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Biomedical subjects

Sean McAleer

Publications and source records attributed to Sean McAleer.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Assessing the educational environment in the operating room-a measure of resident perception at one Canadian institution.

BACKGROUND: The educational experience in the operating room is considered the centerpiece of learning for surgical residents. The educational environment is defined as the "ethos" or "climate" that affects all aspects of learning within an educational setting. A measure of the educational environment in the operating room as perceived by residents would assist educators and trainees in gauging the quality of the learning occurring within this important venue. The Operating Room Educational Environment Measure (OREEM) was adapted from an inventory validated for use with basic surgical trainees in Scotland to determine whether an inventory specifically adapted to the specialized environment of the operating room can produce a valid assessment of trainee perception of the overall educational environment and the contributing factors therein at a North American institution. METHODS: The 40-item inventory was piloted on a group of general surgery residents at the University of Calgary from November 26, 2003, to January 31, 2004. RESULTS: With a response rate of 96%, the OREEM was shown to be a relevant, internally consistent (Cronbach proportional, variant = .8656) and valid tool for assessing the overall educational environment in the operating room within a Canadian surgical residency program. Four subscales included teaching and training, learning opportunities, atmosphere, and workload/supervision/support. The overall mean score of 74% suggests the learning environment may be considered satisfactory; however, areas for potential improvement are identifiable. Results reveal strengths such as a nondiscriminatory operating room atmosphere on racial and gender grounds. However, differences were shown in male and female perceptions of learning opportunities and in junior versus senior perceptions of workload, supervision, and support. CONCLUSIONS: The OREEM has potential to be applied further as a quality assessment tool whose results could be used by faculty and program directors to improve the learning experiences of residents in the operating room.

Canada↗
PubMed2006

Training health professions instructors for the twenty-first century: the Dundee experience.

This article describes the award-bearing program of courses for instructors and trainers of health care professionals in medical education that is available through the Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK. The program is designed for those who wish to enhance their teaching skills and acknowledges the different roles that a instructor must undertake. The program is open to health care professionals throughout the world. Participation from across the world has increased on a yearly basis; currently we have upwards of 1,000 health professionals studying with us. This article describes the educational philosophy underpinning the course structure. It looks at the special features of the course, such as the outcome-based approach and the linking of theory to practice. The course design, delivery, content, and assessment are explained, as well as some new developments and collaborative work. It is hoped that this article will be of interest to journal readers wishing to undertake a qualification in health professions education.

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMed2006

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a determinant of veterinary clinical skills.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has become an excellent tool to evaluate many elements of a student's clinical skills, especially including communication with the patient (human medicine) or client (veterinary medicine); eliciting clinical information from these conversations; some aspects of the physical examination; and many areas of clinical evaluation and assessment. One key factor is that the examination can be structured to compare different students' abilities.

Accreditation↗
PubMed2005

Using the DREEM questionnaire to gather baseline information on an evolving medical school in Sri Lanka.

The recent introduction of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) has fulfilled a long-felt need for a test instrument specifically meant to evaluate health professions education institutions. It was intended in this study to ascertain the overall DREEM score for the newly established Faculty of Medical Sciences of University of Sri Jayewardenepura (FMS/USJ), Sri Lanka and to compare the DREEM score of the students in the pre-, para- and clinical phases of the traditional curriculum practiced in this school. A total of 339 students belonging to the pre- (n = 147), para- (n = 116) and clinical (n = 76) phases of the medical course participated in this study. The DREEM questionnaire was administered face-to-face after one of their routine lectures to each group of students. The age of the students ranged from 20 to 28 years and the gender distribution was almost equal. The overall DREEM score was 108 (54%) for the pooled data for all three phases. There was no significant difference on the overall DREEM score obtained by each phase of students. The overall DREEM scores of pooled data and also for each domain indicated that the position of the FMS/USJ qualifies to be placed just on the third grade (one below the best) within the overall DREEM scale. However, on analysis of the responses for each domain, Students' Perception of Teachers (SPT), Students' Academic Self-Perceptions (SAP) and Students' Social Self-Perceptions (SSP) showed significant difference between the pre-, para- and clinical phases. Similarly, 22 out of the 50 items showed significant differences between the pre- and clinical phases. Overall, the DREEM demonstrated compatibility of its scores along with the gradual development that took place at this medical school over the last 10 years. Thus, the DREEM could be utilized in a variety of situations.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Development and evaluation of a concordance training course for medical practitioners.

The authors sought to develop and evaluate a training course on the theory and methods of seeking 'concordance' with patients who are using medications inappropriately. Eight general practitioners were recruited to a four-day interactive course including factual materials, attitudinal challenge, skills development and assessment. Participants enjoyed the course and thought they had learned from it. Knowledge and skills improved significantly and attitudes showed a non-significant shift. The study demonstrated that concordance-related skills can be taught and measured, suggesting that trials to assess the impact of such training on patient outcomes may be feasible and worthwhile.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2004

Educational environment in traditional and innovative medical schools: a study in four undergraduate medical schools.

INTRODUCTION: The undergraduate curricula of medical schools in King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia, Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia and Sana'a University, Republic of Yemen are traditional, like most of the medical schools in the Middle East region. The curriculum in Dundee University Medical School, UK, claims to follow the prescriptions of the UK General Medical Council to be outcome based with three interlocking phases and students encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. The aim of this study is to measure the educational environment, using the 50-item Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), in each medical school and to compare the educational environment as perceived by the responding students of the traditional medical schools in developing countries with that of the "modernised" medical school in Dundee University, UK. METHODS: The DREEM was administered to 1072 medical students in the four different universities. Using SPSS, data were expressed as means of scores. Comparisons between schools, years of study and gender were made using non-parametric tests. RESULTS: For all three traditional medical schools, the mean scores of the inventory were lower compared with Dundee Medical School. Students from traditional schools rated their learning and teaching environment significantly lower than their counterparts in Dundee Medical School. Similarly, they rated their academic self-perceptions, social-self perceptions and their atmosphere more poorly than the Dundee students. CONCLUSION: The DREEM provides useful diagnostic information about medical schools, whether it is in developing or western developed countries.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Students' perspectives on the educational environment, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Trinidad.

The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was administered to 70 final-year medical students and 36 first-year medical interns (pre-registration house officers). The overall total mean DREEM scores for the five subscales-namely, students' perceptions of the atmosphere, students' perceptions of learning, students' social self-perceptions, students'perceptions of teachers and students' academic self-perceptions-was 109.9 and the total mean scores for the subgroups-male students, male interns, female students and female interns-were 103.39, 111.82, 111.33 and 113.15, respectively. The lowest scores were assigned to students' social self-perceptions and students' perceptions of the atmosphere. All of the participants except the male interns recorded the highest scores for the subscale academic self-perceptions.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Evaluation of distance interactive learning in obstetrics and gynaecology (DIALOG).

OBJECTIVES: 1. To determine whether DIALOG, a multimedia interactive CD-ROM designed for postgraduate education, was achieving its educational aim; 2. to assess DIALOG as a computer-assisted learning tool by evaluating its design, presentation, usability, effective use of multimedia and interactions and availability; 3. to measure end user satisfaction and the impact of DIALOG in achieving an improvement in clinical practice as an index of educational value. METHODS: Postal questionnaires were sent out to 150 users of DIALOG. A combination of the CIPP model, the CRISIS criteria and Kirkpatrick's model was used to design the evaluation questionnaire. RESULTS: There was a 61.3% response rate to the questionnaire. Overall, 86.9% of respondents were happy with the use of DIALOG, 60.8% had a positive comment on the concept of distance learning using DIALOG and computer-assisted learning, 50% agreed that it had helped sharpen their analytic skills and 45.6% reported an improvement in clinical practice after using DIALOG. CONCLUSION: This assessment proved to be a useful formative assessment of DIALOG. It has provided feedback on the availability and use of DIALOG and has highlighted the potential areas of improvement for future issues.

Education, Distance↗
PubMed2001

A global diagnostic tool for measuring educational environment: comparing Nigeria and Nepal.

The paper reports comparative data from a Nigerian undergraduate medical school and a Nepalese health professions institution in order to explore the value of the previously reported Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) in 'diagnosing' the environment and climate of particular institutions and making comparative analyses in two culturally diverse situations. The Nigerian undergraduate medical school scored 118 out of a possible 200 on the DREEM global score. There were significant differences on five of the items between the male and female students and several significant differences on individual items between the students in Years 4 and 5, Years 5 and 6, and Years 4 and 6. The Nepalese global score was 130/200 and there were significantly different scores for six items between the male and female students. The scores for Years 1-3 also showed several significantly different items. These scores permitted two distinct 'diagnoses' of the two medical schools.

Journal Article↗