Training for impact: the socio-economic impact of a fit for purpose health workforce on communities.

Across the globe, a "fit for purpose" health professional workforce is needed to meet health needs and challenges while capitalizing on existing resources and strengths of communities. However, the socio-economic impact of educating and deploying a fit for purpose health workforce can be challenging to evaluate. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of six promising strategies and interventions that provide context-relevant health professional education within the health system. The strategies focused on in the paper are:1. Distributed community-engaged learning: Education occurs in or near underserved communities using a variety of educational modalities including distance learning. Communities served provide input into and actively participate in the education process.2. Curriculum aligned with health needs: The health and social needs of targeted communities guide education, research and service programmes.3. Fit for purpose workers: Education and career tracks are designed to meet the needs of the communities served. This includes cadres such as community health workers, accelerated medically trained clinicians and extended generalists.4. Gender and social empowerment: Ensuring a diverse workforce that includes women having equal opportunity in education and are supported in their delivery of health services.5. Interprofessional training: Teaching the knowledge, skills and attitudes for working in effective teams across professions.6. South-south and north-south partnerships: Sharing of best practices and resources within and between countries.In sum, the sharing of resources, the development of a diverse and interprofessional workforce, the advancement of primary care and a strong community focus all contribute to a world where transformational education improves community health and maximizes the social and economic return on investment.

The Effectiveness of Blended Learning in Health Professions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Blended learning, defined as the combination of traditional face-to-face learning and asynchronous or synchronous e-learning, has grown rapidly and is now widely used in education. Concerns about the effectiveness of blended learning have led to an increasing number of studies on this topic. However, there has yet to be a quantitative synthesis evaluating the effectiveness of blended learning on knowledge acquisition in health professions. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the effectiveness of blended learning for health professional learners compared with no intervention and with nonblended learning. We also aimed to explore factors that could explain differences in learning effects across study designs, participants, country socioeconomic status, intervention durations, randomization, and quality score for each of these questions. METHODS: We conducted a search of citations in Medline, CINAHL, Science Direct, Ovid Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL, and ERIC through September 2014. Studies in any language that compared blended learning with no intervention or nonblended learning among health professional learners and assessed knowledge acquisition were included. Two reviewers independently evaluated study quality and abstracted information including characteristics of learners and intervention (study design, exercises, interactivity, peer discussion, and outcome assessment). RESULTS: We identified 56 eligible articles. Heterogeneity across studies was large (I(2) ≥93.3) in all analyses. For studies comparing knowledge gained from blended learning versus no intervention, the pooled effect size was 1.40 (95% CI 1.04-1.77; P<.001; n=20 interventions) with no significant publication bias, and exclusion of any single study did not change the overall result. For studies comparing blended learning with nonblended learning (pure e-learning or pure traditional face-to-face learning), the pooled effect size was 0.81 (95% CI 0.57-1.05; P<.001; n=56 interventions), and exclusion of any single study did not change the overall result. Although significant publication bias was found, the trim and fill method showed that the effect size changed to 0.26 (95% CI -0.01 to 0.54) after adjustment. In the subgroup analyses, pre-posttest study design, presence of exercises, and objective outcome assessment yielded larger effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: Blended learning appears to have a consistent positive effect in comparison with no intervention, and to be more effective than or at least as effective as nonblended instruction for knowledge acquisition in health professions. Due to the large heterogeneity, the conclusion should be treated with caution.

Population Health Science: A Core Element of Health Science Education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa suffers an inordinate burden of disease and does not have the numbers of suitably trained health care workers to address this challenge. New concepts in health sciences education are needed to offer alternatives to current training approaches.A perspective of integrated training in population health for undergraduate medical and nursing education is advanced, rather than continuing to take separate approaches for clinical and public health education. Population health science educates students in the social and environmental origins of disease, thus complementing disease-specific training and providing opportunities for learners to take the perspective of the community as a critical part of their education.Many of the recent initiatives in health science education in sub-Saharan Africa are reviewed, and two case studies of innovative change in undergraduate medical education are presented that begin to incorporate such population health thinking. The focus is on East Africa, one of the most rapidly growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa where opportunities for change in health science education are opening. The authors conclude that a focus on population health is a timely and effective way for enhancing training of health care professionals to reduce the burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

Integrating midlevel practitioners into a teaching service.

Meeting the educational needs and requirements of surgical resident physicians while achieving optimal patient care is a challenge for program directors. Midlevel practitioners (MLPs) were employed by a large community teaching hospital to augment the surgical teaching service, to improve continuity of patient care, and to provide resident physicians with greater flexibility to participate in classroom, operative, and clinical educational experiences. The MLPs were carefully integrated into the surgical program by creating the necessary buy-in, developing positive relationships, decreasing resistance, and reinforcing acceptance when demonstrated. MLPs function at the level of junior resident physicians and are active participants in the teaching and evaluation process. Structurally, MLPs receive their assignments from and report to the chief resident physician, but are ultimately responsible to the program director. Instituting the program required providing financial justification to administration and flexibility in meeting the diverse needs of the four teams. As a result, surgical resident physicians have been sufficiently freed from service activities to be able to capitalize on learning activities that range from surgeries to conferences. MLPs can be integrated into a surgical teaching program and become a positive force in the education of resident physicians.

Percepción docente de la evaluación en las prácticas clínicas de enfermería / Professors' perception about evaluation of clinical nursing practice

Introducción: La metaevaluación como instrumento en los procesos de calidad ha favorecido la toma de decisiones de las Instituciones de Educación Superior en cuanto a la mejora del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje, al permitir un seguimiento de los discursos de la academia y su puesta en práctica por los docentes, por lo que se han encontrado nuevas interpretaciones del fenómeno evaluativo. Objetivo: Describir las percepciones de los profesores sobre la evaluación del programa de enfermería de la Universidad de Santander en el período académico B-2018 en la formación de la práctica clínica. Métodos: Investigación descriptiva, exploratoria y de tipo cualitativa. La población estuvo conformada por docentes de asignaturas teórico-prácticas del programa de enfermería de la Universidad de Santander. El muestreo fue intencionado-selección por criterios. Los datos recolectados se procesaron a través del software IRAMUTEQ. Resultados: El soporte del análisis lexical definió dos ejes temáticos, formados por cuatro clases semánticas. Estos fueron: Eje temático No. 1: Proceso cuantitativo a superar que contiene las clases 1 y 2 (Evaluación como calificación y Proceso de doble vía); y Eje temático No. 2: Pautas de valoración que contiene las clases 3 y 4 (Progreso centrado en el estudiante y Valoración final del hacer). Conclusiones: La percepción de los docentes frente a la evaluación de la práctica clínica de enfermería es considerada en términos de medición y calificación(AU)

Introduction: Meta-evaluation, as an instrument in quality processes, has permitted to support decision-making inhigher education institutions, with respect to improvement of the teaching-learning process, by allowing to followup academic discourses and their implementation by professors; in this scenario, new interpretations of the evaluation phenomenon have been found. Objective: To describe professors' perceptions about the evaluation of the Nursing program at University of Santander in the academic period B-2018 concerning clinical practice formation. Methods: Descriptive, exploratory and qualitative research. The population was made up of professors of theoretical-practical subjects of the Nursing program ofUniversity of Santander. The sampling was intentional (selection by criteria). The data collected was processed using the IRAMUTEQ software. Results: The lexical analysis support resulted in two thematic axes, made up of four semantic classes:thematic axis # 1 (quantitative process to be passed), which contains the classes 1 and 2 (evaluation as qualification and feedback process); and thematic axis # 2 (evaluation guidelines), which contain the classes 3 and 4 (student-centered progress and final evaluation of performance). Conclusions: Professors' perception about the evaluation of clinical nursing practice is considered in terms of measurement and qualification (AU)

We must convince the government to invest in the health workforce.

In New York on 21 September, a potentially game-changing report was submitted to the secretary general of the United Nations.

Self-Directed Learning in Physician Assistant Education: Learning Portfolios in Physician Assistant Programs.

Self-directed learning (SDL) portfolios are underused in the educational process and should be considered by physician assistant (PA) programs. Clinicians such as PAs are responsible for self-identifying their learning needs, competencies, and ongoing educational requirements. This article introduces an outline for SDL in the PA profession, for direct use by learners and indirect use by educators. Without a plan, many professionals may lack the insight, motivation, and knowledge needed to improve their skill set and establish goals for individual lifelong learning. This study conducted a review of the literature. Then, by incorporating SDL portfolios into PA educational methodologies, it constructed a concept map for individuals to monitor, self-direct, and actively participate in their own learning in academic settings and throughout their career.

Enhancing teamwork among allied health students: evaluation of an interprofessional workshop.

This report outlines the teamwork learning outcomes of an interprofessional workshop conducted with a cohort of 81 graduate-entry students of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology, and audiology. This four-hour workshop was based around a case scenario of a child with developmental coordination disorder. This report describes and evaluates the development of knowledge and skills of teamwork that were facilitated through this workshop. Students completed questionnaires before and after the workshop about their knowledge of teamwork, requisites for working together, the utility of the workshop, and learning outcomes. The evaluation indicated that the workshop was successful from the students' perspectives in confirming the importance of teamwork and the processes of communication and collaborative goal setting. Students refined their own professional roles and developed an appreciation of the contribution of other professions and parents. This recognition of the comparative value of different professional contributions in providing holistic patient care is one of the starting points for education about interprofessional teamwork.

La profesionalización de los docentes de la educación superior: implicaciones en el desarrollo social desde su competitividad / Professionalism of the teaching staff from higher education: implications in the social development taking into account their competence

El propósito de este artículo es analizar las implicaciones sociales de la labor de los profesores universitarios desde la relación que se establece entre el claustro y los empleadores en la búsqueda de una universidad competitiva, innovadora y sostenible. Así, para que dicha universidad perdure en el tiempo, tiene que involucrar a todos sus académicos, estudiantes y trabajadores en el mejoramiento de su capital humano y satisfacer las necesidades del presente desde varias perspectivas. La competitividad del docente es una de las cualidades necesarias para proteger su prestigio académico y educativo, lo cual conlleva a un futuro sostenible donde la preparación pedagógica del claustro universitario juega un importante rol.

The purpose of this work is to analyze the social implications of the university professors work from the relationship emerging between the staff and the employers in the search of a competitive, innovative and sustainable university. Thus, for this university to lasts in time, it has to involve all its academics, students and workers in the improvement of the human capital and to satisfy the needs of the present from several perspectives. Competence of the teaching staff is one of the necessary qualities to protect its academic staff and educational prestige, which bears to a sustainable future where the pedagogical training of the university staff plays an important role.

Formación de valores en los profesionales de la Salud / Creating values in the health care professionals

Cuando este número de la Revista Cubana de Medicina salga a la palestra se debe haber celebrado la XV Jornada de Profesores Consultantes de la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de La Habana, que en esta ocasión tiene por tema central La formación de valores en las nuevas generaciones. Papel del Profesor Consultante, y es el motivo de este Editorial, considerando que es tarea y responsabilidad de todo profesor de medicina en la preparación, tanto de los estudiantes de esta carrera como de los que están en proceso de especialización (residentes), garantizar la formación y desarrollo de valores en la conducta futura de cada uno de ellos. Si bien lo esencial del profesor es trasmitir conocimientos, habilidades técnicas, procesos del aprendizaje, métodos de estudios y búsqueda de la información científica, con lo que estaría cumpliendo su misión formadora en el orden científico, se hace necesario que siempre, día a día, actividad tras actividad, junto a estas funciones educativas-docentes, esté presente la transmisión, primordialmente con su ejemplo, de las enseñanzas de una conducta ética, moral y humanista, para contribuir eficazmente a la formación o perfeccionamiento de ese futuro médico o especialista(AU)

Diseño de nuevos planes de estudios en el contexto del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (II). Perfi l profesional del graduado en Medicina / The design of new medical curricula in the context of the European Higher Education Area (II). Professional profile of the medical doctor

En España, para ejercer la profesión médica como médico especialista y para ocupar un puesto de trabajo, público o privado, con dicha denominación se requiere poseer la titulación de la correspondiente especialidad médica. Además, desde el año 1995, por directiva de la Unión Europea, para el ejercicio de las funciones de médico generalista en el marco del régimen público de la Seguridad Social se requiere una formación específica, que proporciona la especialidad en Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria. De acuerdo con ello, el objetivo de la actual licenciatura en Medicina es proporcionar la denominada ‘formación médica de base’; aquella formación que debe adquirir todo graduado en medicina con independencia de su orientación futura. Sin embargo, desde la Ley de Ordenación Universitaria del año 1943, la legislación española ha determinado que el título de Licenciado en Medicina habilita para el ejercicio de la medicina, en cualquier ámbito o especialidad, con tal de que no se ejerza con el carácter de especialista. Esta inconsistencia, que según parece va a perpetuarse en la futura titulación de Médico adaptada a los requerimientos del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, supone una gran dificultad para el diseño de un plan de estudios coherente basado en competencias establecidas de acuerdo con el perfil profesional del graduado. No son las mismas las competencias que requiere ‘todo graduado en medicina’, que las competencias que requiere un graduado legalmente habilitado para ‘ejercer en cualquier ámbito o especialidad de la medicina’, aunque sea ‘sin el carácter de médico especialista (AU)

In Spain, to practice as a physician in any medical speciality, it is necessary to possess the corresponding specific academic title. And since 1995, following the European Union directives, to exert as medical generalist in the public Social Security System it is required a specific academic formation that is provided by the speciality of Familiar and Community Medicine. Accordingly, the aim of the Spanish M.D. title (‘Licenciado en Medicina’) is to provide the denominated ‘basic medical formation’: the formation needed by any physician with independence of his future specialization. However, the Law of Ordination of the Spanish University of 1943 established that the university M.D. title qualifies for the practice in any area of Medicine, if the qualification of medical specialist is not used. Such a contradiction makes very difficult the design of a medical curriculum based on the competences needed by the graduated in Medicine, as it is recommended by principles of the European Higher Education Area (AU)

Retos del Desarrollo Profesional Continuado y la Regulación de la Profesión Médica / No disponible

No disponible

Nuevo modelo pedagógico de enfermería: un gran reto / New Nursing teaching model: A big challenge

La enfermería en Cuba no puede expresarse fuera del análisis del contexto político, económico y social de nuestro país en las últimas décadas. La formación del nivel técnico y profesional se ha desarrollado en niveles educativos distintos: en el nivel secundario y en el nivel terciario o universitario con una trayectoria histórica mantenida. En respuesta al notorio déficit de personal de enfermería en la capital en el año 2001, se introdujeron los planes emergentes en la provincia Ciudad Habana. El Nuevo Modelo Pedagógico (NMP) surgió para dar respuesta a la formación de los enfermeros emergentes, así como para desarrollar un modelo educativo que permita captar, formar, retener y desarrollar a los educandos en forma progresiva hasta egresar un profesional universitario, el que integra en tres ciclos la formación básica, técnica y profesional y se propone alcanzar un grado superior de integración de ambas enseñanzas, en aras de asegurar la formación progresiva de los recursos humanos que necesita el sistema de salud. Este trabajo muestra cómo el estudiante es capaz de alcanzar su nivel de formación con flexibilidad, pertinencia y accesibilidad, de acuerdo con la batalla de ideas en que se encuentra enfrascada nuestra Revolución. Es notorio que ya existen sedes universitarias para el estudio de la Licenciatura en 118 municipios de los 169 de todo el país con una matrícula de 20214 estudiantes, dos hechos sin precedentes en la formación de enfermeros universitarios(AU)

Cuban nursing can't be expressed outside of the political, economic, and social context of our country in the last decades. Technical and professional training has been developed in different teaching levels: at secondary and tertiary or university, with a sustained historical route. In response to the marked deficit of nursing staff in the capital of the country in 2001, in Havana Province , emergence plans were introduced. The New Teaching Model appeared to give an answer to the training of emergent nurses, as well as to develop a teaching model allowing the recruitment, training, retention, and development of students in a progressive way to achieve a graduate with three cycles of basic, technical and professional training aimed at obtaining a higher degree of integration of both types of teaching, and to assure a progressive training of the human resources needed for the health system. This paper shows how the student is able to obtain his training level in a flexible, pertinent, and accessible way, according to the ”Battle of Ideas” waged by our Revolution. It should be stressed that nowadays there are 128 university headquarters in the 169 municipalities existing in the whole country, with 20214 s tudents enrolled: two unprecedented facts in the training of graduate nurses(AU)