Medical aptitude and its assessment.

The assessment of the suitability of an individual for the profession of medical science is carried out worldwide on the basis of several yardsticks. While a few methods assess domain knowledge of sciences, others focus on evaluating the cognitive aptitude skills of the candidate, while few others assess communicative skills. Though it has been considered that the possession of an aptitude for the profession is a prerequisite, considering its strenuous demands from the candidate, a comprehensive assessment of these areas under the construct of medical aptitude has not been analysed so far, though medical aptitude has been socially defined. This article attempts to develop a comprehensive construct to 'Medical aptitude', meant for the pre-medical student, which has been encapsulated with respect to the areas of its assessment. We did an extensive survey of the literature pertaining to the mode of selection of students towards medical profession and analysed their areas of assessments for admittance. This enabled to identify similarities in the areas of assessment which were then classified under several domains of assessment. Special reference to the keywords involving 'Aptitude' and 'Medical Aptitude' was made. We analysed the definitions to the construct of aptitude from the literature with respect to its relevance in the profession of medical science to be possessed by the pre-medical aspirant-in context. From this, a new construct of medical aptitude was formulated incorporating the existing construct of medical aptitude. Medical aptitude is a comprehensive construct that encompasses the dimensions of a consistent core, a peripheral content and the support of a scaffold. Each of these dimensions have their importance and distinct objective in being assessed in the pre-medical student. A perfect intertwining of these 3 dimensions can prove beneficial in assessing individuals to be fit for the profession of medical science.

The organizational pedestal of quality of care climate in health care excellence.

BACKGROUND: Health care in private healthcare organizations is a balancing act between business excellence and quality outcomes in practice. This complex activity establishes the existence of quality of care climate so as the pedestal of quality of care decisions bring health care excellence. In healthcare, Quality of care is not linear but multi-dimensional, with myriad challenges. PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to establish the organizational pedestal for quality of care and predominant quality of care dimension. METHOD: This study was approved by the IRB of our Institution. This study empirically tested the quality of care climate types in NABH accredited and non-accredited hospitals using quantitative method with a sample of 410 healthcare managers from accredited and non-accredited hospitals in South India. RESULTS: The results indicate that among the dimensions of quality of care climate, competitive advantage was perceived the lowest with a mean rating of 73.14 among the rest. Value-Stream was perceived as the highest quality of care climate with a mean of 83.12. The results indicate that patient centered value-stream is the predominant dimension of quality of care climate as perceived by the managers and value stream is the predominated determinant of patient centered decisions. CONCLUSIONS: The results designate a promising support for patient centered quality of care approach for health care excellence with a balance on value stream mapping.