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Biomedical subjects

Karen Mattick

Publications and source records attributed to Karen Mattick.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Medical student attendance at non-compulsory lectures.

The General Medical Council in the UK recommends that undergraduate medical students be exposed to a variety of learning opportunities and increasingly take responsibility for their own learning. This study presents quantitative and qualitative data relating to attendance at non-compulsory plenary lectures in order to understand factors affecting the value placed by students on this component of the first 2 years of a contemporary medical curriculum. Attendance data were available for 87% first year and 78% second year plenary lectures. There was no difference in attendance at lectures that were delivered telematically to a remote site when compared with those where the speaker was present. There were markedly more students attending lectures at the beginning of the first academic year, with numbers decreasing as the year progressed. More first year students attended lectures on biomedical science and clinically focussed topics than on human science and public health whereas second year student attendance was similar across topics. Reasons given for non-attendance at plenary sessions fell into "student-related" factors (e.g. dislike of lecture-based learning) and "teaching-related" factors (e.g. perceived variable quality of lectures). This study confirms that some students value lectures highly as a method to supplement other learning opportunities, whereas others find they learn better by other means.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2006

'When I first came here, I thought medicine was black and white': making sense of medical students' ways of knowing.

Personal beliefs about what knowledge is and how we understand, integrate and apply knowledge (known as personal epistemologies) are entrenched in the process of decision-making. Evidence-based medicine in all its forms brings with it the need for an ever more sophisticated appreciation of individual patients' perspectives and 'scientific' perspectives within the clinical encounter. However, current theoretical perspectives on personal epistemology focus more on scientific ways of knowing where knowledge is abstracted and logical. We conducted semi-structured interviews to investigate medical students' personal epistemological thinking towards the end of their second year of training at a new medical school in the South West of England. Whilst responses were varied, students appeared to express predominantly simplistic levels of epistemological thinking according to current developmental models of personal epistemology. However, the process of professional identity formation together with epistemological thinking brought together both scientific and experiential ways of knowing in a way that has largely been ignored by current theorists in the domain of personal epistemology.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Undergraduate ethics teaching: revisiting the Consensus Statement.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the recommendations of the Consensus Statement published 7 years ago have been implemented. DESIGN: Postal questionnaire survey of 28 UK medical schools. METHODS: A survey was sent to the lead individual for teaching and learning at each medical school. This questionnaire inquired about the undergraduate ethics and law curriculum, including its design, teaching, assessment, staffing, and individuals' hopes and concerns for the future. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Information relating to undergraduate ethics teaching in UK medical schools. RESULTS: Significant changes in the teaching and assessment of medical ethics and law that could be directly attributed to the Consensus Statement were identified. Whilst most schools covered all 12 recommended topics in their curriculum, only 3 felt all the topics were covered thoroughly and 3 schools said at least 1 topic was not covered at all. Only 16 schools identified 1 or more full-time academics who took direct responsibility for ensuring undergraduate medical students learnt about ethics; these were usually at lecturer grade. CONCLUSIONS: The Consensus Statement has had a significant impact on the teaching of undergraduate ethics but, even 7 years on, not all its recommendations have been implemented fully.

Consensus↗
PubMed2005

An e-resource to coordinate research activity with the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS).

Research into interprofessional education is often performed by professionals in practice alongside their other "core" duties, thus additional help and support to achieve quality research outcomes would be beneficial. This study aimed to create a virtual community of researchers with shared interest in quantitative studies of interprofessional learning using the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. An e-resource was built which provided access to relevant resources, helped to coordinate research effort, and promoted communication. Use of the resource was monitored over a 14-month period and evaluated at the end of this time. Forty-eight researchers across six different countries were assigned usernames and passwords. According to a self-report measure, 23/27 (85%) respondents to the evaluation questionnaire had accessed the resource and 95% planned to use it in the coming year. This paper shares our experiences and observations from the study.

England↗
PubMed2004

Tissue pathology in undergraduate medical education: atrophy or evolution?

Changes are occurring in undergraduate medical curricula and there is limited published information about how contemporary tissue pathology is taught. The aim of this study was to collect information on this topic and to invite expert opinion about best teaching practice. A postal questionnaire survey of medical schools in the UK was performed, with a response rate of 23/28 schools (82%). The two most striking findings were the variation in teaching and learning strategies between schools and the spirit of the respondents, some relishing the challenges associated with reorganization and some thoroughly demoralized. The main concerns about pathology teaching were a feeling of lack of ownership of the content taught, an overall lack of visibility of tissue pathology in teaching and assessment, and staff shortages. Respondents valued the autopsy as an educational tool but were finding it increasingly difficult to provide. On the other hand, key opportunities for pathology teaching were highlighted through the questionnaire. The potential for developments in information technology and the possibility of creating national forums to develop core curricula and generate e-resources was recognized. The findings of this study will provide a milestone against which future change in pathology education can be measured.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2004

Teaching and learning pathology: a critical review of the English literature.

AIM: There are few publications summarising the main issues concerning pathology teaching and learning within undergraduate medical degrees. This article examines the themes that have emerged from the literature over the last 2 decades. METHOD: A literature search was performed using PubMed, which identified 86 relevant papers in the English language. RESULTS: The themes discussed in the literature included the timing and duration of pathology courses, the appropriate pathology teacher for medical students, the teaching strategies used for pathology, and the methods used to assess learning. DISCUSSION: With the gradual increase of integrated medical curricula, it is important for pathology teachers to engage in the change process and help to shape the new-style courses. One of the positive aspects of change is that it can provide an opportunity to rethink current practice. It is hoped that this paper might stimulate discussion about how pathology is taught and learnt, leading to further developments in this area.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2004

Approaches to learning and studying in medical students: validation of a revised inventory and its relation to student characteristics and performance.

INTRODUCTION: Inventories to quantify approaches to studying try to determine how students approach academic tasks. Medical curricula usually aim to promote a deep approach to studying, which is associated with academic success and which may predict desirable traits postqualification. AIMS: This study aimed to validate a revised Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI) in medical students and to explore its relation to student characteristics and performance. METHODS: Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the reported constructs in a sample of 128 Year 1 medical students. Models were developed to investigate the effect of age, graduate status and gender, and the relationships between approaches to studying and assessment outcomes. RESULTS: The ALSI performed as anticipated in this population, thus validating its use in our sample, but a 4-factor solution had a better fit than the reported 5-factor one. Medical students scored highly on deep approach compared with other students in higher education. Graduate status and gender had significant effects on approach to studying and a deep approach was associated with higher academic scores. CONCLUSIONS: The ALSI is valid for use in medical students and can uncover interesting relationships between approaches to studying and student characteristics. In addition, the ALSI has potential as a tool to predict student success, both academically and beyond qualification.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

The survival of foodborne pathogens during domestic washing-up and subsequent transfer onto washing-up sponges, kitchen surfaces and food.

In this study, the survival of Salmonella, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli O157: H7, when exposed to a range of constant temperatures (47-60 degrees C), in hard or soft water, in the presence/absence of detergent (0-0.3%) and organic matter, and during drying, was investigated. Further experiments used a washing-up process simulation, where soiled dishes contaminated with bacteria were washed in a bowl of warm water containing detergent. In addition, this study considered the risk of bacterial transfer onto (1) sterile dishes and sponges via contaminated water, (2) kitchen surfaces wiped with a contaminated sponge, (3) items placed in direct contact with a contaminated kitchen surface, (4) food placed on a contaminated dish or (5) dishes from contaminated food. A proportion of dishes remained contaminated with all pathogen types after a typical washing-up. Water hardness did not appear to affect survival. E. coli, and to a lesser extent Salmonella, survived towel- or air-drying on dishes and after towel-drying the cloth became contaminated on every occasion, regardless of the test organism. A proportion of sterile dishes washed after contaminated dishes became contaminated with pathogens but transfer from dishes onto food was rare. Washing-up sponges frequently became contaminated with pathogens. The results of this study highlight the potential for survival and cross contamination of food borne pathogens in the kitchen environment.

Campylobacter↗