Legitimate participation of medical students in community attachments.

Introduction: Social theories of learning consider learning and thinking as social activities. These activities may occur within a community of practice. Communities of practice may position learners as legitimate peripheral participants.

Tips and Traps: Lessons From Codesigning a Clinician E-Monitoring Tool for Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Background: Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) is an acceptable and promising treatment modality for adolescents with mild-to-moderate depression. Many cCBT programs are standalone packages with no way for clinicians to monitor progress or outcomes. We sought to develop an electronic monitoring (e-monitoring) tool in consultation with clinicians and adolescents to allow clinicians to monitor mood, risk, and treatment adherence of adolescents completing a cCBT program called SPARX (Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts).

Students' responses to scenarios depicting ethical dilemmas: a study of pharmacy and medical students in New Zealand.

One of the key learning objectives in any health professional course is to develop ethical and judicious practice. Therefore, it is important to address how medical and pharmacy students respond to, and deal with, ethical dilemmas in their clinical environments. In this paper, we examined how students communicated their resolution of ethical dilemmas and the alignment between these communications and the four principles developed by Beauchamp and Childress.

The relationship between quality of life and spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs of medical students.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs on the quality of life (QOL) of medical students affiliated with a religious faith and those without affiliation.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 275 medical students (78 % response rate) in their fourth and fifth year of study completed the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life instrument and the WHOQOL-SRPB module for spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs.

Results: For religious students, a larger range of characteristics of existential beliefs were positively related to quality of life.

Junior doctors in their first year: mental health, quality of life, burnout and heart rate variability.

There is a burgeoning interest in, and evidence of, quality of life and burnout issues among doctors. It was hypothesized that the junior doctors in this study would experience psychosocial and physiological changes over time, and that the obtained measures would indicate psychosocial and physiological anomalies. In addition, it was hypothesized that their psychosocial perceptions would be significantly associated with their physiological measures.

Religious affiliation, quality of life and academic performance: New Zealand medical students.

The present study investigated the connections between religious affiliation, quality of life (QOL) and measures of academic performance. Participants (n = 275) were recruited from the School of Medicine within a New Zealand university. Religious affiliation was classified according to three subcategories: Christian (n = 104), Eastern religion (n = 34) and non-religious (n = 117).

Reasons for academic honesty and dishonesty with solutions: a study of pharmacy and medical students in New Zealand.

This paper presents students' views about honest and dishonest actions within the pharmacy and medical learning environments. Students also offered their views on solutions to ameliorating dishonest action. Three research questions were posed in this paper: (1) what reasons would students articulate in reference to engaging in dishonest behaviours? (2) What reasons would students articulate in reference to maintaining high levels of integrity? (3) What strategies would students suggest to decrease engagement in dishonest behaviours and/or promote honest behaviours? The design of the study incorporated an initial descriptive analysis to interpret students' responses to an 18-item questionnaire about justifications for dishonest action.

Medical students' and clinical teachers' perceptions of Māori health teaching.

Aims: To investigate the views of medical students early in their clinical training and their clinical teachers with respect to Māori health teaching and learning.

Method: A survey approach was used to appraise responses from 276 students early in their clinical training and 135 clinical teachers. All participants were asked to respond to a set of questions about the teaching and assessment of Hauora Māori (Māori health).

General surgical interns contributing to the clerkship learning environment of medical students.

Background: Junior doctors are increasingly promoted as clinical teachers but there is limited understanding of how they contribute to medical student clerkship learning.

Aim: To describe contributions made by general surgical interns to the student clerkship learning environment.

Methods: The mixed-methods study involved two focus groups attended by volunteer interns and Year 4 students, and a student questionnaire collecting quantitative data.

Impact of a Resident-as-Teacher Workshop on Teaching Behavior of Interns and Learning Outcomes of Medical Students.

Background: Residents and interns are recognized as important clinical teachers and mentors. Resident-as-teacher training programs are known to improve resident attitudes and perceptions toward teaching, as well as their theoretical knowledge, skills, and teaching behavior. The effect of resident-as-teacher programs on learning outcomes of medical students, however, remains unknown.

Quality of life: international and domestic students studying medicine in New Zealand.

International students form a significant proportion of students studying within universities in Western countries. The quality of life perceptions of international medical students in comparison with domestic medical students has not been well documented. There is some evidence to suggest that international medical students may have different educational and social experiences in relation to their domestic peers.

Academic dishonesty and ethical reasoning: pharmacy and medical school students in New Zealand.

Background: There is ample evidence to suggest that academic dishonesty remains an area of concern and interest for academic and professional bodies. There is also burgeoning research in the area of moral reasoning and its relevance to the teaching of pharmacy and medicine.

Aims: To explore the associations between self-reported incidence of academic dishonesty and ethical reasoning in a professional student body.

The quality of life of medical students studying in New Zealand: a comparison with nonmedical students and a general population reference group.

Background: Quality of life is an essential component of learning and has strong links with the practice and study of medicine. There is burgeoning evidence in the research literature to suggest that medical students are experiencing health-related problems such as anxiety, depression, and burnout.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate medical students' perceptions concerning their quality of life.

Consensus statement from the Health of the Health Professional Conference, November 2011.

This article presents a consensus statement that arose from the views of participants that attended the multidisciplinary conference "The Health of the Health Professional", in Auckland in November 2011. A healthy workforce is the key to improving the health of all New Zealanders. Yet health practitioners' health is of concern, and despite the evidence of real problems little has been done to constructively and systematically address these issues.

Clinical teachers working in primary care: what would they like changed in the medical school?

Introduction: General practitioners (GPs) working as clinical teachers are likely to influence medical students' level of community-based learning. This paper aimed to ascertain clinical teachers' views in relation to The University of Auckland about their clinical learning environment.

Method: A total of 34 clinical teachers working in primary care contributed to this study.

Students' and teachers' perceptions of the clinical learning environment in years 4 and 5 at the University of Auckland.

Aim: As the undergraduate medical curriculum is developed in response to an increasing number of students across multiple teaching sites, it is timely to review the clinical learning environment of medical students in the first two clinical years.

Method: University of Auckland students in year 4 and 5 completed the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM). Clinical Teachers completed a shorter questionnaire on their perceptions of the clinical learning environment.

Changing the learning environment: the medical student voice.

Background: Students' perceptions of their learning environment influence both how they learn and the quality of their learning outcomes. The clinical component of undergraduate medical courses takes place in an environment designed for clinical service and not teaching. Tension results when these two activities compete for resources.

Medical students-as-teachers: a systematic review of peer-assisted teaching during medical school.

Introduction: International interest in peer-teaching and peer-assisted learning (PAL) during undergraduate medical programs has grown in recent years, reflected both in literature and in practice. There, remains however, a distinct lack of objective clarity and consensus on the true effectiveness of peer-teaching and its short- and long-term impacts on learning outcomes and clinical practice.

Objective: To summarize and critically appraise evidence presented on peer-teaching effectiveness and its impact on objective learning outcomes of medical students.

In search of professionalism: implications for medical education.

This is the seventh article in an education series, discussing some of the 'hot topics' in teaching and learning in medicine. Historically, 'professionalism' was defined by the social structures of medicine, but has moved on to represent the expected behaviours and attributes of practitioners. Well publicised cases of professional misconduct, the rise of medical ethics as a discipline, and the move to a more patient-centred approach have driven the profile of professionalism into mainstream medical education.

The quality of life of New Zealand doctors and medical students: what can be done to avoid burnout?

Life as a doctor or medical student poses particular challenges and stressors which can impact on quality of life. This paper sets out to review what is known about the quality of life of doctors and medical students and the ramifications of a poor quality of life. This paper summarises the national and international literature on what is known about quality of life and burnout with regards to both medical students and doctors in terms of the origin of these issues and various risk factors.