Search Results for
"human"

Background: Primary healthcare services and family medicine as a discipline in Germany are threatened by a growing shortage of family practitioners. Among different strategies for recruitment the family practice clerkship provides a possibility to inspire medical students for a career in family medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the family practice clerkship's influence on students ' career planning. Methods: In a series of cross sectional studies between 2003-2014 2.667 students from the University Medical Center Freiburg participated in a questionnaire survey concerning students' career plans and their attitudes towards family practice before and after the clerkship. Results: The percentage of students who rated family practice as a career option increased from 56.3% prior to 68.3% after the clerkship. 22.9% rated family medicine as one of their top 3 priorities. Positive evaluations of the clerkship correlated with the plan to start vocational training in family practice (r = 0.425; < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings indicate a positive attitude of the majority of students towards family medicine and show a positive impact of high quality training. On the basis of our results we suppose that the potential of these clerkships can successfully be utilized in strategies for recruitment of future family practitioners.

In the context of knowledge society and increasing concerns for sustainable and inclusive growth, investment in human capital development have become indispensable and the interest in developing initial vocational and technical education has also intensified. In recent years, education policies have focused more and more on updating skills and their correlation to labour market requirements. An important contribution to synchronizing the two systems comes from work–based–learning component of education, which allows students to develop their practical skills in real employment context. Work-based-learning is integrated in various degrees in initial vocational and technical education programs in European countries and beyond, along with school-based-learning. In Romania, initial vocational and technical education has been destabilised by numerous reforms and has faced significant decline both in terms of attractiveness and number of students. The article reviews the main challenges faced by IVET system in Romania and presents the main models of initial vocational and technical education at European level. Without relying on an exhaustive analysis of current Romanian situation, but on the results of six case studies, the article presents the national models of IVET. The analysis is based on four main criteria: the importance of work-based-learning component in training students, partnership with social actors, management model and financing mechanisms. © 2016, Editura Academiei Romane. All rights reserved.

Objectives: Reflective journal writing in clinical practice is used as a tool in bachelor programs in nursing. The reflection process THiNK was developed to enhance students' reflection processes. It was tailored to the needs of a nursing programme (in Norway) as former studies showed that many students had superficial level of reflection in their reflective journals, few students applied knowledge to their reflections and some met unprepared in the guided reflection groups. The teachers had inconsistent focus on the importance of reflection as a way of learning. This study aimed to describe students' and teachers' experiences of participation in reflection processes. Design and method: The development of THiNK is inspired by educational design research. This study used focus groups to gain insight into students' and teachers' experiences of the reflection processes. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Participants and setting: The empirical sample included 5 focus groups with 28 students and 7 teachers in a bachelor nursing program at a University College in Norway. Results: The themes were as follows: stop and verbalise the experiences, stimulate and support the reflection processes and develop a conscious attitude. The students became aware of themselves and their own execution. The teachers and reflection groups were crucial in order to learn to see the complexity of a given situation and helped draw connection between the situation and the theoretical knowledge. Conclusions: Enhancing students' professional development requires attention to facilitation skills as well as other contextual factors. Readiness in the culture can be ensured by tailoring frameworks of reflection that replies to students' and teachers' requests. Participating in reflection processes facilitates integration of modes of thinking when dealing with clinical situations. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Background: Residents' well-being is essential for both the individual physician and the quality of patient care they deliver. Therefore, it is important to maintain or possibly enhance residents' well-being. We investigated (i) the influence of mind fitness training (MFT) on quality of care-related well-being characteristics: work engagement, empathy, work satisfaction and stress perception and explored (ii) residents' perceptions of MFT. Methods: A multicenter study was conducted in eight Dutch teaching hospitals, from September 2012 to February 2014, using mixed methods - that is, quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis. Eighty-nine surgical residents were invited to participate in pre- and post-intervention questionnaire surveys. Twenty-two residents participated in MFT and were additionally invited to evaluate the training by post-intervention interviews including open questions. Results: At baseline 22 (100 %) residents in intervention group and 47 (70.2 %) residents in control group, and post-intervention 20 (90.9 %) residents in intervention group and 41 (66.1 %) residents in control group completed the questionnaires. In intervention-group, residents' specialty satisfaction increased by 0.23 point on 5-point Likert scale (95 % CI 0.23-0.24, P < 0.001) while stress scores decreased by -0.94 point on 10-point scale (95 % CI -1.77 to -0.12, P = 0.026). No substantial changes were observed in control group. Participation in MFT was positively associated with residents' empathy (b = 7.22; 95 % CI 4.33-10.11; P < 0.001) and specialty satisfaction scores (b = 0.42; 95 % CI 0.18-0.65; P = 0.001). Residents positively evaluated MFT with median scores of 6.80 for training design and 7.21 for outcome (10-point scale). Residents perceived improvement in focusing skills and reported being more aware of their own state of mind and feeling calmer and more in control. Conclusion: Mind fitness training could improve residents' empathy, specialty satisfaction, stress perception, and focusing skills, and was positively received by surgical residents. © 2015 Société Internationale de Chirurgie.

Purpose: A growing recognition that human capital is a more critical factor than physical capital in wealth creation has led to the drive for individuals, organisations, industries and societies to become knowledge producing entities. Africa’s growing population, high rate of urbanisation and demand for sustainable infrastructure development have highlighted the need for human capacity development (HCD). However, studies indicate that the supply systems for learning which African construction organisations rely on are weak and immature generating wide spread reports of skills shortages, skills mismatches, skill deficiencies and concomitant high unemployment. This paper forms the prologue in a wider research aimed at developing a workforce capability optimising model for construction firms and the purpose of this paper is to review literature relating to HCD to highlight needs and to explore the applicability of emerging workforce development (WD) approaches in project-based construction workplaces. Design/methodology/approach: Literature review, limited to peer reviewed academic publications in English from 2000 to 2016. Findings: Much of the literature reviewed focus on educational aspects and consequently basic entry skills into the construction workforce. Workplace learning (WL), though acknowledged, is not given much attention. However, life-long learning, WL and self-directed learning have taken on greater significance because of the transient nature of knowledge in the Knowledge Age. WD practices of construction firms in Africa range from non-existent to average particularly at intermediate skills levels. Originality/value: The paper makes a case for improved WD systems applicable to the African construction workplace and introduces elements of a proposed capability optimising framework that supports sustained effective learning environments and learners. Significantly, the model will incorporate HCD for intermediate skills and learning at the project level of the organisation. © 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Paul Auerbach’s Socialist Optimism offers an alternative political economy for the twenty-first century. Present-day capitalism has generated growing inequality of income and wealth, persistent high levels of unemployment and ever-diminishing prospects for young people. But in the absence of a positive vision of how society and the economy might develop in the future, the present trajectory of capitalism will never be derailed, no matter how acute the critique of present-day developments. The detailed blueprint presented here focuses upon the education and upbringing of children in the context of social equality and household security. It yields a well-defined path to human development and liberation, as well as democratic control of working life and public affairs. Socialism as human development gives a unity and direction to progressive policies that are otherwise seen to be a form of pragmatic tinkering in the context of a pervasive capitalist reality. © Paul Auerbach 2016.

In this chapter, a multidisciplinary conceptual framework relevant to workplace English training program development and implementation that serves as the foundation for this book is constructed. The issues of workplace English training program evaluation would be informed by theories from the relevant fields of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program development and implementation, teaching job-related English as a second language (ESL) in the workplace, second language learning, second language teaching, learner autonomy, business management training, communicative competence development, technical and vocational education and training, workplace training and learning, workplace language and literacy development, skills development for employment and employability, adult education, lifelong learning, human capital development, and sustainable livelihoods. This is the first book of its kind to construct a conceptual framework on a comprehensive theoretical basis, which is multidisciplinary. This conceptual framework can inform the development of evaluation framework in Chap. 3 and serve as foundation for further case interpretation in the chapters onward. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.

This systematic review examines types of mobile devices used by health professions students, kinds of resources and tools accessed via mobile devices, and reasons for using the devices to access the resources and tools. The review included 20 studies selected from articles published in English between January 2010 and April 2015, retrieved from PubMed and other sources. Data extracted included participants, study designs, mobile devices used, mobile resources/apps accessed, outcome measures, and advantages of and barriers to using mobile devices. The review indicates significant variability across the studies in terms of research methods, types of mobile programs implemented, resources accessed, and outcomes. There were beneficial effects of using mobile devices to access resources as well as conspicuous challenges or barriers in using mobile devices. © 2016, Published with license by Taylor & Francis.

The healthcare setting is a rich learning environment for students to experience interprofessional working (IPW) and interprofessional education (IPE). However, opportunities for IPE are limited, and student experiences of effective IPW are varied. This raises the question of how IPW and IPE are valued by health or social care professionals. A search of the literature was carried out to identify studies of health and social care staff attitudes to IPW and IPE. This review provides a summary of the main factors found to influence attitudes and the strengths and limitations of these studies. Professional background and prior IPE experience were identified as the influencing factors for which there is most evidence. The main limitations of the studies accessed included a focus on the value of IPE for staff, as opposed to students, and a limited number of studies considering the relationship between attitudes to IPW and the value placed on IPE. It is important that health and social care professionals lead by example by working collaboratively and providing students with opportunities for IPE. Identifying the variables influencing attitudes to IPW and IPE may assist in improving IPW and experiences of IPE for students learning in the healthcare setting. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.

Education in general is considered and its effect on economic and human development is questioned via the human Development Index criteria. Education as an investment to human capital is discussed. Secondly, the demand for highly skilled workers and the relation between employment and new technologies are analyzed. The high rate of unemployment of educated youth is a disadvantage for economic and social stability. The importance of vocational education in overcoming this unemployment problem is discussed. Third, the Turkish and German economies and education systems in particular are compared. In Turkey, there is an increase in the number of university graduates but also there is an increase in the number of unemployed educated young people. In this perspective school-based education, a dual system in which school-based education is combined with firm-based training and informal training is explained. The German system is investigated with a view to obtain clues for an efficient education system. © 2016, IGI Global. All rights reserved.