The teaching, learning and assessment of health advocacy in a South African College of Health Sciences

Health advocacy is a core competency identified by Health Professions Council of South Africa to be acquired by health professional graduates. There is a lack of information on how health advocacy (HA) is taught and assessed in health science programmes. The aim of the study was to explore the teaching, learning and assessment of HA in undergraduate health science programmes at a South African university. Methods: Curriculum mapping of eight programmes and a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with eleven key informants were conducted using a sequential mixed methods approach. Content analysis was used to analyse Curriculum Mapping data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the FGD data. Results from both data sets were triangulated. Results: Six themes emerged: Perceived importance of HA role for health practitioners; Implicit HA content in curricula; HA as an implicit learning outcome; Teaching HA in a spiral curriculum approach; Authentic Assessment of HA, and Perceived barriers to incorporation of HA into curricula. Conclusion and Recommendations: HA is perceived as an important role for health professionals but it is not explicitly taught and assessed in undergraduate health sciences programmes. Barriers to its teaching and assessment can be addressed through capacity development of academics

A pilot of the use of Short Message Service (SMS) as a training tool for anaesthesia nurses

Background: Anaesthesia nurses form a critical part of the team providing perioperative care to patients, but no accredited training exists for them in South Africa. In this setting, short in-service training interventions are a pragmatic attempt at improving nurse performance and patient outcomes. Traditional didactic teaching formats have limitations, and mLearning (the use of mobile telephones to facilitate education) has proved equivalent or superior to traditional teaching methods in several settings. Despite very high levels of mobile phone ownership amongst healthcare workers in Africa, this form of educational delivery has not been tested in the hospital-based nursing population.Methods: A telephonic true/false pre-test was performed with 12 nurses of varying levels of training, to assess their preexisting knowledge of anaesthesia. A pre-learning package was then delivered to them in the form of daily SMSs for a month, covering relevant anaesthesia content. A telephonic post-intervention test was performed to assess whether anaesthesia theory knowledge had improved.Results: Median test scores out of 30 were compared using a Wilcoxon signed rank test and were statistically higher in the postintervention test: 25 (IQR 20–26) vs. 21 (IQR 20–21.25) (p = 0.018).Conclusions: The results demonstrate an association between a cheap and widely available educational vehicle, and an increase in nurse knowledge scores. The use of mobile telephones in medical education in limited-resource settings should be explored further.Keywords: anaesthesia nurse, eLearning, mLearning, nurse education, Short Message Service (SMS

Branchenstudie Food : Kennzahlen, Struktur, Veränderungstreiber und Entwicklungspotenziale der Schweizer Lebensmittelindustrie

Korrigierte Ausgabe von https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-1126Die Lebensmittelindustrie ist nicht nur wichtig für die Versorgung der Schweiz mit Nahrungsmitteln, sie hat insgesamt für die Schweizer Volkswirtschaft eine grosse Bedeutung. Die vorliegende Studie liefert eine umfassende Definition und Analyse der wichtigsten Branchenkennzahlen und ihre Treiber. Sie verfolgt zwei Ziele: Zum einen soll die Lebensmittelindustrie anhand ihrer Umsatzentwicklung, der Exportneigung und der Bindung an den Heimmarkt beschrieben werden. Zum anderen gilt es, globale Trends, Wachstumstreiber und Entwicklungsperspektiven der Branche aufzuzeigen

Food Sector Study : Figures, Structure, Forces of Change, and Development Potential of the Swiss Food Industry

Corrected edition of https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-1125The food industry is not only important to Switzerland in terms of keeping the country fed; it is of great importance to the Swiss economy as a whole. This study provides comprehensive definition and analysis of the most important industry data and the forces which drive it. It has two objectives: Firstly, the food industry is described in terms of its sales development, propensity to export, and commitment to the domestic market. Secondly, global trends, drivers of growth, and development perspectives for the industry are identified

Impact of Water Absorptionon Dielectric Properties and Breakdown Voltage of Polymer Epoxy and Xlpe

Polymers have become an alternative option replaces the high voltage insulation materials made of ceramic and glass. The research aims to determine the dielectric characteristics of polymer insulation after water immersion for a certain period of time. The testing was conducted on two types of polymer insulation, namely the epoxy resin and the cross-linked polyethylene cable. The materials were soaked in water with the temperature of 50oC and the measurements were taken every 24 hours for 38 days. The measurements were taken from the mass materials, the relative permittivity and the contact angle. Then, the breakdown voltage measurement and the analysis of the chemical structure of the polymer insulation material were measured when the material had reached saturation state. The research results indicate an increase in the value of the mass and the relative permittivity of the material after the immersion. Such increase level is due to the absorption of the water through the filler in the polymer insulating material. The contact angle value of the epoxy resin material ranged from 56o-80o, which was classified in the category of partially wet. The XLPE material has the value of the average contact angle of above 90o and in the category of hydrophobic. The breakdown voltage value has decreased by 50% in average from the voltage limit before the immersion. The water absorption process has an effect on the decrease of the dielectric strength of the insulating polymer material

S50-01 Depression and bipolar disorder: Is prevention of mania possible? Critical issues on diagnostic criteria

Diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder in DSM IV require the occurrence of a manic or hypomanic episode. The scant appropriateness of these criteria compared with Kraepelin"s concept of manic depressive insanity has been repeatedly reported and the concept of bipolar spectrum has been proposed for more than 30 years. The negative consequences of pure adherence to operational diagnostic criteria on clinical needs are presented in terms of community epidemiology results and in terms of clinical evidences and the inadequate treatment of depressive and anxiety episodes and the risk of manic switch with antidepressant drugs are discussed.The epidemiological survey conducted in Sesto Fiorentino showed that depressive episodes in patients with subthreshold mania or hypomania were different from the clinical presentation of pure unipolar depressives episodes confirming not only the numeric impact but also qualitative differences between these groups of patients.Our clinical study where predictors of mania have been prospectively evaluated in a trans nosographic sample of outpatients demonstrated that aspects related to bipolarity predicted manic shift regardless of the diagnosis. DSM IV criteria seem not to be able to detect and describe a group of patients relevant both on epidemiological and on clinical level. These findings underline the need of a careful examination of patients treatment and validate the rule of further research in definition of mood disorders boundaries for prevention strategies

Toy gun eye injuries - eye protection needed Helsinki ocular trauma study

Purpose We report the epidemiology, findings, treatment, long-term outcome and use of resources for eye injuries caused by toy guns in southern Finland. Methods All new patients injured by toy guns in one year (2011-2012) and treated at Helsinki University Eye Hospital were included. Follow-ups occurred at 3 months and 5 years. Results Toy guns caused 15 eye traumas (1% of all eye traumas). Most patients were male (n = 14) and children aged under 16 years (n = 13). Toy guns involved were airsoft guns (n = 12), pea shooters (n = 2) and paintball (n = 1). Eleven patients did not use protective eyewear, and four patients discontinued their use during the game. Seven patients were not active participants in the game. Blunt ocular trauma was the primary diagnosis in 13 patients and corneal abrasion in two. Seven patients had retinal findings. In the 5-year follow-up, eight of 15 patients had abnormal ocular findings: three had artificial intraocular lens, two iridodialysis, and one each retinal plomb, mydriasis or iris tear. None had glaucoma. Seven patients had permanent subjective impairment due to pain, lowered visual acuity, blur or difficulty in focusing. Four patients needed seven operations. The number of outpatient visits was 90. One patient required hospitalization. Conclusion Toy guns cause serious eye traumas. No glaucoma was found. Proper use of toy guns and protective eyewear during the whole game should be emphasized to both players and bystanders. We recommend that in Finland the selling of airsoft guns be placed under the Firearms Act to make the hazards of airsoft guns known.Peer reviewe

The Association Between Persistent White-Matter Abnormalities and Repeat Injury After Sport-Related Concussion

Objective: A recent systematic review determined that the physiological effects of concussion may persist beyond clinical recovery. Preclinical models suggest that ongoing physiological effects are accompanied by increased cerebral vulnerability that is associated with risk for subsequent, more severe injury. This study examined the association between signal alterations on diffusion tensor imaging following clinical recovery of sport-related concussion in athletes with and without a subsequent second concussion. Methods: Average mean diffusivity (MD) was calculated in a region of interest (ROI) in which concussed athletes (n = 82) showed significantly elevated MD acutely after injury (<48 h), at an asymptomatic time point, 7 days post-return to play (RTP), and 6 months relative to controls (n = 69). The relationship between MD in the identified ROI and likelihood of sustaining a subsequent concussion over a 1-year period was examined with a binary logistic regression (re-injured, yes/no). Results: Eleven of 82 concussed athletes (13.4%) sustained a second concussion within 12 months of initial injury. Mean MD at 7 days post-RTP was significantly higher in those athletes who went on to sustain a repeat concussion within 1 year of initial injury than those who did not (p = 0.048; d = 0.75). In this underpowered sample, the relationship between MD at 7 days post-RTP and likelihood of sustaining a secondary injury approached significance [χ2 (1) = 4.17, p = 0.057; B = 0.03, SE = 0.017; OR = 1.03, CI = 0.99, 1.07]. Conclusions: These preliminary findings raise the hypothesis that persistent signal abnormalities in diffusion imaging metrics at RTP following concussion may be predictive of a repeat concussion. This may reflect a window of cerebral vulnerability or increased susceptibility following concussion, though understanding the clinical significance of these findings requires further study

Neuropsychological Functioning in Bilateral versus Unilateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Although relatively specific anatomo-electro-clinical features of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with bilateral ictal involvement (bitemporal epilepsy-BTLE) have been described, differentiating between BTLE and unilateral TLE (UTLE) remains challenging. Surgery is often the treatment of choice for drug-resistant UTLE, whereas its use is more controversial in BTLE. It is currently unclear whether neuropsychological assessment can contribute to the differential diagnosis. We retrospectively reviewed the neuropsychological evaluation of 46 consecutive patients with refractory TLE. Eighteen patients were diagnosed with BTLE on the basis of ictal electro-clinical data, in particular a video EEG recording of at least one seizure simultaneously involving the two temporal lobes without the possibility of lateralizing its onset or at least two different seizures independently arising from the two temporal lobes. Twenty-eight patients were classified as UTLE. Presurgery evaluation data were used in this study. Compared with UTLE, BTLE was associated with a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) and more severe impairment in long-term memory, the latter remaining significant even after controlling for IQ. No significant differences were found between right and left UTLE. In conclusion, BTLE and UTLE are associated with relatively distinct neuropsychological profiles, further supporting their classification as different disorders within the TLE spectrum