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Biomedical subjects

Kate Billingham

Publications and source records attributed to Kate Billingham.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Helping tomorrow's doctors to gain a population health perspective - good news for community stakeholders.

INTRODUCTION: The modernising agenda of the NHS and recommendations of professional bodies demand that all doctors achieve a basic understanding of a population health perspective. The principle of integrated learning and the logistics of provision make it inappropriate for such learning to be delivered solely by public health specialists, and community-based learning has been promoted as the best setting in which to assist this objective. However, there is little evidence from practice as to whether non-specialist staff are willing or able to play a role in orienting tomorrow's doctors to the needs of communities. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and focus groups iterated the opinion of key stakeholders on their preferred contributions to community-oriented undergraduate medical education. Framework analysis was used to elicit key outcomes and process factors. RESULTS: There was consensus that community-based learning should be a core element of the medical curriculum as it can demonstrate the socioenvironmental context of care and the doctor's role in interagency working and preventive care. Effective academic/NHS partnerships were called for, with higher education leading the agenda on aims and objectives, creating collaborative structures, and reallocating resources to support new learning. Community-based stakeholders would offer the translation of theory into practice by demonstrating clinical and social diversity, models of teamworking, and a context for the application of prior learning. They also promoted recurrent contact with communities, and suggested an enhanced role in mentoring students through longer term relationships. CONCLUSION: Community-based personnel and NHS users are an under-used resource for medical education. Their proposed contributions strongly accord with the agenda for a population health perspective in basic training. Curriculum planners need to make long-term partnerships with community-based agencies, rather than using them as an intermittent provider of limited learning sessions with narrowly defined objectives.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed2002

In our own image--a multidisciplinary qualitative analysis of medical education.

One aim of reform of undergraduate medical education is to achieve a better balance between an emphasis on scientific knowledge and an enhancement of desirable professional attitudes: for example, reducing the core curriculum in biochemistry in order to increase learning opportunities in ethics. This study was based on qualitative data collected from stakeholders involved in community- and primary care-based medical education. Its aim was to consider whether different participants agreed on the desired outcomes of basic medical training, and the contribution of community and primary care settings. Analysis of the data showed that the professional identity of the future doctor is contested, its goals reflective of the 'world view' of the stakeholder, and seen as being highly dependent on the contexts in which students learn. Themes which emerged suggest that medical education may not achieve its goals unless student experiences become less dominated by the context of secondary care and its predominantly technical practice of medicine, and more attention is paid to the personal development of the students. The discussion considers the implications for further reform, and emphasises the role of multidisciplinary tutoring in remodelling the world view of 'tomorrow's doctors'.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2000

Public health nursing: barriers and opportunities.

This paper reports the findings of a descriptive study that examined the understanding and practice of public health nursing in one English NHS Region. Using questionnaires and focus groups, data were collected from nurses working in Health Authorities, senior Trust management, operational management and nursing practice across hospital and community services. The data were analysed using qualitative methods. The paper reports one aspect of the study, namely the views of the lead nurses in the Trusts and the Health Authorities regarding public health and nursing. The findings suggest that there are varying interpretations of public health nursing, lack of collaboration between and within organizations and disciplines and limitations in the knowledge and skills possessed by practitioners. It is argued that these issues all present barriers to the development of public health nursing and need to be considered as a matter of urgency if organizations and clinicians are to make the most of the current opportunities.

Journal Article↗