The importance of setting and evaluating standards of telemedicine training

The importance of appropriate training in the use of videoconferencing equipment for clinical purposes is often underestimated when telemedicine projects are established. We developed a user training programme which was delivered via videoconferencing to a group of 130 nurses. Training was delivered on a one-to-one basis. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate user satisfaction and the effectiveness of training. One hundred and two fully completed questionnaires were returned (a 79% response rate). High levels of satisfaction were obtained but the level of user competence reached 100% only when training was supported by a training manual and at least weekly practice. Before establishing a telemedicine service, the following steps appear to be important: identify the required training competencies; deliver a 'hands on' training programme based on the required training competencies; back up the training programme with an instruction booklet; ensure that trainees have at least weekly practice; measure the level of user competence.

AGENDA- SETTING NO TWITTER: A CAMPANHA ELEITORAL NO MUNICÍPIO DE SÃO PAULO EM 2012

O objetivo desse trabalho é identificar uma hipótese analisada há 40 anos em uma nova forma de comunicação. A proposta é buscar a comprovação do agenda-setting, ou agendamento, no Twitter durante a eleição para a Prefeitura de São Paulo no ano de 2012. Para isso, recorremos a três portais de notícias que nos serviram como laboratório de fontes , que nos pautavam na busca pela repercussão dessas notícias na Internet. A partir da definição de alguns termos que acompanharam os três principais candidatos à prefeitura de SP, partimos para uma procura por esses termos no Twitter, através da ferramenta The Archivist . Os termos foram divididos em positivos , negativos e neutros , para identificarmos qual o tipo de conteúdo era mais repercutido. Os resultados da pesquisa identificaram uma maior repercussão de termos que representavam atributos negativos dos candidatos, analisando o agendamento dos portais de notícias como uma forma de reforço desses atributos negativos, comprovando a agenda da contrapropaganda política no Twitter.

The observant mind:self-awareness of attentional status

Visual perception is dependent not only on low-level sensory input but also on high-level cognitive factors such as attention. In this paper, we sought to determine whether attentional processes can be internally monitored for the purpose of enhancing behavioural performance. To do so, we developed a novel paradigm involving an orientation discrimination task in which observers had the freedom to delay target presentation--by any amount required--until they judged their attentional focus to be complete. Our results show that discrimination performance is significantly improved when individuals self-monitor their level of visual attention and respond only when they perceive it to be maximal. Although target delay times varied widely from trial-to-trial (range 860 ms-12.84 s), we show that their distribution is Gaussian when plotted on a reciprocal latency scale. We further show that the neural basis of the delay times for judging attentional status is well explained by a linear rise-to-threshold model. We conclude that attentional mechanisms can be self-monitored for the purpose of enhancing human decision-making processes, and that the neural basis of such processes can be understood in terms of a simple, yet broadly applicable, linear rise-to-threshold model.