Sir, the BDJ has recently published articles describing the use of remote consultations in dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1,2,3 I would like to draw attention to considerations for teaching undergraduate students and trainees this new type of communication skill. While demonstrating their value, remote consultations also have limitations, for example being unable to carry out a full soft tissue examination, 2 and may increase the risk of
The pace of medical change is in danger of paralysing the process of decision making, particularly in services where clinical improvements occur more slowly than the introduction of new interventions. Audit within an individual district enables staff to monitor progress towards desired goals and standards but rarely generates sufficient data to inform decision making about major policy changes. The paper describes how the findings from nine audits of a community paediatric audiology service over a 13-year period were combined with reviews of the literature, resulting in a series of changes to a children's audiological service. The interest and commitment of all the staff involved were maintained by involving them in the process and using them as a valuable source of qualitative data. Audit must be thorough and should be based on precise case definition and comprehensive casefinding if the results are to be meaningful. It is a more powerful means of achieving improvements in systems if it is combined with research evidence, and a readiness to change the system if the agreed goals are not being attained.
IntroductionThere are many problems associated with continuing medical education in developing countries. For clinicians in district hospitals the difficulties can be extreme, including having little access to relevant literature or contact with colleagues. "World Anaesthesia" addressed these problems in two key areas:1. to improve the level of anaesthetic training among non-specialists working in district hospitals2. the introduction and exposure to appropriate anaesthetic technology, capable of being understood, used, serviced and sustained at local level WA produces an educational journal "Update in Anaesthesia", targeted at anaesthetists in developing countries. It has been widely acclaimed by its recipients, who receive it free of charge. "Update" is a recognised teaching resource, and there have been requests for reprints. This is not viable, however the journals were readily converted to hypertext and Adobe PDF and are available from the WFSA web site (http://www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/). Permission has been obtained from anaesthetic journals, to reproduce review articles. The reviews are more than 2 years old and can be a priceless resource to those without access to a good library.MethodsZimbabwe has a level of development and infrastructure that enabled a feasibility study to be carried out on a distance learning project based on WA resources. There is little access to the WWW, except for those in urban areas with sufficient funds to be able to afford an ISP. The WA/WFSA web site and journal articles were put on a CD-ROM and a feasibility study was made to Zimbabwe in April 1999. A range of hospitals were visited, some having received well specified IBM PCs and printers from DANEDA. This gave the opportunity to observe potential recipients at first hand. Some of whom were first time users of a GUI environment.ResultsIt was obvious that the materials were being provided in an acceptable format and were of great relevance. Hypertext format is more flexible, as it enable the user to both read on screen and produce hardcopy. PDF documents provides some consistency in hardcopy but the multiple columns makes them harder to read on screen.DiscussionLack of relevant clinical training materials is a major obstacle to improving health standards in many developing countries. CD-ROM's offer a cheap way of distributing resource and reference material. It is now possible to provide an "electronic library" covering a range of medical disciplines, for hospitals previously denied these resources. E-mail provides an opportunity to provide the essential personal contact with a tutor. The successful implementation of a distance learning project requires the integration of a number of strands, including clinical, technical and professional training and the creation of suitable systems. It also requires flexibility in order for it to be implemented, dependent of the available facilities and infrastructure in the target region.
Nurse teachers are accustomed to having their performance regularly appraised by their colleagues, but what about appraisal by students? Although this idea may seem alien to some, it has been in operation in the United States and Canada for some years. The author obtained a scholarship from the United Kingdom Directors of Nurse Education Group and visited the University of Texas in Austin to discover how the system operates. Her impressions were favourable, but on return to the UK she found hesitancy and doubt among her colleagues. This article describes her findings in Texas and outlines why she feels the system would be of benefit in the UK.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.