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Competence-based teaching in higher education institutions and its evaluation have become a prevalent topic especially in the European Union. However, evaluation instruments are often limited, for example to single student competencies or specific elements of the teaching process. The present paper provides a more comprehensive evaluation concept that contributes to sustainable improvement of competence-based teaching in higher education institutions. The evaluation concept considers competence research developments as well as the participatory evaluation approach. The evaluation concept consists of three stages. The first stage evaluates whether the competencies students are supposed to acquire within the curriculum (ideal situation) are well defined. The second stage evaluates the teaching process and the competencies students have actually acquired (real situation). The third stage evaluates concrete aspects of the teaching process. Additionally, an implementation strategy is introduced to support the transfer from the theoretical evaluation concept to practice. The evaluation concept and its implementation strategy are designed for internal evaluations in higher education and primarily address higher education institutions that have already developed and conducted a competence-based curriculum. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Poor mental health in doctors appears to be a global phenomenon, but there are limited data on changes in doctors' psychological symptoms over time in mainland China. Through a detailed meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies, our aim was to examine the prevalence of psychological symptoms in Chinese physicians as measured with the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90-R) and to explore the factors associated with doctors' mental health. A comprehensive search was performed in major English and Chinese databases. Thirty studies involving a total of 6,099 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled estimates of psychological symptoms including somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal-sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation among doctors were significantly higher than those in the general population. Only psychoticism was similar in prevalence to Chinese population norms. The prevalence increased with the study year but decreased with physicians' increasing age. Doctors from central and western China experienced more mental health symptoms than those from eastern China. Psychiatrists scored significantly less favorably than other doctors on most subscales of the SCL-90-R. Doctors' mental health may be associated with age discrepancy, quantitative workload, effort-reward ratio, doctor-patient relationships, professional identity, and individual traits. To minimize the risk of poor mental health in doctors, screening and professional intervention services should be provided at early career stages to raise physicians' awareness about the importance of maintaining psychological well-being and to reduce the prevalence of psychological symptoms. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Objective: To determine the elements of quality clinical and field placements through the eyes of paramedic instructors. Design: Qualitative study. Settings: Two large paramedic services in two countries where the entry to practice qualification for paramedics has been set at the Bachelors degree level. Participants: Fifteen purposively selected paramedic instructors were invited to voluntarily participate. The criterion for inclusion was that they had supervised at least one university paramedicine student on a field placement. Recruitment ceased when saturation was reached. Methods: Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who were asked their views and expectations of paramedicine student clinical and field placements. Inductive thematic analysis of the transcripts was completed using Nvivo software. Results: The elements of quality clinical and field placements from the perspective of paramedic instructors were identified. With no agreed clinical and field placement paramedicine standards in the countries studied there is variation in the focus of placements, preferred settings, and expectations. Vocationally trained paramedics favoured paramedic service placements, whilst university educated paramedics see benefits in placements in more diverse settings. Conclusions: Paramedic services and universities need to collaboratively address the variation in paramedicine university student clinical and field placements. Standards need to be developed that address the purpose of placements, expectations of students and instructors, and be scaffolded across the education spectrum from undergraduate student to graduate paramedic to instructor. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Introduction: We undertook a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the literature to identify how professionalism is defined in the medical education literature. Methods: Eligible studies included any articles published between 1999 and 2009 inclusive presenting viewpoints, opinions, or empirical research on defining medical professionalism. Results: We identified 195 papers on the topic of definition of professionalism in medicine. Of these, we rated 26 as high quality and included these in the narrative synthesis. Conclusion: As yet there is no overarching conceptual context of medical professionalism that is universally agreed upon. The continually shifting nature of the organizational and social milieu in which medicine operates creates a dynamic situation where no definition has yet taken hold as definitive. © 2014 Informa UK Ltd.

The laboratory setting is an exciting and gratifying place to teach because you can actively engage the students in the learning process through hands-on activities; it is a dynamic environment amenable to collaborative work, critical thinking, problem-solving and discovery. The guided inquiry-based approach described here guides the students through their laboratory work at a steady pace that encourages them to focus on quality observations, careful data collection and thought processes surrounding the chemistry involved. It motivates students to work in a collaborative manner with frequent opportunities for feedback, reflection, and modification of their ideas. Each laboratory activity has four stages to keep the students' efforts on track: pre-lab work, an in-lab discussion, in-lab work, and a post-lab assignment. Students are guided at each stage by an instructor created template that directs their learning while giving them the opportunity and flexibility to explore new information, ideas, and questions. These templates are easily transferred into an electronic journal (termed the E-notebook) and form the basic structural framework of the final lab reports the students submit electronically, via a learning management system. The guided-inquiry based approach presented here uses a single laboratory activity for undergraduate Introductory Biochemistry as an example. After implementation of this guided learning approach student surveys reported a higher level of course satisfaction and there was a statistically significant improvement in the quality of the student work. Therefore we firmly believe the described format to be highly effective in promoting student learning and engagement. © 2013 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The purpose of the study was to identify if performance of speech-language pathology students in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials could predict subsequent clinical performance evaluated through (a) a non-standardized, custom clinical evaluation form (HKU form) and (b) a standardized competency assessment for speech pathology developed in Australia (COMPASS®). Students' scores from PBL tutorial performance were correlated with scores in clinical placement on both the HKU form and the COMPASS. Significant correlations were found between students' PBL tutorial performance (reflective journals and participation in the tutorial process) and their clinical performance (treatment and interpersonal skills) on the HKU clinical evaluation form. Significant correlations were also found between (a) PBL tutorial performance (participation in the tutorial process) and their clinical performance (all generic and occupational competencies, and the overall score) on the COMPASS, (b) PBL tutorial performance (reading forms) and two occupational competencies on the COMPASS, (c) PBL tutorial performance (reflective journals) and four occupational competencies and the overall score on the COMPASS. The results highlighted the need for validating the assessment for the learning process in PBL tutorials with empirical evidence and the advantage of assessing clinical performance through COMPASS in Hong Kong. Tutors, clinical supervisors and students should be given clear behavioral descriptors for expected performance in PBL tutorials and clinical practice at different year levels. © 2014 Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background: Pathology, imaging and other tests have an essential role in the diagnosis and screening for disease in medical practice. However, over-testing has recently emerged as a significant issue and has implications for the patient, doctor and health system. Vocational training is arguably the most critical period in the development of future patterns of clinical practice for the GP. This includes the development of test ordering behaviour. The general practitioner (GP) supervisor, therefore, has a key role to play in educating registrars to avoid over-testing. Objective: In this article, we discuss general approaches and practical strategies for GP supervisors to teach their registrars rational test ordering. Discussion: Teaching should take a patient-centred focus and an emphasis on fostering a greater tolerance of uncertainty. Role modelling and demonstrated use of relevant clinical guidelines is a strong influence on registrar behaviour. Specific strategies for teaching rational test ordering include random case analysis, investigation audit, topic tutorials and use of targeted resources.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to establish correlations between the dimensions of clinical learning environments (ACA) considering variables like: health institutions, hospital offices, specialty, and year of residency. Methods: 4,189 doctors were evaluated through an online survey in 2012. Results: The results revealed that the dimension of "educational processes" correlated best with others; specialties with the best ACA from the view of the medical residents were Internal Medicine and Surgery; and the third year residents had less favorable perceptions of their ACA. Conclusions: The pursuance of the academic program is relevant to physicians in training and teachers play an important role in the educational process.