The current discussion of consumerism in higher education focuses largely on what the providers are obliged to do for the consumers, against the background of rising tuition fees. This framework does not always sit comfortably with lecturers in the context of a learning and teaching relationship, as it appears to ignore the reciprocal obligations lecturers and students have to one another. The purpose of this article is to offer an alternative view of what lecturers and students are obliged to do in the learning and teaching relationship, if learning is to be effective. I argue, drawing on Aristotle's function argument, that both students and lecturers in higher education have moral role obligations; that these moral role obligations are derived from the functions of the roles being voluntarily undertaken by each party; that therefore, by ascertaining the functions of a student and of a lecturer, both a descriptive purpose and a normative purpose will be revealed for each; and that using moral role obligations as a basis for the student/lecturer relationship offers a less contentious alternative to the consumerist model.
Introduction: One Health (OH) is an important concept to design appropriate public health responses to emerging diseases such as COVID-19. How trainee health professionals understand this concept is important to its implementation. In this study, we explored how medical (MD), veterinary (DVM), and dual degree MD and DVM Master of Public Health (MPH) students define OH and its relevance to practice.Methods: Students participated in a survey that included the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), and two questions requiring them to define and explain the relevance of OH. The transcripts of the OH responses underwent thematic analysis. Role theory was used to explain the variation in how students from these different programmes viewed the concept.Results: The responses of the MD and DVM students in contrast to the dual degree MPH students reflected gaps in their understanding of the concept that pertained to the specific health impacts of global warming; antimicrobial resistance, food security; social, cultural and environmental determinants of zoonoses occurrence, and health policy formation.Discussion: Mitigation of the global risks to public health require a collaborative approach by health professionals. Our findings suggest that MD and DVM students are unaware of many factors that impact patient health outside of their own discipline. The inclusion of dual degree students revealed novel insights that undertaking an MPH may have enabled them to be more aware about the interdisciplinary relevance of OH to their professional practice. We recommend that structured incorporation of OH should inform future medical and veterinary curricula.
1996 saw the implementation of Clinical Effectiveness Initiatives by the NHS Executive and the Royal College of Nursing to promote the use of evidence-based care. This paper examines whether or not nurses will be encouraged and facilitated by these initiatives to provide evidence-based care for their clients. Both initiatives appear to assume that the use of evidence-based care leads to improved client care, but several issues are raised which still need to be resolved before this assumption can be made. The NHS Executive advocates the use of randomized controlled trials as the method of choice for providing evidence of clinical effectiveness. However, this may not necessarily be the best methodology for some areas of nursing practice. The paper concludes that the Royal College of Nursing's Clinical Effectiveness Initiative has great potential to provide the necessary motivation and facilitation, providing other professional issues are resolved.
As part of a larger study, professional staff from two universities, Australian and British, were asked how they entered into a higher education career and what factors kept them in that career. Many participants reported that they found themselves in professional services almost by accident, or by a fortunate combination of circumstances. However, in addition to the serendipitous recruitment reported in earlier studies, our analysis found a positive value associated with higher education that attracted people to seek out employment opportunities, and to remain in the sector. This suggests that recruitment is not as accidental or serendipitous as might first appear. We argue that while there are many reasons why our participants remained in higher education, the variety offered in day-today roles and responsibilities is a key factor in retaining professional staff. Our findings have implications for policy and practice, for both the recruitment and retention of talented professional staff.
Introduction:
The conceptual framework of One Health (OH) provides a strategy for promoting collaboration across the nexus of animal, human, and environmental health, which is essential for tackling emerging disease threats, such as COVID-19. However, there is no accreditation requirement for OH to prepare students across the professions for collaborative practice. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of faculty across the medical, veterinary, and public health programs about the need, opportunities, and challenges of developing OH in the curricula.
Methods:
In this qualitative study, faculty across the three disciplines were invited to participate in audio-recorded, focus group interviews. Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using inductive and deductive thematic analysis.
Results:
All participants recognized the need for OH as a critical concept for preparing students for collaborative practice. Opportunities were identified for shared learning and research across the disciplines, particularly through the use of interprofessional education. The lack of an accreditation mandate for OH in the medical curriculum was perceived to be the greatest challenge, leading to an anticipation of significant resistance among medical educators and students.
Discussion:
Successful development of OH in all three curricula is vital to prepare students for current and future threats to global health. The role of accreditation bodies in ensuring medical, veterinary, and public health curricula prepare students for these threats is crucial. Implications for practice include strategies for persuading medical educators and medical students to embrace OH in the curriculum and promote a culture of shared learning.
This study examined the perceptions of professional staff on their contribution to student outcomes. An online Delphi survey method was used to collect data from two expert panels: professional staff based in faculties and professional staff based in central university departments. The aim of this method is for the panels to arrive at a consensus. The expert panels were asked to rank ten propositions which support successful student outcomes. After three rounds the faculty based panel had reached only a 'very weak' consensus, and the non-faculty panel only a 'weak' consensus. The highest ranked proposition for both panels was the first, namely: 'Institutional behaviours, environments and processes are welcoming and efficient; that is, students' enquiries are dealt with promptly, knowledgeably and with a friendly manner'. Propositions relating to organisational culture were ranked relatively low indicating that professional staff may underestimate their contribution to these propositions.
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