Biomedical subjects

Wen-Jing Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Wen-Jing Liu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Factors affecting students' evaluation in a community service-learning program.

A community service-learning curriculum was established to give students opportunities to understand the interrelationship between family and community health, the differences between community and hospital medicine, and to be able to identify and solve community health problems. Students were divided into small groups to participate in community health works such as home visits etc. under supervision. This study was designed to evaluate the community service-learning program and to understand how students' attitude and learning activities affected students' satisfaction. The results revealed that most medical students had a positive attitude towards social service and citizenship but were conservative towards taking the role to serve people in the community. Students had achieved what they were required to learn especially the training in communication skills and ability to identify social issues. Students' attitude towards social service did not affect their opinions on the quality of the program and subjective rating on their achievement. The quality of the program was related to the quality of learning rated by the students.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2006

Levels of serum transferrin receptor and its response to Fe-supplement in Fe-deficient children.

The object of the present study was to investigate the levels of serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) and its response to Fe supplementation in Fe-deficient children and the role of sTfR in detecting Fe deficiency and assessing the efficacy of Fe supplementation. According to the diagnostic standard, 1006 children, aged 6-14 years in Fangshan district, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China, were divided into four groups: normal; Fe store depletion (IDs); Fe deficiency erythropoiesis (IDE); Fe deficiency anaemia (IDA). sTfR was determined and transferrin receptor-ferritin (TfR-F) index was calculated in 238 children, sixty-four normal and 174 Fe deficient. Children were administered a NaFeEDTA capsule containing 60 mg Fe once per week for the IDs and IDE groups and three times per week for the IDA group for nine consecutive weeks. The parameters reflecting Fe status and sTfR were determined before and after Fe supplementation. The levels of sTfR and TfR-F index in Fe-deficient children were significantly higher than those in the normal group. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that sTfR has proper diagnostic efficacy for functional Fe deficiency. After Fe supplementation, the level of sTfR was significantly decreased in children with IDs, but not in children with IDE and IDA, while TfR-F index was significantly decreased in Fe-deficient children. sTfR is a reliable indicator for detecting functional Fe deficiency, and TfR-F index is a sensitive parameter for assessing the efficacy of Fe supplementation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Factors that influence physicians in providing palliative care in rural communities in Taiwan.

GOALS OF WORK: To identify the willingness, influencing factors, and educational needs of community physicians in providing palliative care in the rural areas of Taiwan. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to all medical directors of the 140 government health stations assigned to the rural areas of Taiwan. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 62.8% with 85 valid questionnaires retrieved. The majority of respondents (84.7%) expressed a willingness to provide palliative care if they encountered an advanced cancer patient. However, they would limit their services to consultation and referral (93.0% and 87.5%, respectively), and were less likely to provide home visits (40.3%) or bereavement support of the family (29.2%). With respect to knowledge, the accurate answers to the philosophy/principles and clinical practice of palliative care were 93.4% and 57.3%, respectively. Regarding attitudes, the highest score item in perceiving the threat about providing palliative care was "uncomfortable to meet and take care of the advanced cancer patient." The highest score item in perceiving barriers was "providing palliative care may shorten patient's life, just like euthanasia." The results of stepwise logistic regression analysis for the willingness to provide home visits showed that only the subjective norms remained in the model (OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.17-3.01). Educational needs expressed by the respondents were ranked as follows: emotional support to, communication skills with, and bereavement support for the advanced cancer patients and their relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Effective training courses that emphasize the practical knowledge of palliative care for community physicians, incorporating palliative care into medical education particularly in terms of communication skills and ethical roles, and active health policy administration including insurance payments, are important for the enhancement of community palliative care in Taiwan.

Adult↗