Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-256). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Tampereen yliopisto, 1985. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-169).

Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: To determine the attitudes of medical students towards pharmacists and the roles they play on the healthcare team and how these views change after attending an inter-professional workshop with other University of Arizona healthcare students. Methods: Questionnaires administered during a regularly scheduled class collected rating of teamwork and collaboration, roles for pharmacists in health care settings, and medical student’s expectations of the pharmacist when they are practicing physicians. Previous inter-professional workshop experience, negative experience with a pharmacist, age and sex was also collected. Main Results: Medical students’ attitudes regarding the roles of pharmacist in health care settings became more positive after attending the IPE workshop compared to their attitudes before attending the IPE workshop (X2 = 7.671, p-value = 0.005) and was maintained 1 year after the workshop (X2 = 6.304, p-value = 0.012). Medical students expected pharmacists to be more capable and had higher expectations for them after attending the IPE workshop (X2 = 17.393, p-value = <0.001) and was maintained 1 year after the workshop (X2 = 5.955, p-value = 0.015). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the inter-professional workshop is successful in changing the attitudes of medical students towards pharmacists and the roles they play on the healthcare team. The medical students maintained this change in attitude one year after the inter- professional workshop.

Background: Pain is the most common presenting complaint in patients visiting a healthcare facility. Healthcare professionals need adequate knowledge of pain to be able to manage it effectively. Aim: To determine the Pain Knowledge and Attitudes of the 2018 final year medical students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Setting: The study was conducted by the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa with final year medical students Methods: Unruh's Modified Pain Knowledge and Attitudes (MPKA) questionnaire was utilized to collect data in a cross-sectional survey using an internet-based electronic format. Results: A total of 104 students out of 232 students in the class (44.8%) participated in the study. The total median score on the MPKA questionnaire was 46 (IQR 44- 50.5) out of 57, or 80.7%(IQR 77.2-88.6%).The participants performed worst in the section on the pharmacological management of pain with median scores of 6 (IQR 4- 8) (55%) correct out of 11 questions. Conclusion: Pain knowledge, especially with regards to the pharmacological aspects of pain management, has some important deficiencies in these final year medical students. It appears that the undergraduate curriculum and teaching thereof would benefit from a review of the pain curriculum.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes and treatment knowledge of medical student professionals regarding rape victims. In addition to generating normative data for a population which, as a function of their vocation may come in contact with victims, comparisons were made between a sample of those beginning their medical education process and those at the end of training in order to measure change in treatment knowledge and attitudes towards rape victims which occur during medical school. Also investigated were differences which exist in the attitude and treatment knowledge measures for rape victims compared to other emergency room patient populations, and the effect of gender of the physician upon those measures. A final element investigated the physicians' perceptions of a "real" rape as it relates to those measures.

Mini-dissertation in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / Background: Many previous South African studies exploring the relationship between the public, chiropractic and other health care professionals have indicated a poor level of knowledge and perception between the researched populations. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and perceptions of second and third year medical students at The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine towards chiropractic. Objectives: The objectives of this study were firstly, to document the demographic details of the second and third year participants, secondly, to determine the level of knowledge and exposure of the second and third year participants to chiropractic, thirdly, to determine the perceptions of second and third year participants regarding chiropractic and to compare this between second and third year participants, fourthly, to determine the utilization of chiropractic by second and third year participants, and finally, to determine any relationship between demographic factors, knowledge, perception and utilization of chiropractic. Method: A survey method was employed with the measuring tool being a questionnaire. It was decided that only second and third year medical students would be included in the study. Results: The response rate of the study was 42.5%. It was found that the majority of participants were female, of Black ethnicity and all participants were younger than 33 years old. Participants had a wide range, and a relatively satisfactory level of knowledge of chiropractic, however, the 3rd year participants had a significantly higher mean knowledge score than the second years. There was a wide range of perceptions of chiropractic, but a relatively negative level of perception. There were no significant differences in perception scores between the groups (p=0.859). III The third year participants seemed to have a better view of the scope of chiropractic than second year participants. The utilization of chiropractic by the participants, their friends and family was found to be low. A few areas of concern, with regards to the limited exposure that medical students at The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine have towards chiropractic, were raised. Conclusion and recommendations: It can be concluded that second and third year medical students from The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine had a generally poor knowledge and perception of the chiropractic profession, which may be a possible reason for the poor communication between chiropractors and qualified medical practitioners. The presence of chiropractic students, who served as human anatomy demonstrators at The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, may have had an impact on the results of the study. It is therefore recommended that further studies be done to investigate the effect that these demonstrators have at The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine. Basic information on chiropractic should also be included at The Nelson Mandela School of Medicine to educate medical students on chiropractic.

Class of 2007 Abstract / Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference between both graduating medical and pharmacy students in their capabilities to appropriately recognize drug-drug interactions that have led or can lead to serious toxicological consequences in humans. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be no difference between the ability of medical and pharmacy students to recognize potential drug-drug interactions. Methods: A two-page questionnaire was giving during the last semester before both the medical and pharmacy students graduate. The first page requested information about demographics, such as: gender, age, current educational program, previous education in healthcare, other degrees held, and average hours worked in healthcare per week for the past year. The second page contained 22 questions on potential drug-drug interactions. Also, there will be some questions that do not contain any drug-drug interactions. The students had four choices, in which they could answer. The choices were (1) The two drugs should not be used together (contraindicated), (2) The two drugs may be used safely together with monitoring, (3) The two drugs may be used safely together without monitoring, and (4) Not sure if the drugs can be used together. Results: Of the 168 questionnaires distributed, 51 were completed and returned. Forty-seven pharmacy students responded, while only 4 medical students responded. Pharmacy students correctly identified 38.4% + 11.7% of the interactions. The minimum correct responses was 13.6% and the maximum was 68.2% Pharmacy students without a bachelor of science (BS) performed slightly better than the students having a BS with a mean score of 40.0% + 3.0% and 37.1% + 9.0%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the groups (p = 0.42). Males had a mean score of 39.1% + 8.2%, while females had a mean score of 38.1% + 13.1%. There was no significant difference between the groups (p = 0.78). Also, there was no significant difference between the student’s age or how many hours they worked per week regarding the percent of correct responses.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study is located in the fourth-year obstetrics curriculum that undergraduate medical students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, traverse, and in which they are initiated into the knowledge and skills of practical obstetrics practices in local birthing facilities. I investigate student learning and what contributes to students being rendered in/capable when they find themselves immersed in the high levels of prevailing injustices to women in labour. Disrespect during the intrapartum period is a local as well as global problem which has actually reached epidemic levels. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of posthumanism and feminist new materialism, and using post-qualitative inquiry and non-representational methods, I put forward a novel perspective for interrogating responsibilities in terms of students’ ability to respond to unjust practices they observe, I discern what matters for student learning, exploring the troubled practices that emanate through/with/from the curriculum-student relationships in the past/present, and what it means for the future. Assemblage thinking provides a relational tool to understand the impact of the curriculum, assessment processes and other materialising forces that have agency as students are becoming-with human and more-than-human bodies. An initial survey was followed up with interviews and focus groups with students, midwives, educators and administrators. My study revealed hidden aspects of student engagement with their curriculum in obstetrics. What emerged was that students are entangled in a mesh of forces influencing their ability and capacity to respond to the injustices they witness. These forces arise from the discursive and material practices and the in-between relationships that are generated in the learning processes. The study also brought to the fore the intensive forces of affect that appeared to be obfuscated in terms of students’ response-abilities. My findings foreground how reciprocal relationships matter and that a relational ontology can provide helpful insights to engage with responsibility, response-ability and social justice. Students’ capacity to respond to the injustices they witness is limited by multiple forces that include the curriculum itself and other materialising forces generated, for instance by floors, beds, curtains and the student logbook. Time is also a crucial issue amidst the tensions emerging in the complex and risky process of birthing. What matters to students, such as their assessment needs, appears to undermine their efforts to offer care and to promote social justice. Affect plays a powerful part in shaping students’ actions, yet there are few opportunities for acknowledgement of affect. I used drawings as data-in-the making. The process of drawing contributed an extra material force to the study illuminating the power of an affective pedagogical approach for fostering students’ capability to respond to injustice. This socially just pedagogy as well as classroom performances and online collaborative engagement contributed to a collective effort to engage with obstetric disrespect in an innovative and empowering manner that gave voice to students’ experiences and the emerging forces. My study contributes to the field of medical education by opening up a relational perspective to issues of social justice and responsibility that moves beyond individualist and human-centred conceptions of student learning. Through a relational ontology, students’ clinical encounters can be conceived as enactments of the multiple prevailing forces. Each moment matters.

Patients who are treated empathically tend to be more satisfied and have better health outcomes. Many instruments for measuring empathy in different health contexts have been developed for postgraduate and to a lesser extent undergraduate health professional use. This thesis presents the results of three studies. The first is a systematic review of the literature describing empathy measures for use in the health professional context. The review was conducted to find the best measure specifically designed for and evaluated in the clinical context that assessed empathy reliably and preferably from a patient perspective. The Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure was selected from the 12 potential empathy measures available. This instrument was developed and tested in general practice consultations in Scotland, and its usefulness for assessing physicians’ empathy has been demonstrated. The second study, which forms the main research component of the thesis, is an evaluation of the utility of the CARE measure in assessing medical undergraduates on general practice placements. This study aimed to establish whether the CARE measure offers a reliable, valid, and practical means of assessing certain aspects of senior clinical medical students’ consultation skills. Fifth-year students who performed a two- or three-month GP attachment in academic years 2009–2010, 2010–2011, and 2011– 2012 were invited to participate. In 2011 participation in the study became a course requirement. Consulted patients were invited to complete a modified CARE questionnaire ‘on the student’. The form initially included 11 questions answered on a five -point scale; from the academic year 2010–2011, the form also included a free-text comment option. Patients completed questionnaires anonymously. Forms were collated xvi and forwarded to the principle investigator. A minimum of 25 forms were required for each student in order to minimise potential selection bias in the analysis. In the first year of the study the response rate was 56 %. During the next two academic years, this rate improved to over 95%. The total number of the CARE measure forms returned was 2,145, with 1,808 adequately completed. The average score of the students recruited was 4.57 (standard deviation = 0.19), which is higher than average scores for general practitioners. Generalisability theory calculations showed that the CARE measure had high internal consistency, with 25 patients per student delivering an overall reliability coefficient of 0.74. Using the CARE measure with students significantly correlated at a moderate level with relevant outcome assessments such as the mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX), Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) at the end of the GP block, and tutor scores (r = 0.38, r = 0.33, r = 0.33, respectively; P < 0.05). The findings suggest that the CARE measure is a useful tool for assessing senior medical students’ consultation skills, at least in the context of extended general practice attachments. In addition, the measure provides students with valuable and authentic patient feedback for their training. The third study was a ‘mapping exercise’ designed to establish the role of current assessment tools at the University of Dundee in relation to Tomorrow’s Doctors outcomes, and specifically where/how CARE might fit in. Dundee medical faculty staff, block leaders, undergraduate medical educators, and others who engaged directly with assessments and with experience of the existing exams were invited to ‘map’ the value of each aspect of the medical school’s 11 assessment tools against General Medical Council (GMC) attributes. Data was collected electronically from 17 staff xvii members. The results of the exercise revealed both gaps in assessment and over-testing of specific GMC attributes. These findings offer Dundee Medical School an opportunity to optimise their approach to assessment and achieve a broader coverage of GMC outcomes. Thus, the CARE measure offers a logical extension to aspects of the OSCE assessment. The results show that the CARE measure is a feasible, acceptable, reliable, and valid measure for the assessment of students. In addition, as it incorporates authentic patient feedback into training, this measure can offer unique utility to the medical school’s curriculum and assessment as it incorporates the rarely employed patient voice.