Enhancing the learning and transfer of preprocedural communication skills during clerkship using audio-visual material: a prospective case-controlled study over 2 years

Objective/design/settingThis study aims to develop preprocedural communication-specific framework that emphasises the use of audiovisual materials and compares its acceptability by trainees with a regular module.TraineesBetween October 2018 and July 2021, 96 medical clerks were enrolled and randomly divided into regular and intervention groups. Another 48 trainees whose did not join the framework-based training but complete self-assessments were enrolled as the control group.InterventionsIn the intervention training module, the key steps of preprocedural communication-specific skills were structuralised into a framework using the acronym of OSCAR.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThis study compared the acceptability of trainees for two modules by measuring the degree of increase in the end-of-rotation and follow up (4 weeks later) competency from baseline by trainees’ self-assessments and physician assessments after serial trainings.ResultsIn comparison with regular group trainees, greater degree of improvements (framework-1 statement: 111%±13% vs 27%±5%, p<0.001; framework-2 statement: 77%±9% vs 48%±2%, p<0.05; skill-1 statement: 105%±9% vs 48%±3%, p<0.001); skill-2 statement: 71%±11% vs 50%±9%, p<0.05) were noted in the framework-related and skill-related statement 1–2 (the familiarity and confidence to use the framework and skills) than those of intervention group. At the end-of-rotation stage, the trainees ability to use the ‘A-step: using audiovisual materials’ of the OSCAR was significantly improved (229%±13%, p<0.001), compared with other steps. In the intervention group, the degree of improvement of the end-of-rotation data of trainees’ self-assessment from baseline was significantly correlated with the degree of the improvement in physicians’ assessment data in the aspects of skills, framework and steps in framework (R=0.872, p<0.01; R=0.813, p<0.001; R=0.914, p<0.001).ConclusionsThe OSCAR framework-based intervention module is well accepted by medical clerks and motivates them to integrate the acquired skills in clinical practice, which leads to trainees’ primary care patients being satisfied with their preprocedural communication.

Gatekeepers on Campus: Peer Review in Quality Assurance of Higher Education Institutions

This chapter revisits the policy issue of the balance between peer review and performance indicators as a means to assess the quality of higher education, with a focus on unintended effects that emerge when peer review is employed in quality assurance procedures of higher education institutions as a whole. The attempted solutions of using self-assessments with their base of performance indicators, combined with review teams that stretch the meaning of peer review, increase goal displacement behaviour in higher education institutions. The chapter concludes with two ensuing dilemmas that require careful balancing between quality enhancement and superficial compliance, whatever the role of peer review in institutional quality assurance.

Assessing the Preparedness to Work in an Active Company on the Basis of Sociological Research

Based on the statistics, because of the survey of Novosibirsk region residents, we studied data on personal readiness for activity in work, to flexibility, to adaptability. Employees should be able to assess the real situation, and should be able to be creative. Businesses are moving to a flexible organization, flexible working conditions. It is increasingly worrying workers and businesses. The article takes on special relevance in the context of the search and activation of new sources of economic development with the introduction of a new methodology for the management of Agile. The assessment was satisfactory. Self-assessment of the potential of workers has been reasonable. The level of independence was adequate. The desire to participate in a new type of economy with commercialization is unsatisfactory. The desire to participate in scientific developments, discoveries, inventions is unsatisfactory. The validity of the study's findings is based on self-assessments of ability, preparedness (competence) and desire (motivation) activities, mainly for work and continuous education.

Monitoring the effects of therapeutic interventions in depression through self-assessments

The treatment of major psychiatric disorders is an arduous and thorny path for the patients concerned, characterized by polypharmacy, massive adverse side effects, modest prospects of success, and constantly declining response rates. The more important is the early detection of psychiatric disorders prior to the development of clinically relevant symptoms, so that people can benefit from early interventions. A well-proven approach to monitoring mental health relies on voice analysis. This method has been successfully used with psychiatric patients to ‘objectively’ document the progress of improvement or the onset of relapse. The studies with psychiatric patients over 2-4 weeks demonstrated that daily voice assessments have a notable therapeutic effect in themselves. Therefore, daily voice assessments appear to be a lowthreshold form of therapeutic means that may be realized through self-assessments. To evaluate performance and reliability of this approach, we have carried out a longitudinal study on 82 university students in 3 different countries with daily assessments over 2 weeks. The sample included 41 males (mean age 24.2±3.83 years) and 41 females (mean age 21.6±2.05 years). Unlike other research in the field, this study was not concerned with the classification of individuals in terms of diagnostic categories. The focus lay on the monitoring aspect and the extent to which the effects of therapeutic interventions or of behavioural changes are visible in the results of self-assessment voice analyses. The test persons showed an over-proportionally good adherence to the daily voice analysis scheme. The accumulated data were of generally high quality: sufficiently high signal levels, a very limited number of movement artifacts, and little to no interfering background noise. The method was sufficiently sensitive to detect: i) habituation effects when test persons became used to the daily procedure; and ii) short-term fluctuations that exceeded prespecified thresholds and reached significance. Results are directly interpretable and provide information about what is going well, what is going less well, and where there is a need for action. The proposed self-assessment approach was found to be well-suited to serve as a health-monitoring tool for subjects with an elevated vulnerability to psychiatric disorders or to stress-induced mental health problems. Daily voice assessments are in fact a low-threshold form of therapeutic means that can be realized through selfassessments, that requires only little effort, can be carried out in the test person’s own home, and has the potential to strengthen resilience and to induce positive behavioural changes.

Teachers’ Key Competencies for Innovative Teaching

The educational process is by its nature and essence very dialectical, so it necessarily requires teachers to have a developed whole set of various competencies. The aim of the research was to examine teachers on self-assessment of competencies that were crucial for innovating the teaching process. The sample of respondents included 1300 elementary and secondary school teachers in the territory of Southern Serbia. The instrument used was a five-point TCS scale of attitudes, with a total of 48 items (individual competencies). The results of the analysis showed that teachers, based on their self-assessments, highly value all diverse groups of competencies, which fully confirms the general hypothesis. The results also showed the existence of statistically significant differences in the degree of expression of attitudes about competency groups with regard to independent research variables, within special hypotheses, based on which the first was rejected, the second partially and the third and fourth special hypothesis fully confirmed. The issue of key competencies of teachers is certainly one of the fundamental issues when it comes to quality teaching, its innovation, generally successful and efficient dealing with the educational process. Based on these postulates, there is hope that the obtained research results will represent a good starting point and incentive for further research work in this field in the future.

Improving Lab Culture Through Self-Assessment: A Case Study

Purpose: Motivated by perceived dissatisfaction within our lab’s changed working environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, we performed a self-assessment of our lab culture through anonymous surveys and live sessions. Methods: In Survey 1, we asked each lab member to identify and rank up to 10 values that are important for a healthy lab environment. They were then asked to rate how well the lab embodied those values at two time points: before the COVID-19 pandemic while working onsite, and at the time of the survey while working remotely (10 months into the pandemic). In a series of live group sessions, we reviewed relevant literature and the survey results to finalize ten themes. We then reflected on each theme and proposed action items to address any deficiencies. Finally, we conducted Survey 2 after the self-assessment to judge the group's finalized themes, implemented changes, and overall satisfaction with the assessment process. Results: Themes identified were attitude, accountability, teamwork/collaboration, communication, diversity/inclusion, emotional intelligence, integrity, training, well-being, and adaptability in crisis-management. All lab members liked the self-assessment process and felt their voices were heard. On average, there was a 1 2 % increase in satisfaction across all themes from the start to end of the lab assessment. Conclusion: We successfully assessed the culture of our lab and subsequently improved lab member satisfaction. The success of this team project suggests that other scientific labs could benefit from similar interactive self-assessments.

Модель формирования коммуникативных компетенций учеников средствами игровых ситуаций на занятиях по английскому языку

The article describes the model of formation students' communicative skills through game situations during English language classes. Competency-based approach, at the base of the study of foreign languages, it is considered as an effective mean of organizing the educational and cognitive activity of students, ensures the acquisition of the content of the material and the achievement of the study objectives in solving certain problematic tasks. Students' communication competence, which is considered by us as a complex personal education, is a multi-component structure. With the help of a theoretical analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature, self-assessments, experts’ assessments, observation of students' communication activity, the structure of communicative competence is defined, which combines cognitive, axiological, praxiological and affective components.

Challenges of Customs Law during the Paradigm of “Facility and Security” in International Trade

Changing conditions within international trade as well as the implementation of the facilitation and security paradigm have significantly impacted the structure of customs law. Both the SAFE Framework as well as the Trade Facilitation Agreement had indicated the need to maintain a balance between regulations introducing simplifications and those ensuring safety and security. One example of such a solution is the institution of the authorised economic operator (AEO), which grants those entities opportunities to take advantage of a number of simplifications, such as the filing of the simplified customs declaration, making entries in a registry, or performing self-assessments, but, at the same time, maintains the requirement of safety and security (through a detailed audit of the enterprise before AEO certification). However, by allowing authorised economic operators to perform self-assessment in respect of goods that have entered into the customs territory of the European Union and are to be released for trade, EU legislators have created significant challenges concerning the realm of safety and security, especially concerning the institution that is the most important within that area – that of customs controls. Despite all this, its importance to safety and security remains distinctive and may be seen in the emergence of new types of customs controls which concern only this particular sphere.