Objective To investigate the current status of higher education of allied health professions (AHPs), professional human resource as well as the career development of allied health professionals, and to provide references for the planning of higher education of AHPs in China. Methods Literature was reviewed in relation to the current status of higher education of AHPs and professional human resource in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the career development conditions of allied health professionals. Results a) Currently, the higher education of AHPs in China was faced with such problems as a limited scale, a lower structural level, and an absent degree system. b) The number of allied health professionals was small with lower qualifications. Higher-end professionals were in shortage. C) The professionals saw multiples glass ceilings over career orientation, academic advancement, and professional entitlement. Conclusion Efforts should be made to expand the scale of higher education of AHPs, elevate degree structure, and to construct a professional education system with multiple layers and categories. The professional education should be combined with the career development for planning and collaboration to provide assurance for the career development of the professional in China.
In West China Medical School of Sichuan University, the practice and exploration of the medical curriculum construction of "inquiry-class" teaching mode has been implemented with the support of the school since the spring semester of 2013. As a result a series of achievements have been made through the recruitment of graduate assistants to participate in auxiliary teaching in the mode of "large class teaching - small group discussion", as well as the reform of assessment methods and implementation of formative evaluation plus building effective assessment and management mechanism for curriculum.
The teaching of Clinical Pharmacology plays a very important role in medical education. In this article, we introduce our exploration and practice in Clinical Pharmacology course in West China Hospital of Sichuan University, which combines Good Clinical Practice with teaching methods such as problem-based learning and case-based learning. Furthermore, we analyze the actual effects in optimizing teaching content, renewing teaching mode, and improving teachers’ teaching ability, etc. We hope this article could provide new ideas for the teaching reform of undergraduate Clinical Pharmacology course.
诊断学是临床医学的基础和入门，是习得临床执业风格最重要的环节。如何在诊断学学习阶段，夯实学生基本理论和技能，培养其科学缜密的临床思维能力，是各医学院校共同面对的课题和挑战。互动参与式教学摒弃传统单一的被动式、灌输式的教学模式，强调以学生为主体，赋予学生协作性、参与性的教学诉求，加强内在激励，激发其主观能动性和创造力。根据诊断学不同教学模块的课程目标、内容和知识结构，有机地将互动参与式教学法应用于诊断学教学中：问诊-角色扮演，查体-示教与实践学习，症状学-小讲课、小组讨论、床旁实践，临床思维-案例分析，职业素养-小组讨论、角色扮演、床旁实践、辩论演讲等。策略得当地将互动参与式教学的理念、元素、方法应用于诊断学教学中，符合临床医学教学实践性强的特点，遵循个体认知规律，符合外部和内在发展并重的教学效果的深层考量，具备良好的教学容量和一定的普适性，值得在临床医学教学中推广运用。
ObjectiveTo discuss the present situation of emergency physicians' communicational ability and the intervention measures. MethodsWe investigated 66 students who participated in continuing medical education of "emergency physicians' communication skills training course" from 2010 to 2013. All students accepted systematic training. After the training, we did the investigation again, and then made a comparison before and after the training. ResultsA major 78.8% of the students in this training had never taken part in the training of communication skills before; 51.5% of the students thought that the improvement of communication ability could be achieved mainly through long-term accumulation of clinical experiences. Students' self-evaluation showed that communication problem occurred 2 times a year in 10.6% of them, 3 times in 22.7%, 4 times in 24.2%, and five or more times in 34.8%. Students' role playing score in the scenario training rose from 5.374±0.686 to 6.717±0.517 after the training, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.024). ConclusionEmergency physicians lack knowledge of communication skills which needs to be improved. Through training, the skills can be improved significantly.
Objective To explore teaching effects of case-based learning (CBL) in abdominal physical examination in diagnostics. Methods Among 83 undergraduates in grade 2007 and in major of 8-year clinical medicine were randomly divided into two groups. Under the same conditions, 41 in the CBL group were taught with CBL method, while the other 42 in the control group were taught with traditional teaching method. Their scores in standard patient (SP) practice assessment of abdominal physical examination, examination of abnormal abdominal signs, ability to analyze and write medical records, and right answers to abdominal examination in final exam were compared. Meanwhile, questionnaire surveys were distributed to them after class. Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in the scores of SP practice assessment or medical record writing and analyzing, but the CBL group was obviously superior to the control group in the tests of abnormal abdominal signs and the right answers to abdominal examination in final exam (Plt;0.05). The questionnaire surveys revealed that the CBL group obviously scored higher in the following 3 items: increase the learning interest and commitment, strengthen the ability to analyze and solve problems, and improve the ability to combine theory and practice (Plt;0.05). Conclusion CBL method has an obvious advantage to improve the teaching quality in abdominal physical examination in diagnostics.