Physician Communication Skills: Results of a Survey of General/Family Practitioners in Newfoundland

Purpose: To describe the attitudes related to communication skills, confidence in using commnication skills, and use of communication skills during the physician-patient encounter among a population-based sample of family physicians. Procedures: A mailed survey, distributed to all family physicians and general practitioners currently practicing in Newfoundland. The questionnaire was designed to collect data in five general areas participant demographics, physician confidence in using specific communication strategies, perceived adequacy of time spent by physicians with their patients, physician use of specific communication strategies with the adult patients they saw in the prior week, and physician use of specific communication strategies during the closing minutes of the encounters they had with adult patients in the prior week. Main Findings: A total of 160 completed surveys was received from practicing family physicians/general practitioners in Newfoundland, yielding an adjusted response rate of 43.1%. Most of the respondents (83.8%) indicated their communication skills are as important as technical skills in terms of achieving positive patient outcomes. Between one-third and one-half of the respondents, depending on the educational level queried, rated their communications skills training as being inadequate. Fewer than 20% of the respondents rated the communications skills training they received as being excellent. Physicians indicated a need to improve their use of 8 of 13 specific communication strategies during patient encounters, and reported using few communication strategies during the closing minutes of the encounter. Interactions that occurred during a typical encounter tended to focus on biomedical versus psychosocial issues. Conclusions: Family physicians/general practitioners recognize a need to improve their commnications skills. Well-designed communications skills training programs should be implemented at multi-levels of physician training in order to improve patient satisfaction with their encounters with family/general practitioners, and to increase the likelihood of positive patient outcomes

Older patients\u27 attitudes to general practice registrars: a qualitative study

Background Research suggests that older patients may be reluctant to engage general practice registrars (GPRs) in their care. The authors undertook a qualitative study of the attitudes of older patients to GPRs to investigate this issue. Method Thirty-eight patients aged 60 years and over from three training practices participated in semistructured telephone interviews, which explored patients responses to GPRs. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a template analysis approach. Results Analysis of the interviews produced five major themes concerning patient attitudes to GPRs: desire for continuity, desire for access, openness, trust and a desire for meaningful communication. Discussion Older patients attitudes to GPRs cannot be viewed in isolation from their relationship with their usual general practitioner, and this needs to be taken into account when engaging GPRs in the care of older patients. Systems need to be developed to maintain relational and informational continuity with older patients\u27 regular GPs

Principles And Practices Fostering Inclusive Excellence: Lessons From The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Capstone Institutions

Best-practices pedagogy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) aims for inclusive excellence that fosters student persistence. This paper describes principles of inclusivity across 11 primarily undergraduate institutions designated as Capstone Awardees in Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) 2012 competition. The Capstones represent a range of institutional missions, student profiles, and geographical locations. Each successfully directed activities toward persistence of STEM students, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups, through a set of common elements: mentoring programs to build community; research experiences to strengthen scientific skill/identity; attention to quantitative skills; and outreach/bridge programs to broaden the student pool. This paper grounds these program elements in learning theory, emphasizing their essential principles with examples of how they were implemented within institutional contexts. We also describe common assessment approaches that in many cases informed programming and created traction for stakeholder buy-in. The lessons learned from our shared experiences in pursuit of inclusive excellence, including the resources housed on our companion website, can inform others’ efforts to increase access to and persistence in STEM in higher education

Avalanche Dynamics in Wet Granular Materials

We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the highest liquid contents) in which there are lasting contacts during flow, leading to coherence across the entire sample. This coherence leads to a velocity independent flow depth at high rotation rates and novel robust pattern formation in the granular surface.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures in color, REVTeX4, for smaller pdfs see http://angel.elte.hu/~tegzes/condmat.htm

Results on Plasma Focusing of High Energy Density Electron and Positron Beams

We present results from the SLAC E-150 experiment on plasma focusing of high energy density electron and, for the first time, positron beams. We also discuss measurements on plasma lens-induced synchrotron radiation, longitudinal dynamics of plasma focusing, and laser- and beam-plasma interactions.Comment: LINAC 2000 paper No. THC13, Monterey, CA. Aug.21-25,2000, 3 pages, 2 figure

Nutrition and its role in human evolution

Peer reviewedPostprin

Collimated blue light generation in rubidium vapor

We describe an experiment for generating and characterizing a beam of collimated blue light (CBL) in a rubidium vapor.Two low-power, grating-feedback diode lasers, operating at 780.2 nm (5S3/2 → 5D5/2) and 776.0 nm (5P3/2 → 5D5/2), respectively, provide step-wise excitation to the 5D excited state in rubidium. Under the right experimental conditions, cascade decay through the 6P excited state will yield a collimated blue (420-nm) beam of light with high temporal and spatial coherence. We investigate the production of a blue beam under a variety of experimental conditions and characterize the spatial coherence and spectral characteristics. This experiment provides advanced undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to investigate nonlinear optical phenomena in the laboratory and uses equipment that is commonly available in laboratories equipped to investigate diode-laser-based absorption spectroscopy in rubidium