Extensive literature research revealed that little was known about the effectiveness of athletic training continuing education workshops in increasing athletic trainers' knowledge, skills and abilities. The three purposes of this mixed method exploratory study were: 1) to examine whether continuing education workshops were perceived by athletic trainer participants as effective; 2) to determine if a relationship existed between efficacy and perceived workshop training effectiveness; 3) to demonstrate the transfer of training through work experiences. Participants were recruited through Board of Certification for the Athletic Trainer (BOC) approved continuing education workshops. Eighty-four participants completed a questionnaire packet on the day of the workshop. The packet contained the Athletic Training Efficacy Questionnaire, subject matter pre-test, workshop evaluation, and subject matter post-test. Two months after the workshop, participants were contacted and asked to complete an online questionnaire that focused on their perceptions of the workshop they attended and their transfer of the training to the workplace. Quantitative data analysis revealed no significant relationships between participants' levels of efficacy and ages, genders, work experience, and degree attainment. Nor was there a significant relationship found between participants' level of efficacy and their perceptions of workshop effectiveness. The characteristics of the workshops were perceived as effective in increasing participant knowledge, skills and abilities related to athletic training. Overall, 20.2% of participants perceived the workshops as being very effective, 46.4% perceived the workshops to be effective, and 33.3% perceived the workshops as ineffective. / Qualitative analysis revealed that the perceptions of workshop effectiveness were related to the presentation format, characteristics of the instructor, and the relevancy of the workshop material to real life situations. Barriers to the transfer of training were also identified and included workshop format factors (delivery, environmental, and learning styles) and a lack of information presented. Recommendations for the development of continuing education workshops that better meet the needs of athletic trainers were discussed, and suggestions for future research were provided. / by Sarah L. Reed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The study traced the experiences of learning the clinical aspects of a problem-based learning (PBL) medical curriculum and the participants’ construction of a relationship with the subsequent clinical environments. In light of international and local medical and technological changes, the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) changed its traditional curriculum to a PBL curriculum in 2001. The participants were the first cohort to experience a PBL pedagogy and graduated in 2005, subsequently undertaking two years of compulsory internship and one year of community service within the South African health care system. It was in the context of these changes and the present state of health care that such a study sought to determine how a PBL pedagogy was experienced within the clinical environments of South Africa. Phenomenography was used as a methodology to describe and interpret the ‘qualitatively different ways’ in which the participants’ experienced the phenomenon. Purposive sampling reflecting the institution’s admission policy regarding race and gender demographics was applied. In-depth interviews were conducted at the end of the community service experience. Variation in the experiences was represented through logically related and hierarchical categories of description resulting in the formulation of an outcome space. The outcome space identified three categories of description: ‘The guinea pig identity’ which found that the participants felt at the mercy of a curriculum experiment and felt discriminated against by the hospital consultants who had negative views of PBL. The category of ‘knowledge construction’ saw the participants exploring issues of difference between the knowledge and practices expected by the two different kinds of curricula. The category of ‘professional identity’ indicated an emerging sense of competence across a range of clinical situations. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used to augment the phenomenographic analysis and to explore the ways in which the social structure of the clinical contexts related to the discourse patterns emerging in the phenomenographic categories in the form of power relations and ideological effects. CDA was used as an additional lens to develop theory and acquire deeper knowledge about why the participants constructed a relationship with the phenomenon and the subsequent clinical environments in the way that they did. The thesis concludes with a proposal for an empirical model that illuminates resolutions from the major findings in the study regarding medical knowledge construction in a PBL curriculum. The model consists of a Y axis depicting the vertical spine of basic sciences knowledge construction, a X axis depicting the horizontal nature of professional identity construction and a spiral that indicates the simultaneous movement of clinical knowledge construction along each axis. It is hoped that this model will serve as a future curriculum innovation that will result in the production of professional medical practitioners that are required for today’s South African communities. This study, however, revealed that despite the hegemonic practices and the theoretical inadequacies that were reported by the participants they finally felt like professional medical practitioners during their community service experience. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

<p>The present healthcare system in South Africa suffers from a number of serious deficiencies. Whilst orthodox bio-medicine is well established in most first world countries, its total introduction and implementation into all communities within South Africa faces many obstacles. The cost of diagnostic techniques, investigative procedures and pharmaceutical products, the availability of competent medical staff in the non-urban areas, and the lack of acceptance of the philosophy and practice of orthodox bio-medicine in rural regions are but some of the factors which conspire against the general application of this orthodox medical paradigm.<br /> <br /> Another problem confronting healthcare and medical practice in South Africa, particularly at this stage of our historical development, is the absolute focus on orthodox bio-medicine, often to the detriment of other medical paradigms that also have advantages to offer. Can the integration of another medical paradigm, such as Unani-Tibb, enhance the practice of orthodox bio-medicine in this country?<br /> <br /> The aim of the thesis was to investigate the possibility of integrating Unani-Tibb with orthodox biomedicine (also termed conventional, Western or allopathic medicine) and assess its potential for improving delivery of an effective, affordable and appropriate healthcare system in South Africa.<br /> <br /> The research questions which the thesis seeks to answer is whether this integration is possible and whether the delivery of healthcare to the South African population can be enhanced. Changes in the provision of medical education are necessary, and occupy a pivotal role in allowing for this integration. Unani-Tibb is a traditional medical system practiced extensively on the Indian sub-continent and in other parts of the world. At present, however, it is minimally practiced in South Africa. Its primary principle is the energetic promotion of health maintenance behaviour and the prevention of disease, through effective application of dietotherapy, pharmacotherapy and other interventions, as well as the empowerment of the patient towards adopting behavioural changes and lifestyle adaptations. One positive aspect of Unani-Tibb is that it has many features in common with both orthodox biomedicine and African Traditional medicine. These commonalities should allow for greater acceptance by orthodox healthcare professionals, as well as the general population. The first part of the study involved the research and conceptualisation required for the production of a series of customized training modules which introduced the theory and practice of Unani-Tibb. A twelve month part-time training programme based on these modules was subsequently conducted with a number of healthcare professionals presently in active practice and with a background of orthodox medical or nursing healthcare. This outcomes-based training programme included a number of specifically designed training activities, such as case studies, practical exercises and assignments. Appropriate evaluations and assessments were pursued in order to measure performance outcomes and attitudes. Questionnaires for assessing the motivation and satisfaction of the participants were also completed. The second part of the study was in the form of a pilot participant research project, in which the participants applied the information from the integrative programme to a number of chronically ill patients who had previously been treated with standard orthodox bio-medical procedures. The parameters derived for clinical efficacy, cost-benefit and improvement in Quality of Life from Unani-Tibb treatment were then compared to equivalent results obtained by orthodox bio-medicine. In all parameters inspected, the integrative training programme compared favourably to orthodox bio-medical practice. Not only was there an improved clinical efficacy, but the cost-benefit was shown to be superior in most indices measured. The Quality of Life comparison, which assessed the patient&rsquo / s total health status, subjective behaviour and attitude, generally favoured the integrative training programme. The thesis serves to suggest that the integration of Unani-Tibb into orthodox bio-medical training in South Africa is a distinct possibility, and could ultimately allow for treatment which is clinically acceptable, cost-effective and which provides an improved Quality of Life for the population as a whole. I suggest that this pilot study be repeated more extensively, thereby allowing for a more confident and objective assessment.</p>

Thesis (PhD (Education))--University of the Western Cape, 2004. / The present healthcare system in South Africa suffers from a number of serious deficiencies. Whilst orthodox bio-medicine is well established in most first world countries, its total introduction and implementation into all communities within South Africa faces many obstacles. The cost of diagnostic techniques, investigative procedures and pharmaceutical products, the availability of competent medical staff in the non-urban areas, and the lack of acceptance of the philosophy and practice of orthodox bio-medicine in rural regions are but some of the factors which conspire against the general application of this orthodox medical paradigm. Another problem confronting health care and medical practice in South Africa, particularly at this stage of our historical development, is the absolute focus on orthodox bio-medicine, often to the detriment of other medical paradigms that also have advantages to offer. Can the integration of another medical paradigm, such as Unani- Tibb, enhance the practice of orthodox bio-medicine in this country? The aim of the thesis was to investigate the possibility of integrating Unani- Tibb with orthodox biomedicine (also termed conventional, Western or allopathic medicine) and assess its potential for improving delivery of an effective, affordable and appropriate healthcare system in South Africa. The research questions which the thesis seeks to answer is whether this integration is possible and whether the delivery of healthcare to the South African population can be enhanced. Changes in the provision of medical education are necessary, and occupy a pivotal role in allowing for this integration. Unani-Tibb is a traditional medical system practiced extensively on the Indian sub-continent and in other parts of the world. At present, however, it is minimally practiced in South Africa. Its primary principle is the energetic promotion of health maintenance behaviour and the prevention of disease, through effective application of dietotherapy, pharmacotherapy and other interventions, as well as the empowerment of the patient towards adopting behavioural changes and lifestyle adaptations. One positive aspect of Unani- Tibb is that it has many features in common with both orthodox biomedicine and African Traditional medicine. These commonalities should allow for greater acceptance by orthodox healthcare professionals, as well as the general population.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A portfolio of learning is one way of showing evidence of performance over a period of time. Worldwide, the need for social accountability and health services reforms has led to an increased interest in competency-based medical education with specific outcomes. Postgraduate training increasingly focuses on life-long adult learning, placing emphasis on close supervision with feedback and workplace-based assessment. South Africa, although better resourced, faces many similar socio-political and health services challenges as the rest of Africa. The democracy is less than 20 years old, with 80% of the previously disadvantaged population now having access to health services. In this new era medical schools have aligned their curricula to focus on patient-centred primary health care. The huge demand for appropriately trained family physicians has become a national priority. Subsequently, the College of Family Physicians of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa developed a national exit examination for postgraduate family medicine training. One component of the examination is the submission of a satisfactory portfolio of learning. The aim of this thesis was to develop a national portfolio for postgraduate family medicine education in South Africa. It needed to be valid, acceptable, useful for learning, and be assessed in a reliable way. The research process involved a collaboration with registrars, supervisors and programme managers from all eight medical schools in the country over four years and culminated in the first national portfolio for family medicine in the country. The thesis was done by way of publication, which involved four articles being published in international journals, outlining the development, implementation and assessment of our portfolio. Content and construct validity of the draft portfolio was established through a Delphi process. Subsequently, the portfolio was implemented at all eight medical schools. Workshops over two years at all the universities facilitated implementation and provided feedback on the use of the portfolio across the country. After implementation of this initial portfolio, the acceptability, educational impact, and usefulness for assessment were evaluated through a national survey and in-depth interviews. A portfolio assessment tool was developed and its reliability was established for the overall score. The assessment tool has also been implemented nationally. The portfolio’s requirements have made the expectations and challenges of workplace-based learning and assessment more visible, with supervision, safe learning environments and more user-friendly learning and assessment tools needing further research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘n Portefeulje met bewyse van opleiding is een manier om bevoegdheid en prestasie oor ‘n periode van tyd te demonstreer. Sosiale verantwoordelikheid en hervormings in gesondheidsdienste wêreldwyd het gelei tot vaardigheids-gebaseerde mediese opvoeding met spesiefieke uitkomste. Nagraadse opleiding fokus toenemend op lewenslange volwasse leermetodes met ‘n groot klem op nabye toesig, terugvoer en werksgebaseerde evaluasies. Alhoewel Suid-Afrika beter toegerus is as meeste lande in Afrika, staar die land baie soortgelyke sosiaal-politiese en gesondheids uitdagings in die gesig. Met die jong demokrasie van 20 jaar het 80% van mense wat voorheen nie toegang gehad het tot goeie gesondheidsdienste nie nou wel toegang. Mediese skole het hul kurrikulums aangepas om te konsentreer op pasient-gefokusde primêre gesondheidsorg. Die Kollege van Huisartse van die Kolleges van Geneeskunde van Suid-Afrika het ‘n nasionale eksamen vir nagraadse opleiding in huisartskunde in die land geimplementeer. Een van die komponente van die eksamen behels die inhandiging van ‘n bevredigende opleidingsportefeulje. Die doel van hierdie tesis was om ‘n nasionale portefeulje vir nagraadse opleiding in huisartskunde in Suid-Afrika te ontwikkel. Die portefeulje moes geldig en aanvaarbaar wees, asook nuttig vir leer en ook op ‘n betroubare manier evalueer kon word. ‘n Proses van samewerking tussen kliniese assistente, toesighouers en programbestuurders van al agt mediese skole in die land oor ‘n periode van vier jaar het die eerste nasionale opleidingsportefeulje vir huisartskunde in Suid-Afrika die lig laat sien. Hierdie is ‘n tesis by wyse van publikasie deur vier artikels wat in internasional journale verskyn het, wat die ontwikkeling, implementering, en evaluering van die portefeulje beskryf. Die geldigheid van die inhoud en samestelling van die portefeulje was ontwikkel deur ‘n Delphi proses. Nadat die portefeulje geimplementeer was, was die aanvaarding, leerimpak en nuttigheid vir evaluering ondersoek deur ‘n nasionale opname en in-diepte onderhoude. Werkswinkels by al die universiteite het die geldigheid en implemetering van die portefeulje verder versterk. ‘n Instrument om die portefeulje te evalueer was ontwikkel en in gebruik geneem landwyd, en betroubaarheid van die totale telling was bewerkstellig. Die behoeftes van die portefeulje het die verwagtinge en uitdagings van werksgebaseerde opleiding en evaluering meer sigbaar gemaak, met toesighouding, veilige leeromgewings en meer gebruiksvriendelike leer- en evalueringsinstrumente as areas identifiseer wat aangaande navorsing benodig.

The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was threefold. First, this study compared the effects of two different simulation-based instructional strategies on athletic trainers’ clinical competence in performing cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Second, this study identified the athletic trainers’ perceptions of learning through simulation-based instructional strategies. Third, this study attempted to identify and offer instructional recommendations based on the outcomes. The quantitative phase analyzed cognitive and diagnostic reasoning knowledge and history-taking and clinical skills specific to cardiovascular screenings with cardiac auscultations as it was taught to athletic trainers (ATs) at a continuing professional education (CPE) course. The quantitative results found that high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation-based instructional strategies significantly increased cognitive and diagnostic reasoning knowledge and history-taking and clinical skill from pre-test to post-test assessment on all dependent variables. When comparing the two fidelity types to each other, the analysis found that the participants in the high-fidelity simulation group gained significantly more skill when compared to the low-fidelity group. In the qualitative analysis of this study, three themes emerged specific to the perceptions of the athletic trainers’ experiences as they learn through simulation-based instructional strategies. The first theme that emerged was a clear indication that participants’ exhibited positive perceptions of learning through simulation-based instructional strategies. The second theme that emerged was that the high-fidelity simulation experience during the pre-assessment and post-assessment raised an awareness of the deficit of knowledge and skills in performing a comprehensive cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Lastly, the third theme that emerged was specific to the perceived limitations in the effectiveness of low-fidelity simulation and the perceived strengths in the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation. A few instructional recommendations emerged from this dissertation study. Simulation-based instructional strategies are an ideal teaching method to utilize during continuing professional education courses with athletic trainers. Specifically, this study identified that both, high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation, are effective in teaching cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Additionally, the participants perceived influences of a pre-test on the identification of their knowledge and skills deficit suggests that there are benefits of utilizing an authentic simulation pre-test as part of CPE courses. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Doctor of Philosophy / Similar to their colleagues throughout the world, nurses and midwives in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, welcome evidencebased practice (EBP) as a means to improve patient or client outcomes. This thesis explores the way nurses and midwives understand evidence for EBP and aims to determine whether members of these professions currently have the knowledge and skills necessary to implement evidence‐based care. Three separate studies were conducted to explore NSW nurses’ readiness for EBP. Attitudes, knowledge and skill were investigated using an EBP questionnaire returned by 383 nurses. The views of 23 nursing opinion leaders were elicited during qualitative in‐depth interviews, and their ideas on maximising the potential for future nurses to confidently engage in EBP were explored. Current approaches to teaching EBP in undergraduate nursing programs were investigated by examining documents issued by NSW nursing education providers. The results demonstrate many differences between the ways NSW nurses currently understand evidence for EBP, and a range of approaches to teaching EBP in undergraduate nursing programs. Under current conditions, nurses graduating from universities in NSW commence practice with varying levels of preparation for EBP and enter into a professional arena that is itself struggling to cope with the concepts and language of this approach to improving healthcare. v Evidence for the effectiveness of EBP is slowly accumulating and despite some small positive signs, the collective results of this thesis suggest that current educational approaches are not capable of producing the kind of results that are both necessary and desirable for the promotion of evidence‐based nursing practice in NSW. Articulating a commitment to EBP, using a common language and a consistent approach are among the recommendations made for the future promotion of EBP in nursing education.

Health education is critical to the success of a community health program. Yet the majority of research on health education is conducted from the point of view of programme designers or evaluators. Where health educators themselves are the focus, data is often generated through surveys, questionnaires, field notes, or quantitative measures. Narrative accounts by health educators describing their activities and their perceptions of programme efficacy are thus a neglected line of inquiry. My thesis examines one group of health educators who trained and worked with Sidney and Emily Kark at the Institute of Family and Community Health in Durban during the 1940s and 1950s. The importance of health educators in the Institute's project has often been acknowledged by key figures like the Kark, but few scholars have highlighted the contributions of these paraprofessionals. As catalysts of change and disseminators of knowledge, their role was encapsulated by health educator Neela Govender: "So many things people can do to [become] aware of health problems, and how much they themselves could be responsible for their own health ... that's not something they can forget. They will pass it on to another generation, or influence each other. We sow the seed, and it must grow, and spread". In focusing on the health educators' role, I seek to integrate perspectives of "history from below" to enhance previous analyses that concentrated on doctors and government administrators as the main architects of the Institute of Family and Community Health. To this end, I have collected testimony of health educators as a valuable source of historical evidence, which not only uncovers a foot soldier's view of what the Karks called a "practice of social medicine" but also illuminates various social, political, and economic contexts underpinning health education in South Africa. This study used oral history techniques to explore how retired health educators perceived their experiences at the Institute. It thematically analysed their narratives to gain a sense of their training, goals, methods and working conditions in segregationist and apartheid-era South Africa. My interview subjects were predominantly women whose work reflected the centrality of maternal, child, and family health to the Institute. As intermediaries between the clinic and the community, they were integral to the Institute of Family and Community Health's investigation of the links between health and culture. The themes of race, gender and culture were as pertinent in the mid-twentieth century as they are today in the delivery of health services; health educators' narratives might provide insights into how such conceptual factors influence the operation of community health programs in contemporary South Africa. The ways in which the Institute's health educators became active agents in the face of oppressive circumstances also contain potential lessons for their counterparts currently struggling to address an HIV/AIDS epidemic with inadequate resources and governmental support. / Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

Purpose: Does manikin fidelity affect learning outcomes in neonatal resuscitation simulation? Description: This experimental design accessed and randomly assigned health care professionals (HCP) (N=60), who completed Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) recertification in a simulation lab. The experimental group used a high-fidelity manikin. The control group recertified using a low-fidelity manikin. Dependant variables included learning outcomes of confidence, skill performance, and knowledge. These were measured using the newly developed Neonatal Resuscitation Confidence Tool (NRCT), Megacode Assessment, and NRP written exam. Both groups underwent the same simulated resuscitation scenario. Outcome: A significant increase in confidence with simulation was found (p<.001). HCPs using the high-fidelity simulator did not have a significant increased level of confidence, knowledge or skill performance compared to using the low-fidelity simulator. However, there was a significant increase in confidence with repeated NRP courses (p=.003). Implications: The use of simulation for NRP is important to increase capability with increased practice intervals. / ix, 109 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. --

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