Improving Confidence and Practical Skills in Plastic Surgery for Medical Students and Junior Doctors: A One-Day Session

Objectives: The current medical school curriculum offers scant exposure to plastic surgery. Medical students and junior doctors are often inadequately prepared for in-hospital placements which may impact on patient safety and quality of care. We aimed to deliver a one-day “hands-on” practical session on basic surgical skills and principles in plastic surgery, and to assess its effectiveness at improving confidence to the specialty among junior trainees. Methods: The one-day practical session covered knot tying, suturing, LA administration, skin lesion excision and local flaps, with short concurrent lectures on principles of plastic surgery. Self-assessment confidence scores were recorded before and after the course on seven domains: a) knowledge: wound assessment and management, suture selection, and concepts of flaps;b) practical skills: Handling of surgical instrument, suturing, LA administration, and skin lesion excision. Results: Thirty-five participants attended: Six core surgical trainees, fifteen foundation doctors, and fourteen medical students. The overall course satisfaction was 9.13/10. Self-assessment confidence scores in all domains significantly improved after the course (p < 0.0001). Suturing (58.6%) and skin lesion excision (74.5%) demonstrated the largest improvement. Qualitative feedback was extremely positive. Conclusions: The hands-on nature of the course offered participants great opportunities to acquire the necessary confidence and practical skills required for in-hospital placements. It is vital for students and doctors interested in a career in plastic surgery to prepare adequately for this diverse specialty, which is covered in limited depth in medical school. The need for more practical skills courses on plastic surgery for this demographic is intuitive.

Practical Activities for Developing Speaking Skills of Chinese Middle School Students

In order to develop the speaking skills of Chinese middle school students, Chinese middle school English teachers must guide the students to speak through practical speaking activities that arouse the students＇ interest, encourage the use of real language and be used with large classes.

Application Experience of Quality Feedback in Standardized Practical Skills Training for Clinicopathology Residents

In recent years,there are increasingly more standardized trainings for doctors based on the standardized training outline that is suitable for different grades.Hierarchical training has gradually formed a relatively sound training mode.In reflecting students’learning effect,there is a need for an ideal quality feedback system in the standardized practical skills training for clinical pathology residents.This feedback system can help students achieve the training objectives through understanding and grasping the learning content.

Teaching Reform of “Nursing of Traditional Chinese Medicine” Course Based on OBE Concept

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)nursing is one of the important disciplines in TCM.It is based on TCM theory and combined with modern nursing theory and technology,aiming to provide comprehensive and individualized nursing services.With the changes in the medical environment and the continuous improvement of people’s health needs,the teaching of TCM nursing is facing new challenges and opportunities.This paper aims to discuss the teaching reform of TCM nursing course based on the concept of outcome-based education(OBE)or student-centered teaching.The significance of this study is to provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for the teaching reform of TCM nursing course,and to promote the development and progress of TCM nursing education.Through the teaching reform based on OBE concept,we can better cultivate TCM nursing talents with innovative spirit and practical skills,and contribute to the development of TCM.

Farm Tourism： A Question of Gender and Competence？

This article focuses on farm-tourist hosts and who they are in terms of education and competence. Gender is a central variable in the analysis. The analysis is based on an on-line survey of 448 farm tourist businesses conducted in spring 2009. In addition, a sample of women and men hosts on 19 farm tourism enterprises is interviewed. Women are more likely to be managers of farm tourism businesses, and have higher levels of formal education than men. Men are more likely to have vocational education, local attachment and competence obtained by growing up on a farm. Level of education does not have any significant impact on turnover, profitability and expected profit. As the businesses are small-scale and developed from the farms＇ material resources, the competence required is the ability to transform the farm resources into a tourist product. This competence might be achieved not only through formal educational, but also through previous work experiences, courses, networks, advisory services and daily experience. Interviews show that the hosts refer to their vocational backgrounds as important and relevant, and they refer to their practically obtained competence rather than to their educational backgrounds.