ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to demonstrate effectiveness of an educational training workshop using role-playing to teach medical students in Botswana to deliver bad news.MethodA 3-hour small group workshop for University of Botswana medical students rotating at the Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone was developed. The curriculum included an overview of communication basics and introduction of the validated (SPIKES) protocol for breaking bad news. Education strategies included didactic lecture, handouts, role-playing cases, and open forum discussion. Pre- and posttraining surveys assessed prior exposure and approach to breaking bad news using multiple-choice questions and perception of skill about breaking bad news using a 5-point Likert scale. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) with a standardized breaking bad news skills assessment was conducted; scores compared two medical student classes before and after the workshop was implemented.ResultForty-two medical students attended the workshop and 83% (35/42) completed the survey. Medical students reported exposure to delivering bad news on average 6.9 (SD = 13.7) times monthly, with 71% (25/35) having delivered bad news themselves without supervision. Self-perceived skill and confidence increased from 23% (8/35) to 86% (30/35) of those who reported feeling “good” or “very good” with their ability to break bad news after the workshop. Feedback after the workshop demonstrated that 100% found the SPIKES approach helpful and planned to use it in clinical practice, found role-playing helpful, and requested more sessions. Competency for delivering bad news increased from a mean score of 14/25 (56%, SD = 3.3) at baseline to 18/25 (72%, SD = 3.6) after the workshop (p = 0.0002).Significance of resultsThis workshop was effective in increasing medical student skill and confidence in delivering bad news. Standardized role-playing communication workshops integrated into medical school curricula could be a low-cost, effective, and easily implementable strategy to improve communication skills of doctors.

No abstract

Featured Application: The NISDL method proposed in this paper can be used for real time noninvasively measuring human skin temperature, which reflect human body thermal comfort status and can be used for control HVAC devices.Abstract: In human-centered intelligent building, real-time measurements of human thermal comfort play critical roles and supply feedback control signals for building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Due to the challenges of intra-and inter-individual differences and skin subtleness variations, there is no satisfactory solution for thermal comfort measurements until now. In this paper, a non-invasive measuring method based on skin sensitivity index and deep learning (NISDL) was proposed to measure real-time skin temperature. A new evaluating index, named skin sensitivity index (SSI), was defined to overcome individual differences and skin subtleness variations. To illustrate the effectiveness of SSI proposed, two multi-layers deep learning framework (NISDL method I and II) was designed and the DenseNet201 was used for extracting features from skin images. The partly personal saturation temperature (NIPST) algorithm was use for algorithm comparisons. Another deep learning algorithm without SSI (DL) was also generated for algorithm comparisons. Finally, a total of 1.44 million image data was used for algorithm validation. The results show that 55.6180% and 52.2472% error values (NISDL method I, II) are scattered at [0 °C, 0.25 °C), and the same error intervals distribution of NIPST is 35.3933%.

No abstract

Bringing flexibility and extensibility into Learning Management Systems is crucial because it gives teachers and students a free choice of technologies and educational materials they want to use for their courses. This paper presents a solution by enabling widgets (OpenSocial apps) within Moodle. Our first Moodle plugin allows teachers to freely choose a set of tools they want to use in their courses, although students cannot change widgets proposed by teachers. Additionally, the plugin enables the flexible interaction interfaces inside Moodle and improves the interoperability of Moodle with other Web platforms. The environment was evaluated with students within several courses. Even though the environment was perceived as useful by students, they lacked their own personalization. The second Moodle plugin described tackles this problem.