Emergency medicine in Brazil: historical perspective, current status, and future challenges

Background Emergency medicine (EM) in Brazil has achieved critical steps toward its development in the last decades including its official recognition as a specialty in 2016. In this article, we worked in collaboration with the Brazilian Association of Emergency Medicine (ABRAMEDE) to describe three main aspects of EM in Brazil: (1) brief historical perspective; (2) current status; and (3) future challenges. Main text In Brazil, the first EM residency program was created in 1996. Only 20 years later, the specialty was officially recognized by national regulatory bodies. Prior to recognition, there were only 2 residency programs. Since then, 52 new programs were initiated. Brazil has now 54 residency programs in 16 of the 27 federative units. As of December 2020, 192 physicians have been board certified as emergency physicians in Brazil. The shortage of formal EM-trained physicians is still significant and at this point it is not feasible to have all Brazilian emergency care units and EDs staffed only with formally trained emergency physicians. Three future challenges were identified including the recognition of EM specialists in the house of Medicine, the need of creating a reliable training curriculum despite highly heterogeneous emergency care practice across the country, and the importance of fostering the development of academic EM as a way to build a strong research agenda and therefore increase the knowledge about the epidemiology and organization of emergency care. Conclusion Although EM in Brazil has accomplished key steps toward its development, there are several obstacles before it becomes a solid medical specialty. Its continuous development will depend on special attention to key challenges involving recognition, reliability, and research.

An Assessment of the Visual Appropriateness of Selected Brand Logos

This paper focuses on assessing the appropriateness of selected logos of popular brands. The paper enunciates the relevance of logos to the public perception of brands. Logos function as signifiers, denotative, point of contact and identifiers. The visual components of logos and the suggestive meanings of shapes which are the building blocks of the pictorial contents are articulated in this study. Thirty (30) logos of popular brands were purposively selected and subjected to the analysis of Eighty (80) people constituting thirty (30) formally trained practicing graphic designers, ten (10) experienced printers and forty (40) individuals who are familiar with the selected brands. The collated data were analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS). Findings revealed that logos are visual seals that communicate brand promises to the targeted audience, viewers recall simple logos more easily and logos crammed with colours are not appealing. The study recommended that visual contents of logos should resonate balance, application colours in logos should be limited to two and logos design should be a product of a sound brand strategy.

A ‘prodigious latitude’ of words: vocabularies of illness in 18th-century medical treatises and women’s writing

In its examination of a selection of 18th-century medical treatises and women’s writing, this essay considers a range of context-specific and historically specific medical vocabularies and tries to illuminate the various linguistic registers of physicians’ and women’s understandings and experiences of physio-emotional illness. In a preprofessionalised world in which medical and literary cultures overlapped significantly and medical knowledge was not yet restricted to a group of formally trained male elites, vocabularies of illness abounded, oftentimes moving freely between the permeable disciplinary boundaries of the age. Physician writers, in their efforts to define and label the cluster of related conditions commonly known as spleen, vapours, melancholy, or hypochondriacal and hysterical affliction, often operated on a principle of humility, embracing uncertainty, admitting fault and assuming a willingness to question their own assumptions. They recognised that elusive processes were at the heart of these conditions, which came with a vast amalgam of physical and psychological symptoms, as well as a long list of possible designations. For their part, Anne Finch, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Hester Lynch Piozzi, Elizabeth Carter, Mary Leapor, Elizabeth Tollet, Anna Seward and Susanna Blamire interpreted with a keen eye the medical information available to them, deployed the plethora of words at their disposal and created their own vocabularies of illness. As they formulated a productively unstable, fluctuating lexicon to conceptualise and define spleen and its analogous conditions, these women writers came up with new words and inventive metonyms, and drew at once on the language of medicine, social and domestic inequality, and the natural world to capture experiences of suffering.

Imagining a Better Classroom: Infographics to Build Learning Communities

Innovative new teaching techniques continue to grow, but a solid grounding in the basic elements of good teaching pedagogy and clear communication is also needed. The foundation of a classroom should be a learning community in which students and instructors alike share a safe space to learn new content, engage in activities to practice with course materials and build skills, and to evaluate progress towards course learning goals. There are some instructors who were not formally trained to teach in higher education and may use the materials that were handed down to them, but not truly know how to develop their own course from the beginning. In this article, we reimagine building a better classroom through the use of infographics. The benefit of infographics is that a picture allows the instructor to interpret the image and adjust for their teaching style and the context of the course. Key elements of good teaching include course alignment, class planning, clear communication with students and collaboration between the instructor and students. Moreover, Covid-19 has heightened awareness of the need for instructors to consider the individual student and ensure that they are set up for success in the context of the class and being a student more generally. We showcase a set of six infographics to demonstrate the use of this medium to develop a successful and enjoyable course and discuss the ways in which the infographics can guide development of an evidence-based teaching approach.

Teaching with Drawings: Primary Source Instruction with Architecture Archives

ABSTRACT Architectural archival collections contain a wide variety of documents and materials that are effective teaching tools for primary source instruction. Sketches, design and construction drawings, material samples, models, and photographs are just some of the collection materials one may find in an architecture archives. However, architecture archivists are not formally trained to teach with these collections. The authors examine the gap in professional and scholarly literature on teaching with these specific materials and consider this in comparison to the rich literature on teaching with primary sources more broadly. They discuss the pedagogical models they have applied in their instruction work and how these support the information-seeking habits and research needs of architecture faculty and design students. By contributing to the growing body of literature on teaching with special collections in this specific subject area, the authors hope to elevate the skills and expertise that architecture archivists bring to the field.

A SURVEY OF TEACHERS' OPINIONS ABOUT IMPLEMENTING REALISTIC MATHEMATICS EDUCATION IN TEACHING THE TOPICS OF THE ELLIPSE EQUATION

<p>Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is an instructional theory that has been implemented in many countries around the world to link mathematics to real-world situations. The effectiveness of implementing RME in mathematics education is highly dependent on the role of teachers. This study was conducted with 64 high school teachers to survey their understanding and perspectives on RME and the status of RME implementation in teaching the topics of ellipse equation. Through qualitative analyzing the survey results, the study found that teachers are interested in RME, although the percentage of teachers formally trained in this theory was not high. Besides, the survey shows that it is necessary to help teachers overcome difficulties and improve the frequency and effectiveness of RME application in teaching mathematics.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0841/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Effect of formal training workshop on teachers’ quality of written feedback in higher education

Introduction: The significance of written feedback in students’ learning is well established in the literature; however, it is contingent on several factors, particularly the quality of written feedback. Many teachers are not formally trained to give feedback that could affect the student learning. Objective: This study was designed to investigate whether teachers modify their written feedback in response to a formal training workshop on written feedback. Methodology: Using a quasi-experimental design with pre and post within subject design, 94 teachers participated in this study. As a pre-test, participants were made to provide written feedback on a sample script at the beginning of the workshop. This was followed by a two-day interventional workshop that included discussions and hands on exercises on multiple aspects of written feedback. At the end of the workshop, the participants were again asked to provide feedback on the same script. Results: Comparisons between the pre- and post-intervention data revealed several differences. The quantity of feedback increased subsequent to the intervention. A rise in feedback on form and writing style was observed after the workshop, as opposed to a slight drop in feedback on content, leading to a more balanced focus. Although some of the desired differences, such as avoiding vague comments and criticism, were statistically insignificant, most of the other, differences in the pre-test and post-test were statistically significant. Conclusion: This study affirms that a formal training workshop could improve the quality of teachers’ written feedback.

Archival digitization for non-professionals

This thesis provides illustrated instructions, explanations, and suggestions regarding the digitization of personal family archives at home. It discusses philosophical approaches to and implications of digitization, as well as the disparity between the collections of museums and the personal documents and artifacts found within family collections around the world. Members of the Ontario Genealogical Society, who represent the demographic for which this thesis is intended, were surveyed anonymously to understand their needs, experience levels, and concerns regarding archival digitization.This thesis demonstrates that it is still possible to digitize materials using policies and procedures that adhere to nationally-approved guidelines with the limited resources one might have at home. It provides a bridge between what has largely been a professional field and those individuals who, although not formally trained, have personal collections that they would like to digitize and preserve. This thesis divided into four sections: Preparation, Digitization, Post-Processing, and Appendices

Archival digitization for non-professionals

This thesis provides illustrated instructions, explanations, and suggestions regarding the digitization of personal family archives at home. It discusses philosophical approaches to and implications of digitization, as well as the disparity between the collections of museums and the personal documents and artifacts found within family collections around the world. Members of the Ontario Genealogical Society, who represent the demographic for which this thesis is intended, were surveyed anonymously to understand their needs, experience levels, and concerns regarding archival digitization.This thesis demonstrates that it is still possible to digitize materials using policies and procedures that adhere to nationally-approved guidelines with the limited resources one might have at home. It provides a bridge between what has largely been a professional field and those individuals who, although not formally trained, have personal collections that they would like to digitize and preserve. This thesis divided into four sections: Preparation, Digitization, Post-Processing, and Appendices

A Novel Thyroid Ultrasound Proficiency Metric Designed Through a Multidisciplinary Delphi Approach

Background Thyroid ultrasounds extend surgeons’ outpatient capabilities and are essential for operative planning. However, most residents are not formally trained in thyroid ultrasound. The purpose of this study was to create a novel thyroid ultrasound proficiency metric through a collaborative Delphi approach. Methods Clinical faculty experienced in thyroid ultrasound participated on a Delphi panel to design the thyroid Ultrasound Proficiency Scale (UPS-Thyroid). Participants proposed items under the categories of Positioning, Technique, Image Capture, Measurement, and Interpretation. In subsequent rounds, participants voted to retain, revise, or exclude each item. The process continued until all items had greater than 70% consensus for retention. The UPS-Thyroid was pilot tested across 5 surgery residents with moderate ultrasound experience. Learning curves were assessed with cumulative sum. Results Three surgeons and 4 radiologists participated on the Delphi panel. Following 3 iterative Delphi rounds, the panel arrived at >70% consensus to retain 14 items without further revisions or additions. The metric included the following items on a 3-point scale for a maximum of 42 points: Positioning (1 item), Technique (4 items), Image Capture (2 items), Measurement (2 items), and Interpretation (5 items). A pilot group of 5 residents was scored against a proficiency threshold of 36 points. Learning curve inflection points were noted at between 4 to 7 repetitions. Conclusions A multidisciplinary Delphi approach generated consensus for a thyroid ultrasound proficiency metric (UPS-Thyroid). Among surgery residents with moderate ultrasound experience, basic proficiency at thyroid ultrasound is feasible within 10 repetitions.