Perception of social media behaviour among medical students, residents and medical specialists.

Introduction: Behaviour is visible in real-life events, but also on social media. While some national medical organizations have published social media guidelines, the number of studies on professional social media use in medical education is limited. This study aims to explore social media use among medical students, residents and medical specialists.

Specialty Training's Organizational Readiness for curriculum Change (STORC): validation of a questionnaire.

Background: The field of postgraduate medical education (PGME) is continuously evolving as a result of social demands and advancing educational insights. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for successful implementation of change initiatives. However, in PGME, assessing change readiness is rarely considered while it could be of great value for managing educational change such as curriculum change.

Are they ready? Organizational readiness for change among clinical teaching teams.

Introduction: Curriculum change and innovation are inevitable parts of progress in postgraduate medical education (PGME). Although implementing change is known to be challenging, change management principles are rarely looked at for support. Change experts contend that organizational readiness for change (ORC) is a critical precursor for the successful implementation of change initiatives.

Teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching in student-centred medical curricula: the impact of context and personal characteristics.

Background: Gibbs and Coffey (2004) have reported that teaching practices are influenced by teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching. In our previous research we found significant differences between teachers' conceptions in two medical schools with student-centred education. Medical school was the most important predictor, next to discipline, gender and teaching experience.

High acceptability of a newly developed urological practical skills training program.

Background: Benefits of simulation training are widely recognized, but its structural implementation into urological curricula remains challenging. This study aims to gain insight into current and ideal urological practical skills training and presents the outline of a newly developed skills training program, including an assessment of the design characteristics that may increase its acceptability.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to the urology residents (n = 87) and program directors (n = 45) of all Dutch teaching hospitals.

Effect of comprehensive oncogenetics training interventions for general practitioners, evaluated at multiple performance levels.

General practitioners (GPs) are increasingly called upon to identify patients at risk for hereditary cancers, and their genetic competencies need to be enhanced. This article gives an overview of a research project on how to build effective educational modules on genetics, assessed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs), reflecting the prioritized educational needs of primary care physicians. It also reports on an ongoing study to investigate long-term increase in genetic consultation skills (1-year follow-up) and interest in and satisfaction with a supportive website on genetics among GPs.

Impact of institute and person variables on teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching.

Background: Teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching are important for faculty development to result in enduring changes in teaching practices. Until now, studies on these conceptions have mostly focused on traditional, lecture-based curricula rather than on small-group student-centred educational formats, which are gaining ground worldwide.

Aim: To explore which factors predict teachers' conceptions in student-centred curricula.

Five teacher profiles in student-centred curricula based on their conceptions of learning and teaching.

Background: Teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching are partly unconscious. However, they are critical for the delivery of education and affect students' learning outcomes. Lasting changes in teaching behaviour can only be realized if conceptions of teachers have been changed accordingly.

The threat of the dyscompetent resident: A plea to make the implicit more explicit!

Although several examples of frameworks dealing with students' unprofessional behaviour are available, guidance on how to deal locally or regionally with dysfunctional residents is limited (Hickson et al. in Acad Med 82(11):1040-1048, 2007b; Leape and Fromson in Ann Intern Med 144(2):107-115, 2006). Any 'rules' are mostly unwritten, and often emerge by trial and error within the specialty training programme (Stern and Papadakis in N Engl J Med 355(17):1794-1799, 2006).

Sustained effects of online genetics education: a randomized controlled trial on oncogenetics.

Medical professionals are increasingly expected to deliver genetic services in daily patient care. However, genetics education is considered to be suboptimal and in urgent need of revision and innovation. We designed a Genetics e-learning Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module aimed at improving general practitioners' (GPs') knowledge about oncogenetics, and we conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the outcomes at the first two levels of the Kirkpatrick framework (satisfaction, learning and behavior).

Effectiveness of oncogenetics training on general practitioners' consultation skills: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: General practitioners are increasingly called upon to deliver genetic services and could play a key role in translating potentially life-saving advancements in oncogenetic technologies to patient care. If general practitioners are to make an effective contribution in this area, their genetics competencies need to be upgraded. The aim of this study was to investigate whether oncogenetics training for general practitioners improves their genetic consultation skills.

Development of an instrument (the COLT) to measure conceptions on learning and teaching of teachers, in student-centred medical education.

Background: Conceptions of medical teachers regarding learning and teaching affect their teaching practice. Therefore conceptions should be addressed in faculty development.

Aim: To facilitate this, we constructed the Conceptions Of Learning and Teaching (COLT) instrument.

Prioritization of future genetics education for general practitioners: a Delphi study.

Purpose: General practitioners (GPs) are increasingly expected to deliver genetics services in daily patient care. Education in primary care genetics is considered suboptimal and in urgent need of revision and innovation. The aim of this study was to prioritize topics for genetics education for general practice.

Genetic educational needs and the role of genetics in primary care: a focus group study with multiple perspectives.

Background: Available evidence suggests that improvements in genetics education are needed to prepare primary care providers for the impact of ongoing rapid advances in genomics. Postgraduate (physician training) and master (midwifery training) programmes in primary care and public health are failing to meet these perceived educational needs. The aim of this study was to explore the role of genetics in primary care (i.

Combined formative and summative professional behaviour assessment approach in the bachelor phase of medical school: a Dutch perspective.

Background: Teaching and assessment of professional behaviour (PB) has been receiving increasing attention in the educational literature and educational practice. Although the focus tends to be summative aspects, it seems perfectly feasible to combine formative and summative approaches in one procedural approach.

Aims And Method: Although, many examples of frameworks of professionalism and PB can be found in the literature, most originate from North America, and only few are designed in other continents.

Bad apples spoil the barrel: Addressing unprofessional behaviour.

Given the changes in society we are experiencing, the increasing focus on patient-centred care and acknowledgement that medical education including professionalism issues needs to continue not only in the residency programmes but also throughout the doctors career, is not surprising. Although most of the literature on professionalism pertains to learning and teaching professionalism issues, addressing unprofessional behaviour and related patient safety issues forms an alternative or perhaps complementary approach. This article describes the possibility of selecting applicants for a medical school based on personality characteristics, the attention to professional lapses in contemporary undergraduate training, as well as the magnitude, aetiology, surveillance and methods of dealing with reports of unprofessional behaviour in postgraduate education and CME.

Possible solutions for barriers in incident reporting by residents.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Incident reporting can contribute to safer health care. Since the rate of reporting by residents is low, it is useful to investigate which barriers exist and how these can be solved.

Methods: Data were collected in a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands.

Promoting professional behaviour in undergraduate medical, dental and veterinary curricula in the Netherlands: evaluation of a joint effort.

Background: From 2002 onwards, a nationwide working group of representatives from all medical (8), dental (3) and veterinary medicine (1) schools collaborated in order to develop and implement recommendations for teaching and assessing professional behaviour.

Aim: The aim of this article is to describe the outcomes of this process, including hurdles encountered and challenges to be met.

Method: By a qualitative survey, information was requested on teaching professional behaviour, assessment, instruments used, consequences of unprofessional behaviour and faculty training.

Professionalism beyond medical school: an educational continuum?

Given the changes in society we are experiencing, the increasing focus on patient centred care and acknowledgment that medical education needs to continue not only in the residency programmes but throughout the doctors career, is not surprising. This article describes the attention currently paid to professionalism in the residency programmes, differences in perception of professionalism between patients, faculty, students and residents, differences in professionalism issues in the different educational phases, as well as their consequences for training and assessment regarding professionalism. Continuous medical education in professionalism is thereafter briefly discussed.

[Professional behaviour during medical training].

Assessment of professional behaviour (PB) is increasingly receiving attention in undergraduate and postgraduate medical training. Its aim is to prevent later inappropriate behaviour and to strengthen appropriate behaviour by self-reflection and feedback. Assessment should start early in the curriculum and be repeated frequently, preferably by different assessors in differing educational situations, and with longitudinal follow-up.

Teaching and learning professional behavior in practice.

This paper is the fourth article in a series on Professionalism and provides an overview of current methods used for teaching and learning about professionalism. The questions "whether" and "how" professionalism can be placed in the formal medical school curricula are addressed, and the informal learning related to professionalism reviewed.

Training and learning professionalism in the medical school curriculum: current considerations.

Recommendations in the literature concerning measures to address the challenges to professionalism have converged on the establishment of an education community, on a structured curriculum dealing with professionalism, on developing programs for role modelling and mentoring, and on attention to the assessment of professional conduct. The interventions in the field of medical education appear central among these efforts, since it is during medical school that the template for professional conduct in medicine is primarily learned. This article attempts to provide a more in-depth discussion of the goals, purposes and current factors influencing teaching and learning professional behaviour in the medical school curriculum and the residency programs.

General considerations regarding assessment of professional behaviour.

Core medical knowledge has been assessed for over fifty years and technical and communication skills for at least twenty. The assessment of professionalism however has failed to achieve recognition within this time frame. The interest in the assessment of professionalism and professional behaviour thus is a fairly recent development.

The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes.

This article is the second in a series on professionalism in the European Journal of Internal Medicine. The current article will first focus on these different views and definitions that are currently adopted by the various researchers, and subsequently discuss the consequences for the training and assessment of professionalism and professional behaviour in medical education.

Students' perceptions of early patient encounters in a PBL curriculum: a first evaluation of the Maastricht experience.

Introduction: Real patient encounters before the clinical phase of undergraduate medical education are recommended to stimulate integration of theory and practice. Such encounters are not easy to integrate into the three phases of the problem-based learning cycle, i.e.