Challenge or opportunity: can regional training hospitals capitalise on the impending influx of interns?

To the Editor: The increase in medical graduates expected over the next decade presents a huge challenge to the many stakeholders involved in providing their prevocational and vocational medical training. 1 Increased numbers will add significantly to the teaching and supervision workload for registrars and consultants, while specialist training and access to advanced training positions may be compromised. However, this predicament may also provide opportunities for innovation in the way internships are delivered. Although facing these same challenges, regional and rural hospitals could use this situation to enhance their workforce by creating opportunities for interns and junior doctors to acquire valuable experience in non-metropolitan settings. We surveyed a representative sample (n = 147; 52% of total cohort) of Year 3 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery students at the University of Queensland about their perceptions and expectations of their impending internship and the importance of its location (ie, urban/metropolitan versus regional/rural teaching hospitals) to their future training and career plans. Most students (n = 127; 86%) reported a high degree of contemplation about their internship choice. Issues relating to career progression and support ranked highest in their expectations. Most perceived internships in urban/metropolitan hospitals as more beneficial to their future career prospects compared with regional/rural hospitals, but, interestingly, felt that they would have more patient responsibility and greater contact with and supervision by senior staff in a regional setting (Box). Regional and rural hospitals should try to harness these positive perceptions and act to address any real or perceived shortcomings in order to enhance their future workforce.2 They could look to establish partnerships with rural clinical schools3 to enhance recruitment of interns as early as Year 3. To maximise competitiveness with their urban counterparts, regional and rural hospitals need to offer innovative training and career progression pathways to junior doctors, to combat the perception that internships in urban hospitals are more beneficial to future career prospects. Partnerships between hospitals, medical schools and vocational colleges, with input from postgraduate medical councils, should provide vertical integration4 in the important period between student and doctor. Work is underway to more closely evaluate and compare the intern experience across regional/rural and urban/metropolitan hospitals, and track student experiences and career choices longitudinally. This information may benefit teaching hospitals and help identify the optimal combination of resources necessary to provide quality teaching and a clear career pathway for the expected influx of new interns.

Teaching in rural and remote schools: a literature review

In this paper. the authors examine a wide range of recent research into the preparation and support for teachers working in rural and remote schools. The paper reviews many preservice and inservice initiatives which highlight issues affecting:teaching and learning in schools outside the major metropolitan centres. The work is reviewed from an Australian perspective but evaluates research from throughout the world. The paper concludes that despite a large body of research (Gibson, 1994), that has identified the need for specialised pre-service preparation which accommodates the social and professional differences associated with work in rural and remote areas, the implementation of such programs by teacher training institutions has been sparse, lacking in cohesion and in many cases non-existent. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Work domain analysis for training-system definition and acquisition

Training-needs analysis is critical for defining and procuring effective training systems. However, traditional approaches to training-needs analysis are not suitable for capturing the demands of highly automated and computerized work domains. In this article, we propose that work domain analysis can identify the functional structure of a work domain that must be captured in a training system, so that workers can be trained to deal with unpredictable contingencies that cannot be handled by computer systems. To illustrate this argument, we outline a work domain analysis of a fighter aircraft that defines its functional structure in terms of its training objectives, measures of performance, basic training functions, physical functionality, and physical context. The functional structure or training needs identified by work domain analysis can then be used as a basis for developing functional specifications for training systems, specifically its design objectives, data collection capabilities, scenario generation capabilities, physical functionality, and physical attributes. Finally, work domain analysis also provides a useful framework for evaluating whether a tendered solution fulfills the training needs of a work domain.

Children's cooperative behavior and interactions in trained and untrained work groups in regular classrooms

This study examined group and individual factors that facilitate changes in cooperation and learning outcomes in trained and untrained work groups of elementary school-age children. The study had two foci. The first was to determine if the cooperative behaviors and interactions of children in classroom groups who were trained in cooperative learning skins were different from those of children who were given no training, and the second was to investigate small group interactions and achievement in these groups over time. The results showed that there were observable differences between student interactions in the two conditions and these differences were maintained over time. Compared with children in the untrained groups, those in the trained groups were consistently more cooperative and helpful to each other; they actively tried to involve each other in the learning task by using language which was more inclusive (e.g., frequent use of ''we''), and they gave more explanations to assist each other as they worked together. It appeared that as the children worked together over time, they became more responsive to the learning needs of each other. Furthermore, the children in the trained groups performed significantly better on the learning outcomes questionnaire than those in the untrained groups. (C) 1997 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Do generalized visual training programmes for sport really work? An experimental investigation

We assessed the effectiveness of two generalized visual training programmes in enhancing visual and motor performance for racquet sports. Forty young participants were assigned equally to groups undertaking visual training using Revien and Gabor's Sports Vision programme (Group 1), visual training using Revien's Eyerobics (Group 2), a placebo condition involving reading (Group 3) and a control condition involving physical practice only (Group 4). Measures of basic visual function and of sport-specific motor performance were obtained from all participants before and immediately after a 4-week training period. Significant pre- to post-training differences were evident on some of the measures; however, these were not group-dependent. Contrary to the claims made by proponents of generalized visual training, we found no evidence that the visual training programmes led to improvements in either vision or motor performance above and beyond those resulting simply from test familiarity.

The development of a pilot telemedicine network in Scotland: lessons learned

A pilot telemedicine network was established in 11 sites using funding provided by the Department of Trade and Industry in the UK. The main purpose of the project was to develop and evaluate clinical and educational links between central and peripheral sites in Scotland, The results were very encouraging, and clinical services were established in accident and emergency medicine, tele-ultrasound and clinical psychology. An undergraduate medical teaching service was also successfully established. All of these services are to be continued after the completion of the project. Many lessons were learned during the establishment of this network which will be useful in future projects. These included the importance of training for telemedicine users, the importance of identifying a telemedicine champion, the pitfall of health economics and the fact that services must be needs driven.

Sentidos que emergem do/circulam no trabalho docente na educação infantil

Este estudo focaliza a constituição do trabalho docente na Educação Infantil (EI), tomando como referência o cenário da EI articulado ao campo profissional, vinculado às especificidades da EI, na indissociabilidade do educar e do cuidar, no contexto de transformações do sistema educativo e da expansão da oferta da EI. Perspectiva compreender os sentidos que emergem do/circulam no trabalho docente na EI das auxiliares de creche e professoras que atuam com crianças de zero a três anos, quando mediadas por um processo de formação. É sustentado pelos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos bakhtinianos vinculados aos referenciais do trabalho docente e da formação no campo da educação infantil, com base numa configuração dialógica da compreensão. Articula essa ancoragem à pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa por meio dos procedimentos metodológicos de observação participante e entrevistas, tendo como campo de estudo a experiência de uma instituição de Educação Infantil. Os resultados demonstram tensionamentos entre formação continuada e vivência profissional, estendendo-se às profissionais docentes em situação funcional díspar diante da perspectiva pedagógica da indissociabilidade do educar e do cuidar. Os sentidos que emergiram e circularam, a partir das rodas de conversa propostas nesta pesquisa, abrangem a complexidade do trabalho docente na EI, configurado por lógicas hierárquicas no exercício da docência. Tais fundamentos incidem na diluição de um trabalho educativo pautado no compromisso pedagógico e na formação das crianças, pois, da forma como vêm sendo ampliadas e flexibilizadas as contratações, intensificam a fragilidade da função docente, no que tange à formação mínima exigida em lei para atuar na EI quanto na formação continuada.

Multilingualism and interpreting: training for the EU

AGM and Conference in Mechelen 27 – 30 April 2010

Necessidades de formação em educação para a saúde em contexto escolar: contributos para os currículos de enfermagem

Tese de Doutoramento, Educação (Desenvolvimento Curricular), 9 de Dezembro de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

Particularidades do ensino do canto a adolescentes no contexto da Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional: relatório de estágio

Resumo I - O presente Relatório de Estágio foi elaborado no âmbito da Unidade Curricular (UC) de Estágio do Ensino Especializado (EEE) do Mestrado em Ensino da Música da Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, ramo de especialização em Canto. Incide sobre a Prática Pedagógica desenvolvida com três alunos de Canto da Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional (EMCN), no ano letivo de 2012/2013, em diferentes níveis de desenvolvimento vocal, adolescentes, ou tendo saído há pouco tempo da adolescência. Nesta secção, encontram-se enumeradas as principais linhas pedagógicas seguidas, assim como os principais motivos das opções tomadas. Descreve-se também a forma como foi organizado e planeado o trabalho técnico e musical desenvolvido com os alunos, adequado à fase de desenvolvimento físico e vocal de cada um, além do conjunto de atividades escolares realizadas, as quais tiveram como finalidade promover o seu desenvolvimento artístico.

Training and discovering corpus-based data driven exercices in english teaching (L2/FL) to native speakers of portuguese (L1)

Project submitted as part requirement for the degree of Masters in English teaching,

A Communication Intervention for Training Southern European Oncologists to Recognize Psychosocial Morbidity in Cancer. I - Development of the Model and Preliminary Results on Physicians' Satisfaction

BACKGROUND: The detection of psychosocial distress is a significant communication problem in Southern Europe and other countries. Work in this area is hampered by a lack of data. Because not much is known about training aimed at improving the recognition of psychosocial disorders in cancer patients, we developed a basic course model for medical oncology professionals. METHODS: A specific educational and experiential model (12 hours divided into 2 modules) involving formal teaching (ie, journal articles, large-group presentations), practice in small groups (ie, small-group exercises and role playing), and discussion in large groups was developed with the aim of improving the ability of oncologists to detect emotional disturbances in cancer patients (ie, depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders). RESULTS: A total of 30 oncologists from 3 Southern European countries (Italy, Portugal, and Spain) participated in the workshop. The training course was well accepted by most participants who expressed general satisfaction and a positive subjective perception of the utility of the course for clinical practice. Of the total participants, 28 physicians (93.3%) thought that had they been exposed to this material sooner, they would have incorporated the techniques received in the workshop into their practices; 2 participants stated they would likely have done so. Half of the doctors (n = 15) believed that their clinical communication techniques were improved by participating in the workshop, and the remaining half thought that their abilities to communicate with cancer patients had improved. CONCLUSIONS: This model is a feasible approach for oncologists and is easily applicable to various oncology settings. Further studies will demonstrate the effectiveness of this method for improving oncologists skills in recognizing emotional disorders in their patients with cancer.