Clinically contextualised ECG interpretation: the impact of prior clinical exposure and case vignettes on ECG diagnostic accuracy.

Background: ECGs are often taught without clinical context. However, in the clinical setting, ECGs are rarely interpreted without knowing the clinical presentation. We aimed to determine whether ECG diagnostic accuracy was influenced by knowledge of the clinical context and/or prior clinical exposure to the ECG diagnosis.

Utility of mobile learning in Electrocardiography.

Aims: Mobile learning is attributed to the acquisition of knowledge derived from accessing information on a mobile device. Although increasingly implemented in medical education, research on its utility in Electrocardiography remains sparse. In this study, we explored the effect of mobile learning on the accuracy of electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis and interpretation.

Effectiveness of blended learning versus lectures alone on ECG analysis and interpretation by medical students.

Background: Most medical students lack confidence and are unable to accurately interpret ECGs. Thus, better methods of ECG instruction are being sought. Current literature indicates that the use of e-learning for ECG analysis and interpretation skills (ECG competence) is not superior to lecture-based teaching.

Determining electrocardiography training priorities for medical students using a modified Delphi method.

Background: Although electrocardiography is considered a core learning outcome for medical students, there is currently little curricular guidance for undergraduate ECG training. Owing to the absence of expert consensus on undergraduate ECG teaching, curricular content is subject to individual opinion. The aim of this modified Delphi study was to establish expert consensus amongst content and context experts on an ECG curriculum for medical students.

What type of service provision do patients with chronic pain want from primary care providers?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore what types of service provision patients with chronic pain wanted from their general practitioners (GP).

Method: A small scale survey measured anxiety and depression and quantified the extent to which patients wanted four different types of help from their GP (explanation and understanding, medical treatment, psychological support and information). An opportunistic sample of 155 patients (30.

The application of the Things I Worry About Scale to a sample of at-risk American adolescents: an examination of psychometric properties.

To date, published studies regarding the Things I Worry About Scale have been conducted exclusively in Northern Ireland and have included relatively homogeneous samples of students. The present study reexamined the psychometric properties of the scale using data collected from a sample of at-risk adolescents in the United States. The factor structure of the instrument was examined to determine the reliability of the instrument with a culture other than that with which the instrument was developed, and salient group differences were identified and discussed.

Career education: an application of latent growth curve modelling to career information-seeking behaviour of school pupils.

Background: This study applied the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in an attempt to predict longitudinal growth of career exploratory behaviour in school pupils. The importance of information for making considered career decisions is indicated in theories of career development and choice, career education programmes, and concepts of career maturity.

Aims: The study aimed to initially model individual and group levels of career exploratory behaviour and then to identify psychological variables that predicted such behaviour.

Ex-clients' evaluation of bereavement counselling in a voluntary sector agency.

This study aims to carry out an evaluation of bereavement counselling provided by a voluntary charity from the perspective of clients who had availed themselves of the service. A questionnaire survey of ex-clients of one branch of a major voluntary sector bereavement care organization was carried out. Based on a sample of 89 returned questionnaires (representing a response rate of 45%), findings indicated that paraprofessional voluntary counsellors can provide a counselling service to bereaved people that satisfies the majority of clients who report positive experiences in counselling and post-counselling outcomes, and generally rate their counselling as helpful.