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Objective: This two-part study examines the present gap between financial and educational incentives required and the recruitment strategies used to draw health science students to underserviced areas in Southeastern Ontario. Part 1 explores the impact of offering travel stipends, rent-free accommodation and interprofessional educational opportunities to health science students on their willingness to participate in clinical placements in underserviced areas. Design: Mixed-method two-part study using a self-administered questionnaire. Setting: Canadian university campus. Participants: Four hundred and sixty-eight senior level medical, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and X-ray technology students from a Canadian university and affiliated professional school. Main outcome measures: The influence of currently established incentives on student willingness to complete a clinical placement in designated underserviced communities in Southeastern Ontario. Results: Based on a 75% response rate, the results demonstrate that, in general, students agree that they are more willing to complete a clinical placement in an underserviced community if provided travel stipends (75%), rent-free housing (92%) and interprofessional educational opportunities (65%). Students also identified 15 additional factors influencing willingness. Conclusions: Students are more willing to complete clinical placements in underserviced communities if provided incentives. The findings of this study support an interprofessional clinical education and recruitment enhancement program in Southeastern Ontario. © 2007 The Authors; Journal Compilation © 2007 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

Objective: Part 2 of this two-part study identifies current recruitment strategies and existing incentives used by underserviced communities to recruit health science students during the clinical placement stage. Discussion surrounding current gaps in recruitment strategies and potential funding sources are explored. Design: Mixed-method two-part study using a self-administered questionnaire. Settings: Six community hospitals and one private practice. Participants: Community resource contact from seven underserviced communities in Southeastern Ontario. Main outcome measures: Level of community agreement that current recruitment strategies include travel stipends, rent-free accommodation and interprofessional education opportunities. Results: A 100% response rate established that one sample community provides travel stipends, three provide rent-free accommodation, and four offer interprofessional education opportunities. These incentives were frequently offered exclusively to medical students. Conclusions: When considering the results from part 1 of the study, there is a substantial gap between financial incentives students deem important in the creation of an appealing clinical placement opportunity and the provisions offered to them by the sample communities. The findings of this study support the need for a recruitment enhancement program in Southeastern Ontario. © 2007 The Authors; Journal Compilation © 2007 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

Background. Thomas Bessell Kidner is well-known in the United States as a great contributor to occupational therapy. He is not well-known in Canada despite the fact that his first contributions to the profession were made here between 1900 and 1918. Purpose. To tell the story of Thomas Bessell Kidner and his impact on occupational therapy. Methods. Interpretive biography research methods using archival materials, published papers and family papers. Results. Kidner's work as an organizer of manual training in elementary schools in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and as Director of Technical Education for Calgary prepared him for his work as Vocational Secretary of the Military Hospitals Commission during World War I. Kidner developed, implemented and oversaw the reeducation program for injured soldiers across Canada. It included bedside occupations, off-ward and curative workshop activities provided by ward aides, as well as industrial training and apprenticeships in the workplace. Practice Implications. Kidner's story stimulates us to revisit our profession's early emphasis on return-to-work. Knowing about our past helps occupational therapists to build a stronger identity.

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Background: Emergency medicine is team work from the field to the hospital and therefore it is also important for physicians to understand the work of paramedics, and vice versa. Interprofessional emergency medicine education for medical and paramedic students in Helsinki was started in 2001. It consisted of a 15 European credit transfer system (ECTS) credits programme combining 22 students in 2001. In 2005, the number of students had increased to 25. The programme consisted of three parts: acute illness in childhood and adults (AI), advanced life support (ALS) and trauma life support (TLS). In this paper, we describe the concept of interprofessional education of medical students and paramedics in emergency medicine. Methods: After finishing the programmes in 2001 and in 2005, the students' opinions regarding the education were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Results: There were good ratings for the courses in AI (2001 vs. 2005, whole group; 4.3 ± 0.7 vs. 4.2 ± 0.4, P = 0.44) ALS (4.7 ± 0.5 vs. 4.4 ± 0.5, P = 0.06) and TLS (3.9 ± 0.7 vs. 4.4 ± 0.5, P = 0.01) in both years. Most of the medical students considered that this kind of co-education should be arranged for all medical students (2001 vs. 2005; 4.8 ± 0.6 vs. 4.4 ± 0.5, P = 0.02) and should be obligatory (3.5 ± 1.5 vs. 3.1 ± 1.3, P = 0.35). Conclusions: Co-education was well received and determined by the students as an effective way of improving their knowledge of emergency medicine and medical skills. The programme was rated as very useful and it should be included in the educational curriculum of both student groups. © 2007 Acta Anaesthesiol Scand.

Background: Few studies have assessed the efficacy of communication skills training for postgraduate physician trainees at the level of behaviors. We designed a residential communication skills workshop (Oncotalk) for medical oncology fellows. The intervention design built on existing successful models by teaching specific communication tasks linked to the patient's trajectory of illness. This study evaluated the efficacy of Oncotalk in changing observable communication behaviors. Methods: Oncotalk was a 4-day residential workshop emphasizing skills practice in small groups. This preintervention and postintervention cohort study involved 115 medical oncology fellows from 62 different institutions during a 3-year study. The primary outcomes were observable participant communication skills measured during standardized patient encounters before and after the workshop in giving bad news and discussing transitions to palliative care. The standardized patient encounters were audiorecorded and assessed by blinded coders using a validated coding system. Before-after comparisons were made using each participant as his or her own control. Results: Compared with preworkshop standardized patient encounters, postworkshop encounters showed that participants acquired a mean of 5.4 bad news skills (P <. 001) and a mean of 4.4 transitions skills (P <. 001). Most changes in individual skills were substantial; for example, in the bad news encounter, 16% of participants used the word "cancer" when giving bad news before the workshop, and 54% used it after the workshop (P <. 001). Also in the bad news encounter, blinded coders were able to identify whether a standardized patient encounter occurred before or after the workshop in 91% of the audiorecordings. Conclusion: Oncotalk represents a successful teaching model for improving communication skills for postgraduate medical trainees. ©2007 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

OBJECTIVE: To report the ethical stances taken by newly-qualified dental graduates working in the south-east of England and how these changed over their first two years in practice. METHODS: A longitudinal self-completed questionnaire-based study using scenarios and closed questions was completed by an initial group of 135 vocational dental practitioners at the very beginning of their vocational training year, at the end of the year, and, finally, at the end of the subsequent year. Their answers were then analysed to see whether or not their views had changed during this period. RESULTS: At the commencement of the study in 2003, 133 (99%) newly-qualified dental graduates completed the questionnaire and answered the closed questions. The following year, 129 (96%) completed these documents and in 2005, at the end of the study, this figure was 97 (72%). There was considerable variation in the attitudes taken by the responding dentists. Reported attitudes changed over the study period in seven of the nine scenarios. Responses to the scenarios used could be grouped into three categories: those in which there was no change; those in which the change happened following completion of vocational training; and those in which there was a continual change. Answers to the four closed questions indicated a growing negativity to practice within the National Health Service over the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Dental educators need to be aware of the findings from this study. The importance of the ethical attitudes held and the reasons underpinning them should be explored if problems with delivery of care are to be avoided in the future.

The establishment of the European Higher Education Area has involved specifying lists of professional competencies that programs are expected to develop, and with this the need for procedures to measure how every course within a higher education program is aligned with the program's competencies. We propose an instrument for characterizing this alignment, a process that we call assessing the relevance of a course. Using information from the course syllabus (objectives, contents and assessment scheme), our instrument produces indicators for characterizing the syllabus in terms of a competence list and for assessing its coherence. Because assessment involves quality, the results obtained can also be used to revise and improve the course syllabus. We illustrate this process with an example of a methods course from a mathematics teacher education program at a Spanish university. © 2007.

Background and Purpose: Graduates of physical therapist education programs should be expected to function as competent clinicians. Instead, the benchmark for many clinical performance assessment tools has been "as good as an entry-level graduate." The authors developed the Clinical Internship Evaluation Tool (CIET), which measures clinical performance of the student relative to a "competent clinician." The purpose of this study was to provide evidence for validity of the tool. Subjects and Methods: The CIET was used to evaluate physical therapist student clinical performance from 1999 to 2003. Data from 228 student evaluations, a survey of 26 clinical instructors (CIs), and an item review by 7 faculty members were used to collect validity evidence. The relevance of items on the CIET was examined by the survey and the item review. Coefficient alpha was calculated to estimate internal consistency among the items. A Spearman correlation was used to examine the relationship between 2 measures of clinical competence. A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) compared the student scores at each clinical time frame to confirm expected improvements in performance longitudinally. Evidence for practicality was collected by the CI survey. Results: Based on the faculty item review and the CI survey, all items were representative of skills and behaviors considered important for a clinically competent physical therapist. The internal consistency (alpha) was .98 for the patient management items. The average correlation of the 2 measures of clinical competence was .76. The repeated-measures ANOVA was significant and demonstrated improved patient management scores as the student progressed through the program. The CI survey results indicated that 96% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the instrument was short and easy to use. Discussion and Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that the CIET is representative of skills and behaviors necessary for students to perform at the level of a competent therapist and that the instrument is practical to use for busy clinicians. The CIET appears to be a valid tool for measuring student clinical performance and can be a time-efficient alternative for CIs in today's demanding clinical environment. © 2007 American Physical Therapy Association.