Patient Safety Education among Chinese Medical Undergraduates: An Empirical Study

Patient safety education is conducive to medical students＇ cognition on patient safety and to improvement of medical quality and safety. Developing patient safety education for medical students is more and more widely recognized by World Health Organization and countries all over the world. However, in China, patient safety courses aiming at medical students are relatively few, and there are few reports about the effect of patient safety courses. This paper explored the influence of patient safety curriculum on medical students＇ attitude to and knowledge of patient safety. The patient safety curriculum was carried out for 2011-grade undergraduates of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The students participated in the class according to free choice. After the curriculum, the information of gender, major, attended course, attitude toward patient safety, and knowledge of laws and regulations of the 2011-grade undergraduates were collected. After rejecting invalid questionnaires, the number of undergraduates that participated in the survey was 112（61 students did not take part in the curriculum; 51 took part in）. Chi-square test was applied to analyze patient safety education＇s influence on medical students＇ attitude to patient safety and their knowledge mastery situation. The influence of patient safety education on the attitude of medical students to patient safety was not significant, but that on their knowledge of patient safety was remarkable. No matter male or female, as compared with medical students who had not accepted patient safety education, they both had a better acquisition of knowledge after having this education（for male students： 95% CI, 4.556–106.238, P〈0.001; for female students： 95% CI, 3.183–33.238, P〈0.001）. Students majoring in Western Medicine had a relatively better mastery of knowledge of patient safety after receiving patient safety education（95% CI, 6.267–76.271, P〈0.001）. Short-term patient safety education cannot change medical students＇ stereotyped cognition on matters related to patient safety, but it can effectively enhance their knowledge of laws and regulations of patient safety.

Language Attitude Education as ICC Facilitation: An Explorative Class

This paper reports the design, implementation, and outcome of an action research. The research aimed to examine and improve college students＇ attitudes towards varieties of World Englishes through a mild intervention in an intercultural communication class. Viewing education as a means to facilitate Intercultural Communication Competence （ICC）, of which language attitude was an integral part, the study designed a four-step pedagogical intervention to help students become more open and critical of their attitudes. The four pedagogical steps included language attitude elicitation, deconstruction, reconstruction, and creative solutions to communicative problems. The study found that students largely had conservative language attitudes and prejudices to start with. After the intervention, over 40% of the students acquired more open language attitudes, while some remained ambivalent about embracing linguistic diversity, and a small number of students maintained their previous conservative attitudes. Challenges of attitude change and language attitude education are discussed.

Educating Children in the Family Created in the Second Marriage in Today＇s Lithuania

Since the end of the twenty-first century, relationships in the family have been rapidly changing in Lithuania. The changes correspond to changes in the birth-rate. The former model of birth-rate which was characterized by the prevalence of legitimate children, child-bearing at a younger age and which ensured a change of generations, it was replaced by a new model characterized by having illegitimate children, the postponement of child-bearing, and low birth-rate, which does not ensure a change of generations. Although love relationships, marriage, and children are still considered to be the recognized values, these changes have affected the conception of child＇s education in the family and the perception of child as a value. It is therefore relevant to evaluate future spouses＇ preparation for a modern marriage and to constantly improve it. Such preparation is usually understood as young people＇s readiness far their first marriage. Readiness for the second marriage and child＇s education in the second family are no less important though still insufficiently explored empirically and theoretically generalized. This paper explores attitudes to child＇s education in the second marriage. The research was conducted inquiring people who wanted to create a family or establish long-term relationships. They were members of the online dating site ＂Harmonious Couple＂.