PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 9512575

Competency-based learning for the surgical assistant.

C Edwards·O Keeley
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

In the first of two articles about the benefits and drawbacks of occupational standards, the authors describe a competency-based programme of continuing education for surgical assistants. The structure and content of the modules offered are discussed and the authors emphasise the validation of the courses by institutions of higher education. Next week's article will examine occupational standards in relation to professional development.

Explore related subjects

Competency-Based EducationEducation, Nursing, ContinuingHumansOperating Room NursingPhysician AssistantsSpecialties, SurgicalJournal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

C Edwards, O Keeley. Competency-based learning for the surgical assistant.. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.12.20.44.s54

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2001

Teaching science vs. the apprentice model--do we really have the choice?

The debate about the appropriate methodology of medical education has been (and still is) dominated by the opposing poles of teaching science versus teaching practical skills. I will argue that this conflict between scientific education and practical training has its roots in the underlying, more systematic question about the conceptual foundation of medicine: how far or in what respects can medicine be considered to be a science? By analyzing the epistemological status of medicine I will show that the internal aim of medicine ("promoting health through the prevention and treatment of disease") differs from the internal aim of science ("the methodological and systematic acquisition of knowledge"). Therefore, medicine as a whole discipline should not be considered as a science. However, medicine can be conceptually and methodologically scientific in so much as it is based on scientific knowledge. There is evidence from cognitive science research that diagnostic reasoning not only relies on the application of scientific knowledge but also--especially in routine cases--on a process of pattern recognition, a reasoning strategy based on the memory of previously encountered patients. Hence, medical education must contain both: the imparting of scientific knowledge and the rich exposure to concrete cases during practical training. Hence, the question of teaching science vs. the apprentice model will not be "either-or" but rather "both--but in which proportion?"

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMed2001

A systems approach to public health workforce development.

During the 1990s, several distinct but interrelated efforts to strengthen the public health infrastructure were launched. Defining public health work in terms of core functions and essential services, these efforts focused on the competence of the workforce and the performance of public health agencies. The systems approach offered here highlights the relationships and interdependencies among these three components of public health practice: (1) the work, (2) the worker, and (3) the work setting. The model suggests that advances in public health workforce development may require major public health organizational development efforts.

Competency-Based Education↗