Brain tumors are the most common solid tumor malignancies in childhood, and among them, medulloblastoma occurs with the greatest frequency. Because medulloblastomas occur in the posterior fossa, the presenting symptoms often are vague complaints and diagnosis may be delayed. Between 70% and 80% of patients who are diagnosed before metastatic dissemination survive, compared with 30% to 40% of those in higher risk groups. This article reviews the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for medulloblastoma.
Purpose Over the past 10 years, successful ultrasound integration into medical education has resulted in 8 residencies and 52 undergraduate medical schools requiring ultrasound training for graduation. Physician assistants (PAs) are trained in the medical model, yet very little is known about the integration of ultrasound into their curricula. This study examined how ultrasound is used, if at all, in the PA education curricula. Methods Physician assistant program directors (PDs) were sent a survey addressing ultrasound integration into their curricula. Questions focused on the use of ultrasound to teach didactic courses and on inclusion of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) scanning skills as an adjunct to the physical examination. The survey also asked about students' feelings toward ultrasound integration into the curricula. Results Investigators contacted 201 PDs, and 107 (53.2%) PDs responded. Twenty-five of the respondents (23.4%) reported using ultrasound in the basic sciences. The top 3 reasons for not including ultrasound in preclinical courses were no ultrasound machine, expense, and no faculty trained in ultrasound. Seventy-three of the respondents (68.2%) thought that POCUS scanning skills should be included in the curriculum. More than 83% felt that faculty or adjunct faculty should teach those skills. Conclusion This survey demonstrated that there is great interest in integrating ultrasound into the PA curriculum but that many challenges inhibit implementation. Lack of access to ultrasound machines and to trained faculty are the biggest challenges to integrating ultrasound into the PA curriculum. Physician assistant programs face content and competency challenges similar to those that medical schools face, as well as several challenges that are unique to PA education. Future research is needed to address these issues.
Background: Health science programs can be demanding and difficult for many students, leading to high levels of stress. High levels of stress can have a negative effect on students and subsequently the practicing clinician. Research suggests that yoga, humor, and reading are simple, effective methods to help reduce stress. To date no research compares the acute effects of yoga, humor, and reading in doctor of physical therapy and master’s of occupational therapy students. Additionally, it is undetermined if one technique is more effective than the other in reducing stress. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the immediate effects of yoga, humor, and reading on acute stress in students enrolled in doctor of physical therapy and master’s of occupational therapy programs. It was hypothesized that following a 30-minute yoga, humor, and reading intervention session, students would demonstrate a reduction of stress on the Daily Stress Inventory (DSI) and a decrease in blood pressure and heart rate. Subjects: Twenty-two students from the School of Graduate Medical Education Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program (n=14) and Master’s of Science in Occupational Therapy (OT) program (n=8) volunteered to participate in the study. Methods: At baseline subjects completed a demographic survey. All subjects participated in a yoga, humor, and reading intervention session, once a week on the same day and at the same time for a total of three weeks. Intervention sessions were randomized and counterbalanced across subjects. Before and after each intervention session, stress was measured using the Daily Stress Inventory, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DSP), and heart rate (HR). Results: A repeated one-way ANOVA indicated that all three interventions significantly decreased SBP, DBP, and HR and no one intervention was more effective than the other in reducing these dependent variables (p = . 058, p = .315 and p= .180 respectively). There was no significant main effect or interaction of the yoga, humor, or reading intervention session on the DSI scores (p = .362). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that one 30-minute session of yoga, humor, and reading had similar effects in decreasing acute stress in health science students. This finding is important since these interventions resulted in a significant reduction in stress in a relatively short amount of time, allowing educators to begin to consider different stress management strategies to offer to students.
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