Medico-legal matters and Australian doctors : an investigation of doctors' experience of medico-legal matters, their mental health and their practice of medicine

Single location muscle monitoring does not reflect the heterogeneous activation of the muscle group(s) during a given exercise. Vastus lateralis and rectus femoris O2 consumption (VO2) was investigated, noninvasively, at rest and during maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) using a 12-channel near-infrared continuous wave spectroscopy (NIR(CWS)) system (0.1 s acquisition time). VO2 either at rest or during MVC was found to be nonuniform in the 11 out of 12 measurement sites over a surface of 8 x 8 cm2. As expected, VO2 during exercise was significantly higher than VO2 at rest (P < 0.01). However, at each muscle measurement site no difference was found between the mean values (n = 12) of VO2 measured during a 5-s intermittent MVC and the VO2 values measured during 30-s continuous MVC (P = 0.25). These results strengthen the role of NIR(CWS) as a powerful tool for investigating the spatial and temporal features of muscle oxygenation changes as well as muscle VO2

Psychometric determination of job stress in health occupations

The primary purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure stress in health occupations. The effects of job stress on productivity, health insurance utilization, workers\u27 compensation claims, and turnover cost organizations billions of dollars annually. Given that health occupations are subject to high levels of stress and that the workforce is experiencing labor shortages, healthcare organizations are especially interested in human resource development programs that deal with identifying, acknowledging, and managing occupational stress. Development of the instrument was accomplished by an extensive review of related literature, feedback from subject matter experts using the Delphi technique, pilot testing of a proposed instrument, and field-testing the instrument on a national sample. A 14-member Delphi panel examined a list of 117 stressors from a review of literature. The panel reached a consensus on 3 8 items that formed the pilot version of the scale. The pilot scale was administered to 181 RNs, 10 pharmacists, and 25 radiologic technologists working at a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Based on a factor analysis, the scale was administered to 2,000 RNs, 500 pharmacists, and 500 radiologic technologists employed by subsidiary hospitals of HCA, Inc., an international healthcare organization. The subsequent factor analysis resulted in the Health Occupations Stress Scale consisting of 18 items and 4 subscales

Intelligent computing applications based on eye gaze : their role in mammographic interpretation training

Early breast cancer in women is best identified through high quality mammographic screening. This is achieved by well trained health professionals and appropriate imaging. Traditionally this has used X-ray film but is rapidly changing to utilise digital imaging with the resultant mammograms visually examined on high resolution clinical workstations. These digital images can also be viewed on a range of display devices, such as standard computer monitors or PDAs. In this thesis the potential of using such non-clinical workstation display devices for training purposes in breast screening has been investigated. The research introduces and reviews breast screening both in the UK and internationally where it concentrates upon China which is beginning screening. Various imaging technologies used to examine the breast are described, concentrating upon the move from using X-ray film to digital mammograms. Training in screening in the UK is detailed and it is argued that there is a need to extend this. Initially, a national survey of all UK mammography screeners within the National Health Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) was undertaken. This highlighted the current main difficulties of mammographic (film) interpretation training being tied to the device for inspecting these images. The screeners perceived the need for future digital imaging training that could be outside the breast screening centre; namely 3W training (Whatever training required, Whenever and Wherever). This is largely because the clinical workstations would logistically not be available for training purposes due to the daily screening demand. Whilst these workstations must be used for screening and diagnostic purposes to allow visualisation of very small detail in the images, it is argued here that training to identify such features can be undertaken on other devices where there is not the time constraints that exist during breast screening. A series of small pilot studies were then undertaken, trialling experienced radiologists with potential displays (PDAs and laptops) for mammographic image examination. These studies demonstrated that even on a PDA small mammographic features could be identified, albeit with difficulty, even with a very limited HCI manipulation tool. For training purposes the laptop, studied here with no HCI tool, was supported. Such promising results of display acceptability led to an investigation of mammographic inspection on displays of various sizes and resolutions. This study employed radiography students, potentially eventual screeners, who were eye tracked as they examined images on various sized displays. This showed that it could be possible to use a small PDA to deliver training. A detailed study then investigated whether aspects of an expert radiologist s visual inspection behaviour could be used to develop various training approaches. Four approaches were developed and examined using naïve observers who were eye tracked as they were trained and tested. The approaches were found to be all feasible to implement but of variable usefulness for delivering mammographic interpretation training; this was confirmed by opinions from a focus group of screeners. On the basis of the previous studies, over a period of eight months, a large scale study involving 15 film readers from major breast screening centres was conducted where they examined series of digital mammograms on a clinical workstation, monitor and an iPhone. Overall results on individuals performance, image manipulation behaviour and visual search data indicated that a standard monitor could be employed successfully as an alternative for the digital workstation to deliver on-demand mammographic interpretation training using the full mammographic case images. The small iPhone, elicited poor performance, and was therefore judged not suitable for delivering training with the software employed here. However, future software developments may well overcome its shortcomings. The potential to implement training in China was examined by studying the current skill level of some practicing radiologists and an examination of how they responded to the developed training approaches. Results suggest that such an approach would be also applicable in other countries with different levels of screening skills. On-going further work is also discussed: the improvement of performance evaluation in mammography; new visual research on other breast imaging modalities and using visual search with computer aided detection to assist mammographic interpretation training.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

OPTIMAX 2018 - a focus on education in radiology

This year, OPTIMAX was warmly welcomed byUniversity College Dublin. For the sixth timestudents and teachers from Europe, South Africa,South America and Canada have come togetherenthusiastically to do research in the Radiographydomain. As in previous years, there were severalresearch groups consisting of PhD-, MSc- and BScstudents and tutors from the OPTIMAX partnerUniversities or on invitation by partner Universities.OPTIMAX 2018 was partly funded by the partnerUniversities and partly by the participants. This year, five research projects were performed witha focus on education on dose- and image qualityoptimization. The research projects were:CT Simulation as an Active learning toolRedesigning a Radiography Practical ActiveLearning SpaceDoes Radiographer Training Across Europe AlterImage Viewing Patterns and Decisions?An Investigation into the Use of Lead ShieldingProtection in Abdominal RadiographyInter-user Variability in DXA Scanning andAnalysis The summer school was concluded with a postersession and a conference, where the researchteams presented their results. All five abstracts weresubmitted to the European congress of Radiology(ECR) and, when accepted, will be presented by thestudents as posters, or oral presentations. This book comprises of two sections, the first sectioncontains several chapters about new educationalapplications for Radiology Education. The secondsection contains the research papers of the fiveresearch projects. Steering committee OPTIMAX 2018 Hogg P, School of Health Sciences, University ofSalford, Greater Manchester, United KingdomBuissink C, Department of Medical Imaging andRadiation Therapy, Hanze University of AppliedSciences, Groningen, The NetherlandsAandahl I, Department of Life Sciences andHealth, Oslomet, Oslo, NorwayJorge J, Haute École de Santé Vaud – Filiè TRM,University of Applied Sciences and Arts ofWestern Switzerland, Lausanne, SwitzerlandO’Conner M, University College Dublin, Dublin,Irelan