Global One Health post-graduate programmes: a review.

BACKGROUND: The One Health (OH) approach recognises that humans, animals, plants, and the environment are interrelated, and therefore seeks to facilitate collaboration, communication, coordination, and capacity building between relevant stakeholders to achieve a healthier ecosystem. This calls for integrating OH into established governance, policy, health, education, and community structures, and requires OH professionals equipped with the necessary inter and trans-disciplinary skillset. Therefore, numerous OH training programmes are currently being offered globally. However, the coordination and contents of some of these trainings have been criticised as inconsistent and inadequately standardised, and therefore could serve as a barrier to OH implementation. In this study, an up-to-date repository of a subset of OH academic programmes offered globally was provided, and their curricula contents was critically assessed. METHODS: Between December 2022 and April 2023, an online search for key terms 'ONE HEALTH MASTERS COURSES', and 'ONE HEALTH MASTERS PROGRAMMES' together with variations of 'AFRICA', 'NORTH AMERICA', 'ASIA', 'AUSTRALIA', 'EUROPE', 'GLOBAL' was conducted. Details about course title, delivery mode, joint administration status, curricula contents, language of instruction, years to completion, host university, country, and continent were collected. RESULTS: Forty-three programmes met inclusion criteria of the study, and almost all (n = 36, 83.7%) were tailored towards infectious diseases and population/global health, compared to the environmental and conservation perspectives. Compiled curricula contents clustered into one of these 12 sub-headings: 'principles and concepts of OH', 'epidemiology and biostatistics', 'major branches of OH', 'internship/externship/research project', 'infectious diseases, zoonoses, and surveillance', 'risk analysis and crises management', 'food safety, microbiology, immunology, and allied', 'communication', 'ethics', 'economics, policy, and management' and 'others. Of these, infectious disease themes were the most common. Regarding geography and organising institutions, North America and Europe, and veterinary institutions, respectively, were the most represented. CONCLUSION: Despite the multi-level diversity observed, uniformity still exists across the programmes which favours interdisciplinary cross-talks. Future pedagogical studies that objectively assess the alignment of module contents with the OH core competencies and the impacts of these OH programmes is recommended. With this study, a critical information gap that has existed for long in the OH field has been bridged.

Bioethical knowledge in students and health professionals: a systematic review.

Introduction: Bioethics training is essential for healthcare professionals as it enables them to address ethical dilemmas in their clinical practice. However, there is still a lack of rigorous teaching programs, and assessing bioethical knowledge poses challenges. Methodology: Systematic review using the PRISMA method. Results: Analysis of 27 studies reveals a lack of ethical knowledge and skills among healthcare professionals and students. Specific training in bioethics is effective in developing bioethical competencies. Different approaches have been employed, including integrated training in academic curricula and intensive or ongoing programs. The results demonstrate improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and ethical values, although regularly updating these courses is recommended. Conclusion: Specific training, institutional support, and considering regional and disciplinary differences are necessary to enhance ethics in the practice of healthcare professionals. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023437146, identifier CRD42023437146.

Exploring variations in IPC competencies: a cross-sectional study among healthcare professionals in Northwest China.

BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study investigates infection prevention and control (IPC) competencies among healthcare professionals in northwest China, examining the influence of demographic factors, job titles, education, work experience, and hospital levels. METHODS: Data from 874 respondents across 47 hospitals were collected through surveys assessing 16 major IPC domains. Statistical analyses, including Mann-Whitney tests, were employed to compare competencies across variables. RESULTS: Significant differences were identified based on gender, job titles, education, work experience, and hospital levels. Females demonstrated higher IPC competencies, while senior positions exhibited superior performance. Higher educational attainment and prolonged work experience positively correlated with enhanced competencies. Variances across hospital levels underscored context-specific competencies. CONCLUSION: Demographic factors and professional variables significantly shape IPC competencies. Tailored training, considering gender differences and job roles, is crucial. Higher education and prolonged work experience positively impact proficiency. Context-specific interventions are essential for diverse hospital settings, informing strategies to enhance IPC skills and mitigate healthcare-associated infections effectively.

Preschool Teachers' Emotional Competence and Teacher Self-Efficacy towards Preschool Performance in Zhejiang Province of China.

This study investigates the interplay between emotional competence, self-efficacy, and teaching experience in determining preschool teachers' performance. Drawing on Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy, Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Theory, and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, the research employs a quantitative approach, analyzing responses from preschool teachers in Zhejiang province, China. Key findings reveal that emotional competence significantly predicts teachers' performance and self-efficacy, with self-efficacy further mediating this relationship. Interestingly, while teaching experience moderates the impact of emotional competence on self-efficacy, it does not significantly influence the relationship between self-efficacy and teaching performance. The study underscores the critical role of emotional competence in teaching efficacy and highlights the complexity of how teaching experience interacts with these dynamics. These insights are crucial for developing targeted interventions in teacher training programs, emphasizing emotional skills and self-belief as key drivers of effective teaching in early-childhood education.

Discovering the importance of health informatics education competencies in healthcare practice. A focus group interview.

BACKGROUND: As healthcare and especially health technology evolve rapidly, new challenges require healthcare professionals to take on new roles. Consequently, the demand for health informatics competencies is increasing, and achieving these competencies using frameworks, such as Technology Informatics Guiding Reform (TIGER), is crucial for future healthcare. AIM: The study examines essential health informatics and educational competencies and health informatics challenges based on TIGER Core Competency Areas. Rather than examine each country independently, the focus is on uncovering commonalities and shared experiences across diverse contexts. METHODS: Six focus group interviews were conducted with twenty-one respondents from three different countries (Germany (n = 7), Portugal (n = 6), and Finland (n = 8)). These interviews took place online in respondents' native languages. All interviews were transcribed and then summarized by each country. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis framework was applied, which included familiarization with the data, generating initial subcategories, identifying, and refining themes, and conducting a final analysis to uncover patterns within the data. RESULTS: Agreed upon by all three countries, competencies in project management, communication, application in direct patient care, digital literacy, ethics in health IT, education, and information and knowledge management were identified as challenges in healthcare. Competencies such as communication, information and communication technology, project management, and education were identified as crucial for inclusion in educational programs, emphasizing their critical role in healthcare education. CONCLUSIONS: Despite working with digital tools daily, there is an urgent need to include health informatics competencies in the education of healthcare professionals. Competencies related to application in direct patient care, IT-background knowledge, IT-supported and IT-related management are critical in educational and professional settings are seen as challenging but critical in healthcare.

Suggesting a holistic framework for understanding healthcare services leadership competence - a critical interpretive synthesis.

PURPOSE: Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem set. Competent leaders are in demand to ensure effective and well-performing healthcare organisations that deliver balanced results and high-quality services. Researchers have made significant efforts to identify and define determining competencies for healthcare leadership. Broad terms such as competence are, however, inherently at risk of becoming too generic to add analytical value. The purpose of this study is to suggest a holistic framework for understanding healthcare leadership competence, that can be crucial for operationalising important healthcare leadership competencies for researchers, decision-makers as well as practitioners. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In the present study, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was conducted to analyse competency descriptions for healthcare leaders. The descriptions were retrieved from peer reviewed empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022 that aimed to identify healthcare services leadership competencies. Grounded theory was utilised to code the data and inductively develop new categories of healthcare leadership competencies. The categorisation was then analysed to suggest a holistic framework for healthcare leadership competence. FINDINGS: Forty-one papers were included in the review. Coding and analysing the competence descriptions resulted in 12 healthcare leadership competence categories: (1) character, (2) interpersonal relations, (3) leadership, (4) professionalism, (5) soft HRM, (6) management, (7) organisational knowledge, (8) technology, (9) knowledge of the healthcare environment, (10) change and innovation, (11) knowledge transformation and (12) boundary spanning. Based on this result, a holistic framework for understanding and analysing healthcare services leadership competencies was suggested. This framework suggests that the 12 categories of healthcare leadership competencies include a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be understood across the dimension personal - and technical, and organisational internal and - external competencies. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: This literature review was conducted with the results of searching only two electronic databases. Because of this, there is a chance that there exist empirical studies that could have added to the development of the competence categories or could have contradicted some of the descriptions used in this analysis that were assessed as quite harmonised. A CIS also opens for a broader search, including the grey literature, books, policy documents and so on, but this study was limited to peer-reviewed empirical studies. This limitation could also have affected the result, as complex phenomenon such as competence might have been disclosed in greater details in, for example, books. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The holistic framework for healthcare leadership competences offers a common understanding of a "fuzzy" concept such as competence and can be used to identify specific competency needs in healthcare organisations, to develop strategic competency plans and educational programmes for healthcare leaders. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study reveals a lack of consensus regarding the use and understanding of the concept of competence, and that key competencies addressed in the included papers are described vastly different in terms of what knowledge, skills and abilities they entail. This challenges the operationalisation of healthcare services leadership competencies. The proposed framework for healthcare services leadership competencies offers a common understanding of work-related competencies and a possibility to analyse key leadership competencies based on a holistic framework.

Norwegian nurse educators' self-rating of competencies: a nationwide cross-sectional web-survey.

BACKGROUND: Nurse educators' competencies play a crucial role in the educational quality of nurses. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate how Norwegian nurse educators self-rated their competence domains, and how these competencies were associated background variables. METHODS: The study was designed as a cross-sectional web-survey, and n=154 participated and filled out the Evaluation of Requirements of Nurse Teachers (ERNT) instrument. Educators' mean working experience was 12.9 years (SD 9.2); 86.3 % were permanently employed and 76.8 % had formal supervision training. RESULTS: The nurse educators rated their competence as good on all competence domains and single competence items, and ERNT total mean score was 4.62 (SD 0.28), with relationship with the students rated highest and personality factors rated lowest. The ERNT total mean score was significantly related to academic degree. CONCLUSIONS: Educational leaders in nursing education are recommended to establish a mentoring and supporting team for their educators.

Ensuring Throughput: Development and Validation of Charge Nurse Competencies for United States Emergency Care Settings.

INTRODUCTION: Charge nurses are shift leaders whose role includes managing nursing resources and facilitating appropriate patient care; in emergency departments, the charge nurse role requires both clinical and leadership skills to facilitate the flow of patients, while ensuring patient and staff safety. Literature on orientation and specific training is notably sparse. This study aimed to evaluate the content and process of core competency training and identify evaluation and implementation strategies necessary to improve charge nurse performance in United States emergency departments. METHODS: A modified Delphi technique was used in phase 1 and a qualitative content analysis method was used in phase 2 to address specific aims of the study. RESULTS: In total, 427 emergency nurse managers, directors, educators, and charge nurses responded to the initial survey to identify elements, teaching modalities, and evaluative processes; 22 participated in 1 of 2 focus groups to provide further information about the pedagogical approaches to teaching emergency charge nurse competencies. The top 5 competencies were identified as patient flow management, communication, situational awareness, clinical decision making, and nurse-patient assignment, with understanding that each competency overlapped significantly with the others. Low-fidelity simulation and gamification were identified as a preferred method of both training and evaluation. DISCUSSION: These findings have the potential to support a standardized approach to emergency charge nurse training and evaluation focusing on communication skills, clinical decision making, and situational awareness to facilitate safe and effective nurse-patient assignment and emergency department throughput.

Developing the Workforce of the Digital Future: mHealth Competency and Fidelity Measurement in Community-Based Care.

Integrating mobile health (mHealth) interventions into settings that serve diverse patient populations requires that prerequisite professional competencies are delineated and that standards for clinical quality assurance can be pragmatically assessed. Heretofore, proposed mHealth competencies have been broad and have lacked a framework to support specific applications. We outline the meta-competencies identified in the literature relevant to mHealth interventions and demonstrate how these meta-competencies can be integrated with population- and intervention-related competencies to help guide a pragmatic approach to competency assessment. We present a use case based on FOCUS-an evidence-based mHealth intervention designed for individuals with serious mental illness and currently being implemented in geographically and demographically diverse community behavioral health settings. Subsequent to identifying the cross-cutting competencies relevant to the target population (outpatients experiencing psychotic symptoms), substratal intervention (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis), and treatment modality (mHealth), we detail the development process of an mHealth fidelity monitoring system (mHealth-FMS). We adhered to a published sequential 5-step process to design a fidelity monitoring system that aligns with our integrated mHealth competency framework and that was guided by best practices prescribed by the Treatment Fidelity Workgroup of the National Institutes of Health Behavior Change Consortium. The mHealth-FMS is intended to enhance both clinical and implementation outcomes by grounding the mHealth interventionist and the system of care in which they operate in the core functions, tasks, knowledge, and competencies associated with system-integrated mHealth delivery. Future research will explore acceptability and feasibility of the mHealth-FMS.

History and its relevance to contemporary and future leadership.

BACKGROUND/AIM: This paper argues that an inquisitiveness into the history of medicine and healthcare organisation is an important characteristic of a leader seeking to understand why facts are as they are, before embarking on leading change. I had the privilege of 34 years of service in the UK Defence Medical Services, culminating in the most senior role of Surgeon General. I, and many of my military medical colleagues, are members of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. Through this, I hope that we have been able to add an interesting dimension to the practice of medical leadership in UK health organisations. METHODS: This paper is a reflection on my personal experience suggesting that studying the history of military medicine can provide insights into the collective knowledge of previous generations, the process of organisational development during war, and the clinical and system innovations needed for the next war. RESULTS: This paper summarises my personal experience of the relevance of the history of military medicine in clinical practice and policy development within the UK Defence Medical Services. It has five sections starting with history as a trajectory of knowledge, and how this links to my personal career. I then show how history informed my leadership influence on policy and practice in four topics: the prevention of heat illness, the organisation of medical services, partnerships in military medicine, and organisational learning. The paper is framed around my personal experience over a career that spanned clinical practice, policy development, leadership on military operations, and finally senior strategic roles. CONCLUSION: While I have placed my argument in the context of military medical leadership, I suggest that understanding history is just as important in civilian medical leadership.

"Jordanian Nurses' Perceptions of Disaster Preparedness and Core Competencies".

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify the Jordanian nurses' perception of their disaster preparedness and core competencies. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional research design was used. The data was collected via an online self-reported questionnaire using the disaster preparedness evaluation tool and the core disaster competencies tool. RESULTS: A total of 126 nurses participated in the study. Jordanian nurses had moderate to high levels of core disaster competencies and moderate levels of disaster preparedness. Core disaster competencies and disaster preparedness levels differed based on previous training on disaster preparedness and the availability of an established emergency plan in their hospitals. Lastly, a previous training on disaster preparedness and core disaster competencies were statistically significant predictors of disaster preparedness among Jordanian nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Organizational factors and environmental contexts play a role in the development of such capabilities. Future research should focus on understanding the barriers and facilitators of developing core disaster competencies and disaster preparedness among nurses.

Updated core competencies in pharmacoepidemiology to inform contemporary curricula and training for academia, government, and industry.

PURPOSE: The first paper to specify the core content of pharmacoepidemiology as a profession was published by an ISPE (International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology) workgroup in 2012 (Jones JK et al. PDS 2012; 21[7]:677-689). Due to the broader and evolving scope of pharmacoepidemiology, ISPE considers it important to proactively identify, update and expand the list of core competencies to inform curricula of education programs; thus, better positioning pharmacoepidemiologists across academic, government (including regulatory), and industry positions. The aim of this project was to update the list of core competencies in pharmacoepidemiology. METHODS: To ensure applicability of findings to multiple areas, a working group was established consisting of ISPE members with positions in academia, industry, government, and other settings. All competencies outlined by Jones et al. were extracted from the initial manuscript and presented to the working group for review. Expert-based judgments were collated and used to identify consensus. It was noted that some competencies could contribute to multiple groups and could be directly or indirectly related to a group. RESULTS: Five core domains were proposed: (1) Epidemiology, (2) Clinical Pharmacology, (3) Regulatory Science, (4) Statistics and data science, and (5) Communication and other professional skills. In total, 55 individual competencies were proposed, of which 25 were new competencies. No competencies from the original work were dropped but aggregation or amendments were made where considered necessary. CONCLUSIONS: While many core competencies in pharmacoepidemiology have remained the same over the past 10 years, there have also been several updates to reflect new and emerging concepts in the field.

Promoting teachers' wellbeing through a serious game intervention: a qualitative exploration of teachers' experiences.

Introduction: Teachers' wellbeing plays a critical role in their overall job satisfaction, motivation, and effectiveness in building supporting learning environments. In today's dynamic educational settings, where teachers often face numerous challenges and stressors, their wellbeing becomes increasingly vital. Consequently, there is an urgent need to innovate and develop targeted training interventions that can support specifically the wellbeing of educators. Methods: This study sought to provide an overview of the "Online Wellbeing Course - OWC," a serious game developed to enhance teachers' wellbeing, and to investigate the participants' feedback after being engaged in the OWC, utilizing a qualitative approach through focus group discussions. A total of 189 in-service teachers took part in the study. To qualitatively explore their experiences with the OWC, participants were involved in focus groups and asked to provide feedback about how and to what extent the course was beneficial for their wellbeing. Results: Teachers reported enhancements in areas such as emotional competence, self-care strategies, social awareness, relationship skills, decision-making, and school climate. Discussion: These outcomes suggested the potential of serious games as an innovative training approach for supporting teachers' wellbeing, offering valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and educators.

A Delphi Study on Identifying Competencies in Virtual Healthcare for Healthcare Professionals.

BACKGROUND: Virtual care adoption accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the need for healthcare professionals to develop relevant competencies. However, limited evidence exists on the core competencies required for quality virtual care delivery. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the critical competencies physicians, nurses, and other health professionals need for adequate virtual care provision in Saudi Arabia using a Delphi method. METHODS: A 3-round Delphi technique was applied with a panel of 42 experts, including policymakers, healthcare professionals, academicians, and telehealth specialists. In Round 1, an open-ended questionnaire elicited competencies needed for virtual care. The competencies were distilled and rated for importance in Rounds 2 and 3 until consensus was achieved. RESULTS: Consensus emerged on 151 competencies across 33 domains. The most prominent domains were communication (15 competencies), professionalism (13), leadership (12), health informatics (5), digital literacy (5), and clinical expertise (11).

Preparing medical students for their educational task as physicians: important, desirable and unexplored territory.

BACKGROUND: Physicians engage in educational activities in daily practice and take over an important role in providing information and transferring knowledge to patients and medical students. Therefore, it is important to focus on methods to develop teaching skills during medical school. Peer-teaching is a teaching method that is connected to different positive learning outcomes. This study aims to investigate the perspective of medical students regarding teaching as a core competency of physicians and peer-teaching as an opportunity to acquire educational skills. The study also aims to examine to what extent medical students are prepared for their teaching role at medical schools. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed by an online survey amongst Dutch medical students from all medical schools across all years of study. In total, 2666 medical students filled out the survey. The survey was part of the annual online survey of the Dutch medical advocacy group (DeGeneeskundestudent) amongst all medical students in the fall of 2017. The data were analysed with descriptive statistics and statistical tests (chi-squared-test and binomial test). RESULTS: The results show that 49% of medical students see teaching as one of the core tasks of a physician. However, only 25% feel well prepared by their medical school for this teaching role. Instead, there are many students who gain experiences and teaching skills on their own outside medical schools. 64% of the respondents agrees that senior medical students can educate junior medical students well. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing peer-teaching in the curricular of medical schools could be an effective teaching method to prepare medical students for their future teaching role. It is important that medical schools focus on enhancing educational quality and designing learning environments for best learning outcomes to better prepare medical students for professional life.