Medical educators: How they define themselves - Results of an international web survey.

Background: Little is known about medical educators' self-definition.

Aims: The aim of this study is to survey an international community of medical educators focusing on the medical educators' self-definition.

Methods: Within a comprehensive, web-based survey, an open question on the participants' views of how they would define a "medical educator" was sent to 2200 persons on the mailing list of the Association for Medical Education in Europe.

Expertise, needs and challenges of medical educators: Results of an international web survey.

Background: Little is known about how medical educators perceive their own expertise, needs and challenges in relation to medical education.

Aim: To survey an international community of medical educators with a focus on: (1) their expertise, (2) their need for training and (3) perceived challenges.

Methods: A web-based survey comprising closed and open free-text questions was sent to 2200 persons on the mailing list of the Association for Medical Education in Europe.

Increasing operating room efficiency through parallel processing.

Objective: Because of rising costs and shrinking reimbursements, hospitals must continually find ways to improve efficiency and productivity. This study attempts to increase caseloads in ambulatory surgery operating rooms while maintaining patient satisfaction and safety.

Summary Background Data: In most hospitals, patients move through their operative day in a linear fashion, starting at registration and finishing in the recovery room.

Ensuring global standards for medical graduates: a pilot study of international standard-setting.

Increasing physician and patient mobility has led to a move toward internationalization of standards for physician competence. The Institute for International Medical Education proposed a set of outcome-based standards for student performance, which were then measured using three assessment tools in eight leading schools in China: a 150-item multiple-choice examination, a 15-station OSCE and a 16-item faculty observation form. The purpose of this study was to empanel a group of experts to determine whether international student-level performance standards could be set.

Improving team structure and communication: a key to hospital efficiency.

Hypothesis: Improving team structure and heightening communication will help provide cost-effective and high-quality patient care for general surgery patients.

Design: This study surveys teamwork initiatives and their effects on specific variables related to patient care.

Patients: The study population comprised all patients admitted to the hospital's general surgery teams during 5 years 3 months.

Linking appraisal of PRHO professional competence of junior doctors to their education.

In the UK, new medical graduates are known as Pre-registration House Officers (PRHOs). Postgraduate Deans are responsible for the PRHO year and for the final certification of PRHOs to allow them to be fully registered by the GMC as medical practitioners. However, as much as appraisal of professional growth is central to PRHO training, they are in need of a robust assessment mechanism to detect, at an early stage, individuals with significant clinical and professional deficiencies.

An Investigation of the Sources of Measurement Error in the Post-Encounter Written Scores from Standardized Patient Examinations.

Purpose. Post-encounter written exercises (e.g.