PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Anita Berlin

Publications and source records attributed to Anita Berlin.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Working conditions and cultural competence when interacting with children and parents of foreign origin--Primary Child Health Nurses' opinions.

BACKGROUND: Interaction with children and parents of foreign origin is an important part of Primary Child Health Care (PCHC) services. Cultural competence among Primary Child Health Nurses' (PCHNurses') must therefore be regarded as essential. Cultural competence has been described as a process with different steps through which an individual must proceed. AIM: The present study investigates PCHNurses' opinions regarding their working conditions and cultural competence. The focus will be placed on their interaction with children and parents of foreign origin. METHODS: A total of 270 PCHNurses working in the PCHC services in Stockholm County responded to a questionnaire (response rate 70%). The association between experiences of difficulties and nine explanatory variables were analysed with logistic regression. RESULTS: Many of the PCHNurses reported inadequate working conditions and dissatisfaction with the quality of their healthcare work and said that they lacked written guidelines, support and help. A majority (84%) experienced difficulties in their interactions with children and parents of foreign origin, although to different degrees. The odds of experiencing difficulties were increased when nurses were responsible for a high proportion of children of foreign origin, when nurses had long professional experience and when they worked more than 50% on child-health-services assignments. Many nurses had no formal training in cultural competence and the majority felt that their formal and clinical cultural competence was insufficient. CONCLUSIONS: Deficiencies were found regarding the PCHNurses' working conditions and cultural competence when interacting with children and parents of foreign origin. Improvements are needed to facilitate the nurses' healthcare work and to enable high quality health care on equal terms for all children and parents visiting the PCHC services.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A qualitative study of the educational potential of joint teleconsultations at the primary-secondary care interface.

We conducted an evaluation of joint teleconsultations involving specialists, general practitioners (GPs) and their patients. Semistructured interviews (n = 39) and focus groups (2 groups with specialists; 6 groups with GPs) were used to collect data to explore participants' views on the educational aspect of joint teleconsultations, and to seek examples of learning that had taken place. The results showed that the teleconsultation was a complex situation in which some learning took place for the generalists, but overall participants were disappointed. Three themes emerged that could enhance the educational potential in future: generalists' reasons for referral as an influence on perceived learning; lack of clarity among clinicians regarding their role and conduct; and the presence of patients as an inhibitor in doctor-doctor interactions.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2003

Conflict and coping strategies: a qualitative study of student attitudes to significant event analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the attitudes of students to reflection in the form of significant event analysis (SEA), to categorise the factors influencing these attitudes and to develop a conceptual framework from the data to help ensure future students have a positive experience of this method of learning. CONTEXT: In May 1999, SEA, based on the critical incident technique, was introduced as part of coursework within a 3-week general practice clinical rotation for fourth year students at the School of Medicine, Imperial College, London. METHOD: Four focus groups of fourth year students were conducted. From these, a topic guide for use in in-depth interviews was developed. Eighteen interviews were conducted, which were recorded, transcribed and analysed. Themes grounded in the data were developed. RESULTS: Dominant themes emerged from the analysis. The process of SEA evoked conflicts within the students. The sources of conflict were categorised as internal, relating to phenomena specific to the student in question, or external, such as the medical curriculum and the student's relationships with others. Coping strategies employed by students and teachers also emerged from the data. DISCUSSION: Significant event analysis has the potential to provoke a number of conflicts within the student, which may reduce students' engagement with and perception of the utility of the task. By employing coping strategies, the negative effect of the conflict can be minimised. Applying this conceptual framework may inform further initiatives to promote reflective practice in undergraduate education.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Clinical exposure during clinical method attachments in general practice.

BACKGROUND: There has been a significant decline in medical students' clinical experience in hospitals. Hospital-based teaching is struggling to provide medical students with sufficient experience of the common health problems of our industrialized ageing society. Hence, general practice has become an important locus for medical education. Published evidence, however, that students can access appropriate clinical experience in general practice is sparse. OBJECTIVE: To determine students' clinical exposure during clinical and method attachments based in general practice at two medical schools. EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: Students were attached to general practice tutors to learn clinical method in internal medicine. METHOD: General practice tutors from two medical schools collected data on age, gender, diagnoses, symptoms and signs of the patients they invited to teaching sessions. RESULTS: The frequency of diagnoses, symptoms and signs seen by medical students are recorded. Students mostly saw patients with chronic illnesses; the commonest diagnoses were ischaemic heart disease and angina. DISCUSSION: Our study has recorded the largest published database of clinical diagnoses, symptoms and signs encountered by students learning clinical method in general practice. It shows that students obtained a wealth of experience with patients with common chronic diseases. Students must also learn in the hospital setting, to experience the presentation of acute illness. The combination of teaching in these two settings is likely to provide the most effective technique to ensure that students encounter the common, acute and chronic conditions that affect patients in the 21st century.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed2003

The impact of a student learning journal: a two-stage evaluation using the Nominal Group Technique.

Reflection offers a strategy that can help learners connect what they learn with their everyday practice. It can also assist them in taking control of their learning and in developing insight into the way that they learn. This study used the Nominal Group Technique to evaluate a reflective learning journal on a one-year course for GPs and pharmaceutical advisers. Changes were introduced in answer to the students' responses in the first year, and the evaluation at the end of the second year showed a significant reduction in students' levels of confusion and anxiety related to keeping the diary. They also said that keeping the diary benefited their learning styles but they reported that keeping a learning diary was time-consuming.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Twelve tips for promoting significant event analysis to enhance reflection in undergraduate medical students.

The facilitation of reflection and development of reflective abilities are increasingly considered to be an important component of professional development (Eraut, 1994). It is known that students find the process of reflection difficult and that it does not come naturally to all, requiring a safe trusting environment in which students can develop with staff support (Woodward, 1998). The structured and deliberate review of significant events has been advocated as a useful way to encourage reflection (Brookfield, 1990). These tips are based on recent research, which revealed that students' difficulties with significant event analysis arise from a range of unforeseen emotional reactions or conflicts. We pass on our tips for minimizing these conflicts and enhancing the reflective and creative aspects of significant event analysis.

Creativity↗
PubMed2002

Attitude of medical students towards general practice and general practitioners.

BACKGROUND: The stimuli for this work came from the need to identify and understand the origin of students' attitudes towards general practice in the context of undergraduate curriculum reform and concerns about recruitment. AIM: To evaluate attitudes of medical students towards general practice as a specialty and general practitioners (GPs) as doctors and explore factors influencing students' attitudes and intended career choice. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Final-year students at two London medical schools. METHOD: Questionnaires were distributed to 984 students and the results analysed using SPSS analysis. RESULTS: The mean response rate was 72% (700/984). Medical students had a positive attitude towards general practice as a specialty (mean Likert score = 3.90/5, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.86 to 3.94) and towards GPs as doctors (mean Likert score = 3.62/5, 95% CI = 3.59 to 3.66). They rated personal experience of GPs as the most important factor influencing their attitude. Students' attitudes towards general practice and GPs were more positive (P<0.001) in the fifth year. First-year students perceived the media to have a more important role in influencing their attitude than those in the fifth year(P<0.001). General practice was the only career option to significantly increase in popularity between the first and final year(P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Medical students end their undergraduate years with a more positive attitude towards general practice than has been reported elsewhere recently. This may be partially explained by the greater contact with GPs and suggests that efforts by medical schools to ensure a more balanced, community-based curriculum promotes positive attitudes to general practice. The influence of the media on the first years of medical school requiresfurther investigation.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗