The Practically Wise Medical Teacher: Medical Education at the University of Tromsø – A Norwegian Case

Source at https://www.hsj.gr/.This article addresses the issue of teaching quality in medical education and investigates what characterizes a professionally competent or practically wise medical teacher through the use of longitudinal data from interviews with 40 medical students. In discussing the findings, Aristotle’s concepts of episteme, techne and phronesis, and theoretical perspectives on professionalism and quality in teaching are applied. The findings highlight that one is either a practically wise medical teacher or a technical medical teacher. The practically wise medical teacher typically focuses on reflection, experience, participation, formative assessment and discussion in an atmosphere of good relations, which stimulate teaching and learning. The technical medical teacher, on the contrary, knows very little about the students and treats them as onlookers in clinical settings. The analysis results indicate that being a practically wise medical teacher requires a perception of what characterizes professionalism in medical education, the ability to use formative assessment and role model consciousness. These findings underline the importance of a good supervisor–learner relationship, which promotes medical teachers’ teaching competence and knowledge of professionalism. The findings also indicate the importance of faculty development in order to improve teaching quality at both the individual and system levels

Initial validation of the Danish version of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI) in colorectal cancer patients

PURPOSE :The Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI) is a multidimensional measure for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the translated Danish version of the FCRI in a population of colorectal cancer patients. METHODS: The English version of the FCRI was forward-backward translated into Danish and pilot tested in a gynaecological cancer population. The psychometric properties of the FCRI were assessed in terms of responsiveness, test-retest reliability and discriminative and convergent validity in a population of colorectal cancer patients by asking them to complete questionnaires at three time points during follow-up. Clinical FCR was defined as ≥ 16 at the FCRI short form. RESULTS: The participation rate was 57%. A low association was found between higher scores on the FCRI and younger age (r = - 0.29, p = 0.02). A moderate correlation was found between the FCRI score and a measure for worry traits (r = 0.49, p < 0.001). Mean difference in total FCRI score was statistically significant between 'pre-scan' and 'postscan' (p < 0.001), thus indicating that the FCRI was responsive to change. The FCRI score showed good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.84). CONCLUSION: The Danish version of the FCRI is a reliable and responsive measure for FCR in colorectal cancer patients and shows acceptable discriminative and convergent validity. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: A valid measure for FCR is crucial in order to identify patients with a need for special attention or interventions for high levels of FCR and to improve future research into FCR among cancer survivors