Attitudes of medical students to HIV and AIDS

OBJECTIVE--To assess the knowledge and attitudes of medical students to HIV/AIDS and whether attitudes correlate with knowledge and clinical experience. To determine if students felt adequately prepared to deal with medical and psychological aspects of HIV/AIDS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS--The subjects consisted of 190 London and 99 Cambridge medical students at the end of their genitourinary medicine attachment, plus 230 Cambridge medical students at the end of their second pre-clinical year. Between March 1991 and February 1992 all were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire, covering factual knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. MAIN RESULTS--Cambridge genitourinary medicine students, despite spending less time studying HIV infection than their London counterparts gave more correct answers to the factual questions, although this difference did not reach significance (52.4% vs. 47.5%, p = 0.14). One third of students believed that many health care workers were at high risk of acquiring HIV at work and one fifth thought doctors should have the right to refuse to treat people with HIV. Fourteen percent of Cambridge genitourinary medicine students indicated that most British people with HIV have only themselves to blame, by comparison with 4% of London students (p = 0.003). Thirty-nine per cent of Cambridge genitourinary medicine students expressed reluctance to care for someone with AIDS by comparison with 10% of London students (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS--It is important that medical educators convey accurate information about HIV, including the actual risks posed by occupational exposure and try to ensure that medical students spend sufficient time seeing patients with HIV/AIDS during their training.     

The views of medical students and junior doctors on pre-graduate clinical teaching

A total of 277 third and fourth year medical students and 304 house officers and senior house officers were asked to prioritise the content and methods of clinical teaching. Response rates were poor, but similar to that in market surveys. Bedside teaching and medical clerking were considered the most valuable methods of teaching and training in practical procedures such as venepunctures and urinary catheterisation was seen as valuable. The design of new curricula in medical education will need to accommodate the views of its clients.     

Disability and the law: Attitudes of police, lawyers, and mental health professionals.

A literature review on the attitudes of police officers, lawyers, and mental health professionals toward the disabled indicates that police officers' attitudes are related to the extent of their formal education and the amount of information they have about relating to persons with various types of disabilities. Lawyers who have disabled clients tend to be more knowledgeable and to have more positive attitudes than lawyers without such clients, but it is not easy to turn lawyers into advocates for disabled clients. Mental health professionals, who may be called on to provide advice to police officers or lawyers or to testify in court cases, have some negative aspects that may impair their helpfulness, but their attitudes are more positive than those of less educated persons. Data also indicate that the attitudes of psychologists are less negative than those of psychiatrists. It is concluded that rehabilitation psychologists need to undertake studies of the attitudes of these groups and to set up programs designed to change the attitudes of members of these professions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elective experiences in family medicine for medical students

A new technique to insert acupuncture needles into the tissue without touching the needle with the fingers of the acupuncturist was developed by the authors. It is easy to perform and completely eliminates the problem of contamination. The bending of the needle is less frequent and the pain sensation of the patient is also minimized.     

Attitudes toward abortion in Thailand: a survey of senior medical students

A majority of senior Thai medical students favored induced abortion in many circumstances not now considered legal. While 20 percent would not perform abortions for any reason, many of these would refer cases to colleagues. Independent variables consistently and significantly influencing attitudes conservatively were: female sex, certain medical schools attended, larger ideal family size, intention not to teach in a medical school as a career, having a father in unskilled or semiskilled or work, never having witnessed an illegal abortion, and never having been asked to find an abortion practitioner for a friend. A random reordering of the questions did not affect reports of attitudes toward or willingness to perform induced abortion.     

Attitudes of family physicians to alternative medicine]

80 Israeli family physicians (51.25% men and 48.75% women) participated in a telephone survey concerning attitudes, practices and experience with alternative medicine. 23.75% reported practicing 1 or more alternative techniques, most commonly acupuncture (28%) and hypnotherapy (24%). 55% had referred at least 1 patient to an alternative practitioner during the preceding month. Physicians who studied in Israel or Western countries referred more patients than graduates of medical schools of Eastern Europe. Specialists referred patients more often than residents. The most common reason for referral was back pain.     

A human-centered approach to medical informatics for medical students, residents, and practicing clinicians

The authors have developed a curriculum in medical informatics that focuses on practical problems in clinical medicine, rather than on the details of informatics technologies. Their development of this human-centered curriculum was guided by the identification of six key clinical challenges that must be addressed by practitioners in the near future and by an examination of the failures of past informatics efforts to make a significant difference in the everyday practice of clinical medicine. Principles of human factors engineering--the body of knowledge about those human abilities, limitations, and characteristics that are relevant to design--are an essential part of this curriculum. Human factors engineering also provides the necessary perspective, as well as the concrete knowledge and methods, that can enable practitioners to properly evaluate their clinical information needs, weight the merits of proposed technology-based solutions, and understand their own inherent performance limitations.     

Multimedia to teach urology to medical students

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that an interactive multimedia-based computer application may be used to teach urology to undergraduate medical students. METHODS: Third-year medical students rotating on their urology clerkship were studied. Student knowledge was measured with a multiple choice test administered in a pretest-post-test experimental design. The educational intervention was a multimedia-based application that presented a clinical module on hematuria, using natural language-like entries. Student attitudes toward the multimedia application were assessed by a survey. RESULTS: Twenty-three consecutive third-year medical students participated. Mean pretest and post-test scores +/- standard deviation were 35%+/-11% versus 74%+/-17%, respectively, P<0.0001. Student questionnaire responses indicated highly positive opinions that the multimedia-based module was easy to use, was fun, provided natural patient responses, had clear exercises, provided immediate feedback, was educational, and had a nonthreatening format, and that the multiple choice questions were clear and fair. CONCLUSIONS: Multimedia-based education may be used to teach urology to undergraduate medical students.     

Making law therapeutic for lawyers: Therapeutic jurisprudence, preventive law, and the psychology of lawyers.

The integration of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) with preventive law (PL) offers a uniquely satisfying and humanistic way of practicing law. The author uses the psychological data on the personality characteristics of lawyers to argue that TJ/PL is particularly well suited for lawyers with certain personality traits atypical of lawyers generally. These traits reflect altruistic, humanistic, or interpersonally oriented values; 2 of these atypical traits have been empirically linked to career dissatisfaction among lawyers. Because of the pervasiveness of the problem of lawyer job dissatisfaction, solutions are needed. TJ/PL is more than simply an alternative way of practicing law; it may actually hold the key to solving some of the problems currently besieging the legal profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

How to teach literature to medical students?

A pair of monozygotic twins suffering from noisy respirations and recurrent wheezes since early infancy were referred for evaluation. Using direct coronal CT and 3-dimensional reconstruction of the airway, congenital tracheobronchial stenosis was found in both twin babies, later confirmed by fibre optic bronchoscopy. The cause of congenital tracheobronchial stenosis remains obscure, but even in monozygotic twins an unidentified environmental factor cannot be excluded and may be responsible for discordant bronchopulmonary abnormalities. CONCLUSION: This case report shows that tracheobronchial stenosis may present in monozygotic twins. The pattern of malformation in twins differs from cases described previously.     

Health protection: Attitudes and behaviors and LPNs, teachers, and college students.

Examined the relationship between health attitudes and a health-protective behavior (HPB) construct developed by D. M. Harris and S. Guten (See PA, Vol 64:1462), using 50 college students, 33 licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and 28 high school teachers. Ss were aged 17–58 yrs. They rated 30 health-protective activities in terms of importance (attitude) and frequency (behavior). There was reasonably high consistency between attitudes and behaviors in all 3 groups. Two dimensions of HPB accounted for 57% of the variance: degree of effectiveness and amount of effort. Although students emphasized effectiveness and teachers used both dimensions equally, LPNs tended to consider only effort. Group differences were related to health orientation. Implications for patient–provider communication, treatment adherence, and understanding of health behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching medical students about the appropriateness of social and sexual contact between doctors and their patients: evaluation of a programme

Children exposed to traumatic stress are vulnerable to a variety of stress-related disorders other than classical post-traumatic stress disorder. Several case histories are presented to illustrate some of the diversity of how traumatic stress may manifest in children. African-American children are the main focus of this article as political, economic, social, and morbidity and mortality indicators suggest that African-American children are at high risk for exposure to potentially traumatic stressors. Different presentations of traumatic, stress are discussed in an effort to broaden our understanding of the outcome of traumatic stress to fully help traumatized children.     

Attitudes towards suicide among medical students: comparison between Madras (India) and Vienna (Austria)

Twenty-two nitroso compounds with cyano, acyloxy, or carbonyl groups in geminal position were prepared, eight of them for the first time. In the solid state these compounds dimerize to colorless azodioxides. Exceptions are the 4-nitrobenzoyloxynitroso compounds 7b, f, and g which form bright blue crystals. In vitro (Born test, collagen) considerable antiplatelet activity was observed in each class of compounds. Azodioxides with cyano groups in geminal position (3a, b) were most active (IC50 approximately 10 microM) suggesting the importance of strong electron withdrawing groups in geminal position to the azodioxide partial structure. When administered orally to rats (60 mg/kg) all compounds inhibited the thrombus formation in mesenteric arterioles and venules. The acetyloxy derivatives 5d and 5e were most active (18-21% inhibition in arterioles and 11-15% inhibition in venules). In aqueous media at 37 degrees C the cyanonitroso compound 3b and the benzoyloxynitroso compound 7a decomposed to nitric oxide and its reduced form nitrosohydrogen. This suggests that the above pharmacological effects are mediated by a NO dependent mechanism.     

Targeting medical students to promote women in surgery

The under-representation of women in surgical subspecialities is a well-aired topic. Most efforts to redress the surgical gender balance have, to date, been directed at opportunities for women in surgical training. We report on a one-day symposium organized by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh to promote interest in taking up a surgical career, aimed at senior women medical students and newly qualified doctors. Although 130 of the attendees who were surveyed did not change their opinion about the four most off-putting aspects of a surgical career, the symposium succeeded in increasing the appeal of a surgical career in 50%, apparently by the intensive exposure to a large and varied sample of female surgical role models.     

Attitudes of health care providers and students towards tattooed people

Attitudes of health care providers and medical and nursing students (n = 513) towards tattooed adults and adolescents were examined. No respondent group had mean scores reflecting a positive attitude towards tattooed persons. Overall, physicians (MDs) and registered nurses (RNs) rated tattooed people less positively than did students. Womens' attitudes were consistently less favourable than those of men, especially towards tattooed professional women. Attitudes towards tattooed adolescents were generally less positive than attitudes towards the adult groups. Research has found that negative attitudes impact patient care. This study suggests that tattooed persons, especially adolescents, may be at risk of being negatively perceived when they seek health care. Increased efforts are needed to assure that those with tattoos receive non-judgemental and sensitive care.     

Evaluation of a method to teach cardiothoracic surgery to medical students

This report describes a method to teach undergraduate students the knowledge base and skills needed to maximize the educational value of a subsequent cardiothoracic surgical clerkship. Sixty-three fourth year medical students underwent a structured teaching programme in which groups of five students rotated through a series of six teaching stations. Subject material, presented during 20 min at each station, covered the key issues relating to coronary artery disease, congenital heart disease, chest trauma, lung cancer, prosthetic heart valves, pacemakers, thoracic sepsis and dysphagia. Group knowledge increased significantly (P < 0.001) from a mean mark of 23% (s.d. 12) in a pre-test to a mean mark of 46% (s.d. 12) in a test conducted 1 month after the teaching. The time taken to conduct the structured teaching/assessment was 5 h compared with 32 h to run the same programme by the traditional ward tutorial system. The dollar cost to stage the structured teaching was less than that to run the traditional tutorial programme. It was concluded that the teaching method is effective, economical and practical and that it has a role in an undergraduate curriculum to prepare students for clinical clerkship.