Q-methodology: a systematic approach to assessing learners in palliative care education.

Q-methodology is a qualitative research method that has increasingly been used to identify the complex attributes and behaviors that impact learning within medicine. Because learners bring a lifetime of experiences, values, and beliefs to a palliative care education, this method is ideal for identifying the typology of learner's present, thus making it possible to adapt the palliative care curriculum to meet the identified needs of each subgroup of learners. A step-by-step overview of the methodology using an example from pediatric graduate medical education illustrates the process. Potential uses of Q-methodology in palliative care are outlined including its application to the assessment of affective learning competencies, before and after a palliative care curriculum. The development of a universal palliative care education Q-sample, a collection of subjective opinion statements reflecting the spectrum of opinions on the topic, would advance the use of the Q-methodology in palliative medicine education.

A new program to reward and retain volunteer clinical faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM: Volunteer clinical faculty (VCF) are vital to the educational mission of medical schools. At the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), VCF are increasingly relied upon to meet clinical training needs in medical student and resident education. However, many VCF receive little or no preparation to excel in their teaching roles, and they are under increasing time demands that limit their availability to teach. METHODS: Beginning in 2001, the primary care departments at MCW began a series of initiatives called "ExCEED" to promote VCF teaching excellence and efficiency through two main program components: Advisory Councils, made up of VCF leaders, and Support Services, such as web-based resources and teaching workshops. RESULTS: Preliminary ExCEED findings show that VCF have acquired important knowledge, skills, and tools that have better prepared them for their teaching roles. CONCLUSION: ExCEED is a systematic, multi-method approach to engage VCF that is positively influencing the clinical education of MCW students and residents.

Supplemental written information improves prenatal counseling: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if maternal knowledge of prematurity is improved when verbal gestational age-specific counseling is supplemented with written gestational age-specific information. METHODS: Prospective, randomized study of 60 pregnant participants assessed to be at risk for premature delivery between 23 and 34 weeks' gestation. Counseling in the control group consisted of gestational age-specific verbal information, and counseling in the intervention group consisted of written gestational age-specific information 1 hour before the verbal gestational age-specific information. Both groups completed a Prematurity Knowledge Questionnaire after counseling and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory before and after counseling. The Prematurity Knowledge Questionnaire consisted of questions regarding short-term problems (immature lungs, intraventricular hemorrhage, retinopathy, feeding problems, infection, apnea, and jaundice), long-term problems (chronic lung disease, postdischarge respiratory infections, visual impairment, hearing impairment, brain damage, and learning and behavior problems), and numerical outcome data (probabilities of survival, survival without significant morbidity, severe intraventricular hemorrhage, severe retinopathy, and chronic lung disease). RESULTS: Knowledge of short-term problems was not statistically different between the intervention (82%) and control groups (67%). Knowledge of long-term problems was better in the intervention (71%) than the control group (45%). Knowledge of numerical data was better in the intervention (48%) than the control group (29%). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores decreased after counseling in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation of face-to-face verbal counseling with written information improved knowledge of long-term problems and knowledge of numerical outcome data, and it also decreased anxiety in women expecting a premature delivery.