Biomedical subjects

Gerard D Majoor

Publications and source records attributed to Gerard D Majoor.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Comparison of outcomes of a community-based education programme executed with and without active community involvement.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of a previously designed set of generic objectives for community-based education (CBE) emphasising community involvement. METHODS: The study was designed as a non-blinded, randomised trial. Experimental and conventional groups of students following CBE programmes either closely or weakly matching the set of generic objectives were compared. Student groups were subjected to passive participatory observation. Students evaluated their programmes through questionnaires. The impact of student interventions was assessed by community compliance. Community perception of the programmes was evaluated through structured interviews with community representatives. RESULTS: Students in experimental groups appreciated their programme more than students in conventional groups. High compliance and appreciation were recorded in communities hosting the modified programme. Most students in conventional groups judged their posting negatively, largely because of the high number of households to be visited. Health interventions performed by conventional groups lacked co-operation between students and the community. Communities hosting conventional groups felt their health needs were scarcely discussed and addressed. CONCLUSIONS: The modification of an existing CBE programme to better match a set of generic CBE objectives emphasising community involvement had a positive effect on programme outcomes and levels of appreciation by both students and hosting communities. However, some confounding variables could not be controlled. Colleagues planning comparable studies may take advantage of the lessons we learned while performing this study.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

An explorative study into learning on international traineeships: experiential learning processes dominate.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the learning processes of undergraduate medical students undertaking international traineeships. METHODS: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 undergraduate medical students from Maastricht University Medical School, the Netherlands. The 24 subjects were selected by purposeful sampling. Research methods resembled the grounded theory method. Although the data were initially gathered for an earlier study, the richness of the data enabled renewed scrutiny. RESULTS: The data yielded the following categories concerning the description of the learning processes: motivation, preparation, internal supervisor, external supervisor, assessment, and positive and negative incidents. The majority of supervisors' influences on the learning process were facilitative or negligible. Socio-cultural differences between students and supervisors sometimes appeared to blur productive learning. The greater proportion of the students seemed to learn by 'experiential learning', a smaller proportion learned by 'active learning', and the learning of a very small minority of the students appeared to be 'guided'. DISCUSSION: Although experiential learning seemed to be the dominant learning process, it is not clear whether this is also the most fruitful approach to learning. It could be argued that structuring learning outcomes by a more active learning process might be more effective. To guide the learning process and learning outcomes, it might be advisable to develop guidelines for writing international traineeship reports. Supervision of these reports should be more co-ordinated to prevent arbitrariness and to scaffold active learning.

Consumer Behavior↗

PubMed2004

'I found myself to be a down to earth Dutch girl': a qualitative study into learning outcomes from international traineeships.

OBJECTIVE: To explore learning outcomes from international traineeships for undergraduate medical students. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 undergraduate medical students at Maastricht University Medical School, The Netherlands. The 24 subjects were selected by purposeful sampling. RESULTS: Students reported meaningful learning outcomes in 6 domains: medical knowledge; skills; international health care organisation; international medical education; society and culture, and personal growth. DISCUSSION: International traineeships appear to provide good opportunities for students to meet the requirements of globalisation as well as some of the generic objectives of undergraduate medical education. The tentative findings of this study need to be confirmed by further studies.

Curriculum↗