Search Results for
"human"

Context: The recommendations of the General Medical Council in Tomorrow's Doctors renewed efforts to define core knowledge in undergraduate medical education. They also encouraged better use of the medical knowledge base in nurturing clinical judgement, critical thinking, and reflective practice. What then does the medical world understand by 'science', 'critical thinking' and 'competence', given the need to address both growth and uncertainty in the knowledge base and to practise evidence-based healthcare? Aim and objectives: This review aims to outline the role of these key concepts in preparing undergraduate medical students for professional practice. Specifically, it explores: the fallibility of the 'scientific' foundations of medical practice; the role of understanding and thinking in undergraduate medical education; the need for a broad interpretation of competence and its relationship to transferability, and the nature of clinical judgement. Comment: Tensions are seen to lie in the varying interpretations of clinical decision making as art or science; the varying characterizations of the nature of skilled performance in the novice, the competent and the expert practitioner, and the varying reactions to the acceptability and usefulness of 'meta-' concepts in capturing the essence of professional practice. Habitual self-conscious monitoring of mental processes may be the key to the flexible transfer and application of knowledge and skills across the contexts, characterized by uncertainty and incomplete evidence, for which doctors must be prepared.

[No abstract available]

[No abstract available]

An intriguing finding in the literature on the role of education in the labor market concerns workers who have acquired either more or less education than they say their jobs require. Contrary to predictions from a rigid, structural view of jobs, several authors have found that the labor market rewards workers for having completed more schooling than their jobs require and penalizes workers who have 'too little' schooling. We investigate whether the structural changes in the labor market in the United States over the 1970s and 1980s (see Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (1992). US earnings levels and earnings inequality: a review of recent trends and proposed explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 30, 1333-1381) affected the rewards and penalties associated with having too much or too little schooling for a job. We then examine whether the same rewards and penalties for surplus and deficit education observed in the United States apply in Germany, a country with a much more structured educational system and labor market. We test explicitly for differences over time in the United States and at a point in time between the United States and Germany. We find, consistent with a universalistic view of labor markets, more similarities across countries than over time. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.

In the course of the consultation in primary care, the general practitioner integrates knowledge of different types that are drawn from different sources. As a consequence of the way practitioners develop expertise, this use of knowledge is often hidden from the conscious mind of the practitioner and often hidden from direct observation. On the other hand, understanding of this use of knowledge is crucial to several necessary developments of the profession of general practice. A method involving collaboration between researcher and practitioner sheds new light on this knowledge-in-use.

[No abstract available]

[No abstract available]

The movement of the health care and education professions from an apprenticeship model in the early half of the century to the tertiary education sector has brought an awareness of the key role field experience or practicum plays in professional development. The literature has demonstrated that field experience during teacher education and clinical education is a valuable part of preparation for entry into the teaching and nursing professions. The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the perceptions of final year students from three distinct undergraduate field experiences. Queensland University of Technology students from adult and workplace education, secondary education, and nursing participated in the study. Data were collected through a series of focus group interviews with groups of five to nine participants across the three discipline areas. Students described their expectations of the practical side of their learning and the learning outcomes that eventuated during the practicum.

It has been recognized internationally that undergraduate medical education must adapt to changing needs, as illustrated by the Tomorrow's Doctors recommendations from the General Medical Council. This paper aims to relate contemporary educational theory to undergraduate medical educational requirements, specifically highlighting conditions (e.g. experiential learning) for: professional knowledge acquisition; critical thinking, problem-solving and clinical problem-solving; and lifelong professional learning. Furthermore, problem-based learning (PBL) is highlighted as potentially providing such conditions. There are lessons from contemporary educational theory for the reform of undergraduate medical education. These include valuing prior knowledge and experience; promoting learner reponsibility through facilitating rather than directing learning; encouraging learners to test out and apply new knowledge, and using small-group work to foster explicitly the elusive skills of critical thinking and reflection. Contemporary educational theory contributes valuable insights, but cannot dictate the ultimate 'mix'; at best it provides some principles for reflective analysis of the learning experiences created for tomorrow's doctors.

Gutersloh BTZ has practiced vocational training for the mentally handicapped since August 1995. The main goal is to place the clients into employment in the regular workforce. This is done by intensive vocational training yet without having workshops attached to the institution itself. Gutersloh BTZ is comparable to other training centres in Germany like those in Hamburg, Duisburg, Koln, Dortmund, Paderborn, Straubing, Wiesloch and Schleusingen. They are similar in terms of personnel key, financial support for participants and standards of quality. The main difference between Gutersloh BTZ and other training centres is the absence of attached workshops. In Gutersloh training takes place on the job in the regular labour market like industrial firms, craftsmen establishments and service agencies. The 'heart' of Gutersloh BTZ's concept is the reference group. It consists of not more than 8 participants. Two social workers are assigned to each group and provide intensive attention from the participant's first day in BTZ to aftercare on the regular job. The individual rehabilitation aim can only be achieved by establishing a tailor-made concept of support. This calls for a broad range of media, flexible methods and individual aims. In addition to the individual orientated concept, pedagogical groupwork with three to five participants plays an important role in the work. Here the emphasis is on close relationship. Incentive, start, duration and contents of internships in agencies and firms are to a high degree individually structured. A flexible graduated plan helps the participants to progress from a trial practicum to a long-term practicum and finally to a regular (and subsidized) job in an agency. The Gutersloh BTZ's quota of successful placement into the regular labour market as well as into subsidized jobs is similar to those in other BTZs in Germany. Participants who can't be placed in a job have to achieve a defined perspective of life and an alternative to regular work. This standard of quality is established in the written concept of BTZ. Gutersloh BTZ compares its work and success with other BTZs through uniform social- scientific BTZ evaluation.