Advances in Medical Education and Practice最新文献

Background: As a dental simulator, the Simodont Dental Trainer (SDT) is widely used in preclinical dental training in many dental schools. This study aimed to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of SDT training versus the traditional operation training based on head-simulator (HS) in enhancing undergraduate students' dental operative skills. Furthermore, the study intends to investigate the optimal sequence for integrating SDT training with the traditional training curriculum in order to optimize the overall course design..

Methods: Eighty-two undergraduate dental students were recruited and randomized into two groups. Group A initially practiced on the SDT and group B practiced on the KaVo head-simulator (HS) first. Subsequently, both groups practiced again on the HS system. The two groups then exchanged training systems for practice, and underwent test on the HS system. A questionnaire was administered to all the students when the training sequences were completed.

Results: Both the short-term teaching effectiveness of virtual training and the impact of training sequence on students' long-term performance varied depending on the specific dental operation. Students encountered varying levels of technical difficulty across the two training systems, even when practicing the same procedure. Virtual training is generally acknowledged by students, yet more than half of them perceived real-world head-simulator-based practice more beneficial for improving operational proficiency.

Conclusion: The SDT serves as a useful supplement to traditional preclinical dental training, providing students with a platform to refine their technical skills efficiently. However, obvious difference in the sensory experiences is notable between the virtual reality and real-world training systems. SDT may be particularly beneficial for procedures requiring distinct tactile feedback. The widespread acceptance of virtual training by undergraduate dental students highlights virtual reality's promise in dental education, though systematic integration and training curriculum design still require continuous exploration and refinement.

Introduction: Global trends in occupational therapy practice such as telehealth, community-based practice, and culturally safe care have become integral in occupational therapy. It highlights the need for curricula that integrate emerging practices alongside core competencies of practitioners. Thus, understanding occupational therapy graduates' perspectives concerning their educational curriculum is important as it provides insights into their experiences, identifies gaps in education, and ensures alignment with evolving professional demands. These perspectives further assist in refining curricula to enhance competency and preparedness for clinical practice.

Purpose: This preliminary research studied the perspectives of occupational therapy graduates regarding their educational experiences at the occupational therapy department at Kuwait University.

Methods: A convergent parallel mixed-methods approach was utilized using a self-developed questionnaire (ie Curriculum Questionnaire) with close- and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and t-test served as primary analyses of the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.

Results: The study included 83 participants, with the questionnaire demonstrating strong validity and internal consistency. Graduates reported moderate satisfaction with faculty support (mean=3.7 ± 1.1), with higher satisfaction among participants with more years of experience within practice (P=0.035). Conversely, satisfaction with laboratory classes was notably low, particularly concerning equipment and space (mean=2.7 ± 1.0). Graduates emphasized curriculum strengths such as professionalism, occupation-based models, and environmental adaptation; however, they highlighted gaps such as lack of specialty exposure (eg, dysphagia, assistive technology, and neonatal care), limited interprofessional education, and insufficient preparation for emerging areas like telehealth and culturally responsive practice.

Conclusion: Understanding graduates' perspectives is crucial for advancing the educational curriculum, enhancing clinical learning environments, and ensuring that graduates are well-prepared for professional challenges. Linking findings to Kuwait's healthcare priorities and university reform agenda underscores the practical significance of curriculum adaptation.

Background: Measuring students' perceptions of the learning environment has become widespread in medical education, with many benefits for both students and institutions. Despite its documented findings in small studies, there is a lack of systematic evidence on medical students' perceptions of the learning environment in South Asian countries.

Objective: This systematic review aimed to determine the perceptions of medical students of the learning environment in South Asia and to identify the factors that influence these perceptions.

Methods: We limited this systematic review to studies published between 2000 and 2024 which reported on medical students perceptions of the learning environment in eight South Asian countries. Perceptions of the learning environment were assessed through self-rating scales in the included studies. Articles were retrieved from two electronic databases (PubMed and Scopus). In addition, we searched Google Scholar to identify relevant articles. This review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines.

Results: Of 1191 identified articles, 15 studies fulfilled the pre-specified eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was the main instrument used in these studies. Of the 15 studies included, 13 studies reported a positive perception of the learning environment in South Asia. However, positive perception levels varied widely, reflecting disparities in learning environments across countries. Additionally, the influence of several factors (eg gender, education levels, and place of residence) on the perceptions of the learning environment was highlighted.

Conclusion: Results from this review suggest that medical students perceived the learning environment positively in most studies documented from the region. However, medical schools' learning environments in this region have a lot of room for growth and development to meet the standards set on a global scale. Moreover, the current state of the literature underscores the need for further research on the topic and on the best strategies to optimize the learning environment for medical education in South Asia.

Introduction: Laparoscopic surgery is growing in importance, and laparoscopic training is being incorporated into surgical residency programs in Pakistan, despite limited access to training centers. This study emphasizes the need for residents to acquire essential psychomotor skills through simulation tools like Box Trainers (BTs), which are cost-effective and proven to improve laparoscopic performance. However, gaps remain in standardizing laparoscopic training, and the effectiveness of simulation in skill transfer to real-life surgery is still uncertain. The study aims to evaluate the transferability of skills acquired via BTs and gather residents' perceptions of their usefulness at two medical centers in Karachi.

Methods: The authors used a quasi-experimental design to assess the effect of a three-month laparoscopic skills simulation training course on surgical and gynecology residents' surgical performance. The total sample size is 41, and the study was conducted for 13 months. The residents were provided with structured step-by-step training in a hierarchical order of four tasks for three months. The task includes ball transfer, ring transfer, cutting pieces of paper, and suturing and Knotting. A duly qualified surgery faculty member observed all the residents using the Global Operative Assessment of Laparoscopic Skills (GOALS) as an assessment tool at the end of training and in a real-life setting after training. The perceptions were taken via questionnaires.

Results: This study's findings indicate no significant difference in the scores of residents when shifting from simulation to real-life tasks for ball transfer (p-value of 0.32) and ring transfer (p-value of 0.47). This lack of significant difference suggests that simulation training for these tasks effectively prepared the residents for real-life application. In other words, the skills learned in simulation were successfully translated to real-life scenarios for these tasks. Also, findings reveal a significant improvement in scores from simulation to real-life for precision cutting, simple suturing, and knot tying. This improvement suggests that while residents may initially perform at a similar level in both settings for some tasks, there is an observable enhancement in their ability to perform more complex tasks when transitioning from simulation to real-life.

Discussion: The postgraduate residents demonstrated significant improvements across all tasks, highlighting the productivity of the simulation-based practical training in enhancing and transferring laparoscopic skills.

Introduction: Incorporating various components into education, as part of the physical therapy curriculum, has increased students' confidence levels. Examples include lecture, lab, simulation, and community outreach. Research on simulation is strong; however, there is a lack of evidence on utilizing community outreach in conjunction with the integration of interprofessional educational (IPE) simulations to improve student preparation and confidence levels. This study aimed to evaluate how a multimodal educational approach, including community partnerships, influences doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students' confidence in acute care settings.

Methods: Using a descriptive phenomenological study design, seven participants male (n=2) and female (n=5) from a Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) approved DPT program completed a focus group interview, encouraging reflection on self-confidence, experiences, and perceptions before and after their acute care clinical rotation, following their exposure to a multimodal educational approach that included lectures, laboratories, simulations, and community partnerships.

Results: Students reported increased confidence following exposure to a multimodal approach to physical therapy curriculum, which included lecture activities, laboratory activities, community partnerships, and IPE simulation. Three main themes emerged: confidence levels, perception of preparedness, and pre- and post-biases of acute care clinical rotation. All participants reported they would feel confident in accepting a position as an acute care physical therapist.

Conclusion: Multimodal curricula have been shown to increase student confidence, communication skills, and preparedness before clinical rotations, yet there is little evidence to suggest additional benefits from participation in community outreach or the structure of the acute-care curriculum for physical therapy students. This study provides guidance for physical therapy programs and further benefits the future of healthcare by improving the acute care curriculum for physical therapy students.

The integration of multimodal MRI and deep learning is reshaping glioma diagnosis and treatment, shifting from experience-dependent to data-driven paradigms. Conventional radiology, limited by subjective qualitative assessment, fails to fully quantify glioma heterogeneity, whereas deep learning addresses multidimensional data complexity through cross-modal feature fusion-particularly via Transformer-3D CNN hybrid models with cross-modal attention mechanisms. These models have enhanced glioma segmentation accuracy to a Dice coefficient of 0.92 and enabled noninvasive prediction of critical molecular markers (eg, IDH mutation), while uncovering biological links between imaging features and EGFR/PI3K-AKT signaling pathways. Clinically, this framework predicts glioma recurrence 3-6 months earlier and traces metastatic brain tumor primary lesions with 87.5% accuracy. However, challenges remain, including data heterogeneity, poor model interpretability, and ethical constraints, which demand standardized protocols for clinical translation. Future efforts will focus on integrating multi-omics data, developing real-time decision systems, and establishing evidence-based medical frameworks via interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve personalized whole-process glioma management. This review systematically synthesizes recent advances in multimodal MRI-deep learning fusion for glioma care, clarifies technical development trajectories, addresses core bottlenecks (eg, cross-center data discrepancies, clinical translation latency), and provides a theoretical basis for translating these technologies into clinical practice.

Purpose: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and in Canada. Primary care providers (PCPs) play a vital role in incorporating lung cancer prevention and early detection into routine practice. This study outlines the co-design of Creating Safe Connections, an e-learning module developed to build PCPs' capacity to deliver equity-oriented preventative care.

Methods: This manuscript describes the pre-design and co-design phases of the innovation process, guided by the Generative Co-Design Framework for Healthcare Innovation. The pre-design phase established a governance structure comprising patient partners with lived/living experience and interest-holders including PCPs. During the co-design phase, key module priorities and research goals were identified, including barriers to access, stigma and trauma, and operationalizing equity-oriented care. All aspects of the module-its name, logo, content, and knowledge mobilization strategies-were co-developed with the patient partners and health system partners. To inform the e-learning module content, interviews were conducted with community-based PCPs in Ontario, Canada to explore how they apply equity-oriented skills in practice. Interviews were analyzed using deductive content analysis.

Results: PCPs' (five family physicians, two nurse practitioners) interview analysis was informed by the four pillars of Trauma- and Violence-Informed Care: recognizing the impact of trauma and violence; creating emotionally, culturally, and physically safe environments; promoting choice, collaboration, and connection; and adopting a strengths-based, capacity-building approach. These themes shaped the co-design of a Continuing Medical Education-accredited module, which includes video narratives, case studies, a learner's notebook, and interactive assessments.

Conclusion: This work offers a model for the participatory co-design of equity-focused educational interventions that bridge gaps in provider training while aligning with the care needs and priorities identified by structurally underserved populations. The module uses lung cancer screening as a case example to illustrate approaches to addressing inequities in preventative care.

Background: Nursing students often experience high levels of stress during exams, which may be exacerbated by generalized anxiety disorder and associated somatic symptoms. This dual burden can adversely affect their physical health, mental well-being, and academic achievements.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the combined impact of generalized anxiety disorder and co-occurring somatic symptoms on the well-being of nursing students during exam periods at Qassim University.

Methods: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted among 706 nursing students at Qassim University during the exam period in May 2025. Using a standardized self-administered questionnaire to assess generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), patient health questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and world health organization's 5 -item (WHO-5) well-being index. Statistical analysis was performed to examine correlations and identify significant associations.

Results: Most students were female aged 18-20 years. Over half (56%) reported moderate anxiety, and (52.7%) experienced minimal somatic symptoms. In contrast, the Well-Being Index showed over half of the respondents (52.7%) scoring the high well-being category. A significant positive correlation was found between GAD and PHQ-15 scores (r=0.480, p<0.001). In contrast, both GAD and PHQ-15 were negatively correlated with WHO-5 scores (r=-0.238 and r=-0.346 respectively; p<0.001).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that generalized anxiety disorder and co-occurring somatic symptoms are prevalent among nursing students during exam periods, particularly affecting younger, female, and early-year students, and are significantly associated with reduced mental well-being. These results provide novel insight into the interplay between anxiety, somatic symptoms, and demographic factors in this population. To mitigate the negative impact of stress and enhance both academic achievements and overall health among nursing students, it is essential to implement mental health support strategies through early screening and intervention, as well as programs to promote student well-being during exams.