Developing a comprehensive tool to assess professional attitude among physicians and medical students

It appears that up until now, no comprehensive tool has been developed to assess medical students’ attitudes toward the different dimensions of professionalism. The present study aimed to develop a comprehensive quantitative tool to evaluate medical students’ attitudes toward professionalism. This study consisted of two phases: The first phase was item generation and questionnaire design based on literature review and a qualitative survey. The qualitative data were extracted from 49 semi-structured individual interviews and one focus group discussion. In the second phase, the questionnaire was developed and its face, content, and structure validity and reliability were evaluated. To measure the construct validity of the questionnaire, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 354 medical students at different academic levels at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The final questionnaire was loaded on five factors. The factors accounted for 43.5% of the total variance. Moreover, Cronbach's alpha was 0.84 for the total scale, and the interclass correlation coefficient was 0.77 for the test-retest reliability. The 17-item questionnaire measuring medical students’ professional attitude had acceptable validity and reliability and can be adopted in other studies on physicians’ and medical students’ professional attitudes.

Development of a Psychological Game Questionnaire

A research study is described, conducted in Taiwan with 615 subjects across different ages, educational levels and occupations, to develop a questionnaire that will measure three components of psychological games: hidden messages or ulterior transactions, role switches on the drama triangle, and repressed emotions. A literature review is included and the development of the questionnaire through a pre-test option with 226 subjects is described. The results of statistical analyses are described and the final questionnaire, in English and in Chinese, is included as appendices.

From drug-oriented curriculum to patient-oriented curriculum in Chile: Alumni satisfaction as a quality indicator for a pharmacy programme

Background: In 2005, a Health Care Reform in Chile established the role of pharmacists as contributors to achieving therapeutic goals. To fulfil the needs of the country in 2007 the pharmacy programme at Austral University of Chile started transiting from a drug-oriented to a patient-oriented curriculum. Objective: Monitoring this transition process using alumni satisfaction as a quality indicator. Methods: A questionnaire to assess alumni satisfaction with the pharmacy programme was designed and validated in its content and reliability. Subsequently, cross-sectional surveys over samples of graduates from both, drug-oriented and patient-oriented curriculum alumni were conducted. Satisfaction scores of both samples were statistically compared. Results: Cronbach´s alpha for all six dimensions of the final questionnaire was ≥ 0.70. The patient-oriented curriculum generated higher satisfaction scores (p < 0.001), noteworthy in dimensions ‘Design and organisation’, ‘Teachers’ and ‘Emotional bonding with the program/university’. In three out of 34 items the patient-oriented curriculum was less satisfactory than the drug-oriented one. Conclusions: Alumni satisfaction assessment is a useful source of feedback for quality assurance and continuous improvement of programmes. Considering this indicator, the transition of the pharmacy programme at Austral University of Chile to a patient-oriented curriculum was essentially successful.

Identifying the Key Factors Influencing Technology Management in the Power Plant and Electric Power Industry, and Prioritizing Factors Using Network Analytical Process (ANP): Evidence from MAPNA Group

This research has been conducted in order to identify and determine the order of influential factors on technology management in MAPNA Group. After studying the related literature and collecting conducted researches and experts’ opinions, 71 influential indicators were identified in the technology management of power plants and the electric power industry. Afterward, the opinions of experts in the industry and university concerning the influence of these factors were collected by designing a questionnaire and using Likert scaling, and next, decisions were made regarding these indicators. After this process, 51 indicators were approved and categorized into 6 factors and 12 dimensions, based on which the final questionnaire was designed and distributed among 32 managers and experts of MAPNA Group. Using structural equations and Smart PLS software, the research model was fitted and ultimately, surface six indicators were approved for the designed model. Also, the ANP technique was utilized in order to determine the order of factors and the result illustrated that factors namely “propagation“ and “acquisition“ were given the 1st and 2nd order respectively and factor “protection“ was given the last order. According to the conducted researches in the technology management of MAPNA Group, all six facts factors have a significant influence on technology management and hence, all six factors must be paid attention to. In case such a thing does not happen, reaching success in technology management will fail.

P-BN55 Results of the ARROW survey of anti-reflux practice in the UK

Background Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) affects 10-20% of the population. Lifestyle modifications and medications such as proton pump inhibitors are generally well tolerated, however a variety of surgical and endoscopic interventions may be more suitable for well selected patients. Despite national guidelines and evidence from trials there is lack of consensus regarding the best approach to antireflux surgery (ARS). We designed a national audit (ARROW) to describe variation in UK clinical practice of ARS and adherence to clinical guidelines. Our audit was designed in two phases. First, a survey of national practice; Second, a prospective audit of adherence to available guidelines. Methods Survey questions were iteratively developed by the ARROW steering committee and an online tool was developed to gather survey responses and contact details for the audit phase. The final questionnaire consisted of 90 fields per surgeon and 57 fields per institution. Participants were enlisted through AUGIS, social media, personal contacts and the ROUX group of upper GI surgical trainees. The online tool was piloted in three centres. The protocol for the study was peer reviewed and published in Diseases of The Esophagus in January 2021 Results Survey responses were received from 151 surgeons at 57 institutions with a median of 40 cases annually and 4 surgeons/institution. Surgeons perform a median of 12(range 0-75) NHS cases and 6(range 0-75) private cases. 150/151 NHS surgeons perform some form of fundoplication for ARS, 4 surgeons perform LINX™, 4 STRETTA™ and 49 roux-en-y bypass for GORD. Fundoplication procedures performed in the UK include Nissen (111/151), Watson (39/151), Toupet (72/151) and Dor (61/151). 104 surgeons adjust the wrap performed according to clinical symptoms, manometry or both. 20/57 centres had no access to a benign MDT to discuss ARS. Conclusions ARS in the UK lacks standardised approaches that can be reliably compared and therefore improved most surgeons perform less than 20 cases a year. Our survey revealed differences in which investigations are considered mandatory, which procedures are available to whom and with what variations, and available resources to facilitate shared decision making for patients with GORD and ARS surgeons. Our audit phase (begun in April 2021) will establish current practice, compliance with clinical guidelines and inform improvement projects and randomised trials in the future.

On Intercultural Communicative Competence: Student-teachers’ Accounts of Colombian Cultural Identity

In student-teachers&rsquo; education, it is fundamental to foster the intercultural communicative competence for them to express their views on cultural concepts and phenomena in written and orally, with native and non-native speakers of a foreign language. In the same vein, future foreign language teachers, particularly at an early stage of their learning process, are expected to possess some basic citizen competencies which allow them, amongst other things, to show an understanding of the country they live in, the cultural diversity it has, and the current situation they and their co-nationals are facing (cognitive dimension).&nbsp; Bering in mind the importance of competences mentioned before. This short-scale quantitative study set out to classify the perceptions that a group of student-teachers had on Colombia, their cultural identity, and Colombians&rsquo; cultural identity in general. To that end, one oral and two written short narratives along with a final questionnaire were collected and analysed using Atlas TI. 8 and Excell spreadsheets. The counting and classification of prominent speech parts that conveyed perceptions (nouns, nouns plus adjectives and adjective per se) unveiled that participants held quite optimistic views on their nation, particularly in cultural, natural, geographic, and culinary aspects. It was also revealed that student-teachers had a high appreciation of themselves culturally speaking, praising their personality and mood as most important features. Furthermore, it was unveiled that participants held a positive view about their compatriots, highlighting their personality, mood, and character. It is important to remark that positive views about own identity were much higher than general views on Colombians.

The Importance of Using Hashtags on Raising Awareness about Social Issues

Hashtags are a great way for people to search for topics on social networks that have a common theme. This study tried to explore the importance and power of hashtags that have gained popularity, on raising awareness about social issues. 252 participants (118 males and 134 females) participated in this study. In order to collect data, a questionnaire survey was used. The final questionnaire consisted of 20 items. It was a 4-point Likert scale: (1) Strongly disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Agree, (4) Strongly agree. Means, standard deviations, a t-test and degrees were scored to analyze the participants’ responses to the items of questionnaire. The results revealed that the overall degree of the expected benefits of using hashtags on raising the awareness about social events was high. Moreover, the results also revealed that there were no statistically significant differences, regarding gender (male and female).

LOCAL ANAESTHETIC SYSTEMIC TOXICITY AWARENESS AMONG CLINICAL PRACTITIONERS

Objective: to assess comprehension of local anaesthetic systemic toxicity among clinical practitioners. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Tertiary Care Institute, from Dec 2019 to Mar 2020. Methodology: Methodology constituted of a web-based questionnaire. A pilot study carried out at 15-20 participants forquestionnaire validation and reviewed by independent experts for face validity, a final questionnaire comprised of 10 multiple-choice questions in addition to demographic profile. Results: A total of 950 participants participated in the study and data was extracted from their responses. Out of 738 (77.8%) participants declared that they are unaware of local anaesthetic systemic toxicity complication, 26 (2.7%) encountered local anaesthetic systemic toxicity and 185 (19.5%) never experienced. Ninety (9.5%) were aware of the availability and utilization of 'Lipid Emulsion' therapy to treat ‘Local Anaesthetic Systemic Toxicity’ (LAST). Conclusion: Although clinicians have significant awareness level regarding local anaesthetic toxicity but unfortunately compliance with management of this life-threatening complication is deficient.

Development and validation of the disease - specific problems questionnaire for patients with multiple sclerosis

Background Patients with multiple sclerosis face numerous problems during their lifetime. A self-report measurement of disease - specific problems is required to be developed for patients with multiple sclerosis based on different cultural factors. Accordingly, this can advance our understanding on the disease-specific problems for care planning as well as improving coping ways and quality of life. This study aimed to develop and validate the scale of disease-specific problems of Multiple Sclerosis. Methods This was an exploratory sequential mixed method study conducted in three phases. Correspondingly, in the first phase, the concept of disease-specific problems was defined using the content analysis approach in patients with MS. In the second phase, the item pool was generated from the findings of the first phase, and in the third phase, psychometric properties of the scale, including face, content, and construct validity and reliability, were evaluated. Results After examining both validity and reliability, 28 items were developed in the final questionnaire. As well, by performing the factor analysis, five factors were revealed as follows: physical problems, psychological problems, emotional problems, family problems, and socio-economic problems. Internal consistency and stability of the questionnaire were calculated as 0.82 and 0.90, respectively, indicating an excellent reliability. Conclusion The 28-item questionnaire is valid and reliable for measurement of level of disease - specific problems in Iranian people with MS.

Developing Personal Resilience Questionnaire for rural doctors: an indigenous approach study in Indonesia

Background Resilience is recognized as a critical component of well-being and is an essential factor in coping with stress. There are issues of using a standardized resilience scale developed for one cultural population to be used in the different cultural populations. This study aimed to create a specific measurement scale for measuring doctors’ resilience levels in the rural Indonesian context. Method A total of 527 rural doctors and health professional educators joined this study (37 and 490 participants in the pilot studies and the survey, respectively). An indigenous psychological approach was implemented in linguistic and cultural adaptation and validation of an existing instrument into the local Indonesian rural health context. A combined method of back-translation, committee approach, communication with the original author, and exploratory qualitative study in the local context was conducted. The indigenous psychological approach was implemented in exploring the local context and writing additional local items. Result The final questionnaire consisted of six dimensions and 30 items with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α ranged 0.809–0.960 for each dimension). Ten locally developed items were added to the final questionnaire as a result of the indigenous psychological approach. Conclusion An indigenous psychological approach may enrich the linguistic and cultural adaptation and validation process of an existing scale.