. Adolescents rarely disclose IPVA to adults and delivering preventative programmes that promote knowledge and help seeking may offer a means of building on young people's tendency to seek help from friends. These preventative interventions, usually delivered in schools, need to be closely linked to support services for adolescents who disclose abuse. While there are some practice examples of emerging interventions for both victims and perpetrators of adolescent IPVA, there is as yet little robust evidence regarding their effectiveness.

`She Has to Drink Blood of the Snake': Culture and prior knowledge in science|health education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bricker, Leah A.; Reeve, Suzanne; Bell, Philip

2014-06-01

In this analysis, we argue that science education should attend more deeply to youths' cultural resources and practices (e.g. material, social, and intellectual). Inherent in our argument is a call for revisiting conceptions of 'prior knowledge' to theorize how people make sense of the complex ecologies of experience, ideas, and cultural practices that undergird any learning moment. We illustrate our argument using examples from the domain of personal health, chosen because of its tremendous societal impact and its significant areas of overlap with biology, chemistry, physics, and other scientific disciplines taught as core subjects in schools. Using data from a team ethnography of young people's science and technology learning across settings and over developmental timescales, we highlight two youths' experiences and understandings related to personal health, and how those experiences and understandings influenced the youths' sense-making about the natural world. We then discuss the implications of our argument for science education.

A cross-sectional study on person-centred communication in the care of older people: the COMHOME study protocol.

PubMed

Hafskjold, Linda; Sundler, Annelie J; Holmström, Inger K; Sundling, Vibeke; van Dulmen, Sandra; Eide, Hilde

2015-04-15

This paper presents an international cross-sectional study on person-centred communication with older people receiving healthcare (COMHOME). Person-centred care relies on effective communication, but few studies have explored this with a specific focus on older people. The main aim of the COMHOME study is to generate knowledge on person-centred communication with older people (>65 years) in home healthcare services, radiographic and optometric practice. This study will explore the communication between care providers and older persons in home care services. Home healthcare visits will be audiorecorded (n=500) in Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. Analyses will be performed with the Verona Coding Definitions for Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES), the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) and qualitative methods. The content of the communication, communicative challenging situations as well as empathy, power distance, decision-making, preservation of dignity and respect will be explored. In Norway, an additional 100 encounters, 50 in optometric practice (video recorded) and 50 in radiographic practice (audiorecorded), will be analysed. Furthermore, healthcare providers' self-reported communication skills, empathy, mindfulness and emotional intelligence in relation to observed person-centred communication skills will be assessed using well-established standardised instruments. Depending on national legislation, approval of either the central ethical committees (eg, nation or university), the national data protection officials or the local ethical committees (eg, units of home healthcare) was obtained. Study findings will be disseminated widely through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. The research findings will add knowledge to improve services provided to this vulnerable group of patients. Additionally, the findings will underpin a training programme for healthcare students and care providers focusing on communication with older people. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Pesticide knowledge, practice and attitude and how it affects the health of small-scale farmers in Uganda: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Oesterlund, Anna H; Thomsen, Jane F; Sekimpi, Deogratias K; Maziina, James; Racheal, Apio; Jørs, Erik

2014-06-01

Over the past years there has been an increase in the use of pesticides in developing countries. This study describes pesticide use among small-scale farmers in Uganda and analyses predictors of pesticide poisoning (intoxication) symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a standardized questionnaire. Some 317 small-scale farmers in two districts in Uganda were interviewed about pesticide use, knowledge and attitude, symptoms of intoxication, personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene. The risk of reporting symptoms was analysed using logistic regression analysis. The most frequently used pesticides belonged to WHO class II. The farmers had poor knowledge about pesticide toxicity, and the majority did not use appropriate PPE nor good hygiene when handling pesticides. There was no significant association between the number of times of spraying with pesticides and self-reported symptoms of pesticide poisoning. The only significant association was between blowing and sucking the nozzle of the knapsack sprayer and self-reported symptoms of pesticide intoxication (OR: 2.13. 95% CI: 1.09 - 4.18). Unlike the practice in several other developing countries, small-scale farmers in Uganda do not use the most hazardous pesticides (WHO class 1a and 1b). However use of WHO class II pesticides and those of lower toxicity is seen in combination with inadequate knowledge and practice among the farmers. This poses a danger of acute intoxications, chronic health problems and environmental pollution. Training of farmers in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods, use of proper hygiene and personal protective equipment when handling pesticides should be promoted.

Evidence-based periodontal therapy: An overview

PubMed Central

Vijayalakshmi, R.; Anitha, V.; Ramakrishnan, T.; Sudhakar, Uma

2008-01-01

Dentists need to make clinical decisions based on limited scientific evidence. In clinical practice, a clinician must weigh a myriad of evidences every day. The goal of evidence-based dentistry is to help practitioners provide their patients with optimal care. This is achieved by integrating sound research evidence with personal clinical expertise and patient values to determine the best course of treatment. Periodontology has a rich background of research and scholarship. Therefore, efficient use of this wealth of research data needs to be a part of periodontal practice. Evidence-based periodontology aims to facilitate such an approach and it offers a bridge from science to clinical practice. The clinician must integrate the evidence with patient preference, scientific knowledge, and personal experience. Most important, it allows us to care for our patients. Therefore, evidence-based periodontology is a tool to support decision-making and integrating the best evidence available with clinical practice. PMID:20142947

Occupation-based practices and homelessness: A scoping review.

PubMed

Roy, Laurence; Vallée, Catherine; Kirsh, Bonnie H; Marshall, Carrie Anne; Marval, Rebecca; Low, Alissa

2017-04-01

Persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness have occupational needs that are seldom addressed in the Canadian system of care. The lack of documented evidence on occupational therapy practices in this field hinders the development of the profession. This article identifies current and potential practices that aim to enable or support the occupations of persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness. A scoping review was conducted, including evidence from both occupational therapy and non-occupational therapy sources. One hundred and seventy-eight papers were selected in the areas of occupational performance skills training, enrichment of occupational repertoire, employment/education, physical rehabilitation services, child/family services, community building, occupational transition from homeless to housed, literacy, and disaster relief. Occupational therapists can build environments and create opportunities that facilitate occupational engagement of individuals experiencing homelessness. Gaps in knowledge include the evaluation of occupational therapy practices, the Canadian context of family homelessness, and the cultural safety of occupational therapy interventions.

The effects of a summer science camp teaching experience on preservice elementary teachers' science teaching efficacy, science content knowledge, and understanding of the nature of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logerwell, Mollianne G.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a summer science camp teaching experience on preservice elementary teachers' science teaching efficacy, science content knowledge, and understanding of the nature of science. Master's degree students enrolled in the elementary Fairfax Partnership Schools (FPS, n = 21) cohort served as the treatment group, while those enrolled in the Loudoun Partnership Schools (LPS, n = 15) and Professional Development Schools (PDS, n = 24) cohorts at George Mason University served as the control groups. The treatment group planned for and taught a two-week inquiry- and problem-based summer science camp as part of their science methods course, while the control groups did not. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI), a science content assessment, a personal data questionnaire, and a modified version of the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS-C) were administered to the participants at the beginning and end of their science methods course. Analyses revealed significant increases for the FPS group in general science teaching efficacy, personal science teaching efficacy, science teaching outcome expectancy, general science knowledge, biology content knowledge, chemistry content knowledge, and understanding of NOS; the LPS group in general science teaching efficacy, personal science teaching efficacy, chemistry content knowledge, and understanding of NOS; and, the PDS group in general science teaching efficacy, personal science teaching efficacy, and chemistry content knowledge. Additionally, the FPS group had significantly higher general science teaching efficacy than both control groups, personal science teaching efficacy than the PDS group, and understanding of NOS than the LPS group. Overall, the findings indicate that course length is not as important for developing preservice teachers' teaching efficacy and understanding of content as having connected, authentic field-based teaching experiences that are based on best-practices research and coupled with methodological instruction.

Mentor-mentee Relationship: A Win-Win Contract In Graduate Medical Education.

PubMed

Toklu, Hale Z; Fuller, Jacklyn C

2017-12-05

Scholarly activities (i.e., the discovery of new knowledge; development of new technologies, methods, materials, or uses; integration of knowledge leading to new understanding) are intended to measure the quality and quantity of dissemination of knowledge. A successful mentorship program is necessary during residency to help residents achieve the six core competencies (patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills) required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The role of the mentor in this process is pivotal in the advancement of the residents' knowledge about evidence-based medicine. With this process, while mentees become more self-regulated, exhibit confidence in their performance, and demonstrate more insight and aptitude in their jobs, mentors also achieve elevated higher self-esteem, enhanced leadership skills, and personal gratification. As such, we may conclude that mentoring is a two-sided relationship; i.e., a 'win-win' style of commitment between the mentor and mentee. Hence, both parties will eventually advance academically, as well as professionally.

Imported tropical neuroinfections: practice skills and knowledge among nurses and nursing students.

PubMed

Rajoo, Maheswaari; Sulicova, Andrea; Mroskova, Slavka; Supinova, Maria; Plackova, Anna; Bystra, Martina; Baranova, Lenka; Grezdova, Iveta; Santova, Tatiana; Janakova, Maria; Simova, Zuzana; Cinova, Jana; Cibrikova, Silvia; Decsiova, Zuzana; Lengyelova, Anna; Hlinovska, Jana; Rovna, Silvia; Igazova, Maria; Nadova, Monika; Rakova, Jana; Lehotska, Maria; Moraucikova, Eva; Mizenkova, Ludmila; Novotna, Zuzana; Paukova, Luba; Semjonova, Alexandra; Schlosserova, Alena; Vicanova, Michaela; Balkova, Hilda; Banasova, Vlasta; Horanska, Valeria; Hudakova, Pavlina; Hudakova, Anna; Majernikova, Ludmila; Poliakova, Nikoleta; Suchanova, Renata; Tirpakova, Libusa; Perinova, Nadezda; Vatehova, Drahormira; Komanicky, Dusan; Koudelkova, Vlasta; Capska, Jana; Maskalikova, Tatiana; Hulkova, Vlasta; Treslova, Marie

2013-09-01

Tropical neuroinfections are still cause of substantial mortality in travelers. Therefore, good knowledge of early symptoms is very important for nurses acting as first contact persons. Nurse's practical skills and knowledge of signs and early recognition of tropical neuroinfections, providing first aid and quick action has been studied among graduates of two Tropical Nursing PhD programs (in EU-Countries vs. tropical country) using a standardized questionnaire. Statistical package EPI info was used to determine potential differences between both groups of graduates. Acceptable knowledge on early symptoms and signs of cerebral malaria and meningococcal meningitis in returning travelers was found among 121 graduates of two PhD programs who were included in the study. Of these, 99 questionnaires were filled in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany and another 22 were filled in Malaysia, as a part of the Tropical Nursing PhD Study Programs. Nursing students and recent graduates in two PhD programs demonstrated acceptable, although not large-scaled, knowledge of early signs and symptoms of tropical neuroinfections.

Medical education for equity in health: a participatory action research involving persons living in poverty and healthcare professionals.

PubMed

Hudon, Catherine; Loignon, Christine; Grabovschi, Cristina; Bush, Paula; Lambert, Mireille; Goulet, Émilie; Boyer, Sophie; De Laat, Marianne; Fournier, Nathalie

2016-04-12

Improving the knowledge and competencies of healthcare professionals is crucial to better address the specific needs of persons living in poverty and avoid stigmatization. This study aimed to explore the needs and expectations of persons living in poverty and healthcare professionals in terms of medical training regarding poverty and its effects on health and healthcare. We conducted a participatory action research study using photovoice, a method using photography, together with merging of knowledge and practice, an approach promoting dialogue between different sources of knowledge. Nineteen healthcare professionals and persons from an international community organization against poverty participated in the study. The first phase included 60 meetings and group sessions to identify the perceived barriers between persons living in poverty and healthcare teams. In the second phase, sub-committees deployed action plans in academic teaching units to overcome barriers identified in the first phase. Data were analysed through thematic analysis, using NVivo, in collaboration with five non-academic co-researchers. Four themes in regard to medical training were highlighted: improving medical students' and residents' knowledge on poverty and the living conditions of persons living in poverty; improving their understanding of the reality of those people; improving their relational skills pertaining to communication and interaction with persons living in poverty; improving their awareness and capacity for self-reflection. At the end of the second phase, actions were undertaken such as improving knowledge of the living conditions of persons living in poverty by posting social assistance rates, and tailoring interventions to patients' reality by including sociodemographic information in electronic medical records. Our findings also led to a participatory research project aiming to improve the skills and competency of residents and health professionals in regard to the quality of healthcare provided to persons living in poverty. Medical training and residency programs should aim to improve students' and residents' relational skills, more specifically their communication skills, as well as their awareness and capacity for self-reflection, by helping them to identify and recognize their biases, and limitations.

The personal and general hygiene practices of food handlers in the delicatessen sections of retail outlets in South Africa.

PubMed

van Tonder, Izanne; Lues, Jan F R; Theron, Maria M

2007-11-01

This paper presents data on personal- and general-hygiene knowledge and practices among food handlers in the delicatessens of a major retail group in the Western Cape in South Africa. Food handlers were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. Although the majority of food handlers adhered to basic hygiene principles, there is definitely a need for proper and continuous training in personal and general hygiene, not only for food handlers, but also for management. The study reported here is of importance particularly in view of new local regulations governing the application of the hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system. Management is responsible for the implementation of this system, and where supervision is not adequate, the manager of the outlet should intervene to ensure that staff conform to the requirements.

Conceptualizing Telehealth in Nursing Practice: Advancing a Conceptual Model to Fill a Virtual Gap.

PubMed

Nagel, Daniel A; Penner, Jamie L

2016-03-01

Increasingly nurses use various telehealth technologies to deliver health care services; however, there has been a lag in research and generation of empirical knowledge to support nursing practice in this expanding field. One challenge to generating knowledge is a gap in development of a comprehensive conceptual model or theoretical framework to illustrate relationships of concepts and phenomena inherent to adoption of a broad range of telehealth technologies to holistic nursing practice. A review of the literature revealed eight published conceptual models, theoretical frameworks, or similar entities applicable to nursing practice. Many of these models focus exclusively on use of telephones and four were generated from qualitative studies, but none comprehensively reflect complexities of bridging nursing process and elements of nursing practice into use of telehealth. The purpose of this article is to present a review of existing conceptual models and frameworks, discuss predominant themes and features of these models, and present a comprehensive conceptual model for telehealth nursing practice synthesized from this literature for consideration and further development. This conceptual model illustrates characteristics of, and relationships between, dimensions of telehealth practice to guide research and knowledge development in provision of holistic person-centered care delivery to individuals by nurses through telehealth technologies. © The Author(s) 2015.

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of person-centred care in different healthcare contexts.

PubMed

Moore, Lucy; Britten, Nicky; Lydahl, Doris; Naldemirci, Öncel; Elam, Mark; Wolf, Axel

2017-12-01

To empower patients and improve the quality of care, policy-makers increasingly adopt systems to enhance person-centred care. Although models of person-centredness and patient-centredness vary, respecting the needs and preferences of individuals receiving care is paramount. In Sweden, as in other countries, healthcare providers seek to improve person-centred principles and address gaps in practice. Consequently, researchers at the University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centred Care are currently delivering person-centred interventions employing a framework that incorporates three routines. These include eliciting the patient's narrative, agreeing a partnership with shared goals between patient and professional, and safeguarding this through documentation. To explore the barriers and facilitators to the delivery of person-centred care interventions, in different contexts. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 18 researchers from seven research studies across contrasting healthcare settings. Interviews were transcribed, translated and thematically analysed, adopting some basic features of grounded theory. The ethical code of conduct was followed and conformed to the ethical guidelines adopted by the Swedish Research Council. Barriers to the implementation of person-centred care covered three themes: traditional practices and structures; sceptical, stereotypical attitudes from professionals; and factors related to the development of person-centred interventions. Facilitators included organisational factors, leadership and training and an enabling attitude and approach by professionals. Trained project managers, patients taking an active role in research and adaptive strategies by researchers all helped person-centred care delivery. At the University of Gothenburg, a model of person-centred care is being initiated and integrated into practice through research. Knowledgeable, well-trained professionals facilitate the routines of narrative elicitation and partnership. Strong leadership and adaptive strategies are important for overcoming existing practices, routines and methods of documentation. This study provides guidance for practitioners when delivering and adapting person-centred care in different contexts. © 2016 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science.

Peer support and peer-led family support for persons living with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Duckworth, Kenneth; Halpern, Lisa

2014-05-01

Peer support and peer-led family psychoeducation represent two distinct and complementary recovery-oriented models to support individuals who live with schizophrenia and their families, respectively. The goals of these models focus on improving knowledge, coping, self-care, social support, and self-management strategies. These models represent important capacity-building strategies for people who live with the illness and the people who love them. This brief article is intended to provide the practicing clinician, person living with schizophrenia, and policy maker with a working knowledge of the current state of the literature in these two related fields. Practitioners should consider these resources and integrate them into their care. A person living with schizophrenia could use this review to advocate for appropriate resources and to identify career opportunities. Policy makers could benefit from an understanding of the literature to mitigate financial and cultural barriers to adopting these practices. The last 5 years have seen a dramatic expansion of the application of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to give evidence to match the experience of people in these programs. The field has seen Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) named as evidence-based practice by the National Registry of Evidence-Based Practices. A RCT was also conducted for another peer-developed and led program called Building Recovery of Individual Dreams & Goals through Education & Support. Family to Family, the largest peer-led family psychoeducation course, was also found to have significant impact after the study and also 6 months later in RCT. Family to Family has also been named as an evidence-based practice. The field of people who are living well with schizophrenia working as resources and supports to others living with the illness is an idea that is growing momentum. This momentum has been matched by the RCT evidence. Peer support as a professional role has an emerging literature that needs to be grown. WRAP and National Alliance on Mental Illness's Family to Family program are evidence-based practices and widely available. Peer support and peer-led family support for persons living with schizophrenia is a nascent field with much potential.

How Knowledge Is Constructed and Exchanged in Virtual Communities of Physicians: Qualitative Study of Mindlines Online

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background As a response to the criticisms evidence-based practice currently faces, groups of health care researchers and guideline makers have started to call for the appraisal and inclusion of different kinds of knowledge in guideline production (other than randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) to better link with the informal knowledge used in clinical practice. In an ethnographic study, Gabbay and Le May showed that clinicians in everyday practice situations do not explicitly or consciously use guidelines. Instead, they use mindlines: collectively shared, mostly tacit knowledge that is shaped by many sources, including accumulated personal experiences, education (formal and informal), guidance, and the narratives about patients that are shared among colleagues. In this study on informal knowledge, we consider virtual networks of clinicians as representative of the mindlines in the wider medical community, as holders of knowledge, as well as catalysts of knowing. Objective The aim of this study was to explore how informal knowledge and its creation in communities of clinicians can be characterized as opposed to the more structured knowledge produced in guideline development. Methods This study included a qualitative study of postings on three large virtual networks for physicians in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway, taking the topic of statins as a case study and covering more than 1400 posts. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to theories of collaborative knowledge construction and communities of practice. Results The dataset showed very few postings referring to, or seeking to adhere to, explicit guidance and recommendations. Participants presented many instances of individual case narratives that highlighted quantitative test results and clinical examination findings. There was an emphasis on outliers and the material, regulatory, and practical constraints on knowledge use by clinicians. Participants conveyed not-so-explicit knowledge as tacit and practical knowledge and used a prevailing style of pragmatic reasoning focusing on what was likely to work in a particular case. Throughout the discussions, a collective conceptualization of statins was generated and reinforced in many contexts through stories, jokes, and imagery. Conclusions Informal knowledge and knowing in clinical communities entail an inherently collective dynamic practice that includes explicit and nonexplicit components. It can be characterized as knowledge-in-context in practice, with a strong focus on casuistry. Validity of knowledge appears not to be based on criteria of consensus, coherence, or correspondence but on a more polyphonic understanding of truth. We contend that our findings give enough ground for further research on how exploring mindlines of clinicians online could help improve guideline development processes. PMID:29396385

14 CFR 61.189 - Flight instructor records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Flight instructor records. 61.189 Section 61.189 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED... person that instructor has endorsed for a knowledge test or practical test, and the record shall also...

14 CFR 61.189 - Flight instructor records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Flight instructor records. 61.189 Section 61.189 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED... person that instructor has endorsed for a knowledge test or practical test, and the record shall also...

On the advancement of therapeutic penality: therapeutic authority, personality science and the therapeutic community.

PubMed

McBride, Ruari-Santiago

2017-09-01

In this article I examine the advancement of therapeutic penality in the UK, a penal philosophy that reimagines prison policy, practices and environments utilising psychological knowledge. Adopting a historical approach, I show how modern therapeutic penality is linked to the emergence of personality science in the nineteenth century and the development of the democratic therapeutic community (DTC) model in the twentieth century. I outline how at the turn of the twenty-first century a catalytic event generated a moral panic that led the British government to mobilise psychological knowledge and technologies in an attempt to manage dangerous people with severe personality disorder. Tracing subsequent developments, I argue psychological ways of talking, thinking and acting have obtained unparalleled salience in domains of penality and, in turn, radically transformed the conditions of imprisonment. © 2017 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

Community empowerment program for increasing knowledge and awareness of tuberculosis patients, cadres and community in Medan city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harahap, J.; Amelia, R.; Wahyuni, A. S.; Andayani, L. S.

2018-03-01

Tuberculosis is one of a major health problem in Indonesia. WHO expressed the need for the participation of various stakeholders in addition to government. TB CEPAT Program aimed to increase knowledge and awareness in combating tuberculosis. This study aimed to compare the knowledge and awareness of community, cadres and TB patients in the program areas and non-program areas, and assess the role of the program in combating tuberculosis in Medan. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods, where 300 people (community, cadres, TB patients) as respondents and three key persons as informants. The findings revealed that in the program areas the knowledge, attitude and practice of the respondents generally are better compare to those in the non-program areas. There was a significant difference in knowledge and practice for community, cadres, and TB patients (p<0.05) and there was a significant difference in attitude for community, cadres (p<0.05), but no significant difference for TB patients (p>0.05) in program areas and non-program areas. The community empowerment through TB CEPAT Program plays an important role in improving knowledge, attitude, and practice of community, cadres, and TB patients. It would help the effort of TB control and prevention in Medan City.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices for Respiratory and Hearing Health among Midwestern Farmers.

PubMed

Cramer, Mary E; Wendl, Mary J; Sayles, Harlan; Duysen, Ellen; Achutan, Chandran

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices for hearing and respiratory health/safety among farmers in seven Midwestern states served by a federally funded Agricultural Center. Findings provided a baseline to longitudinally track the Agricultural Center's program outcomes and to design community education to improve safety and health among farmers. This was a cross-sectional study using a 30 item mailed survey to describe farmers' operations, demographics, health conditions, related information sources, and knowledge/attitude/practices for personal protective equipment (PPE) (i.e., ear plugs/muffs and dust masks/respirators). Frequencies and percentages were calculated for each item and according to responses from younger versus older farmers. The unit of study was farm operators (N = 280) randomly selected from a publicly available database of corn/soybean and hog farmers in seven Midwestern states. Findings revealed important knowledge gaps among respondents regarding (1) hazardous exposure sources; (2) long-term health consequences of noise/dust exposure; (3) proper selection/fitting of PPE. Public health nurses and primary care providers in rural communities should address specific knowledge gaps in order to enhance farmers' perceived understanding of their susceptibility to hazardous exposures. Increasing farmers' knowledge through preferred venues may help to improve PPE effectiveness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Impact of Electronic Knowledge-Based Nursing Content and Decision-Support on Nursing-Sensitive Patient Outcomes

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-01

other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a ...Based Nursing (KBN) innovation, a customized design featuring actionable EB recommendations embedded into policy and the content and CDS tools in the...will have a positive effect on nursing knowledge, use of evidence-based practices, and the achievement of nurse-sensitive patient outcomes at

Networking and training in palliative care: challenging values and changing practice.

PubMed

Leng, Mhoira Ef

2011-01-01

What make a good doctor is a question posed by the public and profession and is key when designing training programmes. The goal of training is to change practice not simply acquire knowledge yet too often curriculums and assessment focuses on knowledge and skills. Professional practice is underpinned by beliefs and values and therefore training may need to challenge deeply held values in order to result in a change in practice. Palliative care offers an opportunity to challenge values at a deeply personal level as it brings experiences of pain and suffering alongside clinical knowledge and skills. Palliative care is holistic and so real scenarios where physical, psychological, social and spiritual issues are evident can be presented in an interactive, learner centered environment. Training in ethics alongside clinical skills will assist the development of judgment which should also be assessed. Communication skills enable the clinician to hear and understand the needs and wishes of those facing life limiting illness. Training should include aspects of modeling and mentorship to demonstrate and integrate the learning with the realities of clinical practice and include those who lead and influence policy and advocacy.

Identification of risk factors for plague in the West Nile Region of Uganda.

PubMed

Eisen, Rebecca J; MacMillan, Katherine; Atiku, Linda A; Mpanga, Joseph T; Zielinski-Gutierrez, Emily; Graham, Christine B; Boegler, Karen A; Enscore, Russell E; Gage, Kenneth L

2014-06-01

Plague is an often fatal, primarily flea-borne rodent-associated zoonosis caused by Yersinia pestis. We sought to identify risk factors for plague by comparing villages with and without a history of human plague cases within a model-defined plague focus in the West Nile Region of Uganda. Although rat (Rattus rattus) abundance was similar inside huts within case and control villages, contact rates between rats and humans (as measured by reported rat bites) and host-seeking flea loads were higher in case villages. In addition, compared with persons in control villages, persons in case villages more often reported sleeping on reed or straw mats, storing food in huts where persons sleep, owning dogs and allowing them into huts where persons sleep, storing garbage inside or near huts, and cooking in huts where persons sleep. Compared with persons in case villages, persons in control villages more commonly reported replacing thatch roofing, and growing coffee, tomatoes, onions, and melons in agricultural plots adjacent to their homesteads. Rodent and flea control practices, knowledge of plague, distance to clinics, and most care-seeking practices were similar between persons in case villages and persons in control villages. Our findings reinforce existing plague prevention recommendations and point to potentially advantageous local interventions. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Identification of Risk Factors for Plague in the West Nile Region of Uganda

PubMed Central

Eisen, Rebecca J.; MacMillan, Katherine; Atiku, Linda A.; Mpanga, Joseph T.; Zielinski-Gutierrez, Emily; Graham, Christine B.; Boegler, Karen A.; Enscore, Russell E.; Gage, Kenneth L.

2014-01-01

Plague is an often fatal, primarily flea-borne rodent-associated zoonosis caused by Yersinia pestis. We sought to identify risk factors for plague by comparing villages with and without a history of human plague cases within a model-defined plague focus in the West Nile Region of Uganda. Although rat (Rattus rattus) abundance was similar inside huts within case and control villages, contact rates between rats and humans (as measured by reported rat bites) and host-seeking flea loads were higher in case villages. In addition, compared with persons in control villages, persons in case villages more often reported sleeping on reed or straw mats, storing food in huts where persons sleep, owning dogs and allowing them into huts where persons sleep, storing garbage inside or near huts, and cooking in huts where persons sleep. Compared with persons in case villages, persons in control villages more commonly reported replacing thatch roofing, and growing coffee, tomatoes, onions, and melons in agricultural plots adjacent to their homesteads. Rodent and flea control practices, knowledge of plague, distance to clinics, and most care-seeking practices were similar between persons in case villages and persons in control villages. Our findings reinforce existing plague prevention recommendations and point to potentially advantageous local interventions. PMID:24686743

[Nurses are not into personal marketing: do history explain why?].

PubMed

Gentil, Rosana Chami

2009-01-01

Reflection on the nurse's personal marketing based on beliefs and values explained by the history of the main characters that care for patients. It brings to the surface reflections on the ambiguity between the social image of nursing and scientific, technological and humanistic knowledge developed over the time. It recognizes that there is still a fixation on the attributes relating to attitude and moral of the professionals to the detriment of having high regard for the technical and scientific knowledge. It verifies that the History of Nursing allows understanding that the fight against prejudice in the collective imagination lends weight to the social acceptance and recognition of this profession through the promotion of Nursing Science and the demonstration of its application in the professional practice.

The Chymistry of "The Learned Dr Plot" (1640-96).

PubMed

Roos, Anna Marie

2014-01-01

In the seventeenth century, there were developing norms of openness in the presentation of scientific knowledge that were at odds with traditions of secrecy among chymists, particularly practitioners of chrysopoeia, or the transmutation of metals. This chapter analyzes how Dr. Robert Plot, the first professor of chymistry at Oxford, negotiated these boundaries within an institutional context. I first delineate his chymical and experimental practice, which incorporated procedures from medieval alchemical sources, particularly the Lullian corpus, as well as more novel practices from seventeenth-century chymistry. Then, I analyze how personal and institutional ambitions and economic considerations shaped to what extent Plot negotiated the boundaries between secrecy and the public dissemination of chymical knowledge.

Safety of patient meals in 2 hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt before and after training of food handlers.

PubMed

El Derea, H; Salem, E; Fawzi, M; Abdel Azeem, M

2008-01-01

We assessed the food safety knowledge and food handling practices of 23 food handlers in 2 hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt [Gamal Abdel Nasser (GAN) and Medical Research Institute (MRI)] before and after a food safety training programme, and also the bacteriological quality of patient meals and kitchen equipment. There was a significant improvement in all knowledge-associated parameters except for personal hygiene in GAN. There was an improvement in the food safety practices in both hospitals. The bacteriological quality of most patient meals and food preparation surfaces and utensils improved after training. The bacteriological quality of patients' meals served in GAN was generally better than that in MRI.

How Does Iranian's Legal System Protect Human Vulnerability and Personal Integrity in Medical Research?

PubMed Central

Karoubi, Mohammad Taghi; Akhondi, Mohammad Mehdi

2011-01-01

The astonishing advance of medical science in recent decades has had endless advantages for humans, including improved level of health, prevention of disease and advances in treatment. These advances depend to a great extent on conducting continuous research. However, besides its enormous advantages, the sole interest of medical science undermines the principles of respect for human vulnerability and personal integrity, in both positive and negative approaches. The positive approach refers to the people who participate in research and practice, while the negative approach refers to people who are deprived of research and practice. The authors of this work, based on legal or moral grounds try to analyse the tension between the principle of respect for human vulnerability and personal integrity and the interest of medical science. Undoubtedly, in applying scientific knowledge and medical practice human vulnerability should be taken into account. In this regard, especially vulnerable individuals and groups should be protected and the personal integrity of such individuals respected. In the light of the merits of Islamic law, this paper is designed to examine the significance of the principles of human vulnerability and personal integrity in medical research by studying the international documents as formalised by UNESCO in order to explore the place of these principles in the Iranian legal system. PMID:23408269

Reputation management on facebook: awareness is key to protecting yourself, your practice, and the veterinary profession.

PubMed

Weijs, Cynthia A; Coe, Jason B; Muise, Amy; Christofides, Emily; Desmarais, Serge

2014-01-01

From the Social media use by health professionals occurs in a digital environment where etiquette has yet to be solidly defined. The objectives of this study were to explore veterinarians' personal use of Facebook, knowledge of privacy settings, and factors related to sharing personal information online. All American Animal Hospital Association member veterinarians with a valid e-mail address (9469) were invited to complete an online survey about Facebook (e.g., time spent on Facebook, awareness of consequences, types of information posted). Questions assessing personality dimensions including trust, popularity, self-esteem and professional identity were included. The response rate was 17% (1594 of 9469); 72% of respondents (1148 of 1594) had a personal Facebook profile. Veterinarians were more likely to share information on Facebook than they would in general. Trust, need for popularity, and more time spent on Facebook predicted more disclosure of personal information on Facebook. Awareness of consequences and increased veterinary experience predicted lesser disclosure. As veterinary practices use Facebook to improve client services, they need also to manage risks associated with online disclosure by staff. Raising awareness of reputation management and consequences of posting certain types of information to Facebook is integral to protecting the individual, the practice, and the veterinary profession.

Reviewing the Connection between Paradigms and Theories to Understand Adolescent Drug Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Trenette T.

2010-01-01

Approaches to studying social phenomenon are fundamentally based upon personal beliefs about the nature of knowledge, reality, and order. Scholars, researchers, and practitioners can benefit from utilizing a coherent method that organizes the wide array of perspectives that exist and the theories, practice, prevention interventions, and policies…

A Lesson on Environmental Protection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhongzheng, Wang

2004-01-01

In this article, the author presents a first-hand account of teaching environmental protection in the Wushan Mountain area of China. Combining the knowledge in the textbook with social practice, the lessons focused on enabling the students to develop a sense of responsibility and duty through personal experiences. What began as a lesson in…

The Four Marks of Holistic Kinesiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Twietmeyer, Gregg

2012-01-01

What, to borrow a theological phrase, are the marks of a truly holistic kinesiology department? "In Kinesis and the Nature of the Human Person" (2010), I examined the theoretical impact of Aristotle's definition of "kinesis" and Polanyi's theory of "tacit knowledge" on kinesiology. The intention here, however, is practical rather than theoretical.…

From Theory to Practice: Two Ecosystemic Approaches and Their Applications to Understanding School Bullying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mc Guckin, Conor; Minton, Stephen James

2014-01-01

School professionals, particularly school counsellors and school psychologists, require detailed knowledge of many important factors that contribute to the personal, academic, and vocational development of the students in their charge (e.g., psychosocial development, curricula developments, local community developments and initiatives, national…

40 CFR 430.03 - Best management practices (BMPs) for spent pulping liquor, soap, and turpentine management, spill...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., pulp washing, pulping liquor concentration, pulping liquor processing, and chemical recovery facilities... manager of pulping and chemical recovery operations, or other such responsible person designated by the mill manager who has knowledge of and responsibility for pulping and chemical recovery operations. (7...

40 CFR 430.03 - Best management practices (BMPs) for spent pulping liquor, soap, and turpentine management, spill...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., pulp washing, pulping liquor concentration, pulping liquor processing, and chemical recovery facilities... manager of pulping and chemical recovery operations, or other such responsible person designated by the mill manager who has knowledge of and responsibility for pulping and chemical recovery operations. (7...

A Study of Educational Knowledge Diffusion and Utilization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, W. C., Jr.; Fiorino, A. John

Some six hundred educators were studied in depth to determine their experiences with innovation, the influences of recognized diffusion agents upon their adoption of innovations, the characteristics of selected target audiences in relation to the adoption of innovations to personal practice, and relationships between five distinguishable stages of…

Constructing Practical Knowledge of Teaching: Eleven Newly Qualified Language Teachers' Discursive Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruohotie-Lyhty, Maria

2011-01-01

This paper explores the professional development of 11 newly qualified foreign language teachers. It draws on a qualitative longitudinal study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland between 2002 and 2009. The paper concentrates on the personal side of teacher development by analysing participants' discourses concerning language…

Reflecting on the Use of Metaphor: Two Professors' Processes of Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Christine G.; McGee, Christy D.

2009-01-01

This article summarizes the literature concerning the use of visual and textual metaphors and describes outcomes of a project designed to help teacher education candidates begin integrating their personal beliefs about teaching with their growing professional knowledge and emergent practice. By using metaphors, teacher educators have the…

Planning, Practising and Prioritising Wellness through an Integrative Behaviour Change Plan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossman, Joanne M.

2016-01-01

Study objective: To describe a successful approach to teaching principles and practices of behaviour change through a behaviour change plan (BCP) initiative to improve personal health while advancing health knowledge and general education intellectual skills. Students' perspectives of obstacles, behaviours important towards goal attainment and the…

Employment Support as Knowledge Creation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, John; Callahan, Michael

2010-01-01

Traditional practice in employment of persons with disabilities has been to assess the skills and interests of the job seeker in relation to normative standards or to others. That comparative approach often results in job seekers with significant developmental disabilities being viewed as having few skills and lacking requisite work readiness,…

Diversified integration of practical teaching resources in ideological and political course in colleges and universities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jin; Chu, Biao

2018-03-01

To promote diversified integration and integrated use of practical teaching resources in ideological and political education in colleges and universities is helpful to extend the ideological and political teaching activities in colleges and universities, to update and supplement ideological and political knowledge, to build a harmonious learning environment for students and to comprehensively improve their ideological and political accomplishments. This article will analyze of ideological and political practical teaching resources diversified integration and the integration of programs by examples, and put forward personal opinions.

Counseling patients seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus. An approach for medical practice.

PubMed Central

Coates, T. J.; Lo, B.

1990-01-01

Persons at risk for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus are being encouraged to learn their serostatus. While such knowledge can help patients seek appropriate medical care, it can also be distressing. We describe an approach, based on crisis counseling, for physicians to use in working with patients infected with HIV. It can help physicians in assisting patients with emotional reactions to the diagnosis as well as in directing patients to manage practical issues of concern. Methods for discussing safer sex or injection practices are also presented. PMID:2293468

[Medicine in Brazil today: education and practice].

PubMed

Gonçalves, E L

1990-01-01

Present situation of medical education and medical practice in Brazil is analyzed, and the scientific-technological impact in medical practice is studied, in both diagnostic and therapeutic aspects. The influence of scientific methods in medical education, specifically the Flexner's contribution, is evaluated. In the recent years, Flexner's propositions have been put in question, particularly because of important contributions of psychology, anthropology and sociology to a better knowledge of human nature. Therefore many curricular alternatives have been proposed, aiming at a medical education that would favor the formation of well poised personality and a critical intelligence.

Best Practices for the Identification of Elder Abuse and Neglect in Home Health.

PubMed

Pickering, Carolyn E Z; Ridenour, Kimberly; Salaysay, Zachary

2016-04-01

Elder abuse and neglect (EA/N) affects over 1 million older adults each year, and disproportionately affects persons with dementia and older women. Home healthcare professionals are in an advantageous position to assess for, identify, and report EA/N. Lack of knowledge on EA/N risk factors, assessment tools, and mandatory reporting guidelines often prevent professionals from identifying and reporting EA/N. This article provides practical guidance on EA/N risk factors, assessment tools, and reporting responsibilities that can easily be implemented in practice.

Self-transcendence: Lonergan's key to integration of nursing theory, research, and practice.

PubMed

Perry, Donna J

2004-04-01

This paper proposes that the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan can provide insight into the challenge of integrating nursing theory, research and practice. The author discusses Lonergan's work in regard to reflective understanding, authenticity and the human person as a subject of consciously developing unity. This is followed by a discussion of two key elements in Lonergan's work that relate to nursing: the subject-object challenge of nursing inquiry and common sense vs. scientific knowledge. The author suggests that integration of nursing theory, science and practice may be achieved through self-transcendence.

Simulated human patients and patient-centredness: The uncanny hybridity of nursing education, technology, and learning to care.

PubMed

Ireland, Aileen V

2017-01-01

Positioned within a hybrid of the human and technology, professional nursing practice has always occupied a space that is more than human. In nursing education, technology is central in providing tools with which practice knowledge is mobilized so that students can safely engage with simulated human patients without causing harm to real people. However, while there is an increased emphasis on deploying these simulated humans as emissaries from person-centred care to demonstrate what it is like to care for real humans, the nature of what is really going on in simulation-what is real and what is simulated-is very rarely discussed and poorly understood. This paper explores how elements of postcolonial critical thought can aid in understanding the challenges of educating nurses to provide person-centred care within a healthcare culture that is increasingly reliant on technology. Because nursing education is itself a hybrid of real and simulated practice, it provides an appropriate case study to explore the philosophical question of technology in healthcare discourse, particularly as it relates to the relationship between the human patient and its uncanny simulated double. Drawing on postcolonial elements such as the uncanny, diaspora, hybridity, and créolité, the hybrid conditions of nursing education are examined in order to open up new possibilities of thinking about how learning to care is entangled with this technological space to assist in shaping professional knowledge of person-centred care. Considering these issues through a postcolonial lens opens up questions about the nature of the difficulty in using simulated human technologies in clinical education, particularly with the paradoxical aim of providing person-centred care within a climate that increasingly characterized as posthuman. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Caring for people with dementia in hospital: findings from a survey to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing best practice dementia care.

PubMed

Tropea, Joanne; LoGiudice, Dina; Liew, Danny; Roberts, Carol; Brand, Caroline

2017-03-01

Best practice dementia care is not always provided in the hospital setting. Knowledge, attitudes and motivation, practitioner behavior, and external factors can influence uptake of best practice and quality care. The aim of this study was to determine hospital staff perceived barriers and enablers to implementing best practice dementia care. A 17-item survey was administered at two Australian hospitals between July and September 2014. Multidisciplinary staff working in the emergency departments and general medical wards were invited to participate in the survey. The survey collected data about the respondents' current role, work area, and years of experience, their perceived level of confidence and knowledge in dementia care and common symptoms of dementia, barriers and enablers to implementing best practice dementia care, job satisfaction in caring for people with dementia, and to rate the hospital's capacity and available resources to support best practice dementia care. A total of 112 survey responses were received. The environment, inadequate staffing levels and workload, time, and staff knowledge and skills were identified as barriers to implementing best practice dementia care. Most respondents rated their knowledge of dementia care and common symptoms of dementia, and confidence in recognizing whether a person has dementia, as moderate or high dementia. Approximately, half the respondents rated access to training and equipment as low or very low. The survey findings highlighted hospital staff perceived barriers to implementing best practice dementia care that can be used to inform locally tailored improvement interventions.

Hygienic practices and diarrheal illness among persons living in at-risk settings in Kabul, Afghanistan: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Mubarak, Mohammad Yousuf; Wagner, Abram L; Asami, Mari; Carlson, Bradley F; Boulton, Matthew L

2016-08-31

Sustained civil and military conflict, resulting in large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDP), in combination with rapid urbanization has strained public health and sanitation within cities in Afghanistan. In order to examine the association between preventive sanitary behaviors and diarrhea within two high risk settings located within Kabul, Afghanistan, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of hygienic practices and diarrheal illness in an IDP camp and an urban slum. In this cross sectional study, a convenience sample of residents of an IDP camp and an urban slum in Kabul, Afghanistan, was used. Participants were asked to describe their hygienic practices and interviewers independently documented household sanitation. The knowledge and attitudes about and practice of hygienic activities to prevent diarrhea were compared between the two settings. Two hundred participants, 100 from each setting, were enrolled. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hygienic activities to prevent diarrhea were greater among the slum dwellers than the IDP. Fewer than half of participants washed their hands with soap before eating or after eating: 31 % of slum dwellers washed before eating compared to 11 % of IDPs (P = 0.0050), and 25 % of slum dwellers washed after defecating compared to 4 % of IDPs (P = 0.0020). The IDPs were more likely to share a latrine (P = 0.0144) and less likely to disinfect their latrine than slum dwellers. Diarrhea in the household within the past 3 months was more common in the IDP camp (54 %) than the slum (20 %) (P = 0.0020). Even though certain sanitary and hygienic practices were more common among slum dwellers than IDPs, the lack of hygienic activities in both setting indicates that interventions to change behavior, like increasing the availability of soap and encouraging hand washing, are needed. Any initiative will have to be developed in the context of pervasive illiteracy among persons in both of these settings.

447 Asthma Knowledge among Parents and/or Caregivers of Asthmatic Children Attending a Practical Allergy Course

PubMed Central

Sandoval-Ramírez, Eunice; Livano Prez, Mayra Alondra; Tercero-Quintanilla, Gabriela; Rosas-Vargas, Miguel Angel; del Rio, Blanca; del Río-Chivardí, Jaime Mariano

2012-01-01

Background Asthma is one of the most frequent chronic diseases, with worldwide prevalence of 1 to 18%. Patient and the patient's family education is considered by all International Guides fundamental to achieve this disease control. The aim of this study is to asses the asthma knowledge among parents and/or caregivers of pediatric asthmatic patients before and after attending to a Practical Allergy Course given at Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez by the Pediatric Allergy Department. Methods Transversal Study that included 115 persons attending to a Practical Allergy Course that answered the previously validated instrument to asses the asthma knowledge among parents or caregivers NAKQ (Newcastle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire); its Spanish version consisting in 31 questions; before and after the practical course. A descriptive annalysis was made; usefullness of the course was determinated by x2. Stadistical packagge used was SPSS 17. Results A total of 115 questionnaires were applied, only 99 were properly answered and were included in the analysis; from these 35 were male and 64 female; 80% with high-school and middle school schooling; 92% were small families with 1 to 3 children; 90% of the families had only one child with asthma; 63% was receiving the practical course for the first time. Before attending the practical course the mean answered questions was 30 and after attending the mean answered questions was 31 (LR = 57.465; P < 0.000); for the first evaluation the mean correct answers was 19 and the latter 22 correct answers, finding statistical significant differences (LR = 30.253; P < 0.000). Conclusions We found improved asthma knowledge among parents and caregivers of asthmatic children after attending to a Practical Allergy Course.

[Disease and identity--a study of The magic mountain by Thomas Mann].

PubMed

Hofmann, Bjørn

2003-12-23

Disease is more than dysfunctional organs, morphological abnormalities and genetic divergence. It is also about existence, self-conception and social identity. Disease changes us as persons, but how this happens is usually not discussed in medical textbooks. However, literature appears to be rich in descriptions of these perspectives. This article explores The magic mountain by Thomas Mann to elucidate the relationship between personal identity and disease. I will argue that such knowledge is important to modern clinical practice.

Designing, Supporting, and Sustaining an Online Community of Practice: NASA EPO Workspace as an Ongoing Exploration of the Value of Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.; Davis, H. B.

2015-12-01

Increasingly, geographically diverse organizations, like NASA's Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach personnel (SMD EPO), are looking for ways to facilitate group interactions in meaningful ways while limiting costs. Towards this end, of particular interest, and showing great potential are communities of practice. Communities of practice represent relationships in real-time between and among people sharing a common practice. They facilitate the sharing of information, building collective knowledge, and growing of the principles of practice. In 2010-11, SMD EPO established a website to support EPO professionals, facilitate headquarters reporting, and foster a community of practice. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the design and use of the workspace and the value created for both individual community members and SMD EPO, the sponsoring organization. The online workspace was launched in 2010-11 for the members of NASA's SMDEPO community. The online workspace was designed to help facilitate the efficient sharing of information, be a central repository for resources, help facilitate and support knowledge creation, and ultimately lead to the development of an online community of practice. This study examines the role of the online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Additionally, we look at the outcomes of housting the online community for these past years in respect to knowledge building and personal and organizational value, the affects on professional dvelopment opportunities, how community members have benefited, and how the workspace has evolved to better serve the community.

Is Online Learning a Viable Training Option for Teaching Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners?

PubMed

Patterson, Debra; Resko, Stella M

2015-01-01

This study assessed knowledge attainment of healthcare professionals who participated in a nationwide sexual assault forensic examiner training program developed by the International Association of Forensic Nursing. A comprehensive curriculum was divided into 12 modules that students accessed through an online learning management system. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, we assessed students' knowledge attainment for all 12 online modules. The results showed that the mean posttest scores were significantly greater than the mean pretest scores for all 12 online modules. On over 40% of the modules, the students exhibited at least a 25% knowledge gain. This study also examined the predictors of knowledge attainment. Using a multiple linear regression model, we found that knowledge attainment was positively associated with a reliable Internet connection, students who were drawn to the training because it was of no cost to them, and those students with higher levels of motivation. By contrast, lower knowledge gains were significantly related to students who reported more work/personal barriers and those who were drawn to sexual assault forensic examiner practice because they, or someone close to them, have personal experience with sexual assault.

[Knowledge and adherence to bio-safety measures and biological accidents by nursing students during their clinical practice].

PubMed

Merino-de la Hoz, Felicitas; Durá-Ros, María Jesús; Rodríguez-Martín, Elías; González-Gómez, Silvia; Mariano López-López, Luis; Abajas-Bustillo, Rebeca; de la Horra-Gutiérrez, Inmaculada

2010-01-01

To identify the degree of knowledge and performance of bio-safety measures by nursing students and knowing the type of biological accidents suffered during their clinical practice. A cross-sectional study was conducted on the students of three Nursing courses held in May of 2008. Data was collected by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, with a return of 54%. A total of 97% of students seemed to know the standard biosafety measures, and all of them (100%) stated that those measures must be applied to every patient. However, the reality of clinical practice shows that biosafety measures are only partially applied. An average of 60.2% implement the personal hygiene measures, 66.1% use physical barriers, and 44% use sharp materials safely. Around 32.25% of the students have suffered some biological accident, with a greater incidence in the second year: administering injections (24%), drawing blood samples with Venojet needles (18%) and recapping used needles (17%). The high level of knowledge shown by the students on standard precautions is not always shown in clinical practice. There are significant deficiencies in student safety practices: recapping of used needles continues to be one of the most common risk practices carried out. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Exploring sources of knowledge utilized in practice among Jordanian registered nurses.

PubMed

Al-Ghabeesh, Suhair Husni; Abu-Moghli, Fathieh; Salsali, Mahvash; Saleh, Mohammad

2013-10-01

Understanding sources of knowledge used in everyday practice is very helpful in improving the quality of health care services. There is a consensus in the literature that nurses mostly relied in their practice on experiential knowledge gained through their interactions with other members of health care professionals and patients. The general aim of this study is to explore the sources of knowledge Jordanian registered nurses use during their practice. A descriptive correlational design was used to collect data from 539 Jordanian registered nurses from 10 hospitals using a self-administered questionnaire. The mean year of experience of the sample was 7.08 years. Of the 615 questionnaires distributed, 555 were returned. This yields a response rate of 87.6%. Results revealed that the top five ranked sources used by Jordanian registered nurses include: the information that nurses learned during nursing education, personal experience in nursing over time, what was learned through providing care to patients, information gained through discussion between physicians and nurses about patients, and information from policy and procedure manuals. Jordanian registered nurses recognize the value of research and that research utilization (RU) is an important issue and must not be ignored. The study has many implications for practice, education and research. Health care managers and decision makers need to play a more visible and instrumental role in encouraging RU to improve patients' quality of life. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Indigenous traditional knowledge and substance abuse treatment outcomes: the problem of efficacy evaluation.

PubMed

Gone, Joseph P

2012-09-01

In the field of substance abuse treatment, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities have routinely incorporated ceremonial practices as one important component in the promotion of recovery and healing. The beneficial effects of such practices are frequently described as plainly apparent by community-based advocates, providers, and professionals alike. In the present era of evidence-based substance abuse intervention, however, indigenous integration of such practices raises questions pertaining to the systematic evaluation of treatment efficacy. The focus of this article is outcome evaluation. Although intervention outcome researchers recognize the randomized controlled trial as the "gold standard" against which claims of treatment efficacy are measured, AI/AN efficacy assertions grounded in indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) reflect different concerns that have emerged in non-Western historical contexts. The interface between scientific and indigenous "ways of knowing" is explored here relative to efficacy claims about substance abuse treatment. Distinguishing features of both scientific knowing and ITK are summarized and compared. ITK has been described as personal and experiential, reflecting the primacy of autonomous individual knowing. In contrast, intervention scientists are skeptical of personal inference as a basis for efficacy evaluation. The evident divergence between these epistemic paradigms can result in potentially contradictory claims. Proper appraisal of the status and relevance of ITK for determining treatment efficacy requires further exploration of these marginalized approaches to knowledge. Intervention scientists who work in AI/AN communities should remain open to the legitimacy and role of ITKs in investigations of substance abuse treatment.

Personality traits, autobiographical memory and knowledge of self and others: A comparative study in young people with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Robinson, Sally; Howlin, Patricia; Russell, Ailsa

2017-04-01

The relationship between dissociable components of autobiographical memory (e.g. semantic personality traits and episodic memory retrieval) and other cognitive skills that are proposed to enable one to develop a sense of self (e.g. introspection) have not previously been explored for children with autism spectrum disorder. This study compared autobiographical memory (semantic and episodic) and knowledge of self (internal/external self-knowledge and introspection/mentalising abilities) in children (aged 11-18 years) with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder and typically developing controls (total N = 48). Novel and standard tasks were employed. Compared to typically developing controls, young people with autism spectrum disorder had autobiographical memory difficulties that were characterised by a reduction in the retrieval of semantic personality traits, with more initial prompts required to facilitate episodic memory retrieval and fewer episodic memories containing emotional and sensory information. Knowledge of the self and others was also impaired, with reduced introspection and poorer mentalising abilities. Young people with autism spectrum disorder were also identified as presenting with an atypical relationship between autobiographical memory and self-knowledge, which was significantly different from typically developing controls. Test performance is discussed in relation to the functions of autobiographical memory, with consideration of how these cognitive difficulties may contribute to clinical practices and the social and behavioural characteristics of autism spectrum disorder.

[Tacit Knowledge: Characteristics in nursing practice].

PubMed

Pérez-Fuillerat, Natalia; Solano-Ruiz, M Carmen; Amezcua, Manuel

2018-01-20

Tacit knowledge can be defined as knowledge which is used intuitively and unconsciously, which is acquired through one's experience, characterized by being personal and contextual. Some terms such as 'intuition', 'know how' and 'implicit knowledge' have been used to describe tacit knowledge. Different disciplines in the fields of management or health have studied tacit knowledge, identifying it as a powerful tool to create knowledge and clinical decision-making. The aim of this review is to analyse the definition and characteristics that make up tacit knowledge and determine the role it plays in the nursing discipline. An integrative review was undertaken of the literature published up to November 2016 in the databases CUIDEN, SciELO, PubMed, Cochrane and CINAHL. The synthesis and interpretation of the data was performed by two researchers through content analysis. From a total of 819 articles located, 35 articles on tacit knowledge and nursing were chosen. There is no consensus on the name and description of results in tacit knowledge. The main characteristics of tacit knowledge have a personal and social character, which is used from an organised mental structure, called mindline. This structure relates to the use of tacit knowledge on clinical decision-making. Previous studies on tacit knowledge and nursing provide the nursing community with perspectives without going into depth. The production of a framework is suggested, as it would clarify implied concepts and its role on the management of nursing knowledge. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change

PubMed Central

RYAN, POLLY

2009-01-01

An essential characteristic of advanced practice nurses is the use of theory in practice. Clinical nurse specialists apply theory in providing or directing patient care, in their work as consultants to staff nurses, and as leaders influencing and facilitating system change. Knowledge of technology and pharmacology has far outpaced knowledge of how to facilitate health behavior change, and new theories are needed to better understand how practitioners can facilitate health behavior change. In this article, the Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change is described, and an example of its use as foundation to intervention development is presented. The Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change suggests that health behavior change can be enhanced by fostering knowledge and beliefs, increasing self-regulation skills and abilities, and enhancing social facilitation. Engagement in self-management behaviors is seen as the proximal outcome influencing the long-term distal outcome of improved health status. Person-centered interventions are directed to increasing knowledge and beliefs, self-regulation skills and abilities, and social facilitation. Using a theoretical framework improves clinical nurse specialist practice by focusing assessments, directing the use of best-practice interventions, and improving patient outcomes. Using theory fosters improved communication with other disciplines and enhances the management of complex clinical conditions by providing holistic, comprehensive care. PMID:19395894

About, for, in or through entrepreneurship in engineering education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mäkimurto-Koivumaa, Soili; Belt, Pekka

2016-09-01

Engineering competences form a potential basis for entrepreneurship. There are pressures to find new approaches to entrepreneurship education (EE) in engineering education, as the traditional analytical logic of engineering does not match the modern view of entrepreneurship. Since the previous models do not give tangible enough tools on how to organise EE in practice, this article aims to develop a new framework for EE at the university level. We approach this aim by analysing existing scientific literature complemented by long-term practical observations, enabling a fruitful interplay between theory and practice. The developed framework recommends aspects in EE to be emphasised during each year of the study process. Action-based learning methods are highlighted in the beginning of studies to support students' personal growth. Explicit business knowledge is to be gradually increased only when professional, field-specific knowledge has been adequately accumulated.

Perceived Changes to Obstetric Care and the Integration of Personal and Professional Life as a Pregnant Prenatal Genetic Counselor.

PubMed

Rietzler, Jennifer L; Birkeland, Laura E; Petty, Elizabeth M

2018-02-08

The impact of practicing as a prenatal genetic counselor while pregnant is unclear given the limited amount of published literature on this issue. To address this gap in knowledge, a total of 215 current and past prenatal genetic counselors provided insights regarding this personal yet professional juncture through completion of an online survey that allowed for both close-ended and open-ended responses. While participants agreed that experiencing pregnancy affected their perspectives and counseling in several ways, this paper focuses on one particular finding-that of the changes in their own obstetric care perceived by genetic counselors while working within the prenatal setting and being pregnant themselves. As a result of these changes, considerations about when to disclose a pregnancy to colleagues along with how to integrate personal and professional needs as a pregnant prenatal genetic counselor surfaced. Additional findings, practice implications, and research recommendations are discussed.

Can the concept of Health Promoting Schools help to improve students' health knowledge and practices to combat the challenge of communicable diseases: Case study in Hong Kong?

PubMed Central

Lee, Albert; Wong, Martin CS; Keung, Vera MW; Yuen, Hilda SK; Cheng, Frances; Mok, Jennifer SY

2008-01-01

Background The growing epidemics of emerging infectious diseases has raised the importance of a setting approach and include the Health Promoting School (HPS) framework to promote better health and hygiene. Built on the concept of 'the' HPS framework, the Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award scheme includes "Personal Health Skills" as one of its key aspects to improve student hygiene knowledge and practices. This study examines the differences in student perceptions, knowledge and health behaviours between those schools that have adopted the HPS framework and those that have not adopted. Methods A cross-sectional study using multi-stage random sampling was conducted among schools with awards (HSA) and those schools not involved in the award scheme nor adopting the concept of HPS (non-HPS). For HSA group, 5 primary schools and 7 secondary schools entered the study with 510 students and 789 students sampled respectively. For the 'Non-HPS' group, 8 primary schools and 7 secondary schools entered the study with 676 students and 725 students sampled respectively. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the measuring instrument. Results Students in the HSA category were found to be better with statistical significance in personal hygiene practice, knowledge on health and hygiene, as well as access to health information. HSA schools were reported to have better school health policy, higher degrees of community participation, and better hygienic environment. Conclusion Students in schools that had adopted the HPS framework had a more positive health behaviour profile than those in non-HPS schools. Although a causal relationship is yet to be established, the HPS appears to be a viable approach for addressing communicable diseases. PMID:18234083

Healthcare students' knowledge and opinions about the Argentinean abortion law.

PubMed

Provenzano-Castro, Belén; Oizerovich, Silvia; Stray-Pedersen, Babill

2016-03-01

Abortion is legally restricted in Argentina. Although this law is almost 100 years old, most women who meet the criteria for legal abortion are not informed of or offered this possibility within the healthcare system. Healthcare students' knowledge and opinions on abortion may influence their future practice. They may deny a woman with an unwanted pregnancy a practice to which she is legally entitled, resulting in an unsafe abortion. This study assessed knowledge and personal opinions on the abortion law among first year healthcare students in order to design adequate educational strategies. In this descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study, structured self-administered questionnaires were administered to 781 first year medical, nursing, midwifery, and other healthcare students from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires from 2011 to 2013. Data were recorded anonymously in SPSS 20. Student samples were adjusted for gender and fields of study using the University statistics. Of the students, 48.8% did not know the current regulations. Most of the students thought abortion was legally restricted and failed to recognize the circumstances in which it is allowed. Over 75% of the students were pro-abortion, especially those with sexual experience. Students lack sound knowledge on the abortion law that may affect their personal lives and influence their future professional practice. It is crucial that medical schools include sexual and reproductive health issues in their curricula in order to ensure better quality healthcare services in the future. In Argentina, approximately 400,000 abortions are performed every year, many under unsafe conditions, resulting in one third of the maternal deaths for the past decade. High quality sexual and reproductive healthcare services are a key strategy to improve adolescents' and women's health, thereby lowering maternal mortality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Professionalism in global, personalized cancer care: restoring authenticity and integrity.

PubMed

Surbone, Antonella

2013-01-01

Personalized medicine is revolutionizing cancer care and creating new expectations among oncologists and patients. At present the benefit is still marginal, however, and must be understood as incremental. In addition, cultural and resource disparities limit the sustainability of new cancer therapies on a global scale. Adequate instruments are needed to enable our exercise of sound and honest judgment in distinguishing breakthrough treatments from those that yield only marginal or doubtful improvements, and to develop strategies for formulation and correct application of balanced guidelines for sustainable cancer care. Professionalism requires that the acquisition of knowledge and skills go hand in hand with moral education in the intellectual virtues of humility, perseverance, adaptability, communicativeness, and commitment to resist self-deception or conflicts of interest. Hidden curricula undermine the moral values of medicine: these must be understood and uncovered. We should possess a special body of knowledge, skills, and values that allow us to change our practices when appropriate and to be stewards of society's limited resources through proper communication with our patients and families. In the era of personalized oncology and global issues of sustainability, professional authenticity and integrity in cancer clinical practice are key to bridging the gaps between true and false expectations of patients and the public.

A mobile clinical e-portfolio for nursing and medical students, using wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs).

PubMed

Garrett, Bernard Mark; Jackson, Cathryn

2006-12-01

This paper outlines the development and evaluation of a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) based clinical learning tool designed to promote professional reflection for health professionals. The "Clinical e-portfolio" was developed at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing to enable students immediately to access clinical expertise and resources remotely, and record their clinical experiences in a variety of media (text, audio and images). The PDA e-portfolio tool was developed to demonstrate the potential use of mobile networked technologies to support and improve clinical learning; promote reflective learning in practice; engage students in the process of knowledge translation; help contextualize and embed clinical knowledge whilst in the workplace; and to help prevent the isolation of students whilst engaged in supervised clinical practice. The mobile e-portfolio was developed to synchronise wirelessly with a user's personal Web based portfolio from any remote location where a cellular telephone signal or wireless (Wi-Fi) connection could be obtained. An evaluation of the tool was undertaken with nurse practitioner and medical students, revealing positive attitudes to the use of PDA based tools and portfolios, but limits to the use of the PDA portfolio due to the inherent interface restrictions of the PDA.

Factors associated with dengue prevention and control in two villages in a central Thai province: a retrospective review.

PubMed

Thakolwiboon, Smathorn; Benjatikul, Nattorn; Sathianvichitr, Kanchalika; Prapathrangsee, Kawintra; Tienmontri, Taniya; Ratanaamonsakul, Wirote; Assantachai, Prasert; Homsanit, Mayuree

2013-08-01

To study the factors associated with dengue prevention and control in Moo 6 (the 6th village) and Moo 7 of Tambon Kaeng-phak-kut, Thaluang District, Lopburi Province. The authors reviewed the raw data collected by public health officers and village health volunteers (VHVs) as their routine tasks. The authors analyzed the data, 30 dwellings per each village, to compare the demographics, knowledge, attitude, and practice of subjects from Moo 6, a dengue-outbreak community, with that from Moo 7, a control group, as well as larval indices between these 2 studied groups. The present retrospective study is approved by Siriraj Institutional Review Board, Certificate of Approval No. Si393/2012. Both groups of subjects had no statistically significant difference in basic dengue knowledge (p = 0.862), attitude towards dengue prevention and control, practical knowledge (p = 0.457), and actual practice to eliminate Aedes larvae and prevent it laying eggs, except for the practice of managing water container in bathroom or toilet (p = 0.015). On the other hand, dengue incidence and larval indices of both villages were apparently different. Although incorrect basic dengue and practical knowledge of subjects from both villages were similar dengue outbreak in Moo 6 of Tambon Kaeng-phak-kut was superior. It may be due to difference in actual practice on larval elimination in water container in bathroom or toilet as well as other factors other than personal factors such as public services, public places, and community surroundings.

What motivates general practitioners to teach.

PubMed

Thomson, Jennifer; Haesler, Emily; Anderson, Katrina; Barnard, Amanda

2014-04-01

The Australian general practitioner (GP) teaching workforce will need to expand in order to provide for the increasing number of medical students and doctors-in-training. Understanding factors that motivate GPs to become involved in teaching in their clinical practice environments is important for developing recruitment and retention strategies. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with a cross section of GP teachers and were subjected to thematic analysis. Themes were identified and further classified as motivations and prerequisites for teaching. The desire to update clinical knowledge was the most frequently mentioned motivation for teaching, and was described as a strategy for GP teachers to preserve clinical competence through the opportunity to learn new aspects of medicine from junior colleagues. Other motivations included personal fulfillment and enjoyment of teaching, the opportunity to pass on general practice skills and knowledge, promoting general practice as a career, and fulfilling a sense of responsibility to the profession and community. Peers, students and patients also influenced the decision to teach. Most GPs identified that time, workload, availability of space and adequate financial remuneration were prerequisites for teaching. Practice owners also often determined the GP teachers' capacity to teach. To increase the recruitment and retention of GP teachers, it is recommended that teaching organisations give more recognition to teaching as a clinical professional development activity, place more emphasis on GPs' personal enjoyment, professional responsibility and pride in teaching, and increase engagement with practice owners. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Student perceptions of support in practice.

PubMed

Gidman, Janice; McIntosh, Annette; Melling, Katherine; Smith, Debra

2011-11-01

This paper reports on a funded research project exploring perceptions and experiences of pre-registration nursing students of support in practice in one Higher Education Institution in England. The study used a mixed method approach with samples of new students (within the first six months) and finishing students (within the last three months). Students reported that the most important areas they needed support with were clinical skills, placement situations, documentation and personal issues. The mentor qualities that were valued were personal attributes, being facilitative and being knowledgeable; newly qualified mentors and experienced students were seen as being the most supportive. Students saw their own responsibilities as learning and gaining skills, being professional and caring for patients. The finishing students also felt that accountability and teaching were part of their role. Reported challenges encompassed personal issues, including work-life balance and finances, dealing with elements such as patient death and uncertainties in new situations. The best aspects of practice emerged as being involved in patient care, feeling part of a team and experiencing positive support from mentors. The findings explicated the multi-faceted nature of student support in practice that need to be taken into account when putting support frameworks in place. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ask not what personalized medicine can do for you--ask what you can do for personalized medicine.

PubMed

Budin-Ljøsne, Isabelle; Harris, Jennifer R

2015-01-01

Personalized medicine (PM) aims to offer tailored health care to individuals on the basis of their genetic profile. This paper explores the types of behaviors and practices that citizens are expected to adopt under PM, examines whether such expectations are realistic, and proposes strategies that could support citizens in the adoption of these behaviors. Recent reports from national and international medical organizations and funders of PM are reviewed to investigate the types of behaviors and practices that citizens are expected to adopt under PM. These behaviors are examined in light of the current knowledge regarding citizen involvement in health care. Under PM, citizens are expected to be much more educated, proactive, and engaged in their health care than under conventional medical models. Actualizing such behaviors and practices may, however, be difficult or even unattainable for some groups of citizens. Educating citizens in PM, as proposed in the reports, is important but may not suffice for the adoption of new behaviors and practices by a majority of citizens. Approaches taking into consideration the heterogeneity of backgrounds, abilities, and resources among citizens are needed and include modifying reimbursement and pricing mechanisms, diversifying research, and developing low-cost PM programs.

Using drama to improve person-centred dementia care.

PubMed

Kontos, Pia C; Mitchell, Gail J; Mistry, Bhavnita; Ballon, Bruce

2010-06-01

We implemented a 12-week drama-based educational intervention to introduce to dementia practitioners person-centred care that emphasizes the notion of embodied selfhood (defined as non-verbal self-expression). Person-centred dementia care guidelines emphasize the assessment of individual needs, and where appropriate, the use of non-pharmacological interventions before resorting to pharmacological management. However, dementia care is not consistent with these guidelines suggesting conceptual limitations and reliance on passive knowledge translation strategies. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews with practitioners (n = 24) in two nursing homes in central Canada were undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the drama-based components of the intervention. Our findings suggest that drama was effective as an educational modality, and helped implement the person-centred approach into practice. Significant practice outcomes included: new awareness that residents' body movements and dispositions can convey meaning; seeking biographical information from families; increased time efficiency; and supporting residents' independence. Our findings make an important contribution to person-centred dementia care by broadening the notion of personhood, and by facilitating implementation using drama. As an enhancement of person-centred care, the support of embodied selfhood may significantly improve residents' quality of life, quality of care, and practitioners' care-giving experience. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Perspectives on the Role and Synergies of Architecture and Social and Built Environment in Enabling Active Healthy Aging

PubMed Central

Rabnett, Richard; Tziraki, Chariklia

2016-01-01

Research has demonstrated that enabling societal and physical infrastructure and personal accommodations enhance healthy and active aging throughout the lifespan. Yet, there is a paucity of research on how to bring together the various disciplines involved in a multidomain synergistic collaboration to create new living environments for aging. This paper aims to explore the key domains of skills and knowledge that need to be considered for a conceptual prototype of an enabling educational process and environments where healthcare professionals, architects, planners, and entrepreneurs may establish a shared theoretical and experiential knowledge base, vocabulary, and implementation strategies, for the creation of the next generation of living communities of active healthy adults, for persons with disabilities and chronic disease conditions. We focus on synergistic, paradigmatic, simple, and practical issues that can be easily upscaled through market mechanisms. This practical and physically concrete approach may also become linked with more elaborate neuroscientific and technologically sophisticated interventions. We examine the domains of knowledge to be included in establishing a learning model that focuses on the still-understudied impact of the benefits toward active and healthy aging, where architects, urban planners, clinicians, and healthcare facility managers are educated toward a synergistic approach at the operational level. PMID:27656295

Practical implications of pre-employment nurse assessments.

PubMed

Kuthy, James E; Ramon, Cheree; Gonzalez, Ronald; Biddle, Dan A

2013-01-01

Hiring nurses is a difficult task that can have serious repercussions for medical facilities. If nurses without proper skills are hired, patients can suffer from insufficient quality of care and potentially life-threatening conditions. Nurse applicants' technical knowledge is extremely important to avoid negative outcomes; however, there are soft skills that factor into their success, such as bedside manner, personality, communication, and decision making. In order for medical facilities to select and maintain high-performing nurse staff, hiring managers must incorporate evaluations for these types of skills in their hiring process. The current study focused on using content/criterion-related validation design to create assessments by which nurse applicants can be evaluated for both technical knowledge/skills and soft skills. The study included participation of more than 876 nursing staff members. To rank applicants on divergent skills, 3 assessment types were investigated, resulting in the creation of an assessment with 3 components. The clinical, situational, and behavioral components that were created measure applicants' job knowledge, interpersonal competency in medical facility-related situations, and aspects of personality and behavior, respectively. Results indicate that using the assessment can predict 45% of a nurse applicant's future job performance. Practical implications include hiring and maintaining a higher quality of nurses and decreased hiring costs.

Determinants of personal and household hygiene among college students in New York City, 2011

PubMed Central

Miko, Benjamin A.; Cohen, Bevin; Conway, Laurie; Gilman, Allan; Seward, Samuel L.; Larson, Elaine

2013-01-01

Background Although several studies have characterized the hygiene habits of college students, few have assessed the determinants underlying such behaviors. Objectives Our study sought to describe students' knowledge, practices, and beliefs about hygiene and determine whether there is an association between reported behaviors and frequency of illness. Methods A sample of 299 undergraduate students completed a questionnaire assessing demographics, personal and household hygiene behaviors, beliefs and knowledge about hygiene, and general health status. Results Variation in reported hygiene habits was noted across several demographic factors. Women reported “always” washing their hands after using the toilet (87.1%) more than men (65.3%, P = .001). Similarly, freshmen reported such behavior (80.4%) more than sophomores (71.9%), juniors (67.7%), or seniors (50%, P = .011). Whereas 96.6% of participants thought that handwashing was either “very important” or “somewhat important” for preventing disease, smaller proportions thought it could prevent upper respiratory infections (85.1%) or gastroenteritis (48.3%), specifically. There was no significant relationship between reported behaviors and self-reported health status. Conclusion The hygiene habits of college students may be motivated by perceptions of socially acceptable behavior rather than scientific knowledge. Interventions targeting the social norms of incoming and continuing students may be effective in improving hygiene determinants and ultimately hygiene practices. PMID:22464037

Time for a paradigm shift in how we transfer knowledge? Making the case for translational science and public engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orr, Barron

2015-04-01

By any measure, our efforts to protect and restore the environment have failed to keep pace with environmental change, despite extraordinary scientific advances. Clearly there is a problem in knowledge transfer, which is often blamed on limited public awareness, misunderstanding or even apathy. Whether it's moving research to practice, informing policy, or educating the public on the environmental challenges of our time, our track record is poor. A major part of our failure lies in how scientists and practitioners understand (or misunderstand) and practice knowledge transfer. What actually drives knowledge acquisition and the motivation to gain knowledge, and what does this say about the methods used for knowledge transfer? Is the problem a supply issue (deficit of knowledge) or a demand issue (personal relevance)? The false assumptions that spin out of how we conceptualize knowledge acquisition lead to investment in knowledge transfer balanced heavily in "science communication" and "awareness raising" activities that tend to be unidirectional, top-down, and rarely linked to personal interests. Successful adaptation to environmental change requires a theoretical and practical understanding of coupled natural-human systems as well as advances in bridging knowledge systems and the science-society gap. To be effective, this means a "translational science" approach that promotes the capture and integration of scientific and local knowledge, addresses the influences of scale (biophysically, socially, institutionally), encourages mutual learning among all parties, and builds capacity as part of the process. The facilitation and translation of information and meanings among stakeholders can lead to the co-production of knowledge, more informed decision making, and in a very pragmatic way, more effective use of assessments and other products of scientific discovery. The purpose of this presentation is to shed light on what underlies the majority of investment in knowledge transfer, the false assumptions that result, and the ramifications for the methods employed the vast majority of the time by the scientific community. The case for public engagement and participatory approaches will be made, followed by a brief survey of the theories, methods and tools that make engagement possible and effective. Successful adaptation to environmental change requires a much stronger link between science and society. While science communication and awareness raising are necessary, they are much more effective when coupled with robust, formative, and participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement. This is necessary for successful land-based adaptation to environmental change.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Italian Validation of a Questionnaire on Nurses' Personal and Professional Use, Knowledge, and Attitudes.

PubMed

Belletti, Giada; Shorofi, Seyed Afshin; Arbon, Paul; Dal Molin, Alberto

2017-08-01

Patients are showing an increasing interest in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Most nurses are open to the adoption of CAM into clinical nursing practice, but they may experience a lack of knowledge about the safe and effective use of these therapies. Several studies concerning nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward CAM have been published, but only in one, the authors (Shorofi and Arbon) used a validated questionnaire. In Italy, there are no validated questionnaires to investigate this aspect of nursing practice. To test the psychometric properties of the Italian Shorofi and Arbon questionnaire for use with Italian nurses. A forward-backward translation method was used to translate the questionnaire from English to Italian. Content validity, face validity and reliability were established. This study examined the potential usefulness of the Shorofi and Arbon questionnaire for the evaluation of CAM knowledge of Italian speaking nurses, which showed good content validity and good reliability.

Integrating Neuroscience Knowledge and Neuropsychiatric Skills Into Psychiatry: The Way Forward.

PubMed

Schildkrout, Barbara; Benjamin, Sheldon; Lauterbach, Margo D

2016-05-01

Increasing the integration of neuroscience knowledge and neuropsychiatric skills into general psychiatric practice would facilitate expanded approaches to diagnosis, formulation, and treatment while positioning practitioners to utilize findings from emerging brain research. There is growing consensus that the field of psychiatry would benefit from more familiarity with neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. Yet there remain numerous factors impeding the integration of these domains of knowledge into general psychiatry.The authors make recommendations to move the field forward, focusing on the need for advocacy by psychiatry and medical organizations and changes in psychiatry education at all levels. For individual psychiatrists, the recommendations target obstacles to attaining expanded neuroscience and neuropsychiatry education and barriers stemming from widely held, often unspoken beliefs. For the system of psychiatric care, recommendations address the conceptual and physical separation of psychiatry from medicine, overemphasis on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and on psychopharmacology, and different systems in medicine and psychiatry for handling reimbursement and patient records. For psychiatry residency training, recommendations focus on expanding neuroscience/neuropsychiatry faculty and integrating neuroscience education throughout the curriculum.Psychiatry traditionally concerns itself with helping individuals construct meaningful life narratives. Brain function is one of the fundamental determinants of individuality. It is now possible for psychiatrists to integrate knowledge of neuroscience into understanding the whole person by asking, What person has this brain? How does this brain make this person unique? How does this brain make this disorder unique? What treatment will help this disorder in this person with this brain?

Staff Knowledge, Awareness, Perceptions, and Beliefs About Infection Prevention in Pediatric Long-term Care Facilities

PubMed Central

Løyland, Borghild; Wilmont, Sibyl; Hessels, Amanda J.; Larson, Elaine

2016-01-01

Background The burden of healthcare-associated infection worldwide is considerable, and there is a need to improve surveillance and infection control practices such as hand hygiene. Objectives The aims of this study were to explore direct care providers’ knowledge about infection prevention and hand hygiene, their attitudes regarding their own and others’ hand hygiene practices, and their ideas and advice for improving infection prevention efforts. Methods This exploratory study included interviews with direct care providers in three pediatric long-term care facilities. Two trained nurse interviewers conducted semistructured interviews using an interview guide with open-ended questions. Two other nurse researchers independently transcribed the audio recordings and conducted a thematic analysis using a strategy adapted from the systematic text condensation approach. Results From 31 interviews, four major thematic categories with subthemes emerged from the analysis: (a) hand hygiene products; (b) knowledge, awareness, perceptions, and beliefs; (c) barriers to infection prevention practices; and (d) suggested improvements. There was confusion regarding hand hygiene recommendations, use of soap or sanitizer, and isolation precaution policies. There was a robust “us” and “them” mentality between professionals. Discussion One essential driver of staff behavior change is having expectations that are meaningful to staff, and many staff members stated that they wanted more in-person staff meetings with education and hands-on, practical advice. Workflow patterns and/or the physical environment need to be carefully evaluated to identify systems and methods to minimize cross-contamination. Further studies need to evaluate if personal sized containers of hand sanitizer (e.g., for the pocket, attached to a belt or lanyard) would facilitate improvement of hand hygiene in these facilities. PMID:26938362

Governing time in operating rooms.

PubMed

Riley, Robin; Manias, Elizabeth

2006-05-01

This paper examines how time is controlled and governed in operating rooms through interpersonal communication between nurses and doctors. Time is a valuable commodity in organizations with improvements often directed towards maximizing efficiencies. As a consequence, time can be a source of tension and interpersonal conflict as individuals compete for control of its use. The data in this paper emanate from an ethnographic study that explored a range of communication practices in operating room nursing. Participants comprised 11 operating room nurses. Data were collected over two years in three different institutional settings and involved participant observation, interviews and the keeping of a personal diary. A deconstructive analysis of the data was undertaken. Results are discussed in terms of the practices, in which clinicians are engaged in, to govern and control their use of time. The four practices presented in this paper include; questioning judgment and timing, controlling speed, estimating surgeons' use of time and coping with different perceptions of time. Time and speed were hotly contested by nurses. They used their personal knowledge of individual surgeon's habits of time to govern and control practice. Nurses thought about surgeons in terms of time and developed commonly accepted understandings about the length of surgical procedures. They used this knowledge to manage the scheduling of operations in the departments and to control the workflow in individual operating rooms. Knowledge of individual surgeons was a source of power for operating room nurses. Nurses have more power in the operating room than might be imagined but they exercise this power in subtle ways. If operating rooms are to work effectively, the operating room team must understand each others' work better.

Taxonomy development and knowledge representation of nurses' personal cognitive artifacts.

PubMed

McLane, Sharon; Turley, James P

2009-11-14

Nurses prepare knowledge representations, or summaries of patient clinical data, each shift. These knowledge representations serve multiple purposes, including support of working memory, workload organization and prioritization, critical thinking, and reflection. This summary is integral to internal knowledge representations, working memory, and decision-making. Study of this nurse knowledge representation resulted in development of a taxonomy of knowledge representations necessary to nursing practice.This paper describes the methods used to elicit the knowledge representations and structures necessary for the work of clinical nurses, described the development of a taxonomy of this knowledge representation, and discusses translation of this methodology to the cognitive artifacts of other disciplines. Understanding the development and purpose of practitioner's knowledge representations provides important direction to informaticists seeking to create information technology alternatives. The outcome of this paper is to suggest a process template for transition of cognitive artifacts to an information system.

Knowledge and innovation relationships in the shrimp industry in Thailand and Mexico

PubMed Central

Lebel, Louis; Garden, Po; Luers, Amy; Manuel-Navarrete, David; Giap, Dao Huy

2016-01-01

Experts, government officials, and industry leaders concerned about the sustainability of shrimp aquaculture believe they know what farmers need to know and should be doing. They have framed sustainability as a technical problem that, at the farm level, is to be solved by better shrimp and management of ponds and businesses. Codes of conduct, standards, and regulations are expected to bring deviant practices into line. Shrimp farmers are often cornered in a challenging game of knowledge in which their livelihoods are at stake. In the commodity chain there are multiple relations with both suppliers and buyers, not all of which are trustworthy. The social networks shrimp farmers belong to are crucial for sifting out misinformation and multiplying insights from personal experience in learning by doing. Successful farmers become part of a learning culture through seminars, workshops, and clubs in which knowledge and practices are continually re-evaluated. The combination of vertical and horizontal relationships creates a set of alternative arenas that together are critical to bridging knowledge and action gaps for shrimp farmers. Government and industry initiatives for improving links between knowledge and practice for sustainability have largely succeeded when incentives are aligned: shrimp grow better in healthy environments, and using fewer resources means higher profits. PMID:19892739

Knowledge and innovation relationships in the shrimp industry in Thailand and Mexico.

PubMed

Lebel, Louis; Garden, Po; Luers, Amy; Manuel-Navarrete, David; Giap, Dao Huy

2016-04-26

Experts, government officials, and industry leaders concerned about the sustainability of shrimp aquaculture believe they know what farmers need to know and should be doing. They have framed sustainability as a technical problem that, at the farm level, is to be solved by better shrimp and management of ponds and businesses. Codes of conduct, standards, and regulations are expected to bring deviant practices into line. Shrimp farmers are often cornered in a challenging game of knowledge in which their livelihoods are at stake. In the commodity chain there are multiple relations with both suppliers and buyers, not all of which are trustworthy. The social networks shrimp farmers belong to are crucial for sifting out misinformation and multiplying insights from personal experience in learning by doing. Successful farmers become part of a learning culture through seminars, workshops, and clubs in which knowledge and practices are continually re-evaluated. The combination of vertical and horizontal relationships creates a set of alternative arenas that together are critical to bridging knowledge and action gaps for shrimp farmers. Government and industry initiatives for improving links between knowledge and practice for sustainability have largely succeeded when incentives are aligned: shrimp grow better in healthy environments, and using fewer resources means higher profits.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding travel health among Muscat International Airport travelers in Oman: Identifying the gaps and addressing the challenges.

PubMed

Al-Abri, Seif S; Abdel-Hady, Doaa M; Al-Abaidani, Idris S

2016-06-01

Although the majority of travel-associated communicable diseases can be prevented, the public health burden of these diseases remains significant. Relatively little is known about how travelers know and perceive the health risks associated with travel and how they utilize preventive measures before and while traveling abroad. This study was conducted to determine the level of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of Muscat International Airport travelers about travel health in order to assess the knowledge gap and the need for travel health services in Oman. A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 1week using a self-administered questionnaire. The overall level of knowledge about vaccine-preventable diseases, food safety, and preventive measures against insect bites of the participants was inadequate. The practice concerning preventive travel health measures, such as the use of specific immunizations and antimalarial prophylaxis, was very limited, and influenced by some personal and travel-related factors. The inadequate level of travelers' knowledge and poor utilization of travel medicine services highlights the need for the provisions of specialized travel medicine services at the national level and to develop educational materials promoting the importance of pre-travel health advice. Copyright © 2016 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge displays: Soliciting clients to fill knowledge gaps and to reconcile knowledge discrepancies in therapeutic interaction.

PubMed

Pino, Marco

2016-06-01

To examine knowledge displays (KDs), a practice by which Therapeutic Community (TC) professionals exhibit previous knowledge about their clients' circumstances and experiences. Conversation analysis is used to examine 12 staff-led meetings recorded in Italy (8 in a drug addiction TC; 4 in a mental health TC). The TC professionals use KDs within broader sequences of talk where they solicit their clients to share personal information and where the clients provide insufficient or inconsistent responses. In these circumstances, the staff members employ KDs to pursue responses that redress emerging knowledge gaps and discrepancies regarding the clients' experiences or circumstances. KDs allow the staff members to achieve a balance between respecting their clients' right to report their own experiences and influencing the ways in which they report them. KDs help to reinforce the culture of openness that is central to many forms of therapeutic interaction, to forward the therapeutic agenda and to expand the staff members' knowledge of the clients' experiences and circumstances. KDs can be used to solicit clients to share personal information. This paper illustrates core features that underlie the function of KDs (where they are used and how they are constructed). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relating Teacher PCK and Teacher Practice Using Classroom Observation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barendsen, Erik; Henze, Ineke

2017-09-01

Science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been researched in many studies, yet little empirical evidence has been found to determine how this knowledge actually informs teachers' actions in the classroom. To complement previous quantitative studies, there is a need for more qualitative studies to investigate the relationship between teacher knowledge (as formulated by the teacher) and classroom practice, especially in the context of an educational innovation. In this study we explored a possible way to investigate this relationship in an in-depth and systematic fashion. To this end, we conducted a case study with a chemistry teacher in the context of the implementation of a context-based science curriculum in The Netherlands. The teacher's PCK was captured using the Content Representation form by Loughran, Mulhall, and Berry. We used an observation table to monitor classroom interactions in such a way that the observations could be related to specific elements of teachers' PCK. Thus, we were able to give a detailed characterization of the correspondences and differences between the teacher's personal PCK and classroom practice. Such an elaborate description turned out to be a useful basis for discussing mechanisms explaining the relationship between teachers' knowledge and teachers' actions.

Managing cows: an ethnography of breeding practices and uses of reproductive technology in contemporary dairy farming in Lombardy (Italy).

PubMed

Grasseni, Cristina

2007-06-01

The aim of this article is to contribute detailed ethnographic material to broaden the scope of what we mean by reproductive technology. Technology can be defined not only by a series of laboratory techniques (such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer) that are drafted into the daily management of the animal body, but also by a range of on-farm management strategies and working routines, as well as the cultural dispositions, social networks and tacit knowledge of the actors involved. RT is communicated to lay operators and disseminated amongst semi-professional figures such as breed experts, herd inspectors and technical consultants. The practical contexts in which reproductive knowledge is popularized and applied provide ample scope for local negotiations, resistance and conflict. Professional knowledge about breed-improvement is personalised and appropriated by operators and plays a role in power relations and the exercise of personal charisma as well as being specific to context, in particular the nuances of pre-existing relationships of trust, friendship, kinship or hierarchy. No wonder then that many ambivalences and compromises coexist in the practice of applying 'reproductive knowledge' to breed selection.

An Australian study of midwives' breast-feeding knowledge.

PubMed

Cantrill, Ruth M; Creedy, Debra K; Cooke, Marie

2003-12-01

To investigate midwives' breast-feeding knowledge, assess associations between knowledge and role, and report on the validity and reliability of the Breast-feeding Knowledge Questionnaire for the Australian context. Postal questionnaire. National Australia. Midwives (n=3500) who are members of the Australian College of Midwives Inc (ACMI). A response rate of 31% (n=1105) was obtained. Respondents were knowledgeable of the benefits of breast feeding and common management issues. Key areas requiring attention included management of low milk supply, immunological value of human milk, and management of a breast abscess during breast feeding. Participants over the age of 30, possessing IBCLC qualifications; having personal breast-feeding experience of more than three months; and more clinical experience achieved higher knowledge scores. Role perceptions were positive with 90% of midwives reporting being confident and effective in meeting the needs of breast-feeding women in the early postnatal period. Midwives' role perception contributed 39% of the variance in general breast-feeding knowledge scores and was a significant predictor of participants' breast-feeding knowledge. The level of basic breast-feeding knowledge of Australian midwives was adequate but there are deficits in key areas. Knowledge variations by midwives may contribute to conflicting advice experienced by breast-feeding women. Further research is needed to investigate in-depth breast-feeding knowledge, breast-feeding promotion practices, and associations between knowledge and practice.

How Knowledge Is Constructed and Exchanged in Virtual Communities of Physicians: Qualitative Study of Mindlines Online.

PubMed

Wieringa, Sietse; Engebretsen, Eivind; Heggen, Kristin; Greenhalgh, Trisha

2018-02-02

As a response to the criticisms evidence-based practice currently faces, groups of health care researchers and guideline makers have started to call for the appraisal and inclusion of different kinds of knowledge in guideline production (other than randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) to better link with the informal knowledge used in clinical practice. In an ethnographic study, Gabbay and Le May showed that clinicians in everyday practice situations do not explicitly or consciously use guidelines. Instead, they use mindlines: collectively shared, mostly tacit knowledge that is shaped by many sources, including accumulated personal experiences, education (formal and informal), guidance, and the narratives about patients that are shared among colleagues. In this study on informal knowledge, we consider virtual networks of clinicians as representative of the mindlines in the wider medical community, as holders of knowledge, as well as catalysts of knowing. The aim of this study was to explore how informal knowledge and its creation in communities of clinicians can be characterized as opposed to the more structured knowledge produced in guideline development. This study included a qualitative study of postings on three large virtual networks for physicians in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway, taking the topic of statins as a case study and covering more than 1400 posts. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to theories of collaborative knowledge construction and communities of practice. The dataset showed very few postings referring to, or seeking to adhere to, explicit guidance and recommendations. Participants presented many instances of individual case narratives that highlighted quantitative test results and clinical examination findings. There was an emphasis on outliers and the material, regulatory, and practical constraints on knowledge use by clinicians. Participants conveyed not-so-explicit knowledge as tacit and practical knowledge and used a prevailing style of pragmatic reasoning focusing on what was likely to work in a particular case. Throughout the discussions, a collective conceptualization of statins was generated and reinforced in many contexts through stories, jokes, and imagery. Informal knowledge and knowing in clinical communities entail an inherently collective dynamic practice that includes explicit and nonexplicit components. It can be characterized as knowledge-in-context in practice, with a strong focus on casuistry. Validity of knowledge appears not to be based on criteria of consensus, coherence, or correspondence but on a more polyphonic understanding of truth. We contend that our findings give enough ground for further research on how exploring mindlines of clinicians online could help improve guideline development processes. ©Sietse Wieringa, Eivind Engebretsen, Kristin Heggen, Trisha Greenhalgh. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 02.02.2018.

Mothers' beliefs about knowledge, child development, and parenting strategies: expanding the goals of parenting programs.

PubMed

Bond, Lynne A; Burns, Catherine E

2006-11-01

This study examined the relationship between mothers' beliefs about knowledge (epistemology) and conceptions of child development and parent-child communication strategies. One hundred twenty mothers of preschool-aged children completed the Ways of Knowing measure and Parent Communication Strategies Interview; a subset of 38 also completed the Concepts of Development Questionnaire. Analyses revealed that mothers with more complex understanding of knowledge have less categorical and more multi-faceted conceptions of child development and are more likely to endorse parenting strategies that are less authoritarian and more cognitively challenging for children. EDITOR'S STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS: Prevention programs designed to promote constructive parenting should foster parents' epistemological development (which guide beliefs and practices) rather than dwell on individual parent behaviors. The authors continue to develop the promising practice of tailoring interventions on the basis of parents' personal belief systems (see also Burns & Bond, 2004).

International Experiences as Professional Development to Enhance Classroom Practice: Beyond Educational Tourism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, John William, III

2012-01-01

Professional development of educators is a central feature in education reform efforts (Bredeson, 2000) and school improvement (Guskey & Huberman, 1995). The purpose of the study was to describe personal and professional gains from an international experience, notably the Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Program, including new knowledge and…

Continuing Education Leadership Matrix: A Model for Practitioners in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moroney, Peter

2007-01-01

Continuing education (CE) units are a diverse blend of philosophical and pedagogical approaches, personal aptitudes, and professional knowledge and skills. The Continuing Education Leadership Matrix model is presented as a conceptual framework for understanding and managing CE practice. The model is useful to leaders and managers working within CE…

Storying the Terroir of Collaborative Writing: Like Wine and Food, a Unique Pairing of Mentoring Minds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Shelley M.; Beatty, Rodger J.

2010-01-01

As two faculty members in a Canadian post-secondary teacher education context, the authors inquired into their collaborative writing process initiated through an informal faculty mentoring relationship. Situating their writing in the discourses of personal practical knowledge, social constructionism, narrative inquiry, and autobiography grounds…

Personalized Surgical Risk Assessment Using Population-Based Data Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AbuSalah, Ahmad Mohammad

2013-01-01

The volume of information generated by healthcare providers is growing at a relatively high speed. This tremendous growth has created a gap between knowledge and clinical practice that experts say could be narrowed with the proper use of healthcare data to guide clinical decisions and tools that support rapid information availability at the…

Opening the Eyes of Counselors to the Emotional Abuse of Men: An Overlooked Dynamic in Dysfunctional Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Joshua M.; Pitariu, Gabriela V.

2004-01-01

The authors suggest that counselors should expand their awareness of emotional abuse within heterosexual relationships, offering definitions of emotional abuse and statistics that confirm the victimization of men. The implications of this knowledge for counselors" personal growth and therapeutic practice are discussed. The statistics on the…

14 CFR 61.1 - Applicability and definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Administrator to conduct a pilot proficiency test or a practical test for an airman certificate or rating issued under this part, or a person who is authorized to conduct a knowledge test under this part. (5) Flight... a visual system that provides at least a 45 degree horizontal field of view and a 30 degree vertical...

Situating Transnational Genre Knowledge: A Genre Trajectory Analysis of One Student's Personal and Academic Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rounsaville, Angela

2014-01-01

Scholars have recently begun to conceive of literacy practices as drawing from resources that are simultaneously situated and extracontextual. In particular, studies of transnational literacy affirm the importance of both locality and movement in literacy studies. Continuing this inquiry into the situated and dispersed nature of transnational…

Learning a New Method: Teaching Games for Understanding in the Coaches' Eyes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Stephen; Cushion, Christopher J.; Massa-Gonzalez, Ada N.

2010-01-01

Background: Coaches' knowledge and actions are both the product and manifestation of a personally experienced involvement with the coaching process; they are linked to the coach's history and both are attributable to how they were learned. Changing established coaching practice can be problematic, particularly as coaching lacks a critical…

Mentor-mentee Relationship: A Win-Win Contract In Graduate Medical Education

PubMed Central

Fuller, Jacklyn C

2017-01-01

Scholarly activities (i.e., the discovery of new knowledge; development of new technologies, methods, materials, or uses; integration of knowledge leading to new understanding) are intended to measure the quality and quantity of dissemination of knowledge. A successful mentorship program is necessary during residency to help residents achieve the six core competencies (patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills) required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The role of the mentor in this process is pivotal in the advancement of the residents’ knowledge about evidence-based medicine. With this process, while mentees become more self-regulated, exhibit confidence in their performance, and demonstrate more insight and aptitude in their jobs, mentors also achieve elevated higher self-esteem, enhanced leadership skills, and personal gratification. As such, we may conclude that mentoring is a two-sided relationship; i.e., a 'win-win' style of commitment between the mentor and mentee. Hence, both parties will eventually advance academically, as well as professionally. PMID:29435394

Borderline Personality Disorder in Young People: Are We There Yet?

PubMed

Chanen, Andrew M

2015-08-01

Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) usually has its onset in young people, its diagnosis and treatment is often delayed. The past 2 decades have seen a rapid increase in evidence establishing that BPD can be diagnosed before 18 years of age and that BPD in young people is both continuous with BPD in adults and more notable for its similarities than for any differences. This knowledge has led to the first wave of controlled treatment trials, which have established that early intervention through appropriate BPD diagnosis and treatment leads to clinically meaningful improvements for patients. However, there is still much work to do in terms of treatment development and innovation and overcoming challenges to successful translation of evidence into practice. To advance early intervention for BPD, access to evidence-based treatments needs to improve, the variety of available treatments (including novel pharmacotherapies) needs to increase, treatments need to be matched to individual development and to the phase and stage of disorder, and workforce development strategies need to update knowledge, culture, and practice in relation to BPD in young people. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

'Ethos' Enabling Organisational Knowledge Creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsudaira, Yoshito

This paper examines knowledge creation in relation to improvements on the production line in the manufacturing department of Nissan Motor Company and aims to clarify embodied knowledge observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation will be clarified. For that purpose, this study adopts an approach that adds a first, second, and third-person's viewpoint to the theory of knowledge creation. Embodied knowledge, observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation, is the continued practice of 'ethos' (in Greek) founded in Nissan Production Way as an ethical basis. Ethos is knowledge (intangible) assets for knowledge creating companies. Substantiated analysis classifies ethos into three categories: the individual, team and organisation. This indicates the precise actions of the organisational members in each category during the knowledge creation process. This research will be successful in its role of showing the indispensability of ethos - the new concept of knowledge assets, which enables knowledge creation -for future knowledge-based management in the knowledge society.

Imagining the “open” university: Sharing scholarship to improve research and education

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Open scholarship, such as the sharing of articles, code, data, and educational resources, has the potential to improve university research and education as well as increase the impact universities can have beyond their own walls. To support this perspective, I present evidence from case studies, published literature, and personal experiences as a practicing open scholar. I describe some of the challenges inherent to practicing open scholarship and some of the tensions created by incompatibilities between institutional policies and personal practice. To address this, I propose several concrete actions universities could take to support open scholarship and outline ways in which such initiatives could benefit the public as well as institutions. Importantly, I do not think most of these actions would require new funding but rather a redistribution of existing funds and a rewriting of internal policies to better align with university missions of knowledge dissemination and societal impact. PMID:29065148

The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Medical Education and Practice.

PubMed

Robertson, William J

2017-06-01

How might heteronormativity be reproduced and become internalized through biomedical practices? Based on in-depth, person-centered interviews, this article explores the ways heteronormativity works into medical education through the hidden curriculum. As experienced by my informants, case studies often reinforce unconscious heteronormative orientations and heterosexist/homophobic stereotypes about queer patients among straight and queer medical students alike. I introduce the concept of the irrelevance narrative to make sense of how queer medical students take up a heteronormative medical gaze. Despite recognizing that being queer affects how they interact with patients, my informants describe being queer as irrelevant to their delivery of care. I conclude with a discussion of how these preliminary findings can inform research on knowledge production in biomedical education and practice with an eye toward the tensions between personal and professional identity among biomedical practitioners. © 2017 by the American Anthropological Association.

Emergency nurses' perceptions of the role of confidence, self-efficacy and reflexivity in managing the cognitively impaired older person in pain.

PubMed

Fry, Margaret; MacGregor, Casimir; Hyland, Simone; Payne, Barbara; Chenoweth, Lynn

2015-06-01

The study aimed to explore the practice of care among emergency nurses caring for older persons with cognitive impairment and who presented in pain from a long bone fracture, to highlight nurse confidence and self-efficacy in practice. Cognitive impairment is an issue increasingly facing emergency departments. Older persons with cognitive impairment have complex care needs, requiring effective clinical decision-making and provision of care. Nurse confidence and self-efficacy are critical to meeting the necessary standards of care for this vulnerable patient group. A multi-centre study. The study was undertaken across four emergency departments in Sydney, Australia. Sixteen focus group discussions were conducted with 80 emergency departments of nurses. Four main themes emerged: confidence and self-efficacy through experience; confidence and self-efficacy as a balancing act; confidence and self-efficacy as practice; and confidence and self-efficacy and interpersonal relations. Our findings demonstrate that confidence, self-efficacy and reflexivity enabled the delivery of appropriate, timely and compassionate care. Further, confidence and self-efficacy within nursing praxis relied on clinical experience and reflective learning and was crucial to skill and knowledge acquisition. Our research suggests that confidence, self-efficacy and reflexivity need to be developed and valued in nurses' careers to better meet the needs of complex older persons encountered within everyday practice. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Knowledge and self-reported practices regarding leptospirosis among adolescent school children in a highly endemic rural area in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Samarakoon, Yasara M; Gunawardena, Nalika

2013-01-01

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease, which has become a major public health threat in Sri Lanka. A majority of patients are farmers in rural endemic areas. The purpose of the present study is to describe the level of knowledge and frequencies of risky practices related to leptospirosis among a sample of rural school adolescents in Galgamuwa, Kurunegala district, a highly endemic area in Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 adolescents studying in grades 9 and 10 of government schools. Study participants were selected using a multistage cluster sampling technique. A structured, pretested, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge on leptospirosis, and frequency of associated risky practices related to leptospirosis. The response rate was 100%. Fifty-two percent of respondents had a 'good' level of knowledge of leptospirosis. In the assessment of practices, 62% were involved in rice paddy cultivation either 'frequently' or 'rarely'. Seventy percent of the fathers and 50% of the mothers of the students were involved in paddy cultivation. Thirteen percent reported that they swam, bathed, or washed in ponds of stagnant water. Of the students involved in paddy cultivation, only 18% said they usually used gloves and boots 'frequently'. Among the 9% of students who handled cattle or buffalo, 61% reported washing their hands and feet after handling the animals. Good level of knowledge was significantly associated with involvement in paddy cultivation among the adolescents (p=0.45), fathers (p<0.001), and mothers (p=0.012). The level of knowledge was not significantly associated with practicing preventive measures for leptospirosis. Although the respondent's overall level of knowledge regarding leptospirosis was satisfactory, the study identified several important gaps in specific areas. Those who were involved or had parents involved in paddy cultivation had better knowledge. However, this knowledge was not translated into practice of personal preventive measures. Use of protective attire in paddy farming needs to be facilitated by health authorities.

Implementing structured functional assessments in general practice for persons with long-term sick leave: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Østerås, Nina; Gulbrandsen, Pål; Benth, Jūrate Saltyte; Hofoss, Dag; Brage, Søren

2009-05-06

The increasing attention on functional assessments in medical and vocational rehabilitation requires a focus change for the general practitioners (GP) into paying attention to patient resources, possibilities and coping instead of symptoms, problems and limitations. The GPs report difficulties in performing the requested explicit functional assessments. The purpose of this study was to implement a structured method in general practice for assessing functional ability in persons with long-term sick leave. The study aim was to evaluate intervention effects on important GP parameters; knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy towards functional assessments and knowledge about patient work factors. Fifty-seven GPs were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. The intervention group GPs attended an introductory one-day work-shop and implemented structured functional assessments during an eight months intervention period. GP knowledge, GP attitudes, and GP self-efficacy towards functional assessments, as well as GP knowledge of patient work factors, were collected before, after and six months after the intervention period started. Evaluation score-sheets were filled in by both the intervention GPs and their patients immediately after the consultation to evaluate the GPs' knowledge of patient work factors. The intervention GPs reported increased knowledge (B: 0.56, 95% CI (0.19, 0.91)) and self-efficacy (B: 0.90, 95% CI (0.53, 1.26)) towards functional assessments, and increased knowledge about their patients' workplace (B: 0.75, 95% CI (0.35, 1.15)) and perceived stressors (B: 0.55, 95% CI (0.23, 0.88)) with lasting effects at the second follow-up. No intervention effect was seen in relation to GP attitudes. Both before and after the intervention, the GPs were most informed about physical stressors, and less about mental and work organisational stressors (Guttman's reproducibility coefficient: 0.95 and 1.00). After the consultation, both the intervention GPs and their patients reported that the GPs' knowledge about patient work factors had increased (GP B: 0.60 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.78); patient B: 0.50 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.66)). Introducing and implementing structured functional assessments in general practice made the GPs capable to assess functional ability of their patients in a structured manner. Intervention effects of increased GP knowledge and GP self-efficacy sustained at the second follow-up.

Non-verbal communication between nurses and people with an intellectual disability: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Martin, Anne-Marie; O'Connor-Fenelon, Maureen; Lyons, Rosemary

2010-12-01

This article critically synthesizes current literature regarding communication between nurses and people with an intellectual disability who communicate non-verbally. The unique context of communication between the intellectual disability nurse and people with intellectual disability and the review aims and strategies are outlined. Communication as a concept is explored in depth. Communication between the intellectual disability nurse and the person with an intellectual disability is then comprehensively examined in light of existing literature. Issues including knowledge of the person with intellectual disability, mismatch of communication ability, and knowledge of communication arose as predominant themes. A critical review of the importance of communication in nursing practice follows. The paucity of literature relating to intellectual disability nursing and non-verbal communication clearly indicates a need for research.

Thinking styles and doctors' knowledge and behaviours relating to acute coronary syndromes guidelines

PubMed Central

Sladek, Ruth M; Bond, Malcolm J; Huynh, Luan T; Chew, Derek PB; Phillips, Paddy A

2008-01-01

Background How humans think and make decisions is important in understanding behaviour. Hence an understanding of cognitive processes among physicians may inform our understanding of behaviour in relation to evidence implementation strategies. A personality theory, Cognitive-Experiential Self Theory (CEST) proposes a relationship between different ways of thinking and behaviour, and articulates pathways for behaviour change. However prior to the empirical testing of interventions based on CEST, it is first necessary to demonstrate its suitability among a sample of healthcare workers. Objectives To investigate the relationship between thinking styles and the knowledge and clinical practices of doctors directly involved in the management of acute coronary syndromes. Methods Self-reported doctors' thinking styles (N = 74) were correlated with results from a survey investigating knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice, and evaluated against recently published acute coronary syndrome clinical guidelines. Results Guideline-discordant practice was associated with an experiential style of thinking. Conversely, guideline-concordant practice was associated with a higher preference for a rational style of reasoning. Conclusion Findings support that while guidelines might be necessary to communicate evidence, other strategies may be necessary to target discordant behaviours. Further research designed to examine the relationships found in the current study is required. PMID:18439250

Multimedia learning for increasing knowledge on energy efficiency and promotion of proenvironmental behavior: A study of undergraduate students in Costa Rica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh-Zuniga, Yoselyn

Promotion of energy efficiency practices among household has been employed in many interventions with a varying degree of success, mainly on developed countries. The purpose of the study is to promote and measure knowledge of proenvironmental behavior in undergraduate students in the Costa Rica Institute of Technology. The intervention used for this purpose provided personal and altruistic information about the impact of energy consumption activities in household. People's perceptions and attitudes about behaviors that contribute and mitigate climate change were also investigated. Participants were students from undergraduate programs who are also inhabitants of the residence hall provided by the institution. The participation consisted in two surveys and a learning module. Students responded a survey before and after exposure to a learning module. Surveys focused on identifying knowledge, attitudes and intentions. The learning module provided information about three hypothetical scenarios and corresponding energy consumption estimates for each one. Participants did not significantly improve their knowledge on energy efficiency topics and did not change perceptions about the topic of climate change. Yet for both, knowledge and perceptions, participants demonstrated an average knowledge on topics associated to climate change. In addition, participants did not use technical information to explain concepts and perceptions. Another important finding was that participants wrote their responses more third-person than in first person singular or plural, meaning that, excluding themselves from the solution and the problem. Results suggest that there is an average knowledge among participants about 2.5 out of 5 points that represent a start point to design more successful interventions that promote energy efficiency behaviors. A major recommendation to improve energy efficiency behaviors is to place a greater emphasis and awareness in personal consequences of the misuse of energy in household as part of future interventions. More studies based on real consumption data along with more engaging visualizations are highly encouraged.

Staff awareness of the application of Mental Health and Guardianship Legislation in the care of hospitalised older persons.

PubMed

Panesar, Narinder; Valachova, Iveta; Schmidtman, Robert; Chan, Daniel Kam Yin

2018-02-01

The study aimed to survey hospital staff knowledge of the application of the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) (MHA) and the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW) (GA) in the care and treatment of older persons in a teaching hospital in Sydney. Method Over a two-month period in 2017, a survey questionnaire was distributed to staff involved in older persons' care across the hospital. The majority of the hospital staff demonstrated basic theoretical knowledge of both the GA (76%) and of the MHA (84.5%). Fewer (64.5%) appeared to understand the practical application of the MHA in the hypothetical clinical situations. An even lower proportion of staff appeared to understand the application of the GA either to obtain consent for medical treatment or to appoint a guardian through the Guardianship Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). Although clinical staff of the hospital displayed fair knowledge and awareness about the application of the MHA and the GA to inpatient care of older adults, further education is necessary, particularly about the application of the GA. The authors suggest similar findings may occur at other New South Wales hospitals, which may raise concern and need for education.

Gender and personal breastfeeding experience of rural GP registrars in Australia--a qualitative study of their effect on breastfeeding attitudes and knowledge.

PubMed

Brodribb, W E; Jackson, C; Fallon, A B; Hegney, D

2007-01-01

While most doctors believe they have a major role to play in breastfeeding promotion, and consider it worthwhile taking time to assist women to continue to breastfeed, it appears that gender and personal breastfeeding experience affect their attitude and confidence concerning breastfeeding issues. As doctors practicing in rural and regional areas may be expected to provide a greater degree of assistance and support for breastfeeding women, their views on these topics are of particular interest. This article reports the results of qualitative interviews with eight GP registrars from rural and regional Australia, and their views about the influence gender and personal experience have on their ability to assist breastfeeding women. The study is part of a larger project investigating the breastfeeding skills and knowledge of GP registrars as a basis for designing a tailored educational breastfeeding resource. This project uses mixed methods and triangulation of data. Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews were conducted with eight GP registrars from southern Queensland, Australia. The participants were chosen so that there were eight unique combinations of age (<34 or > or =34), gender (male or female) and breastfeeding experience (self or spouse had breastfed/had not breastfed) to ensure diversity of responses and increase the transferability of results. Demographics were collected from each participant, as well as information about: their attitudes to breastfeeding and to counselling breastfeeding women; their perception of breastfeeding knowledge needs and their confidence assisting breastfeeding women; and prior training about breastfeeding. Transcripts of the recorded interviews were returned to the participants for verification before analysis. Emergent themes were identified both within and between interviews following content analysis. Four male and four female registrars with a mean age of 35 years (range 28-43 years) were recruited. Two participants of each gender were parents and their children had been breastfed for more than 6 months. Half the participants practised in small or other rural communities (RRMA 4 or 5), with three of the remainder practising in regional areas. Participants perceived that women thought female doctors were more knowledgeable and skilful concerning breastfeeding issues, regardless of their training or experience. They also assumed that women with breastfeeding problems would attend a female GP in preference to a male GP. These assumptions led male participants' to question the need for them to know any more than basic breastfeeding information. Being female, however, did not automatically confer special breastfeeding knowledge, with nulliparous female participants also mentioning a lack of knowledge and skills. In contrast, having personal breastfeeding experience (of self or spouse) was an important source of breastfeeding information and skill development, and increased the participants' confidence to assist breastfeeding women. Those without personal breastfeeding experience questioned the validity of the information they provided and felt that they would not be competent to assist mothers until they had had personal breastfeeding experience. This subset of rural Australian GP registrars acknowledged that both gender and personal experience with breastfeeding influenced their attitudes, perceived knowledge and confidence with breastfeeding issues. Female doctors were thought to be more knowledgeable and skilful in assisting breastfeeding women. Additionally, personal breastfeeding experience was thought to be important for gaining competence in the area. While GPs do not work with breastfeeding women in isolation, they appear to be an important resource for breastfeeding women, particularly when living in rural and remote areas. These results have implications for those training GP registrars. Both men and women should be encouraged to learn practical breastfeeding information and skills to assist breastfeeding women, rather than relying on personal or spousal breastfeeding experience. By having some expertise in the area, they can work in partnership with others in the community to provide the services mothers need.

A national clinical decision support infrastructure to enable the widespread and consistent practice of genomic and personalized medicine.

PubMed

Kawamoto, Kensaku; Lobach, David F; Willard, Huntington F; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S

2009-03-23

In recent years, the completion of the Human Genome Project and other rapid advances in genomics have led to increasing anticipation of an era of genomic and personalized medicine, in which an individual's health is optimized through the use of all available patient data, including data on the individual's genome and its downstream products. Genomic and personalized medicine could transform healthcare systems and catalyze significant reductions in morbidity, mortality, and overall healthcare costs. Critical to the achievement of more efficient and effective healthcare enabled by genomics is the establishment of a robust, nationwide clinical decision support infrastructure that assists clinicians in their use of genomic assays to guide disease prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. Requisite components of this infrastructure include the standardized representation of genomic and non-genomic patient data across health information systems; centrally managed repositories of computer-processable medical knowledge; and standardized approaches for applying these knowledge resources against patient data to generate and deliver patient-specific care recommendations. Here, we provide recommendations for establishing a national decision support infrastructure for genomic and personalized medicine that fulfills these needs, leverages existing resources, and is aligned with the Roadmap for National Action on Clinical Decision Support commissioned by the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Critical to the establishment of this infrastructure will be strong leadership and substantial funding from the federal government. A national clinical decision support infrastructure will be required for reaping the full benefits of genomic and personalized medicine. Essential components of this infrastructure include standards for data representation; centrally managed knowledge repositories; and standardized approaches for leveraging these knowledge repositories to generate patient-specific care recommendations at the point of care.

The Translational Medicine Ontology and Knowledge Base: driving personalized medicine by bridging the gap between bench and bedside

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Translational medicine requires the integration of knowledge using heterogeneous data from health care to the life sciences. Here, we describe a collaborative effort to produce a prototype Translational Medicine Knowledge Base (TMKB) capable of answering questions relating to clinical practice and pharmaceutical drug discovery. Results We developed the Translational Medicine Ontology (TMO) as a unifying ontology to integrate chemical, genomic and proteomic data with disease, treatment, and electronic health records. We demonstrate the use of Semantic Web technologies in the integration of patient and biomedical data, and reveal how such a knowledge base can aid physicians in providing tailored patient care and facilitate the recruitment of patients into active clinical trials. Thus, patients, physicians and researchers may explore the knowledge base to better understand therapeutic options, efficacy, and mechanisms of action. Conclusions This work takes an important step in using Semantic Web technologies to facilitate integration of relevant, distributed, external sources and progress towards a computational platform to support personalized medicine. Availability TMO can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/translationalmedicineontology and TMKB can be accessed at http://tm.semanticscience.org/sparql. PMID:21624155

Good surgeon: A search for meaning.

PubMed

Akopov, Andrey L; Artioukh, Dmitri Y

2017-01-01

The art and philosophy of surgery are not as often discussed as scientific discoveries and technological advances in the modern era of surgery. Although these are difficult to teach and pass on to the next generations of surgeons they are no less important for training good surgeons and maintaining their high standards. The authors of this review and opinion article tried to define what being a good surgeon really means and to look into the subject by analysing the essential conditions for being a good surgeon and the qualities that such a specialist should possess. In addition to a strong theoretic knowledge and practical skills and among the several described professional and personal characteristics, a good surgeon is expected to have common sense. It enables a surgeon to make a sound practical judgment independent of specialized medical knowledge and training. The possible ways of developing and/or enhancing common sense during surgical training and subsequent practice require separate analysis.

Health social workers sources of knowledge for decision making in practice.

PubMed

McDermott, Fiona; Henderson, Annabel; Quayle, Carol

2017-10-01

This article presents findings from research examining knowledge social workers in a health network in Victoria, Australia identified as informing their decision-making. Data for 13 patients, and in-depth interviews with six social workers who worked with these patients, were studied. A thematic analysis of interviews revealed that participants identified reliance on past experience and contextual/situational information as underpinning their decisions, demonstrating their commitment to person-in-environment perspectives. However, despite the availability of a repository of empirical evidence, no respondent made use of this. This study provided insight into health practitioners' sources of knowledge, highlighting gaps and areas for further exploration.

Teaching evidence-based practice principles to prepare health professions students for an interprofessional learning experience.

PubMed

Aronoff, Nell; Stellrecht, Elizabeth; Lyons, Amy G; Zafron, Michelle L; Glogowski, Maryruth; Grabowski, Jeremiah; Ohtake, Patricia J

2017-10-01

The research assessed online learning modules designed to teach health professions students evidence-based practice (EBP) principles in an interprofessional context across two institutions. Students from nine health professions at two institutions were recruited to participate in this pilot project consisting of two online learning modules designed to prepare students for an in-person case-based interprofessional activity. Librarians and an instructional designer created two EBP modules. Students' competence in EBP was assessed before and after the modules as well as after the in-person activity. Students evaluated the online learning modules and their impact on the students' learning after the in-person session. A total of 39 students from 8 health professions programs participated in the project. Average quiz scores for online EBP module 1 and module 2 were 83% and 76%, respectively. Following completion of the learning modules, adapted Fresno test of competence in EBP scores increased ( p =0.001), indicating that the modules improved EBP skill competence. Student evaluations of the learning modules were positive. Students indicated that they acquired new information skills that contributed to their ability to develop a patient care plan and that they would use these information skills in their future clinical practice. Online EBP learning modules were effective in developing EBP knowledge and skills for health professions students. Using the same modules ensured that students from different health professions at different stages of their professional programs had consistent knowledge and enabled each student to fully engage in an interprofessional evidence-based activity. Student feedback indicated the modules were valued and beneficial.

Knowledge of Evidence-Based Urinary Catheter Care Practice Recommendations Among Healthcare Workers in Nursing Homes

PubMed Central

Mody, Lona; Saint, Sanjay; Galecki, Andrzej; Chen, Shu; Krein, Sarah L.

2010-01-01

Objectives This study assessed the knowledge of recommended urinary catheter care practices among nursing home (NH) healthcare workers (HCWs) in Southeast Michigan. Design A self-administered survey. Setting Seven nursing homes in Southeast Michigan. Participants Three hundred and fifty-six healthcare workers. Methods An anonymous, self-administered survey of HCWs (nurses & nurse aides) in seven NHs in 2006. The survey included questions about respondent characteristics and knowledge about indications, care, and personal hygiene pertaining to urinary catheters. The association of knowledge measures with occupation (nurses vs. aides) was assessed using generalized estimating equations. Results A total of 356 of 440 HCWs (81%) responded. Over 90% of HCWs were aware of measures such as cleaning around the catheter daily, glove use, and hand hygiene with catheter manipulation. They were less aware of research-proven recommendations of not disconnecting the catheter from its bag (59% nurses vs. 30% aides, P < .001), not routinely irrigating the catheter (48% nurses vs. 8% aides, P < .001), and hand hygiene even after casual contact (60% nurses vs. 69% aides, P = .07). HCWs were also unaware of recommendations regarding alcohol-based handrub (27% nurses & 32% aides with correct responses, P = .38). HCWs reported sources, both informal (such as nurse supervisors) and formal (in-services), of knowledge about catheter care. Conclusion Wide discrepancies remain between research-proven recommendations pertaining to urinary catheter care and HCWs' knowledge. Nurses and aides differ in their knowledge of recommendations against harmful practices, such as disconnecting the catheter from the bag and routinely irrigating catheters. Further research should focus on strategies to enhance dissemination of proven infection control practices in NHs. PMID:20662957

Survey of Australian practitioners' provision of healthy lifestyle advice to clients who are obese.

PubMed

Ashby, Samantha; James, Carole; Plotnikoff, Ronald; Collins, Clare; Guest, Maya; Kable, Ashley; Snodgrass, Suzanne

2012-06-01

Obesity is a global issue, with healthcare practitioners increasingly involved in clinical interactions with people who are overweight or obese. These interactions are opportunities to provide evidence-based healthy lifestyle advice, and impact on public health. This study used a cross-sectional survey of Australian healthcare practitioners to investigate what influenced the provision of healthy lifestyle advice to obese and overweight clients. A modified theory of planned behavior was used to explore knowledge translation processes. Knowledge translation was linked to three factors: (i) a healthcare practitioner's education and confidence in the currency of their knowledge; (ii) personal characteristics - whether they accepted that providing this advice was within their domain of practice; and (iii) the existence of organizational support structures, such as access to education, and best practice guidelines. To fulfill the potential role healthcare practitioners can play in the provision of evidence-based health promotion advice requires organizations to provide access to practice guidelines and to instill a belief in their workforce that this is a shared professional domain. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Evaluation of knowledge, practices, and possible barriers among healthcare providers regarding medical waste management in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Sarker, Mohammad Abul Bashar; Harun-Or-Rashid, Md; Hirosawa, Tomoya; Abdul Hai, Md Shaheen Bin; Siddique, Md Ruhul Furkan; Sakamoto, Junichi; Hamajima, Nobuyuki

2014-12-09

Improper handling of medical wastes, which is common in Bangladesh, could adversely affect the hospital environment and community at large, and poses a serious threat to public health. We aimed to assess the knowledge and practices regarding medical waste management (MWM) among healthcare providers (HCPs) and to identify possible barriers related to it. A cross-sectional study was carried out during June to September, 2012 including 1 tertiary, 3 secondary, and 3 primary level hospitals in Dhaka division, Bangladesh through 2-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected from 625 HCPs, including 245 medical doctors, 220 nurses, 44 technologists, and 116 cleaning staff who were directly involved in MWM using a self-administered (researcher-administered for cleaning staff), semi-structured questionnaire. Nearly one-third of medical doctors and nurses and two-thirds of technologists and cleaning staff had inadequate knowledge, and about half of medical doctors (44.0%) and cleaning staff (56.0%) had poor practices. HCPs without prior training on MWM were more likely to have poor practices compared to those who had training. Lack of personal protective equipment, equipment for final disposal, MWM-related staff, proper policy/guideline, and lack of incinerator were identified as the top 5 barriers. Strengthening and expansion of ongoing educational programs/training is necessary to improve knowledge and practices regarding MWM. The government should take necessary steps and provide financial support to eliminate the possible barriers related to proper MWM.

29 CFR 18.602 - Lack of personal knowledge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Lack of personal knowledge. 18.602 Section 18.602 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.602 Lack of personal knowledge. A... witness has personal knowledge of the matter. Evidence to prove personal knowledge may, but need not...

Substance Abuse-Specific Knowledge Transfer or Loss? Treatment Program Turnover versus Professional Turnover among Substance Abuse Clinicians

PubMed Central

Eby, Lillian T.; Curtis, Sara L.

2014-01-01

This longitudinal study investigated the extent to which substance abuse (SA) clinician turnover is associated with SA-specific knowledge loss due to change in professions (professional turnover) versus SA-specific knowledge transfer due to movement from one SA clinical setting to another (treatment program turnover). For this study, clinicians had to voluntarily leave their current treatment program. Eligible clinicians completed a quantitative survey while employed and a qualitative post-employment exit interview 1 year later. Compared to those that exited the SA profession (N = 99), clinicians who changed treatment programs (N = 120) had greater SA-specific formal knowledge and were more likely to be personally in recovery. No differences were found between the two groups in terms of SA-specific practical knowledge. PMID:25115318

Adoption of innovations by specialised nurses: personal, work and organisational characteristics.

PubMed

van der Weide, Marian; Smits, Jeroen

2004-04-01

To gain insight in the factors that influence the adoption of professional information by specialised nurses, we studied the effects of individual, work and organisational characteristics on the extent to which continence nurses gained knowledge and made use of a book on nursing diagnosis and interventions for patients with urinary incontinence, which they received as a present. Subjects were all members of the Dutch Association of Continence Nurses. Data collection took place via a postal questionnaire with closed questions. In total, 109 valid questionnaires (78%) were received back. Stepwise selected ordered logit models were estimated with reading the book and knowledge and use of five selected parts of it as dependent variables and individual, work and organisational characteristics as independent variables. The most important factors found to promote reading of the book and taking knowledge of the parts of it were a personal characteristic of the nurses called "information directedness" (or eagerness to acquire professional information from other sources), the presence of an "innovative atmosphere" at the department, and "relevance" of the information for daily nursing practice. The most important factors found to promote the use of the book are (again) information directedness, working at a (relatively) small department and having experience with nursing diagnosis. Results suggest that nurses differ in the degree to which they are open to innovations and that information directedness might be a useful indicator of this characteristic. In addition, the degree of innovativeness of the atmosphere at the department and the relevance of the innovation for nursing practice are important factors influencing the success or failure of innovations in nursing practice.

Perception and Practice of Road Safety among Medical Students, Mansoura, Egypt.

PubMed

Helal, Randah; El-Khawaga, Ghada; El-Gilany, Abdel-Hady

2018-01-01

To assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students towards road safety and to determine their driving behavior and its relation to different related factors. This cross-sectional study involved 480 medical students at Mansoura University, Egypt. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect student personal data, knowledge about road safety, attitude towards road safety, and driving practices. More than 40% of students experienced an injury in the previous year, mainly as a pedestrian (56%), and 15.2% practiced driving, although only 9.6% had a driving licence. Most of the students had correct road safety knowledge except for awareness that the safe time to read maps is when your vehicle is parked (44%), one should drive in the left lane (29.6%), and one should overtake from the right-hand lane only (25.8%). The majority of the students reported that road traffic injuries can be prevented (89.2%). The mean score of the driving practices of the students ranged from 0.66±1.04 to 2.44±6.28 and rural residents showed significantly higher score regarding errors and lapses. Good road safety knowledge and a favorable, low risk attitude, did not translate into improved road traffic behavior and this highlights the importance of stricter implementation of the existing rules and including road safety in medical education programs.

Type 2 diabetes–related foot care knowledge and foot self-care practice interventions in the United States: a systematic review of the literature

PubMed Central

Bonner, Timethia; Foster, Margaret; Spears-Lanoix, Erica

2016-01-01

Introduction The purpose of this systematic literature review is to review published studies on foot care knowledge and foot care practice interventions as part of diabetic foot care self-management interventions. Methods Medline, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched. References from the included studies were reviewed to identify any missing studies that could be included. Only foot care knowledge and foot care practice intervention studies that focused on the person living with type 2 diabetes were included in this review. Author, study design, sample, intervention, and results were extracted. Results Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria and were classified according to randomized controlled trial (n=9), survey design (n=13), cohort studies (n=4), cross-sectional studies (n=2), qualitative studies (n=2), and case series (n=1). Improving lower extremity complications associated with type 2 diabetes can be done through effective foot care interventions that include foot care knowledge and foot care practices. Conclusion Preventing these complications, understanding the risk factors, and having the ability to manage complications outside of the clinical encounter is an important part of a diabetes foot self-care management program. Interventions and research studies that aim to reduce lower extremity complications are still lacking. Further research is needed to test foot care interventions across multiple populations and geographic locations. PMID:26899439

Type 2 diabetes-related foot care knowledge and foot self-care practice interventions in the United States: a systematic review of the literature.

PubMed

Bonner, Timethia; Foster, Margaret; Spears-Lanoix, Erica

2016-01-01

The purpose of this systematic literature review is to review published studies on foot care knowledge and foot care practice interventions as part of diabetic foot care self-management interventions. Medline, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched. References from the included studies were reviewed to identify any missing studies that could be included. Only foot care knowledge and foot care practice intervention studies that focused on the person living with type 2 diabetes were included in this review. Author, study design, sample, intervention, and results were extracted. Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria and were classified according to randomized controlled trial (n=9), survey design (n=13), cohort studies (n=4), cross-sectional studies (n=2), qualitative studies (n=2), and case series (n=1). Improving lower extremity complications associated with type 2 diabetes can be done through effective foot care interventions that include foot care knowledge and foot care practices. Preventing these complications, understanding the risk factors, and having the ability to manage complications outside of the clinical encounter is an important part of a diabetes foot self-care management program. Interventions and research studies that aim to reduce lower extremity complications are still lacking. Further research is needed to test foot care interventions across multiple populations and geographic locations.

A qualitative study of epistemologies and pedagogies of environmental practitioners in Maui, Hawai'i

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buczynski, Sandra C.

This dissertation presents a discussion of the knowledge systems and teaching styles of five environmental practitioners in Maui, Hawaii. The voices of the informants illustrate the beliefs, values, and priorities relevant to local environmental knowledge production and exchange, and are also used to provide a framework for models of epistemological and pedagogical practices. In this qualitative research, several models of local environmental knowledge emerged. The models include local environmental knowledge as a semiotic system, knowledge given and received from narrative sources, experiential based knowledge, and place and plant priorities in seeking and dispensing environmental information. The notion of what constitutes environmental knowledge was expanded through careful interpretation of the informant's voice. Several broad conclusions concerning local environmental knowledge emerged from this research. First, local environmental knowledge is formed through a long-term relationship between the practitioner, the land, and natural resources. Secondly, each of the environmental practitioner's local environmental knowledge is dynamic, plural and hybrid. And finally, transmission of the environmental practitioner's local environmental knowledge is integral to the life of the community as well as a component of their personal identities. Through these local environmental practitioners, endemic knowledge is shared, indigenous species are spared, traditional practices are passed down, customary ways are preserved, and unique ways of knowing and teaching are appreciated. 'A'ohe papu ka 'ike i ka halau ho'okahi. All knowledge is not taught in the same school. One can learn from many sources (Pukui, 1983: 24).

Integrating Engineering into Delaware's K-5 Classrooms: A Study of Pedagogical and Curricular Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grusenmeyer, Linda Huey

2017-01-01

This study examines the personal and curricular resources available to Delaware's elementary teachers during a time of innovative curriculum change, i.e., their knowledge, goals and beliefs regarding elementary engineering curriculum and the pedagogical support to teach two Science and Engineering Practices provided by science teaching materials.…

Entering Adulthood: Skills for Injury Prevention. A Curriculum Guide for Grades 9-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, Lisa K.; Lloyd-Kolkin, Donna

This curriculum helps high school students identify behavior that puts them at risk for injury by promoting the practice of safer behavior. It introduces students to some startling statistics and teaches vital knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to improve students' personal safety behavior. Educators are encouraged to teach the curriculum via an…

From Graduate Student to Professor: Reflection on the Transition and Tips for Those Who Follow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Ellen K.; Berry, David C.

2014-01-01

Successful completion of the Board of Certification (BOC) examination verifies that an athletic trainer has the knowledge and skills associated with the entry-level practice of athletic training, but earning a terminal degree ''does not mean that the person holding this degree necessarily understands how to design, implement, assess, or even…

Structures and Technology Encouraging Discussion in Human Sexuality Courses: Strategies to Engage a Range of Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angera, Jeffrey J.; Latty, Christopher R.

2015-01-01

Human sexuality courses are common across many college/university campuses. The methods of instruction typically encourage discussion to increase knowledge and critical thinking about self, relationships, and professional pathways. However, often the pedagogical practices do not include methods to draw out students with a range of personalities,…

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Understanding My Narrative as a Teacher Educator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitchen, Julian

2005-01-01

This is the first of two self-studies of my first five years as a teacher educator attempting to prepare preservice teachers for the practical realities of the classroom while being respectful of their personal professional knowledge. I coined the term "relational teacher education" to convey my approach, which is informed by Rogers' (1961)…

Positioning Research and Practice in Career and Technical Education: A Framework for College and Career Preparation in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rojewski, Jay W.; Hill, Roger B.

2014-01-01

Workforce preparation, including Career and Technical Education (CTE), provides opportunities for people to become successful participants in the global workplace. To accomplish this purpose, people must be equipped with knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill personal interests and goals, develop leadership skills, and become qualified and…

Promoting Individual and Organizational Productivity Through Practice Intelligence: The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Personal and Organizational Effectiveness

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-05-01

indicate their conpany affiliation. Group 2 consisted of 51 graduate students in five business schools varying in level of prestige. Group 3 consisted...list; and 5 were from companies whose identity was not indicated. Group 2 consisted of 25 business graduate students from 7 business schools of varying

Personal Growth and Development of Parent Leaders through a Group Parent Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuen, Lai Ha

2017-01-01

Many scholars assert that current parent education practices in Hong Kong are dominated by the transmission perspective. This perspective assumes inadequacies in the knowledge and skills of parents; hence, the goal of parent education appears to be the transmission of facts as well as skills development and values information that prepare children…

49 CFR 1103.3 - Persons not attorneys-at-law-qualifications and requirements for practice before the Board.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... secondary education and must possess technical knowledge, training or experience in the field of transportation which is regarded by the Board as the equivalent of 2 additional years of college education; (2... transportation for at least one year. An applicant's statement of college education must be supported by a...

The Role of Field Experience in the Preparation of Reflective Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liakopoulou, Maria

2012-01-01

A basic condition for teachers developing their personal theory about teaching and utilising their knowledge in practice and perceiving and managing the complexity of the teaching process, is their ability to analyse the teaching process and to reflect on it. The research data presented in this article comes from research carried out, during which…

Standard precautions and infection control, medical students' knowledge and behavior at a Saudi university: the need for change.

PubMed

Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Al Noaim, Khalid Ibrahim; Bu Saad, Mohammed Ahmed; Al Malhm, Turki Ahmed; Al Mulhim, Abdullah Abdulaziz; Al Awas, Marwah Abdulaziz

2013-04-21

No previous studies have reported the knowledge of Saudi medical students about Standard Precautions (SPs) and infection control. The objectives of this study were to assess medical students' knowledge in clinical years at King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia about SPs' and to explore their attitudes toward the current curricular/training in providing them with effective knowledge and necessary skills with regard to SPs. This cross sectional study targeted students in clinical stage at College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. A pre-tested anonymous self administered data collection form was used. Inquires about students' characteristics, general concepts of infection control/SPs, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, sharp injuries and disposal, and care of health providers were included. The main source of information for each domain was also inquired. The second part dedicated to explore the attitudes toward the curricular and teaching relevant to SPs. A total of 251 students were included. Knowledge scores in all domains were considerably low, 67 (26.7%) students scored ? 24 (out of 41points) which was considered as an acceptable level of knowledge, 22.2% in 4th year, 20.5% in 5th year and 36.8% in 6th year. Sharp injuries, personal protective equipment and health care of the providers showed the least knowledge scores. The main sources of knowledge were self learning, and informal bed side practices The majority of students' believed that the current teaching and training are insufficient in providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills regarding SPs. The overall knowledge scores for SPs were low especially in the domains of hand hygiene, sharp management, and personal protective equipment reflecting insufficient and ineffective instructions received by medical students through the current curriculum posing them vulnerable to health facilities related infections. Proper curricular reform and training are required to protect students and their patients.

Mental health promotion competencies in the health sector in Finland: a qualitative study of the views of professionals.

PubMed

Tamminen, Nina; Solin, Pia; Stengård, Eija; Kannas, Lasse; Kettunen, Tarja

2017-07-01

In this study, we aimed to investigate what competencies are needed for mental health promotion in health sector practice in Finland. A qualitative study was carried out to seek the views of mental health professionals regarding mental health promotion-related competencies. The data were collected via two focus groups and a questionnaire survey of professionals working in the health sector in Finland. The focus groups consisted of a total of 13 professionals. Further, 20 questionnaires were received from the questionnaire survey. The data were analysed using the qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH, Berlin. A content analysis was carried out. In total, 23 competencies were identified and clustered under the categories of theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and personal attitudes and values. In order to promote mental health, it is necessary to have a knowledge of the principles and concepts of mental health promotion, including methods and tools for effective practices. Furthermore, a variety of skills-based competencies such as communication and collaboration skills were described. Personal attitudes and values included a holistic approach and respect for human rights, among others. The study provides new information on what competencies are needed to plan, implement and evaluate mental health promotion in health sector practice, with the aim of contributing to a more effective workforce. The competencies provide aid in planning training programmes and qualifications, as well as job descriptions and roles in health sector workplaces related to mental health promotion.

Perception of professional ethics by Iranian occupational therapists working with children

PubMed Central

Kalantari, Minoo; Kamali, Mohammad; Joolaee, Soodabeh; Rassafiani, Mehdi; Shafarodi, Narges

2015-01-01

Ethics are related to the structure and culture of the society. In addition to specialized ethics for every profession, individuals also hold their own personal beliefs and values. This study aimed to investigate Iranian occupational therapists’ perception of ethical practice when working with children. For this purpose, qualitative content analysis was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten occupational therapists in their convenient place and time. Each interview was transcribed and double-checked by the research team. Units of meaning were extracted from each transcription and then coded and categorized accordingly. The main categories of ethical practice when working with children included personal attributes, responsibility toward clients, and professional responsibility. Personal attributes included four subcategories: veracity, altruism, empathy, and competence. Responsibility toward clients consisted of six subcategories: equality, autonomy, respect for clients, confidentiality, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Professional responsibility included three subcategories: fidelity, development of professional knowledge, and promotion and growth of the profession. Findings of this study indicated that in Iran, occupational therapists’ perception of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, fidelity and competence is different from Western countries, which may be due to a lower knowledge of ethics and other factors such as culture. The results of this study may be used to develop ethical codes for Iranian occupational therapists both during training and on the job. PMID:27354897

Knowledge and use of prevention measures for chikungunya virus among visitors — Virgin Islands National Park, 2015

PubMed Central

Cherry, Cara C.; Beer, Karlyn D.; Fulton, Corey; Wong, David; Buttke, Danielle; Staples, J. Erin; Ellis, Esther M.

2016-01-01

Summary Background In June 2014, the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) emerged in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), a location where tourists comprise the majority of the population during peak season (January–April). Limited information is available concerning visitors’ CHIKV awareness and prevention measures. Methods We surveyed a convenience sample of Virgin Islands National Park visitors aged ≥18 years. Respondents completed a questionnaire assessing CHIKV knowledge, attitudes, and practices; health information-seeking practices; and demographics. Results Of 783 persons contacted, 443 (57%) completed the survey. Fewer than half (208/441 [47%]) were aware of CHIKV. During trip preparation, 28% of respondents (126/443) investigated USVI-specific health concerns. Compared with persons unaware of CHIKV, CHIKV-aware persons were more likely to apply insect repellent (134/207 [65%] versus 111/231 [48%]; p < 0.001), wear long-sleeves and long pants (84/203 [41%] versus 57/227 [25%]; p < 0.001), and wear insect repellent-treated clothing (36/204 [18%] versus 22/227 [10%]; p = 0.02). Conclusions The majority of visitors surveyed did not research destination-related health concerns and were unaware of CHIKV. However, CHIKV awareness was associated with using multiple prevention measures to reduce disease risk. These findings underscore the importance of providing tourists with disease education upon destination arrival. PMID:27597388

Design of Mobile Augmented Reality in Health Care Education: A Theory-Driven Framework.

PubMed

Zhu, Egui; Lilienthal, Anneliese; Shluzas, Lauren Aquino; Masiello, Italo; Zary, Nabil

2015-09-18

Augmented reality (AR) is increasingly used across a range of subject areas in health care education as health care settings partner to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice. As the first contact with patients, general practitioners (GPs) are important in the battle against a global health threat, the spread of antibiotic resistance. AR has potential as a practical tool for GPs to combine learning and practice in the rational use of antibiotics. This paper was driven by learning theory to develop a mobile augmented reality education (MARE) design framework. The primary goal of the framework is to guide the development of AR educational apps. This study focuses on (1) identifying suitable learning theories for guiding the design of AR education apps, (2) integrating learning outcomes and learning theories to support health care education through AR, and (3) applying the design framework in the context of improving GPs' rational use of antibiotics. The design framework was first constructed with the conceptual framework analysis method. Data were collected from multidisciplinary publications and reference materials and were analyzed with directed content analysis to identify key concepts and their relationships. Then the design framework was applied to a health care educational challenge. The proposed MARE framework consists of three hierarchical layers: the foundation, function, and outcome layers. Three learning theories-situated, experiential, and transformative learning-provide foundational support based on differing views of the relationships among learning, practice, and the environment. The function layer depends upon the learners' personal paradigms and indicates how health care learning could be achieved with MARE. The outcome layer analyzes different learning abilities, from knowledge to the practice level, to clarify learning objectives and expectations and to avoid teaching pitched at the wrong level. Suggestions for learning activities and the requirements of the learning environment form the foundation for AR to fill the gap between learning outcomes and medical learners' personal paradigms. With the design framework, the expected rational use of antibiotics by GPs is described and is easy to execute and evaluate. The comparison of specific expected abilities with the GP personal paradigm helps solidify the GP practical learning objectives and helps design the learning environment and activities. The learning environment and activities were supported by learning theories. This paper describes a framework for guiding the design, development, and application of mobile AR for medical education in the health care setting. The framework is theory driven with an understanding of the characteristics of AR and specific medical disciplines toward helping medical education improve professional development from knowledge to practice. Future research will use the framework as a guide for developing AR apps in practice to validate and improve the design framework.

Design of Mobile Augmented Reality in Health Care Education: A Theory-Driven Framework

PubMed Central

Lilienthal, Anneliese; Shluzas, Lauren Aquino; Masiello, Italo; Zary, Nabil

2015-01-01

Background Augmented reality (AR) is increasingly used across a range of subject areas in health care education as health care settings partner to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice. As the first contact with patients, general practitioners (GPs) are important in the battle against a global health threat, the spread of antibiotic resistance. AR has potential as a practical tool for GPs to combine learning and practice in the rational use of antibiotics. Objective This paper was driven by learning theory to develop a mobile augmented reality education (MARE) design framework. The primary goal of the framework is to guide the development of AR educational apps. This study focuses on (1) identifying suitable learning theories for guiding the design of AR education apps, (2) integrating learning outcomes and learning theories to support health care education through AR, and (3) applying the design framework in the context of improving GPs’ rational use of antibiotics. Methods The design framework was first constructed with the conceptual framework analysis method. Data were collected from multidisciplinary publications and reference materials and were analyzed with directed content analysis to identify key concepts and their relationships. Then the design framework was applied to a health care educational challenge. Results The proposed MARE framework consists of three hierarchical layers: the foundation, function, and outcome layers. Three learning theories—situated, experiential, and transformative learning—provide foundational support based on differing views of the relationships among learning, practice, and the environment. The function layer depends upon the learners’ personal paradigms and indicates how health care learning could be achieved with MARE. The outcome layer analyzes different learning abilities, from knowledge to the practice level, to clarify learning objectives and expectations and to avoid teaching pitched at the wrong level. Suggestions for learning activities and the requirements of the learning environment form the foundation for AR to fill the gap between learning outcomes and medical learners’ personal paradigms. With the design framework, the expected rational use of antibiotics by GPs is described and is easy to execute and evaluate. The comparison of specific expected abilities with the GP personal paradigm helps solidify the GP practical learning objectives and helps design the learning environment and activities. The learning environment and activities were supported by learning theories. Conclusions This paper describes a framework for guiding the design, development, and application of mobile AR for medical education in the health care setting. The framework is theory driven with an understanding of the characteristics of AR and specific medical disciplines toward helping medical education improve professional development from knowledge to practice. Future research will use the framework as a guide for developing AR apps in practice to validate and improve the design framework. PMID:27731839

Nurse managers' strategies for feeling less drained by their work: an action research and reflection project for developing emotional intelligence.

PubMed

Taylor, Bev; Roberts, Sue; Smyth, Therese; Tulloch, Moira

2015-10-01

To raise nurse managers' critical awareness of practice problems; uncover practice constraints and improve work effectiveness. Nurse management requires skills and knowledge, underscored by emotional intelligence. The research improved participants' practice and personal insights. Purposive sampling targeted nurse managers interested in improving their practice. Three experienced female nurse managers met fortnightly in a group, for 1 hour, for 10 meetings. The methods included: writing and sharing de-identified journal reflections; critically analysing practice stories; identifying a thematic concern; generating action strategies; and instituting and revising the action plan. Phase One resulted in the identification of the issue of 'being drained by the intensity of nurse managers' work'. The participants adopted five strategies: debriefing problematic situations; deflecting multiple requests; diffusing issues; naming dysfunctional behaviours; and regrouping. In Phase Two, participants implemented and revised the action plan strategies, which resulted in them feeling less drained by their work. Strategies can lessen nurse managers' sense of personal depletion. However, strategies cannot guarantee success every time because the emotional intelligence is integral to nurse management. Action research and reflection assist nurse managers to improve their practice and develop their emotional intelligence. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus co-infection among HIV-seropositive persons attending antiretroviral clinics in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

PubMed

Kye-Duodu, Gideon; Nortey, Priscillia; Malm, Keziah; Nyarko, Kofi Mensah; Sackey, Samuel Oko; Ofori, Sampson; Afari, Edwin Andrews

2016-01-01

Hepatitis B and HIV infections are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. Understanding the extent of the co-infection is critical to the optimal care of persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV). We determined the prevalence and risk factors of HBV co-infection in PLHIV and assessed the knowledge of health care workers (HCW) in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) clinics regarding the co-infection. A cross sectional study was conducted in five ART clinics to obtain data from a systematic random sample of PLHIV in the Eastern region of Ghana from March to June 2012. We used self-administered questionnaires to assess knowledge of HCW on knowledge and management of the co-infection. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used for analysis at 5% significance level. Of 320 PLHIV recruited into study, with median age of 40 years (IQR: 33-50 years), 28 tested positive for HBsAg giving an overall prevalence of 8.8%. There were significant associations between HBV infection and being an adult (p=0.004), increasing serum ALT levels (p=0.002) and partner with history of HBV infection (p=0.010). HCW obtained 84.2% (SD± 20.53; 95% CI: 89-98.1) and 53.1% (SD± 35.06; 95% CI: 13.0-88.9) in the "general knowledge" and "management practice" indexes respectively. Prevalence of HBV-HIV co-infection was relatively high among PLHIV in Eastern region. Knowledge of HCW on management practices of HBV-HIV co-infection and HBV vaccination coverage among PLHIV were found to be relatively low. Regular trainings of HCW and a HBV vaccination programme targeted at PLHIV should be considered.

Benefits, harms and evidence - reflections from UK primary healthcare.

PubMed

McCartney, Margaret

2018-01-01

In this paper I examine the relationship between benefits, harms and evidence-based medicine in the context of British primary healthcare. First, I will examine: 'What is a benefit and what is a harm?' Second, what should we know about where the balance of risk and benefit appear to lie? Third, what should we do with this knowledge, particularly in the context of the biopsychosocial gaze of primary care? I conclude that even perfect knowledge about benefits and harms requires to be translated in the context of the individual patient: it also requires to be interpreted according to what that persons' wishes are. By reiterating again and again how biases are stacked in favour of recommending treatments and interventions well beyond their rational evidence, my hope is that more honest medicine will result in less but higher value medicine. Stopping doing things that don't work, or work rarely, or come with an unacceptable burden of side effects or appointments should make room for the pleasure of practicing medicine. •Even perfect knowledge about benefits and harms requires to be translated in the context of the individual patient: it also requires to be interpreted according to what that persons' wishes are.•In the real, messy frontline world of general practice, we will always have uncertainty about where the balance of risk and benefit might lie.

Determinants of personal and household hygiene among college students in New York City, 2011.

PubMed

Miko, Benjamin A; Cohen, Bevin; Conway, Laurie; Gilman, Allan; Seward, Samuel L; Larson, Elaine

2012-12-01

Although several studies have characterized the hygiene habits of college students, few have assessed the determinants underlying such behaviors. Our study sought to describe students' knowledge, practices, and beliefs about hygiene and determine whether there is an association between reported behaviors and frequency of illness. A sample of 299 undergraduate students completed a questionnaire assessing demographics, personal and household hygiene behaviors, beliefs and knowledge about hygiene, and general health status. Variation in reported hygiene habits was noted across several demographic factors. Women reported "always" washing their hands after using the toilet (87.1%) more than men (65.3%, P = .001). Similarly, freshmen reported such behavior (80.4%) more than sophomores (71.9%), juniors (67.7%), or seniors (50%, P = .011). Whereas 96.6% of participants thought that handwashing was either "very important" or "somewhat important" for preventing disease, smaller proportions thought it could prevent upper respiratory infections (85.1%) or gastroenteritis (48.3%), specifically. There was no significant relationship between reported behaviors and self-reported health status. The hygiene habits of college students may be motivated by perceptions of socially acceptable behavior rather than scientific knowledge. Interventions targeting the social norms of incoming and continuing students may be effective in improving hygiene determinants and ultimately hygiene practices. Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring cases of practical wisdom (phronesis) in postsecondary teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connolly, Mark R.

Despite growing interest in improving postsecondary teaching over the past two and a half decades, evidence suggests that these efforts have not made much difference in faculty teaching practices and their effects on student learning. One purported reason for this lack of success is that postsecondary instructors are not formally trained as teachers and instead base their teaching approach on personal, non-scientific forms of knowledge---namely, emulation, trial-and-error, and habit. The prevailing view in higher education holds that postsecondary instructors should learn to teach through the proper application of scientifically derived theory to practice, and that the best source of knowledge about effective teaching practices is education researchers rather than the instructors themselves. In contrast to this modernist view about pedagogical knowledge, this thesis argues that teaching should be viewed instead as what Aristotle called praxis (morally appropriate action), for which phronesis, or practical-moral judgment, is held as the most important form of pedagogical reasoning and knowledge. On this view, good teaching combines practical knowledge of certain educational "goods" or values with sound judgment about what, in a particular situation, constitutes an appropriate expression of those values. To illustrate how teaching is an activity dependent upon practical-moral judgment, the study investigated teaching-related dilemmas of three science professors at a research-extensive university through classroom observations and interviews. An analytic lens of agency stances (Pendlebury, 1995) used the interplay between the respondents' teaching-related aims and the particulars of the "problem" at hand as a way of discerning instances when respondents took a phronesic (practical-moral) stance to their teaching. The study suggested that the three respondents took different approaches to making sense of contextual particularities and balancing competing teaching-related ends. To help those who view teaching as an instrumental, technical activity move toward a notion of teaching being primarily a practical-moral activity, the different purposes of means-end reasoning and practical-moral judgment must be made explicit. Current approaches to improving postsecondary teaching, such as the scholarship of teaching and learning, can be leveraged as sites for the exercise and cultivation of phronesis.

Nurse competence: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Smith, Sarah A

2012-10-01

  The purpose of this analysis was to explore the concept of nurse competence.   Data sources include EBSCOhost, Gale PowerSearch, ProQuest, PubMed Medline, Google Scholar, and Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.   This paper utilizes Rodgers' evolutionary method to analyze the concept of nurse competence.   Antecedents to nurse competence include personal and external motivations. Attributes include integrating knowledge into practice, experience, critical thinking, proficient skills, caring, communication, environment, motivation, and professionalism. Consequences include confidence, safe practice, and holistic care. Implications for nursing responsibility regarding defining nurse competence and ensuring nurse competence need to be identified. More research is needed to determine the best evaluation methods for the different facets of nurse competence. © 2012, The Author. International Journal of Nursing Knowledge © 2012, NANDA International.

Application of artificial intelligence in Geodesy - A review of theoretical foundations and practical examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiterer, Alexander; Egly, Uwe; Vicovac, Tanja; Mai, Enrico; Moafipoor, Shahram; Grejner-Brzezinska, Dorota A.; Toth, Charles K.

2010-12-01

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the key technologies in many of today's novel applications. It is used to add knowledge and reasoning to systems. This paper illustrates a review of AI methods including examples of their practical application in Geodesy like data analysis, deformation analysis, navigation, network adjustment, and optimization of complex measurement procedures. We focus on three examples, namely, a geo-risk assessment system supported by a knowledge-base, an intelligent dead reckoning personal navigator, and evolutionary strategies for the determination of Earth gravity field parameters. Some of the authors are members of IAG Sub-Commission 4.2 - Working Group 4.2.3, which has the main goal to study and report on the application of AI in Engineering Geodesy.

Person-like intelligent systems architectures for robotic shared control and automated operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Jon D.; Aucoin, Paschal J., Jr.; Ossorio, Peter G.

1992-01-01

An approach to rendering robotic systems as 'personlike' as possible to achieve needed capabilities is outlined. Human characteristics such as knowledge, motivation, know-how, performance, achievement and individual differences corresponding to propensities and abilities can be supplied, within limits, with computing software and hardware to robotic systems provided with sufficiently rich sensory configurations. Pushing these limits is the developmental path for more and more personlike robotic systems. The portions of the Person Concept that appear to be most directly relevant to this effort are described in the following topics: reality concepts (the state-of-affairs system and descriptive formats, behavior as intentional action, individual persons (person characteristics), social patterns of behavior (social practices), and boundary conditions (status maxims). Personlike robotic themes and considerations for a technical development plan are also discussed.

Patients' and nurses' experiences of delirium: a review of qualitative studies.

PubMed

Bélanger, Louise; Ducharme, Francine

2011-01-01

Knowledge of delirium accumulated over the past two decades has focused more on its characteristics, pathophysiology, incidence, aetiology and prognosis as well as interventions for preventing, detecting, evaluating or managing this syndrome and less so on how patients and nurses who care for them experience it. To present the state of knowledge derived from qualitative studies of the experiences of persons who suffered delirium and of nurses who cared for them to guide critical care practice. Delirious patients experience incomprehension and various feelings of discomfort. Understanding, support, believing what they are experiencing, explanations, the presence of family/friends and the possibility of talking about the lived experience are interventions that might help them get through such episodes more easily. Nurses who tend to delirious patients fail to comprehend the utterances and behaviours of the persons cared for and experience various feelings of discomfort as well. Nevertheless, they intervene following different goals and intervention strategies that seem to vary as a function of their culture and values. Qualitative studies conducted on persons who suffered delirium and on nurses who cared for them have shed light on their lived experience and provide insight on how to improve critical care practice. The findings suggest that nurses must acknowledge the lived experience of the persons cared for and they must seek out the meaning that patients ascribe to this experience to understand the situation and thus conduct interventions that meet the needs expressed. © 2011 The Authors. Nursing in Critical Care © 2011 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

A discourse on the nature of dental hygiene knowledge and knowing.

PubMed

Cobban, S J; Edgington, E M; Myrick, F; Keenan, L

2009-02-01

Historically, dental hygiene has adopted theory and research from other health disciplines, without adequately modifying these concepts to reflect the unique dental hygiene practice context, leaving dental hygiene's research and theory base underdeveloped. Dental hygiene has yet to articulate its epistemological assumptions--the nature, scope and object of dental hygiene knowledge--or to fully describe the patterns of knowing that are brought to practice. This paper uses a method of inquiry from philosophy to begin the discourse about dental hygiene ways of knowing. In nursing, Carper identified four fundamental patterns of knowing: empirics or the science of nursing; aesthetics or the art of nursing; personal knowledge and ethical or moral knowledge. These patterns were used to explore this concept within dental hygiene. There is more to the nature of dental hygiene knowledge and knowing than rote application of technique-related or research-based information in practice, including judgements about when and how to use different types of information that are used. Currently, empirical forms of knowledge seem to be disproportionately valued, yet evidence was found for all of Carper's four patterns of knowing. Carper's work on patterns of knowing in nursing provided a useful framework to initiate the discourse on ways of knowing in dental hygiene. These results are submitted for others to challenge, refine and extend, for continuing the discussion. Dental hygiene leaders and scholars need to engage in discourse about extending the epistemological assumptions to reflect reality.

Advancing affective attributes and empowering undergraduate students--lessons learned from the Bali bombing.

PubMed

Hanson, Julie

2011-11-01

Caring as an integral component in the nursing curriculum is enjoying a resurgence in the literature of late. The argument is that nursing education has tended to overemphasise the cognitive domain and under emphasise the affective. An alternative is to use the combined effect of cognition, imagination, intuition and emotion. This is supported by the theory of transformational learning, whereby students clarify their personal and professional purpose in life and are empowered to become informed, self-efficacious practitioners and autonomous thinkers as they negotiate personal values and meaning. In order to integrate these important theoretical concepts into everyday practice, educators need practical examples and case studies that show how caring is taught. This paper continues the conversation on narrative and transformational learning pedagogies and illustrates how affective attributes are developed through a single lecture. The aim of the lecture was to sensitise students to the human impact of terrorism and violence and the effects on both health care workers and the survivors of trauma. The rationale was that by allowing students to critically reflect on their own core knowledge and skills, they could question prior perceptions of their role, resulting in a revised or new perspective of those experiences and strengthen their belief in their abilities to cope in crisis situations. This transformative approach involved the delivery of knowledge and theory underpinning disaster response, personal narratives about a critical learning event that embodied clinically relevant lessons, activities that promoted critical self-reflection to strengthen students' beliefs in their own ability to cope by converting core knowledge into action and, finally student evaluation of the lesson (see Table 1). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How students perceive medical competences: a cross-cultural study between the medical course in Portugal and African Portuguese speaking countries.

PubMed

Barbosa, Joselina; Severo, Milton; Fresta, Mário; Ismail, Mamudo; Ferreira, Maria Amélia; Barros, Henrique

2011-05-25

A global effort has been made in the last years to establish a set of core competences that define the essential professional competence of a physician. Regardless of the environment, culture or medical education conditions, a set of core competences is required for medical practice worldwide. Evaluation of educational program is always needed to assure the best training for medical students and ultimately best care for patients. The aim of this study was to determine in what extent medical students in Portugal and Portuguese speaking African countries, felt they have acquired the core competences to start their clinical practice. For this reason, it was created a measurement tool to evaluate self-perceived competences, in different domains, across Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking African medical schools. The information was collected through a questionnaire that defines the knowledge, attitudes and skills that future doctors should acquire. The Cronbach's Alpha and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. In order to remove possible confounding effect, individual scores were standardized by country. The order of the domain's scores was similar between countries. After standardization, Personal Attitudes and Professional Behavior showed median scores above the country global median and Knowledge alone showed median score below the country global median. In Portugal, Clinical Skills showed score below the global median. In Angola, Clinical Skills and General Skills showed a similar result. There were only significant differences between countries in Personal Attitudes (p < 0.001) and Professional Behavior (p = 0.043). The reliability of the instrument in Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking African medical schools was confirmed. Students have perceived their level of competence in personal attitudes in a high level and in opposite, knowledge and clinical skills with some weaknesses.

Personalized Knowledge Transfer for Caregiving Relatives.

PubMed

Wolff, Dominik; Behrends, Marianne; Gerlach, Mario; Kupka, Thomas; Marschollek, Michael

2018-01-01

Caregiving relatives have to manage very diverse tasks and need a lot of care-relevant knowledge. For most of them it is not easy to find the knowledge required. Thus, a personalized knowledge transfer for caregiving relatives is necessary. Against this background, methods to determine the personal relevance and importance of knowledge resources for caregiving relatives are developed. To evaluate these methods, an exemplary fictitious person is created by experts in Nursing Science. In this evaluation, the approach's results are compared with an expert opinion. The approach indicates that a personalized knowledge transfer is possible, providing caregiving relatives with necessary care knowledge according to their personal life situation.

Three visions of doctoring: a Gadamerian dialogue.

PubMed

Chin-Yee, Benjamin; Messinger, Atara; Young, L Trevor

2018-04-16

Medicine in the twenty-first century faces an 'identity crisis,' as it grapples with the emergence of various 'ways of knowing,' from evidence-based and translational medicine, to narrative-based and personalized medicine. While each of these approaches has uniquely contributed to the advancement of patient care, this pluralism is not without tension. Evidence-based medicine is not necessary individualized; personalized medicine may be individualized but is not necessarily person-centered. As novel technologies and big data continue to proliferate today, the focus of medical practice is shifting away from the dialogic encounter between doctor and patient, threatening the loss of humanism that many view as integral to medicine's identity. As medical trainees, we struggle to synthesize medicine's diverse and evolving 'ways of knowing' and to create a vision of doctoring that integrates new forms of medical knowledge into the provision of person-centered care. In search of answers, we turned to twentieth-century philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, whose unique outlook on "health" and "healing," we believe, offers a way forward in navigating medicine's 'messy pluralism.' Drawing inspiration from Gadamer's emphasis on dialogue and 'practical wisdom' (phronesis), we initiated a dialogue with the dean of our medical school to address the question of how medical trainees and practicing clinicians alike can work to create a more harmonious pluralism in medicine today. We propose that implementing a pluralistic approach ultimately entails 'bridging' the current divide between scientific theory and the practical art of healing, and involves an iterative and dialogic process of asking questions and seeking answers.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among Members of Households Actively Monitored or Quarantined to Prevent Transmission of Ebola Virus Disease - Margibi County, Liberia: February-March 2015.

PubMed

Wilken, Jason A; Pordell, Paran; Goode, Brant; Jarteh, Rachel; Miller, Zayzay; Saygar, Benjamin G; Maximore, Leroy; Borbor, Watta M; Carmue, Moses; Walker, Gregory W; Yeiah, Adolphus

2017-12-01

In early 2015, a patient from a cluster of cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Monrovia, Liberia traveled to a rural village in Margibi County, potentially exposing numerous persons. The patient died in the village and post-mortem testing confirmed Ebola Virus infection. Problem The Margibi County Health Team (CHT; Kakata, Margibi, Liberia) needed to prevent further transmission of EVD within and outside of the affected villages, and they needed to better understand the factors that support or impede compliance with measures to stop the spread of EVD. In February-March 2015, the Margibi CHT instituted a 21-day quarantine and active monitoring for two villages where the patient had contact with numerous residents, and a 21-day active monitoring for five other villages where the patient had possible contact with an unknown number of persons. One contact developed EVD and quarantine was extended an additional 12 days in one village. In April 2015, the Margibi CHT conducted a household-based EVD knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) survey of the seven villages. From April 24-29, 2015, interview teams approached every household in the seven villages and collected information on demographics, knowledge of EVD, attitudes about quarantine to prevent the spread of EVD, and their quarantine experiences and practices. Descriptive statistics were calculated. One hundred fifteen interviews were conducted, representing the majority of the households in the seven villages. Most (99%) correctly identified touching an infected person's body fluids and contact with the body of someone who has died from EVD as transmission routes. However, interviewees sometimes incorrectly identified mosquito bites (58%) and airborne spread (32%) as routes of EVD transmission, and 72% incorrectly identified the longest EVD incubation period as ≤seven days. Eight of 16 households in the two quarantined villages (50%) reported times when there was not enough water or food during quarantine. Nine of 16 (56%) reported that a household member had illnesses or injuries during quarantine; of these, all (100%) obtained care from a clinic, hospital, or Ebola treatment unit (ETU). Residents' knowledge of EVD transmission routes and incubation period were suboptimal. Public health authorities should consider assessing residents' understanding of Ebola transmission routes and effectively educate them to ensure correct understanding. Quarantined residents should be provided with sufficient food, water, and access to medical care. Wilken JA , Pordell P , Goode B , Jarteh R , Miller Z , Saygar BG Sr. , Maximore L , Borbor WM , Carmue M , Walker GW , Yeiah A . Knowledge, attitudes, and practices among members of households actively monitored or quarantined to prevent transmission of Ebola Virus Disease - Margibi County, Liberia: February-March 2015. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(6):673-678.

Australian general practitioners' knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breastfeeding

PubMed Central

Usherwood, Tim

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices of established general practitioners (GPs) in relation to breastfeeding. 10 GPs in the Australian Nepean Blue Mountains Health District were interviewed and the interviews transcribed and analyzed thematically. Emergent themes from each interview were identified and then compared between and across the 10 interviews. Five themes emerged following the analysis: breastfeeding knowledge and training; attitudes towards breastfeeding; GPs’ role in relation to breast feeding; GPs’ practices; influence of male gender. All the GPs interviewed had positive attitudes towards breastfeeding, however they were often lacking in knowledge and conviction to be able to provide strong support to women during their breastfeeding journey. Some reported ambivalence in their encouragement of breastfeeding due to their desire to maintain a good relationship with women who chose not to feed this way. Nine of the GPs had little or no formal breastfeeding training and relied mainly on personal experience. Their clinics did not provide formal breastfeeding support including a written breastfeeding friendly policy and most GPs were not proactive in creating such an environment. We hope that the results from this study will assist in developing breastfeeding policies and professional education to support GPs in this role. PMID:29489841

Knowledge and Practice of Junior and Senior High School Students Regarding Violent Behaviors in Isfahan Province

PubMed Central

Omidi, Razieh; Heidari, Kamal; Ramezani, Arash; Amini, Maryam; Kamrooz, Shiva; Farajzadegan, Ziba; Pashmi, Rezvan; Fatemi, Seyyed Azim; Bagheri, Saeed; Salimi, Abolfazl; Babak, Anahita

2014-01-01

Background: Considering the importance of anger, aggression, violence and other misbehaviours in schoolchildren education, the present study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and practice of students in Isfahan province regarding violence, in order to figure out the required interventions for violence-reduction. Methods: In a survey during 2008-2009, 5500 junior and senior high school students of Isfahan province were assessed in a multistage sampling process to determine their level of knowledge about various types of violent behaviors, causes of violence, its consequences, and preventive behaviors. Validity and reliability of the data collection tool (questionnaire) were assessed. Results: The study revealed that the mean scores of violent behaviors knowledge, knowledge of violent behavior outcomes, and knowledge of violence preventive behaviors, were 6.6 ± 2.1, 5.5 ± 1.9, and 4.7 ± 1.3, respectively. Sources of violent behaviors in 92% of urban students and 89% of rural students were personal reasons and family behaviors, and 85% of urban and 88% of rural students considered mass media and computer games blameworthy, and the differences were statistically significant in all cases (P < 0.0001). In terms of practice, overall, 69.7% of girls and 84.2% of boys had violent behaviors. Physical and verbal violence were 31.3% and 40.7%in girls, and 66% and 52.8% in boys, respectively (intersexes P values were P < 0.001 and P = 0.7 respectively, and intra-sex P value was P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Results showed that girls and city dwellers were more aware of recognizing violent behaviors, outcomes, and causes, compared with boys and villagers, and in terms of general practice, violence was observed among boys more than girls. Further complementary studies in this area seem required. PMID:26157562

Universal precautions training of preclinical students: impact on knowledge, attitudes, and compliance.

PubMed

Diekema, D J; Schuldt, S S; Albanese, M A; Doebbeling, B N

1995-11-01

Little information exists regarding the impact of universal precautions training programs on preclinical students' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. We developed, implemented, and assessed an educational program in universal precautions for 2nd-year medical and preclinical physician assistant students. Students (n = 170) completed pre- and post-training questionnaires to assess universal precautions knowledge and to evaluate attitudes about their perceived risk for bloodborne pathogen infection, the importance of universal precautions procedures, and their willingness to provide care for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients. Phlebotomy, intravenous catheter insertion, and arterial blood gas sampling techniques were demonstrated, practiced, and evaluated during practical training sessions. Outcome measures included changes in pre- and posttraining knowledge scores and attitudes, as well as observed compliance with universal precautions during practical training. Universal precautions knowledge scores increased significantly after training (P < 0.0001). Personal assessments of the risk of developing HIV due to patient care significantly decreased (P < 0.0001) and willingness to provide care for AIDS patients increased (P = 0.004) following training. Importantly, students reported that high expected rates of contact with HIV-positive and other patient groups would not significantly affect their specialty choice. Observed compliance with universal precautions procedures during practical training ranged from 95 to 99% for glove use, 76 to 77% for direct sharps disposal without needle recapping, and 56 to 78% for handwashing after glove removal during phlebotomy and intravenous catheter insertion. This program is effective in increasing students' knowledge of universal precautions. Training favorably affects students' willingness to care for HIV-positive patients and their assessed risk of developing occupational bloodborne infection.

Knowledge and Practice of Junior and Senior High School Students Regarding Violent Behaviors in Isfahan Province.

PubMed

Omidi, Razieh; Heidari, Kamal; Ramezani, Arash; Amini, Maryam; Kamrooz, Shiva; Farajzadegan, Ziba; Pashmi, Rezvan; Fatemi, Seyyed Azim; Bagheri, Saeed; Salimi, Abolfazl; Babak, Anahita

2014-12-01

Considering the importance of anger, aggression, violence and other misbehaviours in schoolchildren education, the present study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and practice of students in Isfahan province regarding violence, in order to figure out the required interventions for violence-reduction. In a survey during 2008-2009, 5500 junior and senior high school students of Isfahan province were assessed in a multistage sampling process to determine their level of knowledge about various types of violent behaviors, causes of violence, its consequences, and preventive behaviors. Validity and reliability of the data collection tool (questionnaire) were assessed. The study revealed that the mean scores of violent behaviors knowledge, knowledge of violent behavior outcomes, and knowledge of violence preventive behaviors, were 6.6 ± 2.1, 5.5 ± 1.9, and 4.7 ± 1.3, respectively. Sources of violent behaviors in 92% of urban students and 89% of rural students were personal reasons and family behaviors, and 85% of urban and 88% of rural students considered mass media and computer games blameworthy, and the differences were statistically significant in all cases (P < 0.0001). In terms of practice, overall, 69.7% of girls and 84.2% of boys had violent behaviors. Physical and verbal violence were 31.3% and 40.7%in girls, and 66% and 52.8% in boys, respectively (intersexes P values were P < 0.001 and P = 0.7 respectively, and intra-sex P value was P < 0.0001). Results showed that girls and city dwellers were more aware of recognizing violent behaviors, outcomes, and causes, compared with boys and villagers, and in terms of general practice, violence was observed among boys more than girls. Further complementary studies in this area seem required.

Concussion Attitudes and Beliefs, Knowledge, and Clinical Practice: Survey of Physical Therapists.

PubMed

Yorke, Amy M; Littleton, Sheila; Alsalaheen, Bara A

2016-07-01

A concussion is considered a mild traumatic brain injury that may cause physical, cognitive, affective, and sleep dysfunction. Physical therapists have been identified as health care providers involved in the multidisciplinary care of a patient with concussion. The purpose of this study was to describe the current attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, and practice of physical therapists in the treatment of patients with concussion. A 55-question electronic survey divided into 6 sections-(1) demographics, (2) current practice in concussion, (3) youth concussion legislation, (4) attitudes and beliefs toward concussion management, (5) concussion knowledge, and (6) clinical decision making-was developed and distributed online through selected American Physical Therapy Association sections. A total of 1,272 physical therapists completed the survey. Seventy percent of the respondents (n=894) reported having concussion training. Although supportive of the role of the physical therapist in the treatment of a person with concussion, the respondents demonstrated less confidence when making return-to-play decisions. Respondents correctly answered, on average, 13 (out of 15) concussion knowledge questions, with gaps exhibited in understanding the clinical utilization of concussion severity scales, the conservative treatment of youth who sustain a concussion, and anticipated normal computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging after a concussion. When provided with clinical scenarios, respondents were able to recognize when a referral to a physician was indicated; however, they demonstrated variability in identifying a need for vestibular or manual physical therapy. Convenience sampling was utilized, limiting generalizability of the results of the study to the physical therapy profession as a whole. Physical therapists demonstrated a solid foundation of concussion knowledge, but gaps still existed. Future professional development opportunities should be developed to target identified gaps in knowledge and current practice patterns. © 2016 American Physical Therapy Association.

Knowledge and attitudes regarding influenza vaccination among nurses: a research review.

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; While, Alison E; Norman, Ian J

2010-10-18

Influenza vaccination rates among nurses remain suboptimal despite health authority recommendations in many countries and several vaccination campaign programmes to encourage nurses to be vaccinated in many institutions. We reviewed published studies investigating nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards influenza vaccination to establish what is known about the determinants of nurses' influenza vaccination practices. Relevant articles published up to July 2010 were identified through multiple databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, BNI, HMIC, PsycINFO, CMAC, and CNJ) using predetermined search strategies. Review of the titles and abstracts revealed 182 of 254 references were not relevant. Of 45 full papers reviewed, 32 did not report nurse data separately and one was a duplicate report of a study. We included 12 research studies which had investigated the relationship between knowledge and attitudes towards influenza vaccination and nurses' vaccination practices published between 2003 and 2010. All the studies were descriptive and relied upon self-report data. The findings of this review indicate a relationship between knowledge, attitudes and vaccination practices of nurses. There were three main findings: first, there was a strong association between nurses' knowledge of influenza and vaccination and their vaccination status; second, the surveys showed a positive relationship between perceptions of influenza as a serious illness and vaccination as effective and safe and a positive vaccination status; and third, there was a relationship between nurses' vaccination status and their reported promotion of vaccination to their patients. This review indicates that higher knowledge and positive attitudes towards influenza vaccination have a significantly positive association with vaccination coverage among nurses. Further studies are needed to identify influences on nurses' attitudes and practices regarding influenza vaccination and the personal, organizational, and situational factors that influence the uptake of influenza vaccine by nurses. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of online simulation training: Measuring faculty knowledge, perceptions, and intention to adopt.

PubMed

Kim, Sujeong; Park, Chang; O'Rourke, Jennifer

2017-04-01

Best practice standards of simulation recommend standardized simulation training for nursing faculty. Online training may offer an effective and more widely available alternative to in-person training. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study evaluated the effectiveness of an online simulation training program, examining faculty's foundational knowledge of simulation as well as perceptions and intention to adopt. One-group pretest-posttest design. A large school of nursing with a main campus and five regional campuses in the Midwestern United States. Convenience sample of 52 faculty participants. Knowledge of foundational simulation principles was measured by pre/post-training module quizzes. Perceptions and the intention to adopt simulation were measured using the Faculty Attitudes and Intent to Use Related to the Human Patient Simulator questionnaire. There was a significant improvement in faculty knowledge after training and observable improvements in attitudes. Attitudes significantly influenced the intention to adopt simulation (B=2.54, p<0.001). Online simulation training provides an effective alternative for training large numbers of nursing faculty who seek to implement best practice of standards within their institutions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hepatitis B and liver cancer knowledge and preventive practices among Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

PubMed

Wu, Charlotte A; Lin, Steven Y; So, Samuel K; Chang, Ellen T

2007-01-01

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes liver cancer and disproportionately affects the Asian community in the U.S. In order to advance HBV and liver cancer awareness and prevention, it is important to identify existing gaps in knowledge and preventive practices among Asian Americans. Therefore, the authors administered a written questionnaire to 199 adults in the Asian-American community of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Although the majority of adults had at least a college education, knowledge regarding HBV transmission, prevention, symptoms, risks, and occurrence was low. Fewer than 60% reported having been tested for HBV, only 31% reported having been vaccinated against HBV, and only 44% reported having had their children vaccinated. Asians, especially those born in China or Southeast Asia, had significantly poorer knowledge regarding HBV and liver cancer than non-Asians. Those with higher knowledge levels were significantly more likely to have been tested for HBV and to have had their children vaccinated. Younger adults, women, Caucasians, more highly educated individuals, those not born in China or Hong Kong, and those with a personal or family history of liver disease were more likely to have taken preventive action against HBV. Our results suggest that HBV and liver cancer knowledge among Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans, is poor, and that better knowledge is associated with increased preventive practices. Thus, there is a need for increased HBV education and improved community-based interventions to prevent HBV-related liver disease in the high-risk Asian-American community.

Developing measures for information ergonomics in knowledge work.

PubMed

Franssila, Heljä; Okkonen, Jussi; Savolainen, Reijo

2016-03-01

Information ergonomics is an evolving application domain of ergonomics focusing on the management of workload in the real-world contexts of information-intensive tasks. This study introduces a method for the evaluation of information ergonomics in knowledge work. To this end, five key dimensions of information ergonomics were identified: contextual factors of knowledge work, multitasking, interruptions at work, practices for managing information load, and perceived job control and productivity. In total, 24 measures focusing on the above dimensions were constructed. The measures include, for example, the number of fragmented work tasks per work day. The measures were preliminarily tested in two Finnish organisations, making use of empirical data gathered by interviews, electronic questionnaires and log data applications tracking work processes on personal computers. The measures are applicable to the evaluation of information ergonomics, even though individual measures vary with regard to the amount of work and time needed for data analysis. Practitioner Summary: The study introduces a method for the evaluation of information ergonomics in knowledge work. To this end, 24 measures were constructed and tested empirically. The measures focus on contextual factors of knowledge work, multitasking, interruptions at work, practices for managing information load, and perceived job control and productivity.

Information and Communication Technologies, Genes, and Peer-Production of Knowledge to Empower Citizens' Health.

PubMed

Biggeri, Annibale; Tallacchini, Mariachiara

2018-06-01

The different and seemingly unrelated practices of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) used to collect and share personal and scientific data within networked communities, and the organized storage of human genetic samples and information-namely biobanking-have merged with another recent epistemic and social phenomenon, namely scientists and citizens collaborating as "peers" in creating knowledge (or peer-production of knowledge). These different dimensions can be found in joint initiatives where scientists-and-citizens use genetic information and ICT as powerful ways to gain more control over their health and the environment. While this kind of initiative usually takes place only after rights have been infringed (or are put at risk)-as the two cases presented in the paper show-collaborative scientists-and-citizens' knowledge should be institutionally allowed to complement and corroborate official knowledge-supporting policies.

Workplace accommodations for persons with physical disabilities: evidence synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature.

PubMed

Padkapayeva, Kathy; Posen, Andrew; Yazdani, Amin; Buettgen, Alexis; Mahood, Quenby; Tompa, Emile

2017-10-01

To identify and synthesize research evidence on workplace accommodations used by employers to recruit, hire, retain, and promote persons with physical disabilities. A structured search of six electronic journal databases was undertaken to identify peer-reviewed literature on the topic published from January 1990 to March 2016. Articles describing or evaluating workplace disability accommodation policies and practices were given a full-text review. Topic experts were contacted to identify additional studies. Details on specific accommodations described in 117 articles were synthesized and organized into three groups comprised of a total of 12 categories. The majority of studies did not rigorously evaluate effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of the accommodations under study. This evidence synthesis provides an overview of the peer-reviewed literature of value to occupational rehabilitation professionals and employers seeking guidance on workplace accommodation policies and practices for persons with physical disabilities. A wide range of accommodation options is available for addressing physical, social, and attitudinal barriers to successful employment. Besides physical/technological modifications, accommodations to enhance workplace flexibility and worker autonomy and strategies to promote workplace inclusion and integration are important. More comprehensive reporting and evaluations of the effectiveness of accommodations in research literature are needed to develop best practices for accommodating persons with disabilities. Implications for rehabilitation There is a substantial peer-reviewed literature that provides insights into the barriers for persons with physical disabilities and the workplace accommodation practices to address them, though rigorous evaluations of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are uncommon. Attitudinal and social barriers stemming from stereotypes, ignorance and lack of knowledge are as important as physical barriers to employment for persons with physical disabilities. In addition to physical/technological modifications, accommodations to enhance workplace flexibility and autonomy of a worker, as well as strategies to promote workplace inclusion and integration may facilitate successful employment of persons with physical disabilities.

Opening our eyes to a critical approach to medicine: The humanities in medical education.

PubMed

Liao, Lester

2017-02-01

This paper examines a recent medical graduate's perspective on how undergraduate education tends to focus on imparting medical knowledge with little reference to the human aspects in clinical medicine. This is problematic because medicine is both about people and practiced by people. Students often have minimal exposure to the humanities prior to and in medical school and are frequently unaware of the societal trends that impact their view of medical practice. Familiarity with the humanities is a crucial means to understanding human nature, recognizing personal sociocultural biases, and practicing patient-centered medicine. This gap in knowledge may be due to the increase in medical information and optimistic ideologies related to medical progress. Philosophical paradigms and historical examples are considered to demonstrate the relevance of both fields in the humanities in understanding the role of moral human agents in applying medical knowledge. Educational changes in the humanities are proposed as a potential solution to our current deficits. Informal changes include mentorship relationships and shifting the general underpinning attitude in medical culture. Formal changes include specific courses teaching a critical approach to medicine. Changes in competency-based education and admissions are also suggested. These amendments are proposed to practice a fuller, truly human medicine.

[Implementing evidence and implementation research: two different and prime realities].

PubMed

Rumbo Prieto, José María; Martínez Ques, Ángel Alfredo; Sobrido Prieto, María; Raña Lama, Camilo Daniel; Vázquez Campo, Miriam; Braña Marcos, Beatriz

Scientific research can contribute to more efficient health care, enhance care quality and safety of persons. In order for this to happen, the knowledge gained must be put into practice. Implementation is known as the introduction of a change or innovation to daily practice, which requires effective communication and the elimination of barriers that hinder this process. Best practice implementation experiences are being used increasingly in the field of nursing. The difficulty in identifying the factors that indicate the success or failure of implementation has led to increased studies to build a body of differentiated knowledge, recognized as implementation science or implementation research. Implementation research is the scientific study whose objective is the adoption and systematic incorporation of research findings into clinical practice to improve the quality and efficiency of health services. The purpose of implementation research is to improve the health of the population through equitable and effective implementation of rigorously evaluated scientific knowledge, which involves gathering the evidence that has a positive impact on the health of the community. In this text, we set out the characteristics of nursing implementation research, providing a synthesis of different methods, theories, key frameworks and implementation strategies, along with the terminology proposed for greater conceptual clarity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

OPPORTUNITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER

PubMed Central

Truman, Stanley R.

1949-01-01

We believe in the ability of general practice to serve the greatest number of people with the best medical care, most efficiently and most economically. We believe that the physician in general practice receives the utmost in personal satisfaction for a job well done. We believe in the necessity for specialists and hold in high regard and deep admiration their fund of knowledge and fine technical skills. Who would call one branch of medicine more necessary than another? All are necessary, all must be nurtured, each commanding and deserving the respect of the others. PMID:18122336

Astronomy in the Service of Christianity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCluskey, Stephen C.

Medieval European scholars drew on ancient traditions of astronomical knowledge to develop astronomical practices that served the needs of religious institutions by defining the sacred time and sacred space of religious ritual. Techniques employing the luni-solar calendar to determine the date of Easter, observations of the stars and Sun to determine the time of prayer, and orienting churches astronomically to face the symbolically important direction, east, were widely practiced. These varieties of religious astronomy were employed by persons of varying levels of education, working within a variety of contexts.

Consumer-driven health plans: latest challenge to practices' cash flow.

PubMed

Hajny, Tom

2007-01-01

CDHPs are here to stay. Employers welcome CDHPs because they drive costs away from themselves and into the hands of both consumers and provides. The consumer will make medical purchase decisions tempered by personal economic considerations. The providers are left to figure it all out with the hope their cash flow, cost budgets, and customer service will not be negatively impacted. It will not be easy. Practices must become educated on how CDHPs work, become knowledgeable about specific HSA scenarios in their market, develop optimum processes and procedures, and train staff.

Looking in the mirror: Teachers' use of autobiography and action research to improve practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Nancy T.

1996-03-01

This study presents an argument for valuing subjective, reflective knowledge based on Habermas' category of cognitive interest of emancipatory knowing. Using the teachers' autobiographies and action research as data sources, the process of personal empowerment is explored. A model of change derived from analysis of teachers' writings is proposed that includes disturbance, alternatives, confidence and action.

The Moral Dimension of Lifelong Learning: Giddens, Taylor, and the "Reflexive Project of the Self"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Kang; Biesta, Gert

2012-01-01

A key aspect of contemporary lifelong learning theory, policy, and practice is the idea that, because of rapid changes in contemporary societies, there is a constant need for individuals to learn new knowledge and skills in order to adapt themselves to changing conditions. There is, therefore, an increased emphasis on the personal dimension of…

Professional Engagement in Child Protection: Promoting Reflective Practice and Deeper Connection with the Lived Reality for Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Jocelyn

2015-01-01

This paper uses first person inquiry and presentational form to argue the case for a sensory approach to understanding professional connection and disconnection with children who may be being abused. The approach is underpinned by an epistemology or theory of knowledge which stems from a participatory world-view where appearances are not permanent…

How to Be a Wise Consumer of Coaching: Strategies Teachers Can Use to Maximize Coaching's Benefits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yopp, David; Burroughs, Elizabeth A.; Luebeck, Jennifer; Heidema, Clare; Mitchell, Arlene; Sutton, John

2011-01-01

Instructional coaching is gaining popularity as a school-based effort to increase teacher effectiveness and student achievement. A coach can be broadly defined as a person who works collaboratively with a teacher to improve that teacher's practice and content knowledge, with the ultimate goal of affecting student achievement. By its very nature,…

Google It!: Urban Community College Students' Use of the Internet to Obtain Self-Care and Personal Health Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rennis, Lesley; McNamara, Gloria; Seidel, Erica; Shneyderman, Yuliya

2015-01-01

Background: As electronic resources increasingly play a major role in consumer health, eHealth literacy has emerged as a valuable tool to improve and enhance health knowledge and behavior. Yet for some populations, access to health information alone does not lead to better health practices or outcomes. Low income populations increasingly rely on…

Experiencing, Using, and Teaching History: Two History Teachers' Relations to History and Educational Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorp, Robert

2017-01-01

How do two Swedish secondary school teachers relate to and make sense of history via their experiences and educational media? This article seeks to gain knowledge about history education by analyzing two teachers' narratives of their personal experiences of the Cold War and classroom observations of the teachers in practice. The article finds that…

Narratives of Learning: The Personal Portfolio in the Portfolio Approach to Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leslie, Paul; Camargo-Borges, Celiane

2017-01-01

This paper will explore how a portfolio approach to teaching and learning can help the educator incorporate unique forms of reflective practice into his or her daily work. By being able to express ideas more clearly to himself, the educator can better promote the relational construction of knowledge in his educational communities. This paper, as…

Health education and promotion at the site of an emergency: experience from the Chinese Wenchuan earthquake response.

PubMed

Tian, Xiangyang; Zhao, Genming; Cao, Dequan; Wang, Duoquan; Wang, Liang

2016-03-01

Theories and strategies of social mobilization, capacity building, mass and interpersonal communication, as well as risk communication and behavioral change were used to develop health education and promotion campaigns to decrease and prevent injuries and infectious diseases among the survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008. We evaluated the effectiveness of the campaigns and short-term interventions using mixed-methods. The earthquake survivors' health knowledge, skills, and practice improved significantly with respect to injury protection, food and water safety, environmental and personal hygiene, and disease prevention. No infectious disease outbreaks were reported after the earthquake, and the epidemic level was lower than before the earthquake. After a short-term intervention among the students of Leigu Township Primary and Junior School, the proportion of those with personal hygiene increased from 59.7% to 98.3% (p< 0.01). Of the sampled survivors from Wenchuan County, 92.3% reported to have improved their health knowledge and 54.9% improved their health practice (p< 0.01). Thus, health education and promotion during public health emergencies such as earthquakes play an important role in preventing injuries and infectious diseases among survivors. © The Author(s) 2014.

Knowledge, language and subjectivities in a discourse community: Ideas we can learn from elementary children about science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurth, Lori Ann

2000-10-01

In light of continuing poor performance by American students in school science, feminists and sociocultural researchers have demonstrated that we need to look beyond content to address the science needs of all school children. In this study I examined issues of discourse norms, knowledge, language and subjectivities (meaning personal and social observations and characteristics) in elementary science. Over a two-year period, I used an interpretive methodological approach to investigate science experiences in two first-second and second grade classrooms. I first established some of the norms and characteristics of the discourse communities through case studies of new students attempting to gain entry to whole class conversations. I then examined knowledge, a central focus of science education addressed by a variety of theoretical approaches. In these classrooms students co-constructed and built knowledge in their whole class science conversations sometimes following convergent (similar knowledge) and, at other times, divergent (differing knowledge) paths allowing for broader discourse. In both paths, there was gendered construction of knowledge in which same gender students elaborated the reasoning of previous speakers. In conjunction with these analyses, I examined what knowledge sources the students used in their science conversations. Students drew on a variety of informal and formal knowledge sources including personal experiences, other students, abstract logic and thought experiments, all of which were considered valid. In using sources from both in and out of school, students' knowledge bases were broader than traditional scientific content giving greater access and richness to their conversations. The next analysis focused on students' use of narrative and paradigmatic language forms in the whole class science conversations. Traditionally, only paradigmatic language forms have been used in science classrooms. The students in this study used both narrative and paradigmatic language by drawing on stories of personal experience as well as canonical scientific argument. As had the varied knowledge paths and sources, the use of both language forms contributed to a broader and richer scientific discourse. Finally, in studying students' written discourse through their journals, I found that students had expanded views of science as they incorporated many aspects of their subjective selves including self and human elements, thinking, emotions, etc. in their writing and drawing. The enactment of knowledge, language and subjectivities in these discourse communities was unique, rich and meaningful highlighting a broader, more accessible vision of science. I advocate that knowledge, language and subjectivities should be central concepts in the practices of science communities as demonstrated in these classrooms. In establishing and integrating these concepts, the use of alternative and traditional modes of expression should be supported as both necessary and complementary. Students and teachers must also jointly construct classroom discourse norms, talk and writing in specific ways in order to provide a safe, comfortable and meaningful learning environment. Many teachers, students and scientists would benefit from broader visions of science, which enrich scientific knowledge and practice and engage and value participants from many backgrounds.

Teaching evidence-based practice principles to prepare health professions students for an interprofessional learning experience

PubMed Central

Aronoff, Nell; Stellrecht, Elizabeth; Lyons, Amy G.; Zafron, Michelle L.; Glogowski, Maryruth; Grabowski, Jeremiah; Ohtake, Patricia J.

2017-01-01

Objective: The research assessed online learning modules designed to teach health professions students evidence-based practice (EBP) principles in an interprofessional context across two institutions. Methods: Students from nine health professions at two institutions were recruited to participate in this pilot project consisting of two online learning modules designed to prepare students for an in-person case-based interprofessional activity. Librarians and an instructional designer created two EBP modules. Students’ competence in EBP was assessed before and after the modules as well as after the in-person activity. Students evaluated the online learning modules and their impact on the students’ learning after the in-person session. Results: A total of 39 students from 8 health professions programs participated in the project. Average quiz scores for online EBP module 1 and module 2 were 83% and 76%, respectively. Following completion of the learning modules, adapted Fresno test of competence in EBP scores increased (p=0.001), indicating that the modules improved EBP skill competence. Student evaluations of the learning modules were positive. Students indicated that they acquired new information skills that contributed to their ability to develop a patient care plan and that they would use these information skills in their future clinical practice. Conclusions: Online EBP learning modules were effective in developing EBP knowledge and skills for health professions students. Using the same modules ensured that students from different health professions at different stages of their professional programs had consistent knowledge and enabled each student to fully engage in an interprofessional evidence-based activity. Student feedback indicated the modules were valued and beneficial. PMID:28983201

Factors associated with good TB infection control practices among primary healthcare workers in the Free State Province, South Africa.

PubMed

Engelbrecht, Michelle; Janse van Rensburg, André; Kigozi, Gladys; van Rensburg, Hcj Dingie

2016-11-04

Despite the availability of TB infection control guidelines, and good levels of healthcare worker knowledge about infection control, often these measures are not well implemented. This study sought to determine the factors associated with healthcare workers' good TB infection control practices in primary health care facilities in the Free State Province, South Africa. A cross-sectional self-administered survey among nurses (n = 202) and facility-based community healthcare workers (n = 34) as well as facility observations were undertaken at all 41 primary health care facilities in a selected district of the Free State Province. The majority of respondents were female (n = 200; 87.7 %) and the average age was 44.19 years (standard deviation ±10.82). Good levels of knowledge were recorded, with 42.8 % (n = 101) having an average score (i.e. 65-79 %) and 31.8 % (n = 75) a good score (i.e. ≥ 80 %). Most respondents (n = 189; 80.4 %) had positive attitudes towards TB infection control practices (i.e. ≥ 80 %). While good TB infection control practices were reported by 72.9 % (n = 161) of the respondents (i.e. ≥75 %), observations revealed this to not necessarily be the case. For every unit increase in attitudes, good practices increased 1.090 times (CI:1.016-1.169). Respondents with high levels of knowledge (≥80 %) were 4.029 (CI: 1.550-10.469) times more likely to have good practices when compared to respondents with poor levels of knowledge (<65 %). The study did not find TB/HIV-related training to be a predictor of good practices. Positive attitudes and good levels of knowledge regarding TB infection control were the main factors associated with good infection control practices. Although many respondents reported good infection control practices - which was somewhat countered by the observations - there are areas that require attention, particularly those related to administrative controls and the use of personal protective equipment.

Knowledge of influenza vaccination recommendation and early vaccination uptake during the 2015-16 season among adults aged ≥18years - United States.

PubMed

Lu, Peng-Jun; Srivastav, Anup; Santibanez, Tammy A; Christopher Stringer, M; Bostwick, Michael; Dever, Jill A; Stanley Kurtz, Marshica; Williams, Walter W

2017-08-03

Since 2010, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended that all persons aged ≥6months receive annual influenza vaccination. We analyzed data from the 2015 National Internet Flu Survey (NIFS), to assess knowledge and awareness of the influenza vaccination recommendation and early influenza vaccination coverage during the 2015-16 season among adults. Predictive marginals from a multivariable logistic regression model were used to identify factors independently associated with adults' knowledge and awareness of the vaccination recommendation and early vaccine uptake during the 2015-16 influenza season. Among the 3301 respondents aged ≥18years, 19.6% indicated knowing that influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥6months. Of respondents, 62.3% indicated awareness that there was a recommendation for influenza vaccination, but did not indicate correct knowledge of the recommended age group. Overall, 39.9% of adults aged ≥18years reported having an influenza vaccination. Age 65years and older, being female, having a college or higher education, not being in work force, having annual household income ≥$75,000, reporting having received an influenza vaccination early in the 2015-16 season, having children aged ≤17years in the household, and having high-risk conditions were independently associated with a higher correct knowledge of the influenza vaccination recommendation. Approximately 1 in 5 had correct knowledge of the recommendation that all persons aged ≥6months should receive an influenza vaccination annually, with some socio-economic groups being even less aware. Clinic based education in combination with strategies known to increase uptake of recommended vaccines, such as patient reminder/recall systems and other healthcare system-based interventions are needed to improve vaccination, which could also improve awareness. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Current provision of care for older persons in A & E units in the UK.

PubMed

Howe, C A

1998-10-01

This study investigates the state of care for older persons within Accident and Emergency (A & E) units in the UK. As the proportion of older persons in the population continues to inexorably increase, A & E units will be expected to cope with a greater number of older people than ever before. Are they prepared for this increase, and do they possess the skills, knowledge and environment to care adequately for older people and the many special problems they present? One hundred A & E units were surveyed by a postal questionnaire consisting of a benchmark of best practice deemed by literature search and expert opinion to be important in caring for older persons in A & E. The data produced gives an overall picture of the current provision of care for older persons in A & E units, and indicates to fellow A & E nursing professionals where current performance may be improved.

Sanitation and hygiene practices among primary school learners in Ngamiland district, Botswana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakadu, Olekae T.; Ngwenya, Barbara N.; Phaladze, Nthabiseng A.; Bolaane, Benjamin

2018-06-01

Improved sanitation and personal hygienic practices are considered important towards reducing the risks of spreading communicable diseases and improving public health. Diarrheal related deaths amongst adolescents are reported to be amongst the top ten for the age groups 10-19 year olds and second among the age group 10-14 year olds globally. Primary school learners in developing countries are among the most vulnerable sub-population. These mortalities and illnesses can be reduced by addressing personal hygiene among school children and simultaneously promoting better school attendance and improved learning. In order to facilitate improved health and educational outcomes, it is necessary therefore to effectively address water, sanitation and hygiene matters within the school environment. This study explored hygiene education, personal hygiene practices among learners, environmental sanitation and hygiene within three primary schools in the Ngamiland district, Botswana. From the three schools, a total sample of 285 pupils was selected using proportionate stratified random sampling technique, and 15 teachers purposively selected as key informants. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires with key informants and social survey instrument for learners. Results show that very few learners linked poor hygiene to the following diseases; diarrhea/upset stomach (31.7%); malaria (23%); bilharzia (16.4%), and cholera (14.8%), demonstrating low hygiene knowledge. Hygiene education in schools is infused in the curriculum, and teacher training on hygiene education is only through in-service training workshops. Regarding personal hygiene practices, over 70% of the learners indicated that they 'always' wash their hands before and after eating, with slightly over one-fifth indicating 'sometimes'. Overwhelming majority of learners dispose solid waste in dustbins (99.3%, n = 284), use refuse bags (80.8%, n = 231), open skips (64%, n = 183) and very few throw trash anywhere either on the school compound or classroom (9.1%, n = 26 and 8.7%, n = 25 respectively). The current low levels of hygiene knowledge among learners in the study area has potential to affect learners' performance at school as risky hygiene practices make them vulnerable to contracting infectious diseases and missing school. This prompts the need to think beyond the infusion approach used in schools. Extra-curricular clubs in schools should be established to promote pro-hygiene behaviors and to facilitate adolescence meaningful and sustained participation.

Empowerment and Social Support: Implications for Practice and Programming Among Minority Women with Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Histories.

PubMed

Barringer, Alexandra; Hunter, Bronwyn A; Salina, Doreen D; Jason, Leonard A

2017-01-01

Programs for women with substance abuse and criminal justice histories often incorporate empowerment and social support into service delivery systems. Women's empowerment research has focused on the relationship between women's personal identities and the larger sociopolitical context, with an emphasis on how community-based resources are critical for promoting well-being. Social support often protects against negative outcomes for individuals who live with chronic stress. However, few studies have evaluated community resource knowledge and empowerment among marginalized women or how social support might strengthen or weaken this relationship. This study investigated resource knowledge, social support, and empowerment among 200 minority women in substance abuse recovery who had recent criminal justice involvement. Results indicated that resource knowledge was related to empowerment and belonging social support marginally moderated this relationship. In addition, education level increased and current involvement in the criminal justice system decreased empowerment. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Empowerment and Social Support: Implications for Practice and Programming among Minority Women with Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Histories

PubMed Central

Barringer, Alexandra; Hunter, Bronwyn A.; Salina, Doreen; Jason, Leonard A.

2016-01-01

Programs for women with substance abuse and criminal justice histories often incorporate empowerment and social support into service delivery systems. Women’s empowerment research has focused on the relationship between women’s personal identities and the larger sociopolitical context, with an emphasis on how community based resources are critical for promoting well-being. Social support often protects against negative outcomes for individuals who live with chronic stress. However, few studies have evaluated community resource knowledge and empowerment among marginalized women or how social support might strengthen or weaken this relationship. This study investigated resource knowledge, social support and empowerment among 200 minority women in substance abuse recovery who had recent criminal justice involvement. Results indicated that resource knowledge was related to empowerment and belonging social support marginally moderated this relationship. In addition, education level increased and current involvement in the criminal justice system decreased empowerment. Implications for research, practice and policy are discussed. PMID:27084362

Invisibility, moral knowledge and nursing work in the writings of Joan Liaschenko and Patricia Rodney.

PubMed

Bjorklund, Pamela

2004-03-01

The ethical 'eye' of nursing, that is, the particular moral vision and values inherent in nursing work, is constrained by the preoccupations and practices of the superordinate biomedical structure in which nursing as a practice discipline is embedded. The intimate, situated knowledge of particular persons who construct and attach meaning to their health experience in the presence of and with the active participation of the nurse, is the knowledge that provides the evidence for nurses' ethical decision making. It is largely invisible to all but other nurses. Two nurse researchers, Joan Liaschenko of the University of Minnesota and Patricia Rodney of the University of Victoria, have investigated the ethical concerns of practising nurses and noted in their separate enquiries the invisible nature of critical aspects of nursing work. Noting the similarities in their respective observations, and with the feminist ethics of Margaret Urban Walker as a theoretical framework, this article examines the concept of 'invisibility' as it relates to nursing work and nursing ethics.

The development and practice of forensic podiatry.

PubMed

Vernon, Wesley

2006-01-01

Forensic podiatry is a small, but potentially useful specialty using clinical podiatric knowledge for the purpose of person identification. The practice of forensic podiatry began in the early 1970s in Canada and the UK, although supportive research commenced later in the 1990s. Techniques of forensic podiatry include identification from podiatry records, the human footprint, footwear, and the analysis of gait forms captured on Closed Circuit Television Cameras. The most valuable techniques relate to the comparison of the foot impressions inside shoes. Tools to describe, measure and compare foot impressions with footwear wear marks have been developed through research with potential for further development. The role of forensic podiatrists is of particular value when dealing with variable factors relating to the functioning and the shod foot. Case studies demonstrate the approach of podiatrists, in footwear identification, when comparing exemplar with questioned foot impressions. Forensic podiatry practice should be approached cautiously and it is essential for podiatrists undertaking this type of work to understand the context within which the process of person identification takes place.

The issue of being touched.

PubMed

Solvoll, Betty-Ann; Lindseth, Anders

2016-06-01

The purpose of this empirical paper is to shed light on the phenomenon of being touched in professional care practice. The study has a qualitative design and is a phenomenological hermeneutical exploration based on the story of a care provider. In her story, she describes how her interactions with a substance abuser touched her. The narrative data stems from dialogue with her colleagues and demonstrates a moral appeal and challenge in practical care. Investigations reveal that being touched is about allowing one's self to be awakened by the suffering of others. Being touched by others' suffering thus provides the ability "to see" what is at stake. Identifying with one's suffering and the awareness of what is at risk may be factors that "tip" a person's decision toward acting in the best interest of another person. Being touched may muster an individual's courage to engage in "risk-taking" actions in care. This process paves the way to care and represent essential practical knowledge for health care professionals.

Person-Centeredness in Home- and Community-Based Services and Supports: Domains, Attributes, and Assisted Living Indicators.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Sheryl; Love, Karen; Cohen, Lauren W; Pinkowitz, Jackie; Nyrop, Kirsten A

2014-01-01

As a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) interest in creating a unifying definition of "community living" for its Medicaid Home and Community Based Services and Support (HCBS) programs, it needed clarifying descriptors of person-centered (PC) practices in assisted living to distinguish them from institutional ones. Additionally, CMS's proposed language defining "community living" had the unintended potential to exclude many assisted living communities and disadvantage residents who receive Medicaid. This manuscript describes the consensus process through which clarifying language for "community living" and a framework for HCBS PC domains, attributes, and indicators specific to assisted living were developed. It examines the validity of those domains based on literature review, surveys, and stakeholder focus groups, and identifies nine domains and 43 indicators that provide a foundation for defining and measuring PC practice in assisted living. Ongoing efforts using community-based participatory research methods are further refining and testing PC indicators for assisted living to advance knowledge, operational policies, practices, and quality outcomes.

Developing the knowledge base about carers and personalisation: contributions made by an exploration of carers' perspectives on personal budgets and the carer-service user relationship.

PubMed

Larkin, Mary

2015-01-01

This qualitative study aimed to explore an under-researched issue within the emerging body of research about carers and personalisation - the carer-service user relationship. It was carried out across 11 English local authorities between 2011 and 2012 and focused on the impact of a change in the service user's social care arrangements to a personal budget on this relationship. Using purposive sampling and explicit inclusion criteria, data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 23 carers in long-term dyadic relationships with an adult in receipt of social care who had changed to a personal budget. The interviews explored carers' perceptions of the carer-service user relationship before and after the advent of the personal budget and changes that had occurred. The findings were thematically analysed and reflect the fact that in addition to the effects of the move to a personal budget on the carer-service user relationship, the interviewees talked at length about a range of other effects of this move. Just over half of those interviewed felt that the personal budget had enhanced the carer-service user relationship. The other effects were both positive and negative. Three quarters reported positive outcomes, such as feeling happier, healthier and having more control over their lives. Although two thirds experienced negative feelings about having less involvement in the service user's care, these feelings eased over time and if they had confidence in the quality of the care. Over half found administering the personal budget stressful. Further analysis of these findings showed the study contributes not only to existing knowledge about the carer-service user relationship within personalisation but also to knowledge about the effects of personalisation on carers more generally. It therefore simultaneously develops the emergent knowledge base about carers and personalisation. Recommendations based on this analysis are made about future practice and research. © 2014 The Authors. Health and Social Care in the Community Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Personalized health care and health information technology policy: an exploratory analysis.

PubMed

Wald, Jonathan S; Shapiro, Michael

2013-01-01

Personalized healthcare (PHC) is envisioned to enhance clinical practice decision-making using new genome-driven knowledge that tailors diagnosis, treatment, and prevention to the individual patient. In 2012, we conducted a focused environmental scan and informal interviews with fifteen experts to anticipate how PHC might impact health Information Technology (IT) policy in the United States. Findings indicatedthat PHC has a variable impact on current clinical practice, creates complex questions for providers, patients, and policy-makers, and will require a robust health IT infrastructure with advanced data architecture, clinical decision support, provider workflow tools, and re-use of clinical data for research. A number of health IT challenge areas were identified, along with five policy areas including: interoperable clinical decision support, standards for patient values and preferences, patient engagement, data transparency, and robust privacy and security.

The teacher-disciple tradition and secret teaching in Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Solos, Ioannis; Liang, Yuan; Yue, Guang-xin

2014-01-01

The ancient teacher-disciple tradition is regarded as one of the most celebrated practices within the Chinese medicine world. Such traditions of secrecy, private wisdom and honor are deeply rooted in the theories of Confucianism. This paper only explores the surface of this ancient culture, by investigating relevant popular ancient texts and common Chinese proverbs, as well as utilizing personal experiences, in order to reflect on how the ancient Chinese perceived such practices within their own society and how secret teaching was passed on from teacher to student, including the revelation of secret formulas and their importance and how that tradition differs from our modern-day perspectives. Various rare manuscripts from the author's personal library are employed in order to provide relative examples of the importance of secret knowledge, and how these secrets applied in the traditional healing.

Implementing national guidelines for person-centered care of people with dementia in residential aged care: effects on perceived person-centeredness, staff strain, and stress of conscience.

PubMed

Edvardsson, David; Sandman, P O; Borell, Lena

2014-07-01

Person-centeredness has had substantial uptake in the academic literature on care of older people and people with dementia. However, challenges exist in interpreting and synthesizing the evidence on effects of providing person-centered care, as the person-centered components of some intervention studies are unclear - targeting very different and highly specific aspects of person-centeredness, as well as not providing empirical data to indicate the extent to which care practice was actually perceived to become more person-centered post-intervention. The study employed a quasi-experimental, one-group pre-test-post-test design with a 12-month follow-up to explore intervention effects on person-centeredness of care and the environment (primary endpoints), and on staff strain and stress of conscience (secondary endpoints). The intervention resulted in significantly higher scores on person-centeredness of care at follow-up, and the facility was rated as being significantly more hospitable at follow-up. A significant reduction of staff stress of conscience was also found at follow-up, which suggests that, to a larger extent, staff could provide the care and activities they wanted to provide after the intervention. The results indicated that an interactive and step-wise action-research intervention consisting of knowledge translation, generation, and dissemination, based on national guidelines for care of people with dementia, increased the staff self-reported person-centeredness of care practice, perceived hospitality of the setting, and reduced staff stress of conscience by enabling staff to provide the care and activities they want to provide.

The Effect of AIDS Peer Health Education on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Secondary School Students in Khartoum, Sudan

PubMed Central

Ali, Maha Hamad Mohammed; Osman, Osman Babiker; Ibrahim, Mohamed AE. M.; Ahmed, Waled Amen Mohammed

2015-01-01

Background Peer education seeks to enroll students in persuasive communication programs aiming at AIDS prevention. Providing information about AIDS prevention methods can lead to behavioral change and also a potential reduction in unsafe sexual behavior, particularly among young people. Objective This study aims to assess the role of peer education interventions in improving awareness, attitudes, and practices of secondary school students and peer educators towards AIDS. Methods This is a pre-and post-study. The study was conducted among 400 students who were randomly selected from 10 gender-balanced schools. They received the information from trained peer educators. 200 peers carried out the intervention (20 peers from each school), which was conducted in phases. The intervention required coordinating with official concerned stakeholders, preparing teaching aids, and four days of training workshops for the peer educators. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science program (SPSS). A paired sample t-test was obtained and utilized to interpret the changes observed in pre- and post-intervention knowledge, attitude, and practice. Results The study showed that the intervention program improved participants' knowledge from 75.5% to 83.2%. This improvement was with specific regard to the following: the causative agent of AIDs (p = 0.017), which improved from 77.7% to 81.5%; the spread of HIV through mosquitos (p = 0.001), which showed an increase from 12.7% to 23.8%; the program focused on the concept of the HIV carrier (p = 0.001), and also on the AIDS risk when having multiple sex partners, (p = 0.001), showing an increase of 47.5% to 83.5%. Following the knowledge test, the attitudes of students significantly increased from 70% to 83% with regards to youth vulnerability to HIV (p = 0.001), while scored dropped from 15.7% to 8.5% concerning the topic of HIV voluntary testing (p = 0.001). The practices of students changed from 70% to 83% when prompted about shaking the hands of an HIV infected person and also from 84.8% to 87.7% about sharing food with an HIV infected person (p > 0.05). Conclusion The study concluded that school peer education is an effective approach to inform students of unsafe sexual behavior with regards to HIV/AIDS. It is clear that peer education enables significant improvements to be made with regards to the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the students. PMID:29546131

The Effect of AIDS Peer Health Education on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Secondary School Students in Khartoum, Sudan.

PubMed

Ali, Maha Hamad Mohammed; Osman, Osman Babiker; Ibrahim, Mohamed Ae M; Ahmed, Waled Amen Mohammed

2015-01-01

Peer education seeks to enroll students in persuasive communication programs aiming at AIDS prevention. Providing information about AIDS prevention methods can lead to behavioral change and also a potential reduction in unsafe sexual behavior, particularly among young people. This study aims to assess the role of peer education interventions in improving awareness, attitudes, and practices of secondary school students and peer educators towards AIDS. This is a pre-and post-study. The study was conducted among 400 students who were randomly selected from 10 gender-balanced schools. They received the information from trained peer educators. 200 peers carried out the intervention (20 peers from each school), which was conducted in phases. The intervention required coordinating with official concerned stakeholders, preparing teaching aids, and four days of training workshops for the peer educators. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science program (SPSS). A paired sample t-test was obtained and utilized to interpret the changes observed in pre- and post-intervention knowledge, attitude, and practice. The study showed that the intervention program improved participants' knowledge from 75.5% to 83.2%. This improvement was with specific regard to the following: the causative agent of AIDs ( p = 0.017), which improved from 77.7% to 81.5%; the spread of HIV through mosquitos ( p = 0.001), which showed an increase from 12.7% to 23.8%; the program focused on the concept of the HIV carrier ( p = 0.001), and also on the AIDS risk when having multiple sex partners, ( p = 0.001), showing an increase of 47.5% to 83.5%. Following the knowledge test, the attitudes of students significantly increased from 70% to 83% with regards to youth vulnerability to HIV ( p = 0.001), while scored dropped from 15.7% to 8.5% concerning the topic of HIV voluntary testing ( p = 0.001). The practices of students changed from 70% to 83% when prompted about shaking the hands of an HIV infected person and also from 84.8% to 87.7% about sharing food with an HIV infected person ( p > 0.05). The study concluded that school peer education is an effective approach to inform students of unsafe sexual behavior with regards to HIV/AIDS. It is clear that peer education enables significant improvements to be made with regards to the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the students.

Training and experience of nurses in responding to alcohol misuse in rural communities.

PubMed

Kennedy, Alison J; Mellor, David; McCabe, Marita P; Ricciardelli, Lina A; Brumby, Susan A; Head, Alexandra; Mercer-Grant, Catherine

2013-07-01

Alcohol misuse by farmers continues to challenge rural nurses. This article reports on the experiences of Australian nurses participating in the Alcohol Intervention Training Program (AITP). Qualitative interviews of 15 rural and remote nurses. Semi-structured phone interviews were utilized to assess the response to and implementation of the AITP-an intervention designed to build nurses' knowledge, confidence and skills when responding to alcohol misuse. It comprises practical and theoretical components and was designed for rural and remote settings where nurses encounter alcohol misuse. Nurses found the training provided new-or built on existing-knowledge of alcohol misuse and offered practical hands-on "real life" skills. A range of workplace and personal situations where the content of the training was now being utilized were identified, and future use anticipated. Barriers to using the new knowledge and skills included both rural and generic issues. Constructive feedback to increasingly target the training to rural settings was recommended. The AITP is an effective training program. It can be further tailored to meet common needs of rural and remote nurses working with farmers who misuse alcohol, while recognizing diversity in rural practice. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neurosurgical education: the "other" competencies. The 2003 presidential address.

PubMed

Heros, Roberto C

2003-10-01

In his 2003 Presidential Address to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Dr. Heros discusses his personal additions to the six basic competencies for which all neurosurgical residents must be tested. The basic competencies are as follows: 1) patient care; 2) medical knowledge; 3) practice-based learning and improvement; 4) interpersonal and communication skills; 5) professionalism; and 6) system-based practice. To these, Dr. Heros proposes to add six supplemental competencies: 1) intellectual honesty, which involves frank discussions about patient complications and admissions of the physician's frailties; 2) scholarship--the art and science of medicine, which recognizes the value of evidence-based medicine but does not discount knowledge derived from experience; 3) practicing in a hyperlegalistic society, which involves tailoring informed consent to fit individual patients' circumstances; 4) time- and cost-efficient practices, in which the physician strives to conserve time and resources by forgoing testing that is not strictly necessary, doing only what is needed to return patients to wellness; 5) approach to patients, which entails acknowledging and respecting the dignity of all patients; and 6) pride in being a neurosurgeon, which carries a sense of elitism without arrogance.

The Role of Amateur Astronomy to Outreach Astronomical Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khachatryan, Vachik; Voskanyan, Tsovak

2016-12-01

It is known that in the educational system of republic the astronomy is not taught as a separate subject. Moreover, there are no telescopes in the vast majority of schools. "Goodricke John" NGO of amateur astronomers tries to fill this gap by organizing practical lessons of astronomy in secondary schools. NGO is equipped with high quality portable amateur telescopes and organizes periodic mass observations of planets, Moon, star clusters, nebulae in Yerevan and in regions. In addition, mass observations of rare astronomical phenomena are organized, such as the transit of Venus and Mercury across the disk of the Sun. Being the only NGO of amateur astronomers, it has a goal to contribute to publicizing astronomical knowledge and to ensure the availability of astronomical equipment, telescopes also to those segments of the society who have no opportunity to deal with them, in particular, persons with disabilities, prisoners, persons with disabilities, prisoners, soldiers, children from orphanages, school children and others.

Development process in Africa: Poverty, politics and indigenous knowledge

PubMed Central

Khupe, Watson; Mannan, Hasheem

2014-01-01

Background Persons with disability run the danger of not profiting from the development process due to exclusion from basic services and opportunities. Still, the knowledge base on exclusion mechanisms is relatively weak and there is a danger that important aspects are not addressed as they are hidden behind established understandings that are not critically scrutinised. Objectives The main purpose of this article was to highlight critical thoughts on prevailing knowledge of the relationship between disability and poverty, the policy base for addressing the rights of persons with disability, and culture as a key component in continued discrimination. Method This article aimed at integrating three papers on the above topics presented at the 2011 African Network for Evidence-to-Action on Disability (AfriNEAD) Symposium. The researchers have therefore thoroughly examined and questioned the relationship between disability and poverty, the influence of policy on action, and the role of culture in reproducing injustice. Results The article firstly claims that there are limitations in current data collection practice with regards to analysing the relationship between poverty and disability. Secondly, ambitions regarding inclusion of persons with disability in policy processes as well as in implementation of policies are not necessarily implemented in an optimal way. Thirdly, negative aspects of culture in discrimination and bad treatment of disabled need to be highlighted to balance the discussion on disability and culture. Conclusion A critical view of prevailing understandings of disability and development is key to producing the knowledge necessary to eradicate poverty amongst persons with disability and other vulnerable groups. Not only do we need research that is actually designed to reveal the mechanisms behind the disability–poverty relationship, we need research that is less tied up with broad political agreements that is not necessarily reflecting the realities at ground level. PMID:28730008

`Let your data tell a story:' climate change experts and students navigating disciplinary argumentation in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Elizabeth Mary; McGowan, Veronica Cassone

2017-01-01

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students' development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot enactments of a project-based curriculum focusing on the ecological impacts of climate change. Through the online platform, scientists provided feedback on students' infographics, visual argumentation artifacts that use data to communicate about climate change science. We conceptualize the infographics and professional data sets as boundary objects that supported authentic argumentation practices across classroom and professional contexts, but found that student generated data was not robust enough to cross these boundaries. Analysis of the structure and content of the scientists' feedback revealed that when critiquing argumentation, scientists initiated engagement in multiple scientific practices, supporting a holistic rather than discrete model of practice-based learning. While traditional classroom inquiry has emphasized student experimentation, we found that engagement with existing professional data sets provided students with a platform for developing expertise in systemic scientific practices during argument construction. We further found that many students increased the complexity and improved the visual presentation of their arguments after feedback.

Cognitive IT-systems for big data analysis in medicine.

PubMed

Isakova, J

2015-01-01

Rapid development of medicine requires regular update of clinical data evidence. This task accomplishment requires participation of numerous specialists in evidence-based medicine, who are proficient in various statistical methods and can work with big data analysis tools in biomedical sciences. This, in turn, requires significant time and other resources. Today, at the peak of IT development, cognitive systems in the field of medicine with special technologies of data collection and analysis, is the start of a new trend. The development of cognitive IT system for drug prescription with the potential to analyze automatically the information about drugs effectiveness and safety on the basis of clinical practice experience and scientific data according to evidence levels and patients' personal characteristics. The cognitive system was developed with the use of United Medical Knowledge Base (UMKB). UMKB is a semantic network of medical knowledge, which is structured according to the medical ontologies and the theory of fuzzy logic. UMKB is being filled simultaneously in all the areas of medicine. From one side it is filled by means of the linguistic module analyzing medical texts, from the second side - by academic institutions, from the third side - by the cognitive IT systems with the data from electronic health records (EHRs). Native language of UMKB is Russian. It is designed primarily for use in the Russian clinical practice. However the platform for filling knowledge is multilingual and supports any other languages. This means that the practice of world schools may also be integrated and used in UMKB. The peculiarity lies in the fact that UMKB is presented as a semantic network where biomedical knowledge are structured according to certain medical ontologies (special rules of information storage that carries data: phenomena, processes, simple and complex concepts in medicine, - in the form of interrelated objects). The keystone underlying UMKB is the model of medical knowledge representation, which is able to describe any area of medicine. With the help of this model one can accurately simulate risk factors, etiology, and pathogenesis of a disease (probability, time of development and the sequence of pathological signs at each stage of a disease). While describing pathological and compensatory mechanisms the database provides an opportunity to clarify a lot of conditions that affect this mechanism. It is also simple to simulate structural and functional features of the concept and its relationships (for example, compensatory mechanisms, reflexes, complex anatomical structures, all the features of variant anatomy and other characteristics), which form reactivity and resistance of the organism. All this is very important for cognitive IT systems concerning personalized and evidence-based medicine. When describing medical knowledge there are often situations of uncertainty, lack of sufficiently complete and accurate data on the subject area, poorly understood phenomena, conflicting theories or imprecise concepts. Semantic network of UMKB presents complex relationships among medical concepts characterized by the following features: type and direction of relationship, its weight and value, accuracy and personalization of the weight or value of relationship, date of actualization. Multifactorial influence on the weight or value of relationship, a lot of elementary and intermediate traits that influence weight, the moment of actualization are supported to formalize. United Medical Knowledge Base is a large-scale project, its main goal is to increase the quality and duration of life through personalized care based on evidence that can only be achieved by combining medical big data from various fields of biomedical sciences. On the basis of UMKB a prototype of the cognitive IT system PharmExpert with analytical potential was developed. PharmExpert is a clinical decision support system for drug prescribing, which is integrated into medical information system at health institutions and analyzes electronic health records (EHRs) in any format of the background mode, correcting drug therapy according to personal patient's profile and data about compatibility of the drugs. The system has a very important function - self-learning that will help it to absorb a huge mountain of medical data from routine clinical practice in the nearest future. Now it works on the basis of data from UMKB, handbooks in pharmacology, summaries of medical products characteristics (SmPCs), available reviews of scientific literature and clinical guidelines on drugs interactions and compatibility. In the short term, at the stage of clinical testing, PharmExpert memorizing all the cases of clinical experience and the reaction of the physicians (accepting or ignoring the recommendations of the system), will be able to realize self-learning function by rebuilding ties and remodeling knowledge of the semantic network according to clinical data and generating the best standards of drug therapy taking into account personal characteristics of the patient and levels of data evidence. Working in the background mode is one of the most important advantages of the system. The physician is not asked to enter any additional data beyond that the specialist enters into the EHR on an everyday basis. Now PharmExpert is installed in the medical information systems of the range of clinical centers in the Russian Federation. We developed a prototype of cognitive IT system for drug prescription with the potential to analyze automatically the information about drugs effectiveness and safety on the basis of clinical practice experience and scientific data according to evidence levels and patients' personal characteristics. The system is based on the structured semantic network of medical knowledge from UMKB.

Life-sustaining treatments: what doctors do, what they want for themselves and what elderly persons want.

PubMed

Carmel, S

1999-11-01

In view of the current social dilemmas regarding the use of life-sustaining treatments (LST) at the end of life, the purpose of the study was to reveal sources of interpersonal and intrapersonal conflict among the most involved parties, in a society where open doctor-patient communication about end-of-life treatment is rare. Two comparative analyses were conducted: (a) between physicians' practice and elderly persons' preferences regarding the use of different life-sustaining treatments in different illness conditions, and (b) between physicians' hypothetical practice for an elderly person in a metastatic cancer condition, elderly persons' preferences and physicians' preferences for themselves, should they be in the same illness condition. Data were collected in Israel from 339 physicians working in two medical centers, and from a random sample of 987 elderly persons. Attitudes and practice regarding artificial tube feeding, mechanical ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in three different illness conditions were evaluated by close-ended questions. The findings indicate disagreements between the elderly and the physicians on a number of issues: in general, physicians report that they would use more LST than what the elderly report that they would want. Physicians differentiate among different illness conditions and different LST more than elderly persons do. Physicians are more likely to use artificial feeding than CPR, while elderly persons prefer the use of CPR more than artificial feeding. The comparison of physicians' hypothetical practice, the wishes of the elderly, and physicians' wishes for themselves regarding the use of LST in a metastatic cancer condition, shows that physicians would use LST differently from what the elderly want, and that they want less LST for themselves than they would order for elderly patients. The discrepancies found between the physicians' practice and the elderly persons preferences reflect differences in perceptions of artificial feeding and a lack of public knowledge regarding the effectiveness of CPR. They also reflect differences in attitudes regarding the prolongation of life in various illness conditions. The discrepancy between physicians' practice and their preferences for themselves underscores the personal and professional dilemmas related to these issues, which are faced daily by many physicians, and impede their compassionate behavior toward patients. Increasing the awareness of physicians of such discrepancies, and providing them with appropriate behavioral tools, including communication skills, is a timely need which should be addressed by the medical profession, medical services and medical schools.

The Human Capital of Knowledge Brokers: An analysis of attributes, capacities and skills of academic teaching and research faculty at Kenyan schools of public health.

PubMed

Jessani, Nasreen; Kennedy, Caitlin; Bennett, Sara

2016-08-02

Academic faculty involved in public health teaching and research serve as the link and catalyst for knowledge synthesis and exchange, enabling the flow of information resources, and nurturing relations between 'two distinct communities' - researchers and policymakers - who would not otherwise have the opportunity to interact. Their role and their characteristics are of particular interest, therefore, in the health research, policy and practice arena, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We investigated the individual attributes, capacities and skills of academic faculty identified as knowledge brokers (KBs) in schools of public health (SPH) in Kenya with a view to informing organisational policies around the recruitment, retention and development of faculty KBs. During April 2013, we interviewed 12 academics and faculty leadership (including those who had previously been identified as KBs) from six SPHs in Kenya, and 11 national health policymakers with whom they interact. Data were qualitatively analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to unveil key characteristics. Key characteristics of KBs fell into five categories: sociodemographics, professional competence, experiential knowledge, interactive skills and personal disposition. KBs' reputations benefitted from their professional qualifications and content expertise. Practical knowledge in policy-relevant situations, and the related professional networks, allowed KB's to navigate both the academic and policy arenas and also to leverage the necessary connections required for policy influence. Attributes, such as respect and a social conscience, were also important KB characteristics. Several changes in Kenya are likely to compel academics to engage increasingly with policymakers at an enhanced level of debate, deliberation and discussion in the future. By recognising existing KBs, supporting the emergence of potential KBs, and systematically hiring faculty with KB-specific characteristics, SPHs can enhance their collective human capital and influence on public health policy and practice. Capacity strengthening of tangible skills and recognition of less tangible personality characteristics could contribute to enhanced academic-policymaker networks. These, in turn, could contribute to the relevance of SPH research and teaching programs as well as evidence-informed public health policies.

Food sanitation practices in restaurants of Ramallah and Al-Bireh district of Palestine.

PubMed

Al-Khatib, I A; Al-Mitwalli, S M

2009-01-01

Safe handling of food in restaurants is a basic element in the reduction of foodborne illness. We investigated knowledge and practices about food safety by food-handlers in restaurants in Ramallah and Al-Bireh district of Palestine. A high proportion of workers in the restaurants had no previous experience in other restaurants and 63.4% had received no training on food sanitation and safety. Most of the restaurants in the refugee camps, villages and towns had only 1 worker. Restaurants lacked basic conditions for food sanitation and safety, such as hot water in most and cleaning materials in some. Many workers had poor personal hygiene practices. Training is needed for restaurant owners and staff to improve food handling practices and standards.

The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement

PubMed Central

Boyatzis, Richard E.; Rochford, Kylie; Taylor, Scott N.

2015-01-01

Personal and shared vision have a long history in management and organizational practices yet only recently have we begun to build a systematic body of empirical knowledge about the role of personal and shared vision in organizations. As the introductory paper for this special topic in Frontiers in Psychology, we present a theoretical argument as to the existence and critical role of two states in which a person, dyad, team, or organization may find themselves when engaging in the creation of a personal or shared vision: the positive emotional attractor (PEA) and the negative emotional attractor (NEA). These two primary states are strange attractors, each characterized by three dimensions: (1) positive versus negative emotional arousal; (2) endocrine arousal of the parasympathetic nervous system versus sympathetic nervous system; and (3) neurological activation of the default mode network versus the task positive network. We argue that arousing the PEA is critical when creating or affirming a personal vision (i.e., sense of one’s purpose and ideal self). We begin our paper by reviewing the underpinnings of our PEA–NEA theory, briefly review each of the papers in this special issue, and conclude by discussing the practical implications of the theory. PMID:26052300

[Approaches, knowledge and capabilities of nurses and physicians regarding evidence-based clinical practice in the Imbadura province (Ecuador)].

PubMed

Molina Mula, Jesús; Muñoz Navarro, Paulina; Vaca Auz, Janeth; Cabascango Cabascango, Carmita; Cabascango Cabascango, Katty

2015-01-01

The research raises the need to increase understanding of organizational and personal factors that influence the attitude and aptitude of each professional, with respect to evidence-based clinical practice. The aim of this study is to describe the transfer of knowledge into clinical practice in hospital units in Imbabura (Ecuador) identifying the obstacles to implementing evidence-based clinical practice validated questionnaire EBPQ-19. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in hospitals of the Ministry of Public Health of Imbabura of Ecuador took place, including a total of 281 nurses and physicians. Nurses and physicians showed positive attitudes toward evidence-based clinical practice (EBCP) and their use to support clinical decision-making. This research evidences perceptions of professionals on strategies for knowledge transfer and obstacles to carry it out. Significant differences between the perception of the use of EBCP strategies between nurses and physicians are observed. Physicians consider they use them frequently, while nurses acknowledge using them less (chi-square: 105.254, P=.018). In conclusion, we can say that these factors should be considered as necessary to improve the quality of care that is provided to users based on the best available evidence. It is necessary to start developing change interventions in this regard to remedy the current situation of clinical practice based not on evidence, but rather on experience only. Experimental studies demonstrating the effectiveness of strategies to eliminate barriers to scientific evidence-based clinical practice should be conducted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Strategies for Information Retrieval and Virtual Teaming to Mitigate Risk on NASA's Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Topousis, Daria; Williams, Gregory; Murphy, Keri

2007-01-01

Following the loss of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was determined that problems in the agency's organization created an environment that led to the accident. One component of the proposed solution resulted in the formation of the NASA Engineering Network (NEN), a suite of information retrieval and knowledge sharing tools. This paper describes the implementation of this set of search, portal, content management, and semantic technologies, including a unique meta search capability for data from distributed engineering resources. NEN's communities of practice are formed along engineering disciplines where users leverage their knowledge and best practices to collaborate and take informal learning back to their personal jobs and embed it into the procedures of the agency. These results offer insight into using traditional engineering disciplines for virtual teaming and problem solving.

Recovery-Oriented Mental Health Practice in a Community Care Unit: An Exploratory Study.

PubMed

McKenna, Brian; Oakes, Jane; Fourniotis, Niki; Toomey, Nigel; Furness, Trentham

A recovery-oriented model of care has become the major focus of mental health service delivery in the state of Victoria, Australia. However, there is a total absence of knowledge of recovery-oriented mental health practice in community care units (CCUs). Therefore, the aims of this exploratory study were to: (a) describe what aspects of the current model of care fit within the domains of recovery; and (b) describe the pragmatic processes that staff use to mold their care within the domains of recovery. Twenty-one key stakeholders provided informed voluntary consent to participate in one-to-one interviews. Six content domains evolved to include: (a) a common vision: "a continuous journey"; (b) promoting hope; (c) promoting autonomy and self-determination; (d) meaningful engagement; (e) holistic and personalized care; and (f) community participation and citizenship. The CCU appeared to be on a journey of transformation toward personal recovery. However, clinicians were grappling with an identified tension among personal recovery and clinical recovery. The tension among personal recovery and clinical recovery may be attributed to the psychosocial rehabilitation model of care, which was previously systemic in Victorian CCUs.

Food and personal hygiene perceptions and practices among caregivers whose children have diarrhea: a qualitative study of urban mothers in Tangerang, Indonesia.

PubMed

Usfar, Avita A; Iswarawanti, Dwi N; Davelyna, Devy; Dillon, Drupadi

2010-01-01

To examine caregivers' perceptions and practices related to food and personal hygiene and its association with diarrhea in children 6 to 36 months of age who suffered recurrent diarrhea. This qualitative study, conducted in March and April 2006, used both in-depth interviews and direct observation data. Urban Tangerang, near Jakarta, Indonesia. Twenty-four mothers whose monthly household income was less than $160 US and had latrines in their homes. To examine the relationship between mothers' perceptions and behaviors related to diarrhea, food hygiene, and personal hygiene. Interview transcripts were analyzed based on the phenomenon of interest and coded for common themes. Mothers differentiated diarrhea episodes as either disease or nondisease. Most mothers associated the importance of food hygiene with disease prevention, contaminating agents, and health. Mothers commonly wiped cutting boards with a kitchen towel after slicing vegetables, whereas they washed the board with soap and water after cutting raw meat. Mothers perceived that the importance of personal hygiene was for maintaining health and cleanliness. The majority of mothers washed their hands without soap after performing housework and cooking. Improving mothers' knowledge while incorporating existing perceptions might lead to positive changes.

A focus group study of healthy eating knowledge, practices, and barriers among adult and adolescent immigrants and refugees in the United States.

PubMed

Tiedje, Kristina; Wieland, Mark L; Meiers, Sonja J; Mohamed, Ahmed A; Formea, Christine M; Ridgeway, Jennifer L; Asiedu, Gladys B; Boyum, Ginny; Weis, Jennifer A; Nigon, Julie A; Patten, Christi A; Sia, Irene G

2014-05-16

Immigrants and refugees to the United States exhibit lower dietary quality than the general population, but reasons for this disparity are poorly understood. In this study, we describe the meanings of food, health and wellbeing through the reported dietary preferences, beliefs, and practices of adults and adolescents from four immigrant and refugee communities in the Midwestern United States. Using a community based participatory research approach, we conducted a qualitative research study with 16 audio-recorded focus groups with adults and adolescents who self-identified as Mexican, Somali, Cambodian, and Sudanese. Focus group topics were eating patterns, perceptions of healthy eating in the country of origin and in the U.S., how food decisions are made and who in the family is involved in food preparation and decisions, barriers and facilitators to healthy eating, and gender and generational differences in eating practices. A team of investigators and community research partners analyzed all transcripts in full before reducing data to codes through consensus. Broader themes were created to encompass multiple codes. Results show that participants have similar perspectives about the barriers (personal, environmental, structural) and benefits of healthy eating (e.g., 'junk food is bad'). We identified four themes consistent across all four communities: Ways of Knowing about Healthy Eating ('Meanings;' 'Motivations;' 'Knowledge Sources'), Eating Practices ('Family Practices;' 'Americanized Eating Practices' 'Eating What's Easy'), Barriers ('Taste and Cravings;' 'Easy Access to Junk Food;' 'Role of Family;' Cultural Foods and Traditions;' 'Time;' 'Finances'), and Preferences for Intervention ('Family Counseling;' Community Education;' and 'Healthier Traditional Meals.'). Some generational (adult vs. adolescents) and gender differences were observed. Our study demonstrates how personal, structural, and societal/cultural factors influence meanings of food and dietary practices across immigrant and refugee populations. We conclude that cultural factors are not fixed variables that occur independently from the contexts in which they are embedded.

Strategies for innovative energy-based nursing practice: the Healing Touch program.

PubMed

Kelley, Mari

2002-01-01

The purpose of this article is to share professional knowledge, practice, and educational opportunities related to energy-based nursing in order to broaden and improve the delivery of health care services. The holistic, theory-based approach places a patient's perceived needs first, and cares for the human body as well as the spirit. Energy medicine is an intricate part of the patient's expectation for health care. Watson's transpersonal-caring-healing model is explored (Watson, 1999). This model expands the view of the person to one that embodies energy that is comprised of spirit, a universal mind, and consciousness. The North American Nurses Diagnosis Association (NANDA) recognizes energy therapy as an intervention representing a specific theory: human energy field theory (HEFT). This therapy is related to the approved nursing diagnosis of energy field disturbance 1.8 (NANDA, 1995/1996). Healing touch (HT) is an energy-based therapeutic approach to healing that emphasizes caring for the whole person based on the HEFT. It is used in the nursing profession to influence changes in the human energy system; HT affects physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. The nursing process is evident throughout the curriculum. Nurse researchers report positive patients outcomes. The holistic nursing concept of energetic healing returns nurse professionals to the essence of nursing. Spinal cord injury (SCI) nurses will benefit by increasing their knowledge and awareness of energy therapy to increase patient satisfaction and improve outcomes for persons with SCI.

Biomedical physics in continuing medical education: an analysis of learning needs.

PubMed

Rotomskis, Ricardas; Karenauskaite, Violeta; Balzekiene, Aiste

2009-01-01

To examine the learning and practice needs of medical professionals in the field of continuing education of biomedical physics in Lithuania. The study was based on a questionnaire survey of 309 medical professionals throughout Lithuania, 3 focus group discussions, and 18 interviews with medical and physics experts. The study showed that medical professionals lack knowledge of physics: only 15.1% of the respondents admitted that they had enough knowledge in biomedical physics to understand the functioning of the medical devices that they used, and 7.5% of respondents indicated that they had enough knowledge to understand and adopt medical devices of the new generation. Physics knowledge was valued more highly by medical professionals with scientific degrees. As regards continuing medical education, it was revealed that personal motivation (88.7%) and responsibility for patients (44.3%) were the most important motives for upgrading competencies, whereas workload (65.4%) and financial limits (45.3%) were the main obstacles. The most popular teaching methods were those based on practical work (78.9%), and the least popular was project work (27.8%). The study revealed that biomedical physics knowledge was needed in both specializations and practical work, and the most important factor for determining its need was professional aspirations. Medical professionals' understanding of medical devices, especially those of the new generation, is essentially functional in nature. Professional upgrading courses contain only fragmented biomedical physics content, and new courses should be developed jointly by experts in physics and medicine to meet the specialized needs of medical professionals.

Optimizing revenue at a cosmetic surgery centre

PubMed Central

Funk, Joanna M; Verheyden, Charles N; Mahabir, Raman C

2011-01-01

BACKGROUND: The demand for cosmetic surgery and services has diminished with recent fluctuations in the economy. To stay ahead, surgeons must appreciate and attend to the fiscal challenges of private practice. A key component of practice economics is knowledge of the common methods of payment. OBJECTIVE: To review methods of payment in a five-surgeon group practice in central Texas, USA. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of the financial records of a cosmetic surgery centre in Texas was conducted. Data were collected for the five-year period from 2003 to 2008, and included the method of payment, the item purchased (product, service or surgery) and the dollar amount. RESULTS: More than 11,000 transactions were reviewed. The most common method of payment used for products and services was credit card, followed by check and cash. For procedures, the most common form of payment was personal check, followed by credit card and financing. Of the credit card purchases for both products and procedures, an overwhelming majority of patients (more than 75%) used either Visa (Visa Inc, USA) or MasterCard (MasterCard Worldwide, USA). If the amount of the individual transaction surpassed US$1,000, the most common method of payment transitioned from credit card to personal check. CONCLUSIONS: In an effort to maximize revenue, surgeons should consider limiting the credit cards accepted by the practice and encourage payment through personal check. PMID:22942656

Optimizing revenue at a cosmetic surgery centre.

PubMed

Funk, Joanna M; Verheyden, Charles N; Mahabir, Raman C

2011-01-01

The demand for cosmetic surgery and services has diminished with recent fluctuations in the economy. To stay ahead, surgeons must appreciate and attend to the fiscal challenges of private practice. A key component of practice economics is knowledge of the common methods of payment. To review methods of payment in a five-surgeon group practice in central Texas, USA. A retrospective chart review of the financial records of a cosmetic surgery centre in Texas was conducted. Data were collected for the five-year period from 2003 to 2008, and included the method of payment, the item purchased (product, service or surgery) and the dollar amount. More than 11,000 transactions were reviewed. The most common method of payment used for products and services was credit card, followed by check and cash. For procedures, the most common form of payment was personal check, followed by credit card and financing. Of the credit card purchases for both products and procedures, an overwhelming majority of patients (more than 75%) used either Visa (Visa Inc, USA) or MasterCard (MasterCard Worldwide, USA). If the amount of the individual transaction surpassed US$1,000, the most common method of payment transitioned from credit card to personal check. In an effort to maximize revenue, surgeons should consider limiting the credit cards accepted by the practice and encourage payment through personal check.

'Seeing the Light.' Personal Epiphanies and Moving towards Interpretivism; A Researcher's Tale of Exploring Teacher Pedagogic Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapley, Eve

2018-01-01

Arguably an essential element of a doctoral study is to establish and acknowledge a philosophical worldview. As part of this, researchers need to engage with and challenge their assumptions about the nature of being, the nature of knowledge, and what can be known. Only then can methodological designs, approaches to data analysis, and relationships…

What Is It Like to Be a Person Who Knows Nothing? Defining the Active Intersubjective Mind of a Newborn Human Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trevarthen, Colwyn

2011-01-01

As thinking adults depend upon years of practical experience, reasoning about facts and causes, and language to sustain their knowledge, beliefs and memories, and to understand one another, it seems quite absurd to suggest that a newborn infant has intersubjective mental capacities. But detailed research on how neonatal selves coordinate the…

The Role of Experience in the Behavioral Development of Human Infants: Current Status and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Burton L.

This paper is designed as an information guide for those persons responsible for rearing human infants from birth to 18 months. The author provides an extensive review of the literature and trends of research in this area noting that the current volumes of knowledge in this area are not yet dependable enough to provide reliable bases for practice.…

Personal Reflection: "Joy Ride" with SoTL Practice: The Investigation of the Effectiveness of Assistive Technology Course Contents on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Jeong il

2012-01-01

This reflection is based on my project that investigated the impact of new course content on student learning of basic knowledge and attitudes toward various assistive technology (AT) devices and services using multiple measures in an introductory-level course in a special education program at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.…

From Spotlight to Fluorescent Bulb: Aesthetic Dimensions of Personal, Practical Knowledge in an Actor Training to Be a High School Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobson, Darrell

2005-01-01

This paper can be conceived as one story embedded in a second story, in which the "outer" narrative, involving the theoretical and methodological framework, is that of my search for a means of defining, articulating and implementing an aesthetic epistemology in both academic research and in teacher education/development (a search that is…

Influence of Occupational Socialization on the Practices and Perspectives of Two Inexperienced Adventure Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zmudy, Mark H.; Curtner-Smith, Matthew D.; Steffen, Jeff

2009-01-01

A relatively small number of researchers have found it interesting and useful to examine why and how persons choose to be and become adventure educators (AEs) and why they teach as they do. The implications of this knowledge are: (1) gaining insight into novice AEs' perceptions of what is required to provide in-depth and high quality instruction…

The knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices of students regarding cutaneous leishmaniasis in the hyperendemic region of the Shahid Babaie Airbase.

PubMed

Saberi, Sedigheh; Zamani, Ahmadreza; Motamedi, Neda; Nilforoushzadeh, Mohammad Ail; Jaffary, Fariba; Rahimi, Ezatollah; Hejazi, Seyed Hossein

2012-04-01

The Shahid Babaie Airbase is one of the most endemic areas of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Isfahan. Community training on CL prevention could have a critical role in controlling CL in endemic areas. Because of the high incidence of disease among youth, this survey was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices (KAP) of students regarding CL in this endemic area. This study consisted of a questionnaire that was filled out while interviewing students attending middle and high school on the Shahid Babaie Airbase of Isfahan. The questionnaire contained questions about KAP of students regarding CL. The total scores in each field were categorized as weak, intermediate, or strong. Four hundred fifty students participated in this study, which included 245 high-school students and 205 middle-school students. The total knowledge score of the students was 17.47 (range, 0-30), which indicates an intermediate level of CL knowledge in this population. The students' attitude toward CL was intermediate, with a score of 37 and a range of 13-52. Additionally, practice of prevention was weak (score of 1.8; range, 0-6). There was a significant correlation between gender and both the attitude and knowledge of the students; both scores were higher in female students. Specific knowledge about CL symptoms, carriers, and reservoirs was higher than knowledge about preventative methods. The study revealed that 47.2% of students believed in fortune as a factor involved in acquisition of CL infection. Although 97.9% of students were aware that sandflies carry CL, only 28.6% were able to identify a sandfly. The results of this study further emphasize the importance and necessity of educating this at-risk population by planning direct, in-person training, which is an essential step in improving attitudes and preventative practices toward CL and in controlling CL in endemic areas.

Robot decisions: on the importance of virtuous judgment in clinical decision making.

PubMed

Gelhaus, Petra

2011-10-01

The aim of this article is to argue for the necessity of emotional professional virtues in the understanding of good clinical practice. This understanding is required for a proper balance of capacities in medical education and further education of physicians. For this reason an ideal physician, incarnating the required virtues, skills and knowledge is compared with a non-emotional robot that is bound to moral rules. This fictive confrontation is meant to clarify why certain demands on the personality of the physician are justified, in addition to a rule- and principle-based moral orientation and biomedical knowledge and skills. Philosophical analysis of thought experiments inspired by science fiction literature by Isaac Asimov. Although prima facie a rule-oriented robot seems more reliable and trustworthy, the complexity of clinical judgment is not met by an encompassing and never contradictory set of rules from which one could logically derive decisions. There are different ways how the robot could still work, but at the cost of the predictability of its behaviour and its moral orientation. In comparison, a virtuous human doctor who is also bound to these rules, although less strictly, will more reliably keep at moral objectives, be understandable, be more flexible in case the rules come to their limits, and will be more predictable in these critical situations. Apart from these advantages of the virtuous human doctor referring to her own person, the most problematic deficit of the robot is its lacking deeper understanding of the inner mental events of patients which makes good contact, good communication and good influence impossible. Although an infallibly rule-oriented robot seems more reliable at first view, in situations that require complex decisions like clinical practice the agency of a moral human person is more trustworthy. Furthermore, the understanding of the patient's emotions must remain insufficient for a non-emotional, non-human being. Because these are crucial preconditions for good clinical practice, enough attention should be given to develop these virtues and emotional skills, in addition to the usual attention on knowledge, technical skills and the obedience to moral rules and principles. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Controlling scabies in madrasahs (Islamic religious schools) in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Talukder, K; Talukder, M Q K; Farooque, M G; Khairul, M; Sharmin, F; Jerin, I; Rahman, M A

2013-01-01

To assess the effectiveness of a scabies control programme in reducing the prevalence of scabies in urban Bangladesh madrasahs, where the condition is extremely common. A controlled trial involving four intervention madrasahs (total students 2359) and four control madrasahs (total students 2465) in Dhaka Metropolitan Area. A baseline scabies sample survey was carried out on 40 and 44 students of four intervention and four control madrasahs, respectively. Another 40 students of the intervention madrasahs were administered a pre-intervention test on scabies knowledge. This was followed by mass treatment of all students, teachers and staff of the eight madrasahs with topical 5% permethrin cream. The subsequent intervention involved daily monitoring of students for five key personal hygiene practices, weekly 10-min scabies health education classes, supply of simple and inexpensive products to students to prevent cross-infestation to/from peers (e.g. plastic bags, clothes hangers), and chemotherapy of new students detected with scabies. After 4 months of the intervention, the prevalence of scabies, personal hygiene practices and scabies knowledge were assessed in students of the intervention madrasahs. Before the intervention, the prevalence of scabies was 61% and 62% in intervention and control madrasahs, respectively (P = 1.00). After mass scabies treatment in all eight madrasahs and 4 months of intervention, the prevalence of scabies was reduced to 5% and 50% in intervention and control madrasahs, respectively (P < 0.001). There were significant improvements in all five personal hygiene practices at the intervention madrasahs. Mean test scores for scabies knowledge were 40% before the intervention and 99% after the intervention in the four intervention madrasahs. The cost of this programme was US$1.60 per student, and primarily included products such as plastic bags and clothes hangers, and health education material. This programme demonstrates a pragmatic and cost-effective way to control scabies in a residential institutional setting. It is recommended that this programme should be scaled up to all residential madrasahs in Bangladesh. Copyright © 2012 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infection control practices and zoonotic disease risks among veterinarians in the United States.

PubMed

Wright, Jennifer G; Jung, Sherry; Holman, Robert C; Marano, Nina N; McQuiston, Jennifer H

2008-06-15

OBJECTIVE-To assess the knowledge and use of infection control practices (ICPs) among US veterinarians. DESIGN-Anonymous mail-out population survey. PROCEDURES-In 2005 a questionnaire was mailed to US small animal, large animal, and equine veterinarians who were randomly selected from the AVMA membership to assess precaution awareness (PA) and veterinarians' perceptions of zoonotic disease risks. Respondents were assigned a PA score (0 to 4) on the basis of their responses (higher scores representing higher stringency of ICPs); within a practice type, respondents' scores were categorized as being within the upper 25% or lower 75% of scores (high and low PA ranking, respectively). Characteristics associated with low PA rankings were assessed. RESULTS-Generally, respondents did not engage in protective behaviors or use personal protective equipment considered appropriate to protect against zoonotic disease transmission. Small animal and equine veterinarians employed in practices that had no written infection control policy were significantly more likely to have low PA ranking. Male gender was associated with low PA ranking among small animal and large animal veterinarians; equine practitioners not working in a teaching or referral hospital were more likely to have low PA ranking than equine practitioners working in such institutions. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE-Results indicated that most US veterinarians are not aware of appropriate personal protective equipment use and do not engage in practices that may help reduce zoonotic disease transmission. Gender differences may influence personal choices for ICPs. Provision of information and training on ICPs and establishment of written infection control policies could be effective means of improving ICPs in veterinary practices.

Factors related to coping strategies during Japanese physical therapy students' clinical practice.

PubMed

Higuchi, Daisuke; Echigo, Ayumi

2017-08-01

[Purpose] This study aimed to identify social skills and support that are related to the coping strategies Janpanese physical therapy students use during their clinical practice. [Subjects and Methods] Third-year students who were finished with their clinical practice participated. Self-administered questionnaires were used, including the daily life skill scale, social support scale, and tri-axial coping scale. Spearman's partial correlation coefficients were calculated between social skills, support of daily living, and coping strategies used during the clinical practice, while controlling for gender. [Results] A total of 56 completed questionnaires (median of age: 21 years; 27 males). Social skills during personal situations-knowledge summarization, self-esteem, and positive thinking-were significantly, positively correlated with planning and affirmative interpreting strategies to approach stressors regarding clinical practice, and negatively related to giving up strategies to avoid stressors. Intimacy, leadership, and empathy (social skills during interpersonal situations) were significantly, positively correlated with the following responses to approach stressors: catharsis, information gathering, and affirmative interpreting. Moreover, emotional/companionship social support was significantly, positively correlated with all avoidant coping strategies. [Conclusion] Japanese physical therapy students who had low personal and interpersonal social skills and excess emotional/companionship support in daily life tend to select avoidance, not approach, coping strategies during clinical practice.

General practitioners' (GP) attitudes and knowledge about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Ireland.

PubMed

Adamis, Dimitrios; Tatlow-Golden, Mimi; Gavin, Blánaid; McNicholas, Fiona

2018-04-13

ADHD is the most frequent reason for attendance at Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in recognising symptoms, referring for assessment and supporting ongoing treatment. However, there is an ambiguous understanding of ADHD among GPs, and different attitudes regarding the validity of ADHD as a construct. The present study aims to explore and identify GPs attitudes and beliefs about ADHD in the Irish context, and to find out the association of those attitudes with other factors. Representative sample of qualified GPs registered to the Irish Medical Directory. The survey included questions about GPs' practice, attitudes towards ADHD, knowledge of symptoms and workup for ADHD, previous training and personal experience of ADHD. A hundred and forty GPs participated (response rate 28%). Factor analysis indicated 58.8% expressed a positive attitude towards ADHD. Those who have positive attitudes were more likely to be between 36 and 55 years old, seeing fewer children with suspected ADHD per year and working as part of a primary care team. Years of practice, personal experience of ADHD, training and knowledge in ADHD and access to CAMHS or psychology were not significantly related to either positive or negative ADHD attitudes. Despite the high rates of ADHD among children, a slim majority of Irish GPs have positive attitudes towards ADHD. This could lead to undiagnosed or misdiagnosed cases. Strategies need to be considered to address this.

The contribution of the left anterior ventrolateral temporal lobe to the retrieval of personal semantics.

PubMed

Grilli, Matthew D; Bercel, John J; Wank, Aubrey A; Rapcsak, Steven Z

2018-06-04

Autobiographical facts and personal trait knowledge are conceptualized as distinct types of personal semantics, but the cognitive and neural mechanisms that separate them remain underspecified. One distinction may be their level of specificity, with autobiographical facts reflecting idiosyncratic conceptual knowledge and personal traits representing basic level category knowledge about the self. Given the critical role of the left anterior ventrolateral temporal lobe (AVTL) in the storage and retrieval of semantic information about unique entities, we hypothesized that knowledge of autobiographical facts may depend on the integrity of this region to a greater extent than personal traits. To provide neuropsychological evidence relevant to this issue, we investigated personal semantics, semantic knowledge of non-personal unique entities, and episodic memory in two individuals with well-defined left (MK) versus right (DW) AVTL lesions. Relative to controls, MK demonstrated preserved personal trait knowledge but impaired "experience-far" (i.e., spatiotemporal independent) autobiographical fact knowledge, semantic memory for non-personal unique entities, and episodic memory. In contrast, both experience-far autobiographical facts and personal traits were spared in DW, whereas episodic memory and aspects of semantic memory for non-personal unique entities were impaired. These findings support the notion that autobiographical facts and personal traits have distinct cognitive features and neural mechanisms. They also suggest a common organizing principle for personal and non-personal semantics, namely the specificity of such knowledge to an entity, which is reflected in the contribution of the left AVTL to retrieval. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Imaging More Imagining less: An Insight into Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Radiation Risk on Pregnant Women among Dentists of Ghaziabad - A Cross Sectional Study.

PubMed

Prasad, Monika; Gupta, Ritu; Patthi, Basavaraj; Singla, Ashish; Pandita, Venisha; Kumar, Jishnu Krishna; Malhi, Ravneet; Vashishtha, Vaibhav

2016-07-01

The safety of diagnostic imaging during pregnancy is an important aspect for all clinicians. Pregnant women often do not receive proper dental care as the dentists are not aware of low diagnostic radiation doses involved in dental radiation. To assess awareness of radiation risks on pregnant women among dentists of Ghaziabad city. A total of 268 practicing dentists in Ghaziabad were selected for a questionnaire based cross-sectional study. Data consisted of 18 questions which assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of dental professionals regarding radiation risks on pregnant women. The questionnaire was distributed and collected personally by the principal investigator. Data was analyzed by Mann Whitney U test and chi-square test. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. The results showed that the dentists who had attended continuing dental education program had increased level of knowledge regarding radiation effects among pregnant women as compared to the dentists who had not attended continuing dental education programs (p<0.05). Among them who had attended continuing dental education programs 93.3% were aware of the safe dose of radiation and 62% were aware of threshold radiation doses of pregnancy termination. On the contrary there was no significant difference in the knowledge, attitude and practice scores regarding radiation risks on pregnant women based on their academic qualification (p≥0.05). The level of knowledge among dentists was found to be satisfactory, this outcome shows that continuing dental education regarding radiation protection principles and its risks on pregnant women is required to ensure maximum safety both for clinician as well as pregnant women.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of HIV-positive patients regarding disclosure of HIV results at Betesda Clinic in Namibia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Abstract Background This study examined the practices, knowledge, attitudes, and the reasons for disclosure and non-disclosure of HIV-positive patients with regard to the disclosure of HIV results at Betesda Clinic in Windhoek, Namibia. Objectives The objectives of the study were to determine knowledge, attitudes, and practices of HIV-positive patients regarding the disclosure of HIV status at Betesda Clinic in Namibia, and to determine the reasons for disclosure and non-disclosure. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study and 263 HIV-positive patients were enrolled in the study. Results Analyses revealed that knowledge on disclosure was good, with 68% who thought it was important. The majority (73%) have disclosed and 60% disclosed within 1 week of receiving their results. The most common reasons for disclosure were that 32% needed help, 25% wanted his or her partner to go for testing, and 20% wanted to let relatives know. Reasons for non-disclosure were mainly the fear of gossip (79%). Seventy-three per cent had disclosed to their partners, and 23% had disclosed to more than one person. People's reactions were supportive in 43%, whereas 29% understood, 9% accepted and 6% were angry. Upon disclosure 40% received help, 24% of partners were tested, 23% received psychological support and 5% were stigmatised. Disclosure was higher amongst the married and cohabitating. Conclusion The attitude was positive with regard to knowledge of disclosure, with most participants thinking that disclosure was important and good. The attitudes and actual practices of disclosure were encouraging; however, people are disclosing only to trusted individuals in the society and the fear of stigma is still present although the actual stigma was very low.

One size fits one: pharmacogenetics in gastroenterology.

PubMed

Porayette, Prashanth; Flockhart, David; Gupta, Sandeep K

2014-04-01

Individual variability in response and development of adverse effects to drugs is a major challenge in clinical practice. Pharmacogenomics refers to the aspect of personalized medicine where the patient's genetic information instructs the selection and dosage of therapy while also predicting its adverse effects profile. Sequencing of the entire human genome has given us the opportunity to study commonly used drugs as well as newer therapeutic agents in a new light, opening up opportunities for better drug efficacy and decreased adverse effects. This article highlights developments in pharmacogenomics, relates these to practice of gastroenterology, and outlines roadblocks in translation of this knowledge into clinical practice. Copyright © 2014 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transforming primary healthcare by including the stakeholders involved in delivering care to people living in poverty: EQUIhealThY study protocol.

PubMed

Loignon, Christine; Hudon, Catherine; Boudreault-Fournier, Alexandrine; Dupéré, Sophie; Macaulay, Ann C; Pluye, Pierre; Gaboury, Isabelle; Haggerty, Jeannie L; Fortin, Martin; Goulet, Émilie; Lambert, Mireille; Pelissier-Simard, Luce; Boyer, Sophie; de Laat, Marianne; Lemire, Francine; Champagne, Louise; Lemieux, Martin

2013-03-11

Ensuring access to timely and appropriate primary healthcare for people living in poverty is an issue facing all countries, even those with universal healthcare systems. The transformation of healthcare practices and organization could be improved by involving key stakeholders from the community and the healthcare system in the development of research interventions. The aim of this project is to stimulate changes in healthcare organizations and practices by encouraging collaboration between care teams and people living in poverty. Our objectives are twofold: 1) to identify actions required to promote the adoption of professional practices oriented toward social competence in primary care teams; and 2) to examine factors that would encourage the inclusion of people living in poverty in the process of developing social competence in healthcare organizations. This study will use a participatory action research design applied in healthcare organizations. Participatory research is an increasingly recognized approach that is helpful for involving the people for whom the research results are intended. Our research team consists of 19 non-academic researchers, 11 academic researchers and six partners. A steering committee composed of academic researchers and stakeholders will have a decision-making role at each step, including knowledge dissemination and recommendations for new interventions. In this project we will adopt a multiphase approach and will use a variety of methods, including photovoice, group discussions and interviews. The proposed study will be one of only a few using participatory research in primary care to foster changes aimed at enhancing quality and access to care for people living in poverty. To our knowledge this will be the first study to use photovoice in healthcare organizations to promote new interventions. Our project includes partners who are targeted for practice changes and improvements in delivering primary care to persons living in poverty. By involving knowledge users, including service recipients, our study is more likely to produce a transformation of professional practices and encourage healthcare organizations to take into account the needs of persons living in poverty.

Transforming primary healthcare by including the stakeholders involved in delivering care to people living in poverty: EQUIhealThY study protocol

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Ensuring access to timely and appropriate primary healthcare for people living in poverty is an issue facing all countries, even those with universal healthcare systems. The transformation of healthcare practices and organization could be improved by involving key stakeholders from the community and the healthcare system in the development of research interventions. The aim of this project is to stimulate changes in healthcare organizations and practices by encouraging collaboration between care teams and people living in poverty. Our objectives are twofold: 1) to identify actions required to promote the adoption of professional practices oriented toward social competence in primary care teams; and 2) to examine factors that would encourage the inclusion of people living in poverty in the process of developing social competence in healthcare organizations. Methods/design This study will use a participatory action research design applied in healthcare organizations. Participatory research is an increasingly recognized approach that is helpful for involving the people for whom the research results are intended. Our research team consists of 19 non-academic researchers, 11 academic researchers and six partners. A steering committee composed of academic researchers and stakeholders will have a decision-making role at each step, including knowledge dissemination and recommendations for new interventions. In this project we will adopt a multiphase approach and will use a variety of methods, including photovoice, group discussions and interviews. Discussion The proposed study will be one of only a few using participatory research in primary care to foster changes aimed at enhancing quality and access to care for people living in poverty. To our knowledge this will be the first study to use photovoice in healthcare organizations to promote new interventions. Our project includes partners who are targeted for practice changes and improvements in delivering primary care to persons living in poverty. By involving knowledge users, including service recipients, our study is more likely to produce a transformation of professional practices and encourage healthcare organizations to take into account the needs of persons living in poverty. PMID:23497400

The prevalence of, and factors related to, compliance with glove utilization among nurses in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.

PubMed

Naing, L; Nordin, R; Musa, R

2001-09-01

Increasing risk of HIV infections among health care workers has been a continuing concern. The study was designed to identify the compliance of glove utilization, and factors related to non-compliance. A sample of 150 staff nurses were recruited from the study population of 550 nurses in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Data were collected by using a structured self-administered questionnaires. The response rate was 98.4%. The study revealed a low compliance (13.5%) of glove utilization (for all 9 procedures), which varied among different procedures (27-97%). Younger nurses and those with shorter duration of working experience had better knowledge of Universal Precautions. Nurses in intensive care unit and operation theatre were better in both knowledge and compliance of glove utilization. The three commonest misconceptions were identified as "selective use of gloves for high risk groups and suspected cases", and "tendency to depend on HIV prevalence". Nurses reported practical problems including administrative and personal related such as "stock irregularity" (46%), "glove not available at the emergency sites" (44%), and "reduction of tactile sensation" (39%). It was concluded that poor knowledge and practical problems were possible responsible factors for the low compliance. A good training for nurses comprising principle and practice of Universal Precautions, updated knowledge of blood and body fluid borne infections and risk and its management, will probably improve the compliance.

An Investigation of the Relations Between Student Knowledge, Personal Contact, and Attitudes Toward Individuals with Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Eack, Shaun M.; Newhill, Christina E.

2013-01-01

A survey of 118 MSW students was conducted to examine the relationship between social work students’ knowledge about, contact with, and attitudes toward persons with schizophrenia. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that students’ knowledge about and contact with persons with schizophrenia were significantly related to better attitudes toward this population. Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between knowledge about and contact with persons with schizophrenia, such that knowledge was only related to positive attitudes among students who had more personal contact with persons with the illness. Implications for social work training in severe mental illness are discussed (99 words). PMID:24353396

Perceived barriers to healthcare for persons living in poverty in Quebec, Canada: the EQUIhealThY project.

PubMed

Loignon, Christine; Hudon, Catherine; Goulet, Émilie; Boyer, Sophie; De Laat, Marianne; Fournier, Nathalie; Grabovschi, Cristina; Bush, Paula

2015-01-17

Ensuring access to timely and appropriate primary healthcare for deprived patients is an issue facing all countries, even those with universal healthcare systems. There is a paucity of information on how patients living in a context of material and social deprivation perceive barriers in the healthcare system. This study combines the perspectives of persons living in poverty and of healthcare providers to explore barriers to responsive care for underserved persons with a view to developing equity-focused primary care. In this participatory action research we used photovoice, together with a method known as 'merging of knowledge and practice' developed by ATD Fourth World, an international community organization working to eradicate poverty. The study was conducted in two teaching primary care practices in the Canadian province of Quebec. Participants consisted of 15 health professionals and six members of ATD Fourth World; approximately 60 group meetings were held. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis, in part with the involvement of persons living in poverty. Three main barriers to responsive care in a context of poverty were highlighted by all participants: the difficult living conditions of people living in poverty, the poor quality of interactions between providers and underserved patients, and the complexity of healthcare system organization and functioning. Our research revealed that unhealthy living conditions prevent persons living in poverty from accessing quality healthcare and maintaining good health. Also, the complexity of the healthcare system's organization and functioning has a negative impact on the interactions with healthcare providers. Changes in policy and practice are needed to address those barriers and to achieve greater equity and provide more responsive care for persons living in poverty.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of community pharmacists on generic medicines in Palestine: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Shraim, Naser Y; Al Taha, Tasneem A; Qawasmeh, Rawan F; Jarrar, Hiba N; Shtaya, Maram A N; Shayeb, Lama A; Sweileh, Waleed M

2017-12-28

Generic substitution in several countries has become a common practice. Besides, it is considered as a major cost minimizing strategy meant to contain pharmaceutical expenditure without compromising healthcare quality. However, the safety and quality issues of generic products are of top concerns of general practitioners and health work professionals. This study aimed to investigate community pharmacist's knowledge, attitudes and practices toward generic medicines in Palestine. This study was a cross-sectional observational study employing a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was of four main sections: demographic and practice details of the participants, knowledge, attitudes and the influencing factors related to selection and dispensing of generic medicines. A convenience sampling technique was implemented in this study in which the data collection form was distributed in West Bank- Palestine among a set of practicing pharmacists. Mann-Whitney-U or Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to comparison of different issues as appropriate. P-values of <0.05 were considered significant. A total of 302 community pharmacists were interviewed, slightly more than half were males (52.3%). The mean knowledge score of participants regarding generic medicines was (5.91 ± 1.27) where the highest score was 8 of 10. Knowledge score was not significantly influenced by any of the socio-demographic characteristics. Our data showed that most of included pharmacists in the study (95.4%) agreed that health authorities should implement bioequivalence policies prior to marketing approval of generics, while 87.4% of participants agreed that they should be given the right to substitute generics and the majority (62.3%) support generic substitution for brand name drugs in all cases when a generic is available The main two factors affect pharmacists' selection and dispensing of generic medicines are personal faith in the product (86.1%) and cost effectiveness of generic medicines (84.1%). Generic medicines substitution among pharmacists is widespread and prevalent. Our data found that participant pharmacists in Palestine had basic knowledge with regards to generic medicine. However, their knowledge score pertaining the technical and regulatory aspects of bioequivalence and pharmacokinetic parameters in particular was insufficient.

Mental health first aid for the elderly: A pilot study of a training program adapted for helping elderly people.

PubMed

Svensson, Bengt; Hansson, Lars

2017-06-01

Epidemiological studies have shown a high prevalence of mental illness among the elderly. Clinical data however indicate both insufficient detection and treatment of illnesses. Suggested barriers to treatment include conceptions that mental health symptoms belong to normal aging and lack of competence among staff in elderly care in detecting mental illness. A Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training program for the elderly was developed and provided to staff in elderly care. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in knowledge in mental illness, confidence in helping a person, readiness to give help and attitudes towards persons with mental illness. Single group pre-test-post-test design. The study group included staff in elderly care from different places in Sweden (n = 139). Significant improvements in knowledge, confidence in helping an elderly person with mental illness and attitudes towards persons with mental illness are shown. Skills acquired during the course have been practiced during the follow-up. The adaption of MHFA training for staff working in elderly care gives promising results. Improvements in self-reported confidence in giving help, attitudes towards persons with mental illness and actual help given to persons with mental illness are shown. However, the study design allows no firm conclusions and a randomized controlled trail is needed to investigate the effectiveness of the program. Outcomes should include if the detection and treatment of mental illness among the elderly actually improved.

Nutritional screening, assessment and implementation strategies for adults in an Australian acute tertiary hospital: a best practice implementation report.

PubMed

Smith, Louise; Chapman, Amanda; Flowers, Kelli; Wright, Kylie; Chen, Tanghua; O'Connor, Charmaine; Astorga, Cecilia; Francis, Nevenka; Vigh, Gia; Wainwright, Craig

2018-01-01

The project aimed to improve the effectiveness of nutritional screening and assessment practices through clinical audits and the implementation of evidence-based practice recommendations. In the absence of optimal nutrition, health may decline and potentially manifest as adverse health outcomes. In a hospitalized person, poor nutrition may adversely impact on the person's outcome. If the nutritional status can be ascertained, nutritional needs can be addressed and potential risks minimized.The overall purpose of this project was to review and monitor staff compliance with nutritional screening and assessment best practice recommendations ensuring there is timely, relevant and structured nutritional therapeutic practices that support safe, compassionate and person-centered care in adults in a tertiary hospital in South Western Sydney, Australia, in the acute care setting. A baseline retrospective chart audit was conducted and measured against 10 best practice criteria in relation to nutritional screening and assessment practices. This was followed by a facilitated multidisciplinary focus group to identify targeted strategies, implementation of targeted strategies, and a post strategy implementation chart audit.The project utilized the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System (JBI PACES) and Getting Research into Practice (GRIP) tool, including evidence from other available supporting literature, for promoting change in healthcare practice. The baseline audit revealed deficits between current practice and best practice across the 10 criteria. Barriers for implementation of nutritional screening and assessment best practice criteria were identified by the focus group and an education strategy was implemented. There were improved outcomes across all best practice criteria in the follow-up audit. The baseline audit revealed gaps between current practice and best practice. Through the implementation of a targeted education program and resource package, outcomes improved in the follow up audit. The findings indicated that engagement from multidisciplinary team members and consumers was effective in developing tailored education that improved knowledge of best practice. This was demonstrated by an increase in the percentage of compliance across the 10 criteria, although leaving room for more improvement. A policy has been developed for implementation and future audits are planned to measure whether improved practices have been sustained.

Use of a web-based education program improves nurses' knowledge of breastfeeding.

PubMed

Deloian, Barbara J; Lewin, Linda Orkin; O'Connor, Mary E

2015-01-01

To evaluate the baseline knowledge and knowledge gained of nurses, nursing students, midwives, and nurse practitioners who completed Breastfeeding Basics, an online educational program. This study reports on an anonymous evaluation of an online breastfeeding education program developed and maintained to promote evidence-based breastfeeding practice. Included in the study were 3736 nurses, 728 nurse practitioners/midwives, and 3106 nursing students from the United States who completed ≥ one pretest or posttest on the Breastfeeding Basics website between April 1999 and December 31, 2011. Baseline scores were analyzed to determine if nurses' baseline knowledge varied by selected demographic variables such as age, gender, professional level, personal or partner breastfeeding experience, and whether they were required to complete the website for a job or school requirement and to determine knowledge gaps. Pretest and posttest scores on all modules and in specific questions with low pretest scores were compared as a measure of knowledge gained. Lower median pretest scores were found in student nurses (71%), males (71%), those required to take the course (75%), and those without personal breastfeeding experience (72%). The modules with the lowest median pretest scores were Anatomy/Physiology (67%), Growth and Development of the Breastfed Infant (67%), the Breastfeeding Couple (73%), and the Term Infant with Problems (60%). Posttest scores in all modules increased significantly (p < .001). Breastfeeding Basics was used by a large number of nurses and nursing students. Gaps exist in nurses' breastfeeding knowledge. Knowledge improved in all areas based on comparison of pretest and posttest scores. © 2015 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

Empowering clinical supervisors to flourish though critical companionship.

PubMed

Mackay, Maria; Stephens, Moira; Wragg, Siobhan; Ebejer, Saskia; Bourgeois, Sharon

2018-01-01

Education for professional nursing practice has undergone a significant shift over the last few decades impacting nursing practice and the relationship between nurses. Enhancing professional practice and acting as a conduit for empowering nurses to be active participants in their learning and development is Practice Development. This action research project with philosophical premises of critical companionship and human flourishing aimed to develop the knowledge and skills of registered nurses in their ability to provide clinical supervision of nursing students in practice. The overall project consisted of two action research cycles in two different health facilities. Participants in both projects identified similar issues and common learning needs including; how to better understand and develop skills in reflective practice; how to provide a positive learning and enabling environment; and how to provide effective solution focused feedback. Workshop facilitators witnessed the flourishing of participants as they were enabled to negotiate their learning requirements; grow and develop in their roles over the workshop series. Participants themselves identified personal growth in skills, knowledge and confidence in being a preceptor as a result of the workshops in the study. Overall, this study has resulted in the development and capacity building of the nursing workforce clinical placement capacity through the development of clinical supervisors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determining the barriers and facilitators to adopting best practices in the management of poststroke unilateral spatial neglect: results of a qualitative study.

PubMed

Petzold, Anita; Korner-Bitensky, Nicol; Salbach, Nancy M; Ahmed, Sara; Menon, Anita; Ogourtsova, Tatiana

2014-01-01

A gap exists between best and actual management of poststroke unilateral spatial neglect (USN). Given the negative impact of USN on poststroke recovery, knowledge translation efforts are needed to optimize USN management. To date, no study has investigated the specific barriers and facilitators affecting USN management during the acute care process. To identify the facilitators and barriers that affect evidence-based practice use by occupational therapists (the primary discipline managing USN) when treating individuals with acute poststroke USN. Focus group methodology elicited information from 9 acute care occupational therapists. Key barriers identified included lack of basic evidence-based practice skills specific to USN treatment and personal motivation to change current practices and engrained habits. Key facilitators included the presence of a multidisciplinary stroke team, recent graduation, and an environment with access to learning time and resources. Synthesized Web-based learning was also seen as important to uptake of best practices. It is estimated that upwards of 40% of patients experience poststroke USN in the acute phase, and we have evidence of poor early management. This study identified several modifiable factors that prepare the ground for the creation and testing of a multimodal knowledge translation intervention aimed at improving clinicians' best practice management of poststroke USN.

Analysis of nurse theorists' definition of health for congruence with holism.

PubMed

Brouse, S H

1992-12-01

This article analyzes the definitions of health of seven nurse theorists for congruence with the American Holistic Nurses' Association's (AHNA) definition of health. The two themes of wholeness and change in the AHNA definition reflect the Fawcett categorization of worldviews as organismic versus mechanistic and change versus persistence. The organismic view assumes the person to be a proactive integrated being; in the change worldview the person is viewed as always in a state of transition and progress in values. All seven theorists' definitions appear to be congruent with the organismic and change focus of the AHNA definition. Clinicians who are seeking a client-focused theory to guide their practice are encouraged to investigate one or more of the nursing theories for adoption. This can have the dual outcome of improving the quality of nursing care and building the knowledge of the discipline as the theories are tested in practice.

Persistent bias in expert judgments about free will and moral responsibility: a test of the expertise defense.

PubMed

Schulz, Eric; Cokely, Edward T; Feltz, Adam

2011-12-01

Many philosophers appeal to intuitions to support some philosophical views. However, there is reason to be concerned about this practice as scientific evidence has documented systematic bias in philosophically relevant intuitions as a function of seemingly irrelevant features (e.g., personality). One popular defense used to insulate philosophers from these concerns holds that philosophical expertise eliminates the influence of these extraneous factors. Here, we test this assumption. We present data suggesting that verifiable philosophical expertise in the free will debate-as measured by a reliable and validated test of expert knowledge-does not eliminate the influence of one important extraneous feature (i.e., the heritable personality trait extraversion) on judgments concerning freedom and moral responsibility. These results suggest that, in at least some important cases, the expertise defense fails. Implications for the practice of philosophy, experimental philosophy, and applied ethics are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reviews Book: The Babylonian Theorem Video Game: BrainBox360 (Physics Edition) Book: Teaching and Learning Science: Towards a Personalized Approach Book: Good Practice in Science Teaching: What Research Has to Say Equipment: PAPERSHOW Equipment: SEP Steady State Bottle Kit Equipment: Sciencescope Datalogging Balance Equipment: USB Robot Arm Equipment: Sciencescope Spectrophotometer Web Watch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-07-01

WE RECOMMEND Good Practice in Science Teaching: What Research Has to Say Book explores and summarizes the research Steady State Bottle Kit Another gem from SEP Sciencescope Datalogging Balance Balance suits everyday use Sciencescope Spectrophotometer Device displays clear spectrum WORTH A LOOK The Babylonian Theorem Text explains ancient Egyptian mathematics BrainBox360 (Physics Edition) Video game tests your knowledge Teaching and Learning Science: Towards a Personalized Approach Book reveals how useful physics teachers really are PAPERSHOW Gadget kit is useful but has limitations Robotic Arm Kit with USB PC Interface Robot arm teaches programming WEB WATCH Simple applets teach complex topics

‘The kind of mildly curious sort of science interested person like me’: Science bloggers’ practices relating to audience recruitment

PubMed Central

Ranger, Mathieu; Bultitude, Karen

2014-01-01

With at least 150 million professional and amateur blogs on the Internet, blogging offers a potentially powerful tool for engaging large and diverse audiences with science. This article investigates science blogging practices to uncover key trends, including bloggers’ self-perceptions of their role. Interviews with seven of the most popular science bloggers revealed them to be driven by intrinsic personal motivations. Wishing to pursue their love of writing and share their passion for science, they produce content suitable for niche audiences of science enthusiasts, although they do not assume background scientific knowledge. A content analysis of 1000 blog posts and comparison with the most popular blogs on the Internet further confirmed this result and additionally identified key factors that affect science blog popularity, including update frequency, topic diversity and the inclusion of non-text elements (especially images and video). PMID:25361791

'The kind of mildly curious sort of science interested person like me': Science bloggers' practices relating to audience recruitment.

PubMed

Ranger, Mathieu; Bultitude, Karen

2016-04-01

With at least 150 million professional and amateur blogs on the Internet, blogging offers a potentially powerful tool for engaging large and diverse audiences with science. This article investigates science blogging practices to uncover key trends, including bloggers' self-perceptions of their role. Interviews with seven of the most popular science bloggers revealed them to be driven by intrinsic personal motivations. Wishing to pursue their love of writing and share their passion for science, they produce content suitable for niche audiences of science enthusiasts, although they do not assume background scientific knowledge. A content analysis of 1000 blog posts and comparison with the most popular blogs on the Internet further confirmed this result and additionally identified key factors that affect science blog popularity, including update frequency, topic diversity and the inclusion of non-text elements (especially images and video). © The Author(s) 2014.

Impaired personal trait knowledge, but spared other-person trait knowledge, in an individual with bilateral damage to the medial prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Marquine, María J.; Grilli, Matthew D.; Rapcsak, Steven Z.; Kaszniak, Alfred W.; Ryan, Lee; Walther, Katrin; Glisky, Elizabeth L.

2016-01-01

Functional neuroimaging has revealed that in healthy adults retrieval of personal trait knowledge is associated with increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Separately, neuropsychology has shown that the self-referential nature of memory can be disrupted in individuals with mPFC lesions. However, it remains unclear whether damage to the mPFC impairs retrieval of personal trait knowledge. Therefore, in this neuropsychological case study we investigated the integrity of personal trait knowledge in J.S., an individual who sustained bilateral damage to the mPFC as a result of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm. We measured both accuracy and consistency of J.S.’s personal trait knowledge as well as his trait knowledge of another, frequently seen person, and compared his performance to a group of healthy adults. Findings revealed that J.S. had severely impaired accuracy and consistency of his personal trait knowledge relative to control participants. In contrast, J.S.’s accuracy and consistency of other-person trait knowledge was intact in comparison to control participants. Moreover, J.S. showed a normal positivity bias in his trait ratings. These results, albeit based on a single case, implicate the mPFC as critical for retrieval of personal trait knowledge. Findings also cast doubt on the likelihood that the mPFC, in particular the ventral mPFC, is necessary for storage and retrieval of trait knowledge of other people. Therefore, this case study adds to a growing body of evidence that mPFC damage can disrupt the link between self and memory. PMID:27342256

American Psychiatric Nurses Association-Transitions in Practice Certificate Program: Bridging the Knowledge Gap in Caring for Psychiatric Patients Within the General Nursing Workforce.

PubMed

Adams, Susie M; Black, Patricia

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to publicize an important new Web-based educational program. Recognizing the growing gap in psychiatric-mental health knowledge and the need to better prepare new graduates and nurses transitioning from other service lines into psychiatric inpatient nursing settings, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association developed a 15-hour, modularized curriculum to provide foundational psychiatric-mental health knowledge. This modularized curriculum, called American Psychiatric Nurses Association Transitions in Practice (ATP) focuses on the knowledge and skills to insure the success of nurses new to psychiatric-mental health nursing settings and to improve the overall care for persons with mental health and substance use disorders. The ATP program is also proving to be useful content for nurses in emergency departments, hospitals, and other health settings to improve their care of patients with psychiatric and mental health needs. A summary of the program modules and a toolkit with suggested measures for nurses, patients, and agency outcomes is described. Feedback from participants completing the ATP program within the first 6 months is overwhelmingly positive and holds promise for widespread application across a variety of health care settings.

The European database for subspecialist training in neonatology - transparency achieved.

PubMed

Breindahl, Morten; Blennow, Mats; Fauchère, Jean-Claude; Lluch, Marta Thio; De Luca, Daniele; Marlow, Neil; Picaud, Jean-Charles; Roehr, Charles Christoph; Vanpée, Mireille; Vilamor, Eduardo; Zaharie, Gabriela; Greisen, Gorm

2013-01-01

The European Society for Neonatology (ESN) developed a curriculum for subspecialist training in Europe recommending standards for national neonatal training programmes. We speculate whether these official recommendations are widely accepted or used in practice. To characterize the variation in national neonatal training programmes, to enhance transparency, and to compare them to the ESN Curriculum. We constructed a database based on the backbone of the ESN Curriculum: (1) training - knowledge, (2) training - skills, (3) key competencies, (4) personal development, and (5) recording of progress. National neonatal representatives from all 30 member states of the Union of European Medical Specialties (UEMS) provided data on national training programmes. Although only one country (3%) based its neonatology training entirely on the ESN Curriculum, we found high levels of uniformity among the UEMS member countries regarding knowledge, skills, and key competencies needed to practice neonatology at a tertiary care level. Discrepancy was encountered on ethical and legal issues and on personal development of the trainees. Mentoring and professional evaluation was generally not implemented in the participating countries. There is an awareness and readiness to focus on educational demands for neonatal trainees. Further discussions about the overall educational goals of neonatal training and the essence of practicing neonatology in each country are needed. The ESN will undertake this process to provide an updated and effective syllabus aimed to harmonize care and outcomes for babies and their families across Europe. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A new intervention for people with borderline personality disorder who are also parents: a pilot study of clinician acceptability.

PubMed

McCarthy, Kye L; Lewis, Kate L; Bourke, Marianne E; Grenyer, Brin F S

2016-01-01

Engaging parents who have a personality disorder in interventions designed to protect children from the extremes of the disorder supports both parenting skills and healthy child development. In line with evidence-based guidelines, a 'Parenting with Personality Disorder' brief intervention was developed, focusing on child safety, effective communication and parenting strategies. Ratings of acceptability for the brief intervention model were given by 168 mental health clinicians who attended training. Changes in clinician attitudes, knowledge and skills were also assessed following training. Providing clinicians treating personality disorder clients with additional skills to address parenting was well received and filled a gap in service provision. Clinicians reported improvements in clinical skills, knowledge, willingness and confidence to intervene in parenting issues with clients. Qualitative responses endorsed three major modes of learning: case study analysis, reflective learning activities, and skills-based intervention practices. Current treatment guidelines emphasise addressing parenting, but no evidence-based therapy includes specific parenting skills. This brief intervention model improved skills, efficacy and willingness to intervene. This approach can be readily added to current evidence-based therapy protocols and promises to improve client functioning and protect children from the extremes of the disorder. Clinical trials are now required to validate the approach in the field.

Doctors and torture: the police surgeon.

PubMed

Burges, S H

1980-09-01

Much has been written by many distinguished persons about the philosophical, religious and ethical considerations of doctors and their involvement with torture. What follows will not have the erudition or authority of the likes of St Augustine, Mahatma Gandi, Schopenhauer or Thomas Paine. It represents the views of a very ordinary person; a presumption defended by the submission that many very ordinary persons have been, and will be, instruments for effecting, assisting or condoning the physical or mental anguish of others. As practitioners of medicine, we are particularly vulnerable, since our particular knowledge and our privileged position may be so easily abused--to the detriment of others. Those of us who practice clinical forensic medicine have even greater responsibility by virtue of our daily contact with the enforcement of law, criminal procedure, and the machinations of the judiciary. We are thus particularly well placed to monitor, encourage or discourage the occurrence of evil practices within the community. It is imperative, therefore, that the ordinary doctor should be cognisant of, and be party to, a code of conduct formulated by his peers and having reference to his obligations as a citizen, and doctor, and to his ability to manipulate human activity. Forensic physicians have further discretionary powers as arbiters in the marriage of the art and ethics of healing with the principles and practice of justice.

Are Anesthesia Providers Ready for Hypnosis? Anesthesia Providers' Attitudes Toward Hypnotherapy.

PubMed

Stone, Alexander B; Sheinberg, Rosanne; Bertram, Amanda; Seymour, Anastasia Rowland

2016-04-01

This study sought to measure current attitudes toward hypnosis among anesthesia providers using an in-person survey distributed at a single grand rounds at a single academic teaching hospital. One hundred twenty-six anesthesia providers (anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists) were included in this study. A 10-question Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved questionnaire was developed. One hundred twenty-six (73% of providers at the meeting) anesthesia providers completed the survey. Of the respondents, 54 (43%) were anesthesiologists, 42 (33%) were trainees (interns/residents/fellows) in anesthesia, and 30 (24%) were nurse anesthetists. Over 70% of providers, at each level of training, rated their knowledge of hypnosis as either below average or having no knowledge. Fifty-two (42%) providers agreed or strongly agreed that hypnotherapy has a place in the clinical practice of anesthesia, while 103 (83%) believed that positive suggestion has a place in the clinical practice of anesthesia (p < .0001). Common reasons cited against using hypnosis were that it is too time consuming (41%) and requires special training (34%). Only three respondents (2%) believed that there were no reasons for using hypnosis in their practice. These data suggest that there is a self-reported lack of knowledge about hypnosis among anesthesia providers, although many anesthesia providers are open to the use of hypnosis in their clinical practice. Anesthesia providers are more likely to support the use of positive suggestion in their practice than hypnosis. Practical concerns should be addressed if hypnosis and therapeutic verbal techniques are to gain more widespread use.

Farmers' knowledge, practices and injuries associated with pesticide exposure in rural farming villages in Tanzania.

PubMed

Lekei, Elikana E; Ngowi, Aiwerasia V; London, Leslie

2014-04-23

Pesticides in Tanzania are extensively used for pest control in agriculture. Their usage and unsafe handling practices may potentially result in high farmer exposures and adverse health effects.The aim of this study was to describe farmers' pesticide exposure profile, knowledge about pesticide hazards, experience of previous poisoning, hazardous practices that may lead to Acute Pesticide Poisoning (APP) and the extent to which APP is reported. The study involved 121 head- of-household respondents from Arumeru district in Arusha region. Data collection involved administration of a standardised questionnaire to farmers and documentation of storage practices. Unsafe pesticide handling practices were assessed through observation of pesticide storage, conditions of personal protective equipment (PPE) and through self-reports of pesticide disposal and equipment calibration. Past lifetime pesticide poisoning was reported by 93% of farmers. The agents reported as responsible for poisoning were Organophosphates (42%) and WHO Class II agents (77.6%).Storage of pesticides in the home was reported by 79% of farmers. Respondents with higher education levels were significantly less likely to store pesticides in their home (PRR High/Low = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1-0.7) and more likely to practice calibration of spray equipment (PRR High/Low = 1.2; 95% CI = 1.03-1.4). However, knowledge of routes of exposure was not associated with safety practices particularly for disposal, equipment wash area, storage and use of PPE . The majority of farmers experiencing APP in the past (79%) did not attend hospital and of the 23 farmers who did so in the preceding year, records could be traced for only 22% of these cases. The study found a high potential for pesticide exposure in the selected community in rural Tanzania, a high frequency of self-reported APP and poor recording in hospital records. Farmers' knowledge levels appeared to be unrelated to their risk. Rather than simply focusing on knowledge-based strategies, comprehensive interventions are needed to reduce both exposure and health risks, including training, improvements in labeling, measures to reduce cost barriers to the adoption of safe behaviours, , promotion of control measures other than PPE and support for Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Farmers' knowledge, practices and injuries associated with pesticide exposure in rural farming villages in Tanzania

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Pesticides in Tanzania are extensively used for pest control in agriculture. Their usage and unsafe handling practices may potentially result in high farmer exposures and adverse health effects. The aim of this study was to describe farmers’ pesticide exposure profile, knowledge about pesticide hazards, experience of previous poisoning, hazardous practices that may lead to Acute Pesticide Poisoning (APP) and the extent to which APP is reported. Methods The study involved 121 head- of-household respondents from Arumeru district in Arusha region. Data collection involved administration of a standardised questionnaire to farmers and documentation of storage practices. Unsafe pesticide handling practices were assessed through observation of pesticide storage, conditions of personal protective equipment (PPE) and through self-reports of pesticide disposal and equipment calibration. Results Past lifetime pesticide poisoning was reported by 93% of farmers. The agents reported as responsible for poisoning were Organophosphates (42%) and WHO Class II agents (77.6%). Storage of pesticides in the home was reported by 79% of farmers. Respondents with higher education levels were significantly less likely to store pesticides in their home (PRR High/Low = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1-0.7) and more likely to practice calibration of spray equipment (PRR High/Low = 1.2; 95% CI = 1.03-1.4). However, knowledge of routes of exposure was not associated with safety practices particularly for disposal, equipment wash area, storage and use of PPE . The majority of farmers experiencing APP in the past (79%) did not attend hospital and of the 23 farmers who did so in the preceding year, records could be traced for only 22% of these cases. Conclusions The study found a high potential for pesticide exposure in the selected community in rural Tanzania, a high frequency of self-reported APP and poor recording in hospital records. Farmers’ knowledge levels appeared to be unrelated to their risk. Rather than simply focusing on knowledge-based strategies, comprehensive interventions are needed to reduce both exposure and health risks, including training, improvements in labeling, measures to reduce cost barriers to the adoption of safe behaviours, , promotion of control measures other than PPE and support for Integrated Pest Management (IPM). PMID:24754959

An inter-professional approach to personalized medicine education: one institution's experience.

PubMed

Formea, Christine M; Nicholson, Wayne T; Vitek, Carolyn Rohrer

2015-03-01

Personalized medicine offers the promise of better diagnoses, targeted therapies and individualized treatment plans. Pharmacogenomics is an integral component of personalized medicine; it aids in the prediction of an individual's response to medications. Despite growing public acceptance and emerging clinical evidence, this rapidly expanding field of medicine is slow to be adopted and utilized by healthcare providers, although many believe that they should be knowledgeable and able to apply pharmacogenomics in clinical practice. Institutional infrastructure must be built to support pharmacogenomic implementation. Multidisciplinary education for healthcare providers is a critical component for pharmacogenomics to achieve its full potential to optimize patient care. We describe our recent experience at the Mayo Clinic implementing pharmacogenomics education in a large, academic healthcare system facilitated by the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.

[Personalized holistic approach to a patient with mixed leg ulcer].

PubMed

Kovacević, Jadranka; Sinozić, Tamara

2014-10-01

Holistic approach as the philosophical orientation to care underpins the fundamental wholeness of human being and emphasizes the importance of balance within the person and between the person and his/her environment. It includes elements of the physiological, sociological, economic, psychological and spiritual dimensions, and thus providesan opportunity to assess the patient as a whole and in relation to his/ her living context. Such an integrated approach is part of the basic knowledge and skills of general practitioners/family doctors and makes them equal members of a multidisciplinary team in chronic wound patient care. In this case report on a patient with mixed leg ulcer, we will try to bring closer holistic approach in care for this kind of patients in daily practice of general practitioners/family doctors.

Boundary work for implementing adaptive management: A water sector application.

PubMed

Adem Esmail, Blal; Geneletti, Davide; Albert, Christian

2017-09-01

Boundary work, defined as effort to mediate between knowledge and action, is a promising approach for facilitating knowledge co-production for sustainable development. Here, we investigate a case study of knowledge co-production, to assess the applicability of boundary work as a conceptual framework to support implementing adaptive management in the water sector. We refer to a boundary work classification recently proposed by Clark et al., (2016), based on three types of knowledge uses, i.e. enlightenment, decision-, and negotiation-support, and three types of sources, i.e. personal expertise, single, and multiple communities of expertise. Our empirical results confirm boundary work has been crucial for the three types of knowledge use. For enlightenment and decision-support, effective interaction among knowledge producers and users was achieved through diverse boundary work practices, including joint agenda setting, and sharing of data and expertise. This initial boundary work eased subsequent knowledge co-production for decision-support and negotiations, in combination with stepping up of cooperation between relevant actors, suitable legislation and pressure for problem solving. Our analysis highlighted the temporal dimension matters - building trust around enlightenment first, and then using this as a basis for managing knowledge co-production for decision-, and negotiation support. We reconfirmed that boundary work is not a single time achievement, rather is a dynamic process, and we emphasized the importance of key actors driving the process, such as water utilities. Our results provide a rich case study of how strategic boundary work can facilitate knowledge co-production for adaptive management in the water sector. The boundary work practices employed here could also be transferred to other cases. Water utilities, as intermediaries between providers and beneficiaries of the important water-related ecosystem service of clean water provision, can indeed serve as key actors for initiating such boundary work practices. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Liberating minds: Consciousness-raising as a bridge between feminism and psychology in 1970s Canada.

PubMed

Ruck, Nora

2015-08-01

This article examines the interrelations between psychology and feminism in the work of feminist psychologists and radical feminists in Toronto in the early 1970s. For Canadian feminist psychology as well as for second-wave activism, Toronto was a particular hotspot. It was the academic home of some of the first Canadian feminist psychologists, and was the site of a lively scene of feminists working in established women's organizations along with younger socialist and radical feminists. This article analyzes the interrelations of academic feminist psychology and feminist activism by focusing on consciousness-raising, a practice that promised to bridge tensions between the personal and the political, psychological and social liberation, everyday knowledge and institutionalized knowledge production, theory and practice, as well as the women's movement and other spheres of women's lives. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Occupational exposure to the risk of HIV infection among health care workers in Mwanza Region, United Republic of Tanzania.

PubMed

Gumodoka, B; Favot, I; Berege, Z A; Dolmans, W M

1997-01-01

During 1993, we collected data on knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission, availability of equipment, protective practices and the occurrence of prick and splash incidents in nine hospitals in the Mwanza Region in the north-west of the United Republic of Tanzania. Such incidents were common, with the average health worker being pricked five times and being splashed nine times per year. The annual occupational risk of HIV transmission was estimated at 0.27% for health workers. Among surgeons, the risk was 0.7% (i.e. more than twice as high) if no special protective measures were taken. Health workers' knowledge and personal protective practices must therefore be improved and the supply of protective equipment supported. Reduction of occupational risk of HIV infection among health workers should be an integral part of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) control strategies.

[Phenomenology and phenomenological method: their usefulness for nursing knowledge and practice].

PubMed

Vellone, E; Sinapi, N; Rastelli, D

2000-01-01

Phenomenology is a thought movement the main aim of which is to study human fenomena as they are experienced and lived. Key concepts of phenomenology are: the study of lived experience and subjectivity of human beings, the intentionality of consciousness, perception and interpretation. Phenomenological research method has nine steps: definition of the research topic; superficial literature searching; sample selection; gathering of lived experiences; analysis of lived experiences; written synthesis of lived experiences; validation of written synthesis; deep literature searching; writing of the scientific document. Phenomenology and phenomenological method are useful for nursing either to develop knowledge or to guide practice. Qualitative-phenomenological and quantitative-positivistic research are complementary: the first one guides clinicians towards a person-centered approach, the second one allows the manipulation of phenomena which can damage health, worsen illness or decrease the quality of life of people who rely on nursing care.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of private sector immunization service providers in Gujarat, India.

PubMed

Hagan, José E; Gaonkar, Narayan; Doshi, Vikas; Patni, Anas; Vyas, Shailee; Mazumdar, Vihang; Kosambiya, J K; Gupta, Satish; Watkins, Margaret

2018-01-02

India is responsible for 30% of the annual global cohort of unvaccinated children worldwide. Private practitioners provide an estimated 21% of vaccinations in urban centers of India, and are important partners in achieving high vaccination coverage. We used an in-person questionnaire and on-site observation to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices of private immunization service providers regarding delivery of immunization services in the urban settings of Surat and Baroda, in Gujarat, India. We constructed a comprehensive sampling frame of all private physician providers of immunization services in Surat and Baroda cities, by consulting vaccine distributors, local branches of physician associations, and published lists of private medical practitioners. All providers were contacted and asked to participate in the study if they provided immunization services. Data were collected using an in-person structured questionnaire and directly observing practices; one provider in each practice setting was interviewed. The response rate was 82% (121/147) in Surat, and 91% (137/151) in Baroda. Of 258 participants 195 (76%) were pediatricians, and 63 (24%) were general practitioners. Practices that were potential missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) included not strictly following vaccination schedules if there were concerns about ability to pay (45% of practitioners), and not administering more than two injections in the same visit (60%). Only 22% of respondents used a vaccination register to record vaccine doses, and 31% reported vaccine doses administered to the government. Of 237 randomly selected vaccine vials, 18% had expired vaccine vial monitors. Quality of immunization services in Gujarat can be strengthened by providing training and support to private immunization service providers to reduce MOVs and improve quality and safety; other more context specific strategies that should be evaluated may involve giving feedback to providers on quality of services delivered and working through professional societies to adopt standards of practice. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Methods of Genomic Competency Integration in Practice

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Jean; Calzone, Kathleen A.; Caskey, Sarah; Culp, Stacey; Weiner, Marsha; Badzek, Laurie

2015-01-01

Purpose Genomics is increasingly relevant to health care, necessitating support for nurses to incorporate genomic competencies into practice. The primary aim of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a year-long genomic education intervention that trained, supported, and supervised institutional administrator and educator champion dyads to increase nursing capacity to integrate genomics through assessments of program satisfaction and institutional achieved outcomes. Design Longitudinal study of 23 Magnet Recognition Program® Hospitals (21 intervention, 2 controls) participating in a 1-year new competency integration effort aimed at increasing genomic nursing competency and overcoming barriers to genomics integration in practice. Methods Champion dyads underwent genomic training consisting of one in-person kick-off training meeting followed by monthly education webinars. Champion dyads designed institution-specific action plans detailing objectives, methods or strategies used to engage and educate nursing staff, timeline for implementation, and outcomes achieved. Action plans focused on a minimum of seven genomic priority areas: champion dyad personal development; practice assessment; policy content assessment; staff knowledge needs assessment; staff development; plans for integration; and anticipated obstacles and challenges. Action plans were updated quarterly, outlining progress made as well as inclusion of new methods or strategies. Progress was validated through virtual site visits with the champion dyads and chief nursing officers. Descriptive data were collected on all strategies or methods utilized, and timeline for achievement. Descriptive data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings The complexity of the competency content and the uniqueness of social systems and infrastructure resulted in a significant variation of champion dyad interventions. Conclusions Nursing champions can facilitate change in genomic nursing capacity through varied strategies but require substantial training in order to design and implement interventions. Clinical Relevance Genomics is critical to the practice of all nurses. There is a great opportunity and interest to address genomic knowledge deficits in the practicing nurse workforce as a strategy to improve patient outcomes. Exemplars of champion dyad interventions designed to increase nursing capacity focus on improving education, policy, and healthcare services. PMID:25808828

Dynamic Personal Identity and the Dynamic Identity Grid: How Theory and Concept Can Transform Information into Knowledge and Secure the American Homeland

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Boston: Pearson, 2006), 1-592. 48 This project demanded the use of a primarily...enforcement practices. 200 Neuman, Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 152...www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/strucres.php (accessed July 12, 2008). 203 Neuman, Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 149. 204 Paul

Achieving Success in Small Business: A Self-Instruction Program for Small Business Owner-Managers. Success in Small Business: Luck or Pluck?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg. Div. of Vocational-Technical Education.

This self-instructional module on success in small business is the first in a set of twelve modules designed for small business owner-managers. Competency objectives for this module are (1) ability to evaluate chances of success based upon one's personality and knowledge of good business practices and (2) ability to determine one's commitment to…