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Biomedical subjects

Helen Lester

Publications and source records attributed to Helen Lester.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Perceived stress during undergraduate medical training: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: Medical education is long and emotionally taxing. It can involve levels of stress that lead to disruptions in both physical and mental health. This qualitative study explores the views of Year 5 medical students on the causes of stress throughout their undergraduate medical training. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 final year medical students at the University of Birmingham between January and May 2001. RESULTS: Pressure of work, especially in terms of preparing for examinations and acquiring professional knowledge, skills and attitudes were reported as the most stressful aspects of medical training. Transition periods, particularly between school and medical school, preclinical and clinical training, and clinical training to approaching qualification were highlighted as particularly stressful. A perceived lack of support from the medical school authorities also appeared to add to student stress levels. DISCUSSION: Student stress may be alleviated by greater guidance and support from the medical school during crucial transition periods. Aspects of professional socialisation may also need to be addressed to reduce the levels of stress associated with undergraduate training for future generations of medical students.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

The attitudes of medical students towards homeless people: does medical school make a difference?

BACKGROUND: Homeless people have greater health care needs than those who are housed, yet often experience difficulty in accessing health care. Evidence suggests that the attitudes of doctors can create significant barriers to health care for homeless people. METHODS: A validated structured questionnaire, the Attitudes Towards the Homeless Questionnaire (ATHQ), was posted to a year group of 211 medical students 2 weeks prior to their starting at the University of Birmingham in 1997, and again during their final clinical placement 5 years later. The results were explored in more depth through semistructured interviews with the 12 students displaying the greatest degree of attitude change. RESULTS: The response rates for the 1997 and 2002 surveys were 80% and 82%, respectively, with an overall response rate of 65% of eligible students. The mean ATHQ scores for the 2 time periods were 76.3 and 74.7 (mean difference = 1.66 +/- 0.8, paired t test = 2.07, P = 0.04), indicating that attitudes had become more negative during the 5-year period. Semistructured interviews highlighted the importance of professional socialisation and clinical contact on attitude development. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that medical students may hold more negative attitudes towards homeless people at the end of their undergraduate course than they do at the beginning of it. Medical schools may need to address this area of health care more directly in the undergraduate curriculum if tomorrow's doctors are to treat all patients equally.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2002

Stresses and coping strategies of mothers living with a child with cystic fibrosis: implications for nursing professionals.

BACKGROUND: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common inherited disease of childhood. Caring for a child with CF is stressful and this has implications for the main carer, the parental relationship, well siblings, family functioning as well as the affected child. AIM: This study aimed to explore current stresses and coping strategies used by mothers and to identify roles and strategies that nursing professionals could extend or adopt to support them and families of children with CF. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 17 mothers of children with CF who attended the regional cystic fibrosis hospital clinic. Interviews were analysed using the Framework method of analysis. FINDINGS: The study suggests that major stresses for many mothers are feeling in the middle in terms of decision-making particularly concerning the genetic implications of CF, the burden of responsibility for parenting a child with a chronic illness, and coming to terms with a personal change in identity. The most commonly used coping strategy was seeking support from others including nursing professionals. Relationships with health professionals in secondary care were generally positive, with nurses often the first people mothers turned to when they had concerns and also key in interpreting medical information. Relationships with primary care health professionals appeared to be more limited with a role reversal described by some mothers who felt it their responsibility to educate and inform primary care professionals about CF. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that nursing professionals in primary and secondary care need to look beyond the care of the child to the needs of the mother. It provides evidence to suggest that nursing professionals in primary and secondary care have a number of important roles to play as holders of hope, bridge builders and in providing continuity of care for such families. It also suggests strategies to strengthen nurse-patient relationship.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

How can we develop a cost-effective quality cervical screening programme?

This article discusses the evidence base underpinning the United Kingdom cervical screening programme and proposes that there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that too many women are screened too frequently. The financial savings generated from increasing the screening interval to five years and restricting routine screening to women aged 25 to 50 years may, we suggest, be better spent on improving the quality of the cervical screening programme. Re-awakening this debate must not however deflect energy and effort from recruiting women who have never been screened or further developing quality control systems. Any debate must also fully engage women of all ages as the key stakeholders in the decision-making process.

Adult↗