Satisfaction with remote teaching during the first semester of the COVID-19 crisis: Psychometric properties of a scale for health students

Introduction Due to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 220 million college students in the world had to halt face-to-face teaching and migrate to what has been called Emergency Remote Teaching, using virtual media, but without adequate preparation. The way this has impacted the student body and its satisfaction with the training process is unknown and there are no instruments backed by specific validity and reliability studies for this teaching context. This is why this study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the Remote Teaching Satisfaction Scale applied to Chilean health sciences students. Method Quantitative study by means of surveys. We surveyed 1,006 health careers undergraduates chosen by convenience sampling. They came from six Chilean universities, located over a distance of 3,020 kilometers and followed 7 different careers. Women comprised the 78.53%. They answered the Remote Teaching Satisfaction Scale online to evaluate their perception of the first Emergency Remote Teaching term in 2020. Results A descriptive analysis of the items showed a moderate to positive evaluation of the teaching. The Confirmatory Factorial Analysis showed an adequate adjustment of the theoretical four factors model to the data obtained (CFI = 0.959; TLI = 0.953; RMSEA = 0.040). Correlations among factors oscillated from r = 0.21 to r = 0.69. The measurement invariance analysis supported the Configural, Metric and a partial Scalar model. Differences were found in three of the four factors when comparing the first-year students with those of later years. Finally, the Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω coefficients were over 0.70. Discussion The results display initial psychometric evidence supporting the validity and reliability of the Remote Teaching Satisfaction Scale to assess academic satisfaction in Chilean health careers students. Likewise, it is seen that first-year students show higher satisfaction levels about the implemented teaching.

Infectious diseases related to the provision of medical care. Actual problems for health careers and patients

The article analyzes the data on blood contact infections in the world. The risks of diseases associated with the provision of medical care are shown. The analysis of the organizational and legal regulation of this issue in the Russian Federation.

EvMedEd: A Teaching Resource for Integrating Medical Examples into Evolution Education

Teaching evolution using medical examples can be a particularly effective strategy for motivating students to learn evolutionary principles, especially students interested in pursuing medical and allied health careers. Research in the area of evolutionary medicine has expanded the number of ways in which evolution informs health and disease, providing many new and less widely known contexts that can be adopted for classroom use. However, many instructors do not have time to locate or create classroom materials about evolutionary medicine. To address this need, we have created EvMedEd, a resource repository to help instructors who want to integrate more medical examples into their evolution instruction or instructors who are teaching a course on evolutionary medicine. Some resources are designed to be more appropriate for a high school or introductory biology audience, whereas others are more advanced. We encourage instructors to access this curated website and to share their own teaching materials with this community.

Corrigendum to: Widening participation of Māori and Pasifika students in health careers: evaluation of two health science academies

Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the short-term outcomes of two health science academies established by a district health board in South Auckland, New Zealand, to create a health workforce pipeline for local Māori and Pasifika students.Methods A mixed-methods approach was used, involving background discussions with key informants to generate an initial logic model of how the academies work, followed by secondary analysis of students’ records relating to retention and academic achievement, a survey of senior academy students’ interest in particular health careers and face-to-face interviews and focus groups with students, families and teachers.Results Academy students are collectively achieving better academic results than their contemporaries, although selection decisions are likely to contribute to these results. Academies are retaining students, with over 70% of students transitioning from Year 11 to Years 12 and 13. Senior students are expressing long-term ambitions to work in the health sector.Conclusions Health science academies show promise as an innovative approach to supporting Māori and Pasifika students prepare for a career in the health professions. Evaluating the long-term outcomes of the academies is required to determine their contribution to addressing inequities in the local health workforce.What is known about the topic? Despite progress in health workforce participation for underrepresented indigenous and ethnic minority groups in New Zealand, significant disparities persist. Within this context, a workforce development pipeline that targets preparation of secondary school students is recommended to address identified barriers in the pursuit of health careers.What does this paper add? We provide an evaluation of an innovative district health board initiative supporting high school students that is designed to ensure their future workforce is responsive to the needs of the local community.What are the implications for practitioners? The findings have implications for decision makers in health workforce planning regarding the benefits of investing at an early stage of the workforce development pipeline in order to build an equitable and diverse health professions workforce.

Widening participation of Māori and Pasifika students in health careers: evaluation of two health science academies

Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the short-term outcomes of two health science academies established by a district health board in South Auckland, New Zealand, to create a health workforce pipeline for local Māori and Pasifika students. Methods A mixed-methods approach was used, involving background discussions with key informants to generate an initial logic model of how the academies work, followed by secondary analysis of students’ records relating to retention and academic achievement, a survey of senior academy students’ interest in particular health careers and face-to-face interviews and focus groups with students, families and teachers. Results Academy students are collectively achieving better academic results than their contemporaries, although selection decisions are likely to contribute to these results. Academies are retaining students, with over 70% of students transitioning from Year 11 to Years 12 and 13. Senior students are expressing long-term ambitions to work in the health sector. Conclusions Health science academies show promise as an innovative approach to supporting Māori and Pasifika students prepare for a career in the health professions. Evaluating the long-term outcomes of the academies is required to determine their contribution to addressing inequities in the local health workforce. What is known about the topic? Despite progress in health workforce participation for underrepresented indigenous and ethnic minority groups in New Zealand, significant disparities persist. Within this context, a workforce development pipeline that targets preparation of secondary school students is recommended to address identified barriers in the pursuit of health careers. What does this paper add? We provide an evaluation of an innovative district health board initiative supporting high school students that is designed to ensure their future workforce is responsive to the needs of the local community. What are the implications for practitioners? The findings have implications for decision makers in health workforce planning regarding the benefits of investing at an early stage of the workforce development pipeline in order to build an equitable and diverse health professions workforce.