Nutrition and Physical Activity Education in Medical School: A Narrative Review.

This review explores the diverse landscape of integrating nutrition and physical activity education into medical school curricula, focusing on the imperative role of physicians in promoting health through lifestyle changes. By examining global medical education structures, we uncovered disparities in nutrition and physical activity training, and highlighted the need for a shared framework to address international and regional challenges. Despite acknowledging the importance of both nutrition and physical activity, studies have consistently uncovered deficiencies in medical school curricula, especially in skills related to providing lifestyle advice and behavioral counseling. Survey studies among medical students have illuminated various perceptions and knowledge gaps, emphasizing the need for more comprehensive and mandatory nutrition and physical activity training. While acknowledging progress, challenges, such as time constraints, resource availability, and faculty expertise, persist. Integrating lifestyle education results in resistance, a demand for strategic communication, and faculty buy-ins. These findings underscore the importance of a holistic approach that balances theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and confidence that medical students need to promote effective nutrition and physical activity in healthcare.

Designing an Interdisciplinary Health Course: A Qualitative Study of Undergraduate Students' Experience of Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design and Learning Experiences.

OBJECTIVES: Research into interdisciplinary education, where concrete examples and empirical evidence of interdisciplinary teaching is explored, is limited. Furthermore, there are no standardized guidelines on best practices for designing and implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum. Recently, in healthcare settings there has been a drive to adopt interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary practices, creating a need for training individuals capable of working across discipline-specific boundaries, or to even adopt a transdisciplinary practice. This is partially attributed to recognizing that local and global complex health challenges are interlinked and share common factors and often require a new integrated approach to management. In response, a new interdisciplinary course using a modified snowflake model of interdisciplinary course design was launched at a medical school. The course aimed to provide a broad foundation for lifelong learning with a strong emphasis on the development of knowledge, skills, and professional values essential for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practice in applied health promotion for individuals and society. METHODS: A semi-structured focus group with students (n = 15% of the inaugural cohort) having completed at least 1 year of the course was undertaken to investigate student perspectives on best approaches for the development and delivery of interdisciplinary learning and teaching. RESULTS: Results highlighted the importance of providing training and opportunity for students to practice integration within the curriculum. Additionally, it was noted that including a module to introduce students to different disciplines and guiding students to explore their inherent interconnectedness is essential in helping them develop interdisciplinary thinking and skills. Crucially, the role of integrated assessments was also recognized as fundamental for demonstrating and practicing interdisciplinarity. CONCLUSION: Overall, this study provides valuable insights and recommendations for educators with the objective of developing interdisciplinary learning in new or existing higher education courses or those seeking to prepare learners for contemporary and emergent societal challenges more generally.

Revamping Undergraduate Radiology Education in a Problem-Based Learning Driven Institution: Successes, Challenges, and Lessons Learned.

Radiology teaching for undergraduate medical students is often limited in amount and lacking a longitudinal approach spanning multiple years. At our institution, we had a goal to develop a formal and sustainable radiology curriculum. There were sequential changes made to the curriculum over several years and here, the successes, challenges, and lessons learned are outlined. Alongside these elements, student radiology quiz results and survey data over several years are also summarized. Curricular development included integrated anatomy and radiology sessions, revamped lectures focusing on interactivity and eliminating unnecessary redundancies across the multi-year curriculum, radiology media files to supplement problem-based learning, clinical skills videos, and a pre-clerkship radiology bootcamp elective.

The effect of unliganded gating on agonist response in nicotinic receptors.

Understanding the agonist concentration-response curve (CRC) is the cornerstone in pharmacology. While CRC parameters, agonist potency (EC50) and efficacy (maximum response, Imax) are well-studied, the role of unliganded gating (minimum response, Imin) on CRC is often overlooked. This study explores the effect of unliganded gating on agonist response in muscle-type acetylcholine (ACh) receptors, focusing on the underexplored role of Imin in modulating EC50 and Imax. Three Gain-of-Function (GOF) mutations that increase, and two Loss-of-Function (LOF) mutations that decrease the unliganded gating equilibrium constant (L0) were studied using automated patch-clamp electrophysiology. GOF mutations enhanced agonist potency, whereas LOF mutations reduced it. The calculated CRC aligned well with empirical results, indicating that agonist CRC can be estimated from knowledge of L0. Reduction in agonist efficacy due to LOF mutations was calculated and subsequently validated using single-channel patch-clamp electrophysiology, a factor often obscured in normalized CRC. The study also evaluated the combined impact of mutations (L0) on CRC, confirming the predictive model. Further, no significant energetic coupling between distant residues (>15 Å) was found, indicating that the mutations' effects are localized and do not alter overall agonist affinity. These findings substantiate the role of unliganded gating in modulating agonist responses and establishes a predictive model for estimating CRC parameters from known changes in L0. The study highlights the importance of intrinsic activity in receptor theory.

Cocreating eating disorder education solutions: A design thinking approach to dietetics curricula in Australia.

BACKGROUND: As the prevalence of eating disorders continues to increase, there is an urgent need to equip the emerging dietetics workforce to provide care to this growing population. The present study aimed to describe a five-step design thinking process that was applied to brainstorm ideas and develop and test solutions for consideration in the future. METHODS: A pragmatic, five-step design thinking approach was used during a 1-day, in-person design thinking retreat. Purposive sampling was used to identify key stakeholders, including subject matter, learning and teaching, as well as lived experience experts, dietetics students and recent graduates. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse brainstormed and design solution ideas. RESULTS: Seventeen participants attended the design thinking retreat in April 2023. Four education prototypes were developed and tested by stakeholders including: (1) a change to accreditation requirements for dietetics curricula; (2) a multimodal learning package for penultimate year students; (3) embedding disordered eating and eating disorder content into existing curriculum and upskilling educators; and (4) codesigning an eating disorder module. CONCLUSIONS: The design thinking retreat engaged a variety of stakeholders in curriculum design resulting in an array of prototype approaches that aimed to embed eating disorder content into university curricula. Further research is needed to test the prototypes and understand what impact this has on dietetics students' feelings of preparedness to provide care to people seeking this support.

Co-creating with students to promote science of learning in higher education: An international pioneer collaborative effort for asynchronous teaching.

Recent insights from Science of Learning (SoL) are informing instruction, training, and curriculum. Here, we present a project on promoting SoL-related content through co-creating online asynchronous learning resources. By building a 7-person cross-institution team, we strategically harnessed (1) student-faculty partnerships as a mechanism to promote training and professional development, (2) co-creation as a model to curricula development, (3) blended asynchronous learning as a modality for content delivery, and (4) internationalization as a strategy to embrace globalization. This co-creation of curricula project included three stages-literature review, design and production, and evaluation. The project evaluation deployed a mixed methods approach with 6 student evaluators across both participating institutions, who explored the effectiveness of the learning resources. In addition, student partners contributed reflective statements on their co-creation experience. This paper reports on the procedural pipeline to co-creation and the project evaluation, as well as on new insights emerging for curriculum development. We conclude that project's co-created learning resources may enhance effectiveness of instructional design and students' learning experience. Further, we demonstrate that student partners acquire new knowledge and research, design and delivery skills, futureproofing their academic progression.

A stepwise approach to integrating the new essentials into a master's entry nursing curriculum.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) released updated nursing curriculum Essentials in 2021. The new Essentials document reflects an innovative and unique approach to nursing education and provides a framework for competency-based education and assessment to prepare students to work in a profession that is ever-changing. The first in the state of Oregon, a Masters Entry into Professional Nursing program was launched with a curriculum based on the new Essentials with the goal to remain true to the program's current concept-based approach while incorporating elements of a competency-based curriculum. As with all new programs, curricular design is paramount and requires careful planning to ensure the curriculum aligns with education trends, meets the needs of diverse learners, adheres to regulatory requirements and standards, and has strong faculty buy-in. Curriculum development done in a systematic fashion with faculty input is imperative. All current faculty were invited by the school of nursing (SON) leadership to participate in the curriculum development process. Regularly scheduled meetings were held, and all interested faculty participants were able to provide input. This process also included the SON Curriculum Committee and SON Faculty Council, to ensure all faculty were included in the process and appraised of the curriculum development. The faculty members who participated in the systematic development process then served as advocates for the new curriculum and helped create a smooth transition when the new MEPN program was introduced.

Co-designing Entrustable Professional Activities in General Practitioner's training: a participatory research study.

BACKGROUND: In medical education, Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) have been gaining momentum for the last decade. Such novel educational interventions necessitate accommodating competing needs, those of curriculum designers, and those of users in practice, in order to be successfully implemented. METHODS: We employed a participatory research design, engaging diverse stakeholders in designing an EPA framework. This iterative approach allowed for continuous refinement, shaping a comprehensive blueprint comprising 60 EPAs. Our approach involved two iterative cycles. In the first cycle, we utilized a modified-Delphi methodology with clinical competence committee (CCC) members, asking them whether each EPA should be included. In the second cycle, we used semi-structured interviews with General Practitioner (GP) trainers and trainees to explore their perceptions about the framework and refine it accordingly. RESULTS: During the first cycle, 14 CCC members agreed that all the 60 EPAs should be included in the framework. Regarding the formulation of each EPAs, 20 comments were given and 16 adaptations were made to enhance clarity. In the second cycle, the semi-structured interviews with trainers and trainees echoed the same findings, emphasizing the need of the EPA framework for improving workplace-based assessment, and its relevance to real-world clinical scenarios. However, trainees and trainers expressed concerns regarding implementation challenges, such as the large number of EPAs to be assessed, and perception of EPAs as potentially high-stakes. CONCLUSION: Accommodating competing stakeholders' needs during the design process can significantly enhance the EPA implementation. Recognizing users as experts in their own experiences empowers them, enabling a priori identification of implementation barriers and potential pitfalls. By embracing a collaborative approach, wherein diverse stakeholders contribute their unique viewpoints, we can only create effective educational interventions to complex assessment challenges.

Deciphering the Nexus: Exploring Learning Styles and Academic Success Among Medical Students Through a Comprehensive Study.

In the dynamic landscape of medical education, recognizing and catering to the diverse learning styles of students are pivotal for fostering academic success. This study investigates the intricate relationship between learning styles and academic performance among medical students. A sample comprising 201 second-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students from two batches participated in this cross-sectional study. Utilizing the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales, students were categorized into six distinct learning styles: independent, avoidant, collaborative, dependent, competitive, and participatory. Academic performance was assessed through cumulative scores at the end of the academic year. Statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlation analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test, were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25, (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). The findings revealed a rich diversity of learning styles among medical students, with independent learning emerging as the most prevalent style. However, intriguingly, no statistically significant difference in academic performance was discerned across the various learning styles. Nonetheless, correlation analysis uncovered weak positive correlations between independent, dependent, and participatory learning styles with academic performance, while an equally weak negative correlation was observed for the avoidant style. These results underscore the necessity for tailored educational strategies that can accommodate the heterogeneous learning preferences exhibited by medical students. While certain learning styles may be favoured by students, their adoption does not guarantee academic success. Thus, educators are urged to embrace flexible teaching methodologies to accommodate the diverse learning styles present within medical education, ultimately fostering student engagement and achievement. This study illuminates the imperative of understanding and addressing diverse learning styles among medical students, laying the foundation for further research into optimizing teaching methodologies in medical education.

A qualitative study to explore experiences of anti-racism teaching in medical residency programs across the United States and subsequent creation of the SPOC (Support - Pipeline - Outcomes - Community) Model to guide future curricula design.

BACKGROUND: Racism contributes to health disparities and is a serious threat to public health. Teaching physicians about racism, how to address it in medical practice, and developing high quality and sustainable curricula are essential to combating racism. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) describe the experience of racism and anti-racism teaching in residency programs, and elicit recommendations from key informants, and (2) use these data and formative research to develop recommendations for other residencies creating, implementing, and evaluating anti-racism curricula in their own programs. METHODS: From May to July 2023, 20 faculty and residents were recruited via convenience sampling for key informant interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. An initial list of themes was developed using theoretical frameworks, and then refined using a grounded-theory approach. A brief online optional anonymous demographic survey was sent to participants in August of 2023.  RESULTS: Eighty percent (20/25) of participants approached were interviewed. Seventy-five percent (15/20) answered a brief optional demographic survey. Seven themes emerged: (1) Racism in medicine is ubiquitous; (2) Anti-racism teaching in medicine varies widely; (3) Sustainability strategies should be multifaceted and include recruitment, resource allocation, and outcome measures; (4) Resources are widely available and accessible if one knows where to look; (5) Outcomes and metrics of success should include resident- faculty-, patient- community-, and system-focused outcomes; (6) Curricular strategies should be multilayered, longitudinal, and woven into the curriculum; and (7) Self-reflection and discomfort are necessary parts of the process.  CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to qualitatively examine perspectives of key stakeholders invested in anti-racism teaching for residents. The Support - Pipeline - Outcomes - Community (SPOC) Model, that was developed using information collected during this study, can be used in the future as a guide for others working to design and implement sustainable and high quality anti-racism curricula for residents.

Enhancing gerontological social work education: curriculum insights from offering a clinical gerontology certificate.

With the increasing aging population there is a need for more gerontological social work practitioners; however, such training for social workers in Canada is limited. To help address this gap, one faculty of social work developed a graduate level clinical social work practice certificate with a specialization in gerontology. In this paper we explore students' and instructors' perspectives about the curriculum, delivery, and impact of this certificate, and provide recommendations for improvement, particularly with respect to the clinical nature of the courses. Eight students and four instructors participated in the study. Strengths and opportunities for enhancement were identified for curriculum and delivery. Study findings also indicated that further curriculum development should focus on enhancing clinical skill development and providing more practice experience. Implications arising from these findings included developing clinical skills through experiential learning, interprofessional education, and service learning.

Development and implementation of a high-fidelity simulation training course for medical and nursing collaboration based on the Fink integrated course design model.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the design and implementation of a high-fidelity simulation training course for medical and nursing collaboration, based on the Fink integrated course design model. Additionally, the study aims to validate the teaching effectiveness of the course. Background: Previous empirical studies have highlighted the effectiveness of collaborative healthcare education in institutional teaching and hospital training. However, the development of healthcare collaborative education in China has been slow to develop in China. In recent years, Chinese nursing educators and researchers have shown interest in utilizing high-fidelity simulators for healthcare collaborative education. These simulators help address the limitations of traditional nursing teaching and healthcare separation simulation. Nevertheless, a standardized simulation interprofessional education curriculum is still lacking. Therefore, nursing educators need to develop a standardized high-fidelity simulation training curriculum for healthcare collaboration, guided by established science curriculum development theories. Methods: A high-fidelity simulation training course on healthcare collaboration was designed based on the Fink integrated curriculum design model. The course was taught to 14 nursing students and 8 clinical medicine students from March to July 2022. To comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of the healthcare collaboration high-fidelity simulation training course, several assessment tools were used. These included course grades, satisfaction and self-confidence scales, simulation teaching practice scales, healthcare collaboration attitude scales, critical thinking skills scales, and semi-structured interviews. Results: After the course was implemented, students demonstrated high overall scores (79.19 ± 5.12) and reported high satisfaction ratings (4.44 ± 0.37). They also exhibited increased self-confidence (4.16 ± 0.33). Additionally, students evaluated all four dimensions of the course teaching practice scale positively. Furthermore, the study demonstrated significant improvements in various aspects, such as attitudes toward medical and nursing collaboration (t = -7.135, P < 0.01), shared education and teamwork (t = -3.247, P = 0.002), job autonomy for nurses (t = -1.782, P = 0.000), and reduced physician dominance (t = -6.768, P = 0.000). The critical thinking skills of the students showed significant improvement, with higher scores in truth-seeking (t = -3.052, P = 0.004), analytical ability (t = -2.561, P = 0.014), systematic ability (t = -3.491, P = 0.001), self-confidence in critical thinking (t = -4.024, P = 0.000), and curiosity (t = -5.318, P = 0.000) compared to their scores before the course (all P < 0.05). The interviews showed that the course's student-centered approach enabled active learning. Students suggested enhancing teaching cases and allocating more time for reflection and summarization. Conclusion: The study successfully designed a high-fidelity simulation training course for healthcare collaboration by utilizing the Fink integrated curriculum design model. The findings provide valuable insights for the development of standardized curricula and healthcare collaboration education in China. Moreover, the course adheres to best practice principles, fostering improved attitudes toward healthcare collaboration and enhancing students' healthcare collaboration and clinical thinking skills.

Core and cluster or head to toe?: a comparison of two types of curricula for teaching physical examination skills to preclinical medical students.

BACKGROUND: Despite the central importance of physical examination (PE) skills to patient evaluation, early trainees struggle with its correct application and interpretation. This struggle may reflect the instructional strategies of PE courses which have largely ignored the clinical reasoning necessary to accurately apply these skills. The "core + cluster" (C + C) is a recent approach to teaching PE to clerkship-level medical students that combines a basic 'core' exam with 'cluster' based on the student's hypothesis about their patient's clinical presentation. Our institution developed a novel C + C curriculum to teach PE to preclinical students. We aimed to assess the impact of this new curriculum on students' clinical skills and course evaluations in comparison to the traditional "head-to-toe" approach we'd used previously. METHODS: This was a retrospective study comparing two consecutive medical school cohorts exposed to the new (C + C) and prior (HTT) curricula respectively. We studied two complete cohorts of first-year medical students at our institution who matriculated in 2014 and 2015. The 2014 cohort received PE training via an HTT approach. The 2015 cohort received PE training via a C + C approach. Outcomes included performance scores on a statewide clinical performance exam (CPX) and student course evaluations. RESULTS: We found no statistically significant difference in mean CPX scores between the two cohorts. However, student course ratings were significantly higher in the C + C cohort and students rated the C + C format as highly useful in clinical encounters. CONCLUSIONS: The C + C curriculum appears to be as effective a method of teaching PE to preclinical students as the HTT approach and is better received by students. We believe that this approach more appropriately reflects the way PE is used in clinical encounters and may help students with diagnostic hypothesis generation.

The deconstructed procedural description in robotic colorectal surgery.

Increasing robotic surgical utilisation in colorectal surgery internationally has strengthened the need for standardised training. Deconstructed procedural descriptions identify components of an operation that can be integrated into proficiency-based progression training. This approach allows both access to skill level appropriate training opportunities and objective and comparable assessment. Robotic colorectal surgery has graded difficulty of operative procedures lending itself ideally to component training. Developing deconstructed procedural descriptions may assist in the structure and progression components in robotic colorectal surgical training. There is no currently published guide to procedural descriptions in robotic colorectal surgical or assessment of their training utility. This scoping review was conducted in June 2022 following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines to identify which robotic colorectal surgical procedures have available component-based procedural descriptions. Secondary aims were identifying the method of development of these descriptions and how they have been adapted in a training context. 20 published procedural descriptions were identified covering 8 robotic colorectal surgical procedures with anterior resection the most frequently described procedure. Five publications included descriptions of how the procedural description has been utilised for education and training. From these publications terminology relating to using deconstructed procedural descriptions in robotic colorectal surgical training is proposed. Development of deconstructed robotic colorectal procedural descriptions (DPDs) in an international context may assist in the development of a global curriculum of component operating competencies supported by objective metrics. This will allow for standardisation of robotic colorectal surgical training and supports a proficiency-based training approach.

Novel radiology PRIMER course enhances medical student perception of radiology and key concept comprehension.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: A novel three-day radiology course, PRIMER, directly preceding medical students' clinical year, was created and assessed. The required course consisted of large group lecture sessions, small group breakout sessions, and individual assignments. Though early exposure to radiology has been described in preclinical anatomy curricula, few schools offer immersive experiences to radiology as a direct predecessor to the wards. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An identical survey was distributed prior to and at the completion of the PRIMER course. Students' perceptions of radiology were assessed through Likert-style questions. Students' knowledge of radiological concepts was assessed through multiple choice questions (MCQs) related to key concepts, MCQs in which students selected the most likely diagnosis, and hotspot questions in which learners had to select the area of greatest clinical importance. Mean pre- and post-course student perception scores were compared using a T-test. For knowledge-based questions, each student received an exam score, and mean pre- and post-exam scores were compared using a T-test. RESULTS: Students' opinions of radiology changed significantly in a favorable direction across all tested questions between inception and conclusion of PRIMER (p < 0.01). Students demonstrated superior knowledge of radiological concepts after course completion (posttest mean 52% vs pretest mean 26.3%, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The novel radiology PRIMER course promoted a positive impression of radiology and increased medical students' knowledge of key concepts. These results suggest that a condensed introductory radiology curriculum delivered at a key moment in the overarching curriculum can have a significant impact on medical students' perceptions and knowledge.

A Skills Assessment Pathways-Based Program Assessment Approach in Multidisciplinary Graduate Health Informatics.

Multidisciplinary graduate education programs are hard to assess because of interdependent competencies. Students in these programs come with diverse disciplinary undergraduate degrees, and it is critical to identify knowledge gaps among these diverse learner groups to provide support to fill these gaps. Health Informatics (HI) is a multidisciplinary field in which health, technology, and social science knowledge are foundational to building HI competencies. In 2017, the American Medical Informatics Association identified ten functional domains in which HI competencies are divided. Using pre/post-semester knowledge assessment surveys of graduate students (n=60) between August 2021 to May 2022 in one of the largest graduate HI programs in the United States, we identified courses (n=9) across the curriculum that help build HI-specific competencies. Using statistical analysis, we identified three skills pathways by correlating knowledge gained with course learning objectives and used this to modify the curriculum over four semesters. These skills pathways are connected through one or two courses, where students can choose electives or, in some instances, course modules or assignments that link the skills pathways. Moreover, there is a statistically significant difference in how students gain these skills depending on their prior training, even though they take the same set of courses. Gender and other demographics did not show statistical differences in skills gained. Additionally, we found that research assistantships and internships/practicums provide additional skills not covered in our HI curriculum. Our program assessment methodology and resulting curricular changes might be relevant to HI and other multidisciplinary graduate training programs.

Educators' consideration of learner motivation in ophthalmology education in medical school: Influences on teaching practice and course design.

BACKGROUND: Ophthalmology education in medical school has historically neglected the impact of autonomous motivation on student learning and wellbeing. This study aimed to understand ophthalmology educators' consideration and application of student motivation in ophthalmology medical education. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Lead ophthalmology educators from Australian and New Zealand medical schools participated in an online semi-structured in-depth interview. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Codes were generated and aligned into overarching themes. FINDINGS: Six educators participated in the study. Five main themes arose from the transcripts: the lack of explicit consideration of student motivation, implicit consideration of motivation in curriculum design and in teaching practices, the impact of innovation on motivation and the relationship between teacher and student motivation. Participants also commented on trends in ophthalmology education including generalists' confidence in managing ophthalmic disease, the role of fundoscopy in medical education and time pressure on ophthalmology in medical schools. CONCLUSION: There has only been an implicit instead of explicit consideration of motivation in ophthalmology education in medical school, which leaves an unfulfilled potential for teaching practices to impact the affective along with cognitive and metacognitive aspects of learning. This study highlights the need for motivation to be explicitly incorporated into the development of teaching practices and curriculum reform.

Dental Sleep Medicine Education Amongst Accredited Orthodontic Programmes in Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Dental sleep medicine education (DSME) should be emphasised in postgraduate orthodontic training; however, there appears to be no clear guideline for its implementation into the curriculum. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the current status of DSME as well as its feasibility and implementation in postgraduate orthodontic programmes. METHODS: A structured interview with predetermined response options was chosen as a data collection method to gather relevant information from representatives of all accredited postgraduate orthodontic programmes in Thailand. These interviews were conducted online via the Cisco Webex Meeting platform. A combination of data analysis techniques was employed to achieve a thorough comprehension of the research findings, including descriptive statistics, quantitative content analysis, thematic analysis, and alignment analysis. RESULTS: All participating programmes reported the inclusion of DSME in their curricula. A didactic approach was adopted by all programmes. However, only 2 out of 7 programmes offered clinical sessions for their students. Several challenges in implementing DSME within orthodontic programmes were identified, including a shortage of expertise and limited patient access. The participants also suggested that knowledge and resource sharing amongst institutions could serve as a potential solution to enhance the feasibility of DSME. CONCLUSIONS: This research highlighted the significant disparities and inadequacy of DSME within postgraduate orthodontic programmes in Thailand due to various challenges. Consequently, there is a compelling need to place greater emphasis on DSME and establish a national-level standardisation within orthodontic programmes. This effort is essential for enhancing the awareness and competency of orthodontists in the field of DSME.

Re-imagining of an undergraduate, second-degree entry, accelerated nursing program's curriculum utilizing a postmodern, learner-centred lens and a concept-based framework.

INTRODUCTION: It is necessary to re-imagine nursing curriculums utilizing a postmodern approach, as outdated teacher-centred methods of nursing education with emphasis on memorization versus critical thinking no longer meet the needs of the contemporary learner and the current challenges of the healthcare environment. There is an explicit need to redesign nursing curriculums that are future-oriented, adaptive and flexible and serve the learners' best interests. BACKGROUND: Distilled from a decade of teaching experience in an undergraduate, second-degree entry, accelerated nursing program, this paper describes the construction of a learner-centred, postmodern, concept-based nursing curriculum that aims to foster learners' inquiry skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, and experiential learning-all which develop learners' autonomy, self-direction, and lifelong learning. The objective is to foster learners' transformational and emancipatory learning and metacognition. DISCUSSION: An extensive review of the current trends, contemporary nursing knowledge for the past decade (2013-2023), and seminal literature on theories and frameworks paralleled with the review of current and future trends in Canadian and global health care, including the socio-economic, politico and environmental contexts, led to the formulation of a concept-based curriculum. Grounded in the constructivist paradigm, the curriculum applies interperetivist, critical, feminist, and indigenous lenses. The Strength-Based Nursing framework was selected as the core guiding framework. The curriculum's four curricular themes and foundational pillars were adopted directly from the framework to provide a starting point for concept development. These initial themes were then juxtaposed with relevant nursing, and social theories, policies, and frameworks, ensuring a robust coverage of modern nursing knowledge and allowing for the core concepts of the curriculum to emerge. A total of 21 concepts and 192 sub-concepts were developed. CONCLUSION: Implications for future practice require nursing educators to receive support and professional development opportunities in developing skills and confidence in entering a classroom as co-learners and facilitators.

Evaluating the internalisation of the intrinsic role of health advocacy of student pharmacists in a new integrated Bachelor of Pharmacy curriculum: a mixed-methods study.

To keep up with the contemporary health landscape, there is an imperative need for healthcare professionals to practise health advocacy through health promotion on the individual, population, and systems levels. In the Academic Year of 2020/2021, the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Pharmacy implemented a new spiral curriculum integrating basic, clinical, and systems sciences with one of its aims to deepen students' health advocacy internalisation and prepare them as future health advocates. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Questionnaires were disseminated across three time-points to elicit students' levels of internalisation of health advocacy, which were then categorised into levels, and a Mann-Whitney U test was conducted. In comparison with prematriculation, no significant difference was found after students underwent the first year of the curriculum, while a significant difference was found after students underwent two years of the curriculum. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted after each Academic Year to gain deeper insights into the questionnaire results. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that curricular integration in the first year was perceived to be lacking. However, with learnt knowledge constantly reinforced and more experiential learning opportunities incorporated throughout the second year, students found the integrated curriculum beneficial in instilling confidence to practise health advocacy. This study offers insights into the prospects of a spiral integrated curriculum in imparting health advocacy, and may even suggest its potential to be applied to other educational settings. Future follow-up studies can also be conducted on the same study population to evaluate long-term impacts and areas for improvement of the curriculum.