Fostering novice students' diagnostic ability: the value of guiding deliberate reflection.

BACKGROUND: Deliberate reflection when practising the diagnosis of clinical cases has been shown to develop medical students' diagnostic competence. Adding guidance by cueing reflection or providing modelling of reflection increased the benefits of reflection for advanced (Years 5-6) students. The present study investigated whether we could replicate and extend these findings by comparing the effects of free, cued and modelled reflection on novice students' diagnostic competence. METHODS: A total of 80 third-year medical students participated in a two-phase experiment. In the learning phase, students diagnosed nine clinical cases under one of three conditions: free reflection; cued reflection, and modelled reflection. Two weeks later, all students diagnosed four new examples of the diseases studied in the learning phase and four cases of non-studied related diseases ('adjacent diseases'). The main outcome measurements were diagnostic accuracy scores (range 0-1) on studied and adjacent diseases. RESULTS: For studied diseases, there was a significant effect of experimental condition on diagnostic accuracy (p < 0.02), with the cued-reflection group (mean = 0.58, standard deviation [SD] = 0.23) performing significantly better than the free-reflection group (mean = 0.41, SD = 0.20; p < 0.02). The cued-reflection and modelled-reflection groups (mean = 0.54, SD = 0.22) did not differ in diagnostic accuracy (p > 0.05), nor did the modelled-reflection group perform better than the free-reflection group (p > 0.05). For adjacent diseases, the three groups scored extremely low, without significant differences in performance (p > 0.05). Cued reflection and free reflection were rated as requiring similar effort (p > 0.05) and both were more demanding than studying examples of reflection (both p < 0.001) in the learning phase. CONCLUSIONS: Simply cueing novice students' reflection to focus it on relevant diseases was sufficient to increase diagnostic performance relative to reflection without any guidance. Cued reflection and studying examples of reflection appear to be equally useful approaches for teaching clinical diagnosis to novice students. Students found studying examples of reflection required less effort but cued reflection will certainly demand much less investment from teachers.

Lifewide profile of cytokine production by innate and adaptive immune cells from Brazilian individuals.

BACKGROUND: Immunosenescence is associated with several changes in adaptive and innate immune cells. Altered cytokine production is among the most prominent of these changes. The impact of age-related alterations on cytokine global profiles produced by distinct populations of leukocytes from healthy Brazilian individuals was studied. We analysed frequencies of cytokine-producing lymphocytes and innate immune cells from individuals at several ages spanning a lifetime period (0-85 years). RESULTS: Healthy adult individuals presented a balanced profile suggestive of a mature immune system with equal contributions of both innate and adaptive immunity and of both categories of cytokines (inflammatory and regulatory). In healthy newborns and elderly, innate immune cells, especially neutrophils and NK-cells, contributed the most to a balanced profile of cytokines. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis that ageing is not associated with a progressive pro-inflammatory cytokine production by all leukocytes but rather with distinct fluctuations in the frequency of cytokine-producing cells throughout life.

Validação de Instrumento de Registro do Atendimento Clínico Centrado na Pessoa / Validation of a Patient-Centered Instrument of Medical Appointment Recording

Diante do desafio de formar médicos para o século XXI, em que se pretende uma abordagem integral da pessoa, incluindo seus sentimentos e o contexto que a cerca, este trabalho teve como objetivo validar, para a realidade de uma cidade brasileira, um modelo de registro de atendimento clínico centrado na pessoa, com base numa proposta reconhecida internacionalmente. O documento resultante representa um instrumento que poderá facilitar o aprendizado e a adesão do estudante de Medicina ao método clínico centrado na pessoa, por se tratar de uma sistematização do roteiro para o registro da consulta médica, guiando a entrevista no formato centrado na pessoa. Os autores acreditam que a utilização deste roteiro de registro contribuirá de forma relevante para que os estudantes de Medicina, iniciantes no ofício e mais dependentes de guias de registro, desenvolvam de forma plena, em cenários simulados e reais, as habilidades necessárias ao atendimento clínico centrado na pessoa.

Given the challenge of preparing doctors for the 21st century, striving for a comprehensive approach to the patient, her feelings, background and situation, the aim of this study was to validate a patient-centered care recording model, in view of the reality of a Brazilian city. Following a literature review, Donnelly’s model was selected and the validation was performed according to Malhotra’s method. The resulting recording model represents an instrument that intends to contribute toward improving health care in Brazil and, therefore, enhancing the clinical outcome of the person under care. This could help the learning process and students’ adherence to the patient-centered clinical method due to the documents which clarify and organize the framework for registering the medical appointment and guide the interview towards a patient-centered format. Since medical students and beginner physicians usually depend on recording guides, the authors believe that the use of this recording guide will contribute greatly to the full development of new professionals and their essential skills in patient-centered medical care.

Evaluation of [13C]urea breath test and Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test for diagnosis of H. pylori infection in children from a developing country.

The [(13)C]urea breath test ((13)C-UBT) and Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test (HpSA) for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in children were validated. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 93.8, 99.1, 97.8, and 98.0%, respectively, for the (13)C-UBT and 96.9, 100, 100, and 98.0%, respectively, for HpSA. Both tests are appropriate for diagnosing H. pylori infection in children.