Objective Based on the acquirable and optimized evidences at present, to explore the challenge and countermeasures for the development of nursing discipline in China, and to provide suggestions for promoting the construction of nursing discipline, platform, and talent team. Methods The study materials were searched in the following electronic databases including PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP and CBM, as well as in the official websites of World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses (ICN), World Bank, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China, and the domestic universities, colleges or technical secondary schools. Then the statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 13.0 and Microsoft Excel software. Results a) By 2012, there were 855 nursing schools, 38 212 nursing undergraduates enrolled in universities, and 130 837 nursing students enrolled in junior colleges and senior vocational schools; b) The doctor-to-nurse ratio was 1 to 0.9 in 2010. The actual demand for doctors was 2.6 million, and there were still lack of 346 000 nurses; c) The age of nurses younger than 35 years old accounted for 50%. Those with primary professional title accounted for 64% to 69%, while less than 2.5% with advanced professional title; d) The training cost for a doctor and nurse/midwife in China only accounted for 2/5 of that in India and 1/5 to 1/4 in the sub-Sahara Africa; and e) To date, only 30.1% of disaster nursing studies in China provided research data, 30.6% were clinical experience and 38.3% were review. Conclusion Education and health systems need to be extensively reformed. It is necessary to train nursing students with core competencies using transformative learning. It is necessary to update textbooks and teaching methods, and funding should be appropriately increased. Nursing should cooperate with other disciplines, and apply evidence-based nursing methods to improve the quality of healthcare services and patient satisfaction.
Objective To study the current situation of doctor-patient communication education for medical undergraduates, and meanwhile to analyze the students’ satisfactory degree to communication education and its influencing factors, so as to provide sound suggestions to promote the students’ clinical communication abilities. Methods Using simple sampling, 50% of the students who majored in clinical medicine in grade 2006-2009 in West China Medical School of Sichuan University were selected as respondents. The investigation was conducted by face to face talk with a self-designed questionnaire. The data were input using EpiData 3.0 software and the results were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software. Results A total of 450 questionnaires were distributed, and 404 were validly retrieved (89.78%). Among the respondents, 74.3% of them were satisfied with the current situation of doctor-patient communication education; 75.7% of them begun to know doctor-patient communication education since the stage of learning basic knowledge; 49.8% of them were trained by means of problem-based-learning (PBL); and 65.5% of them were trained with auxiliary standardized patient (SP). “Grade”, “Gender”, “SP used” and “PBL used” were the main factors affecting the satisfactory degree to current doctor-patient communication education (P=0.029, 0.023, 0.012, and 0.029, respectively). Conclusion The medical undergraduates’ satisfactory degree to current doctor-patient communication education is generally high, but it is also affected by various factors. Although doctor-patient communication education has started early, the training system is still problematic and the teaching resources coverage is limited. So in order to make a further systematic, standardized, overall designed education for students’ cognition and communication skills, the medical colleges should open integrated doctor-patient communication curriculum that combines with both PBL and SP auxiliary teaching methods, and covers all the undergraduate learning stage.
The health status, health needs and demands as well as the concept of health itself have changes dramatically in the last one hundred years, the organizational and institutional evolutions of health system took place accordingly. To adapt the changes of health system, medical education has experienced three generations of major reform in the last century: the science-based curricula, problem-based instruction, system-based and competence-oriented education. At the same time the organization of medical education evolved from academic medicine to academic health center to academic health system. This article briefly describes the process of this evolution and presents author’s personal views on academic health system.
Objective To investigate the effects of evidence-based medicine (EBM) course on clinical medical students and to propose teaching advice. Methods Using a predesigned questionnaire, we conducted an investigation on the literature retrieval, knowledge of EBM terms, and subject attitude of clinical 5-year and 7-year medical students before and after EBM course, and then an interview was performed to collect the opinions of the students. Data was statistically analyzed. Results After the course, average reading time and frequency of literature retrieval increased significantly compared to the situation before EBM course (Plt;0.05). Knowledge levels of main EBM terms related to practice increased significantly (Plt;0.05). 5-year medical students’ ability of literature appraisal also increased (Plt;0.05). In this interview, these students suggested that course time of literature retrieval and screening should increase and medical statistics should be reviewed. Conclusion Through the study of EBM course, both knowledge and attitude of students changed a lot, and combining case teaching with EBM course has a better teaching effect. Learning the concepts and techniques of EBM for clinical medical students can help them apply medical research evidence correctly in clinical practice, and train their self-learning ability.
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.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness of empowerment education in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods Databases including The Cochrane Library (Issue 12, 2012), PubMed, Ovid, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, digital journals of the Chinese Medical Association and Google Scholar were electronically searched for the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on empowerment education in patients with type 2 diabetes from inception to January 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results A total of seven RCTs involving 749 Type 2 diabetic patients were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, the empowerment education group was better in decreasing HbA1c levels, with a significant difference (MD= –0.27, 95%CI –0.51 to –0.03, P=0.03), but no significant difference was found between the two groups in improving body mass index (BMI) (MD= 0.25, 95%CI –1.07 to 1.57, P=0.71). Conclusion The program of empowerment education could improve HbA1c levels of diabetic patients, patients’ knowledge and illness attitudes on diabetes mellitus, but its influence on patients’ BMI, LDL and self-efficacy is still unclear.
Objective To assess the effectiveness of intensive versus routine education on diabetes mellitus for preventing diabetic foot ulcer. Methods We electronically searched CENTRAL (Issue 1, 2013), PubMed (1978-2013), EMbase (1978-2013), VIP (1989-2013) and WanFang Data (1980-2013), hand-searched correlated proceedings and retrieved the references of included studies, for the randomized controlled trials on intensive versus routine education on diabetes mellitus for preventing diabetic foot ulcer all over the world. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results Twelve trials involving 1 841 patients were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: a) the incidence of diabetic foot ulcer in the intensive education group was lower than the routine group, with a significant difference (RR=0.51, 95%CI 0.30 to 0.84, P=0.008); b) two groups were alike in the amputation rate, with no significant difference (OR=0.54, 95%CI 0.17 to 1.67, P=0.28); and c) the score of knowledge on diabetes mellitus was higher in the intensive education group than in the routine education group, with a significant difference (MD=7.32, 95%CI 3.57 to 11.06, P=0.000 1). Conclusion Current evidence shows that: compared with routine education, intensive education could reduce the incidence of diabetic foot ulcer effectively. However, the above conclusion should be verified by conducting more high quality studies.
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.
Objective To learn and evaluate the effect of health education of schistosomiasis in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, so as to provide scientific basis for establishing the comprehensive prevention and control model in potential epidemic area of schistosomiasis. Methods Through adopting the multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method, the questionnaires were distributed to residents selected randomly from the demonstration, inside and outside control areas. The survey data were input with EpiData 3.0 software by two reviewers, and the differences among groups were analyzed by using SPSS 18.0 software to further evaluate the effect of health education of schistosomiasis. Results All the questionnaires distributed to 1 420 residents were retrieved (100%). The results of analysis showed that for the residents in the demonstration area, the average score of being aware of schistosomiasis prevention was (7.51±2.89), which was markedly higher than those in the inside (2.52±2.97) and the outside (3.13±3.51) control areas, with significant differences (Plt;0.05); and the passing rates were 78.15%, which was also obviously higher than those in the inside (17.26%) and the outside control areas (32.16%), with significant differences (Plt;0.05). Conclusion The health education of schistosomiasis can improve residents’ knowledge about schistosomiasis prevention, and it is very important to prevent and control the potential prevalence of schistosomiasis in the Three Gorges Area.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching evidence-based medicine (EBM). Methods 1. Introducing EBM teaching material in Chinese. 2. Offering EBM course in medical college of Sichuan University. 3. Problem-based,self-directed teaching methods. 4. A variety of test method. Results 36 Cochrane systematic review titles were registered, 17 Cochrane systematic review protocols were published in Cochrane Library, 6 Cochrane systematic reviews were published in Cochrane Library. 62 EBM research papers were published on Chinese Journal of EBM. Feedback of teaching EBM from postgraduates: 77.6%, 22.4% postgraduates consider this EBM course is very helpful and helpful for them respectively; 14.3%, 80% postgraduates achieve completely the goal and achieve the goal in greater part by this EBM course respectively; the reason of not achieving the goal is a lack of time to read and attend the course. 61.2%-80% and 16.3%-32.7% postgraduates consider the teaching contents is very good and good respectively; 61.2%-75.5% and 12.3%-28.6% postgraduates consider this teaching model is very good and good respectively; 44.9% postgraduates hope to increase hours of EBM course, increase discusses, increase EBM practice in future; 10.2% postgraduates consider the questions of test are hard to solve. Conclusion This EBM course is effective.