Many evaluation instruments have been developed to provide feedback to physicians on their clinical teaching but written feedback alone is not always effective. We explored whether feedback effectiveness improved when teachers' self-assessment was added to written feedback based on student ratings. 37 physicians (10 residents, 27 attending…

A wide variety of countries are seeking to attract international medical students. This could be due to the fact that their universities not only receive the economic benefit from these students, but also because they recognise the issues of cultural diversity and pedagogical practice. This review paper draws on literature to understand more fully…

Over the past 20 years, there has been an increase in the number of students undertaking traditional research masters and doctor of philosophy courses in the health sciences. This paper reviews and summarizes several aspects of the literature related to supervision of students in these traditional research higher degree (RHD) programs in…

Analogies are important tools in human reasoning and learning, for resolving problems and providing arguments, and are extensively used in medicine. Analogy and similarity involve a structural alignment or mapping between domains. This cognitive mechanism can be used to make inferences and learn new abstractions. Through analogies, we try to…

Developments in clinical education have recently challenged the identity of anatomy teaching and learning, leading to high profile debate over the potential implications for the competence levels of new doctors. However, the emphasis remains on methods of teaching, rather than a review of what well-rounded anatomical learning actually entails, and…

Although education about culture, race and ethnicity has increasingly been viewed as an important addition to the medical undergraduate curriculum, internationally the evidence of its effectiveness is mixed. Research to date fails to show why. We chose to explore how contrasting approaches to learning about cultural diversity impacted on medical…

Clinical teams are of growing importance to healthcare delivery, but little is known about how teams learn and change their clinical practice. We examined how teams in three US hospitals succeeded in making significant practice improvements in the area of antimicrobial resistance. This was a qualitative cross-case study employing Soft Knowledge…

This study investigated the effect of two instructional strategies, segmented and holistic, on the progression over time of learners' mental models toward that of an expert with the moderator of cognitive flexibility. Sixty-four juniors and seniors in a college metabolism course were randomly assigned to one of the two strategies for instruction…

Traditionally, medical schools have tended to make assumptions that students will "automatically" engage in self-education effectively after graduation and subsequent training in residency and fellowships. In reality, the majority of medical graduates out in practice feel unprepared for learning on their own. Many medical schools are now adopting…

Systems-based practice (SBP) is rarely taught or evaluated during medical school, yet is one of the required competencies once students enter residency. We believe Texas A&M College of Medicine students learn about systems issues informally, as they care for patients at a free clinic in Temple, TX. The mandatory free clinic rotation is part of the…

The use of standardized patients to assess communication skills is now an essential part of assessing a physician's readiness for practice. To improve the reliability of communication scores, it has become increasingly common in recent years to use statistical models to adjust ratings provided by standardized patients. This study employed ordinary…

This study investigated the effect of performance-based versus competence-based assessment criteria on task performance and self-assessment skills among 39 novice secondary vocational education students in the domain of nursing and care. In a performance-based assessment group students are provided with a preset list of performance-based…

Doctors in specialist training posts in the Mersey Deanery are expected to reflect on their clinical practice and to document their learning experiences in an e-portfolio. This study aims specifically to explore how they have engaged in reflection on their practice and how they utilise their learning portfolio to document evidence of this. A…

The purpose of multiple choice tests of medical knowledge is to estimate as accurately as possible a candidate's level of knowledge. However, concern is sometimes expressed that multiple choice tests may also discriminate in undesirable and irrelevant ways, such as between minority ethnic groups or by sex of candidates. There is little literature…

Physician cognition, metacognition and affect may have an impact upon the quality of clinical reasoning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between measures of physician metacognition and affect and patient outcomes in obstetric practice. Reflective coping (RC), proactive coping, need for cognition (NFC), tolerance for…