Sweetening a bitter pill: educational strategies supporting the foundation sciences in first year nursing

The biological and physical sciences are an important component of the University of Southern Queensland’s (USQ) Bachelor of Nursing (Pre-Registration) program. However, science courses within this curriculum have been traditionally problematic due to the fact that many nursing students perceive the course to be difficult due to lack of background science. The use of various educational strategies such as online quizzes, multimedia, and recorded lectures using Tablet PC have been utilised in the develop-ment of a foundation biophysical sciences course in nursing. This nuts and bolts session details these strategies and highlights the impact they have had on student learning. The session will provide the opportunity for participants to share similar experiences; particularly looking at ways in which improvements in first year courses have led to potential benefits in student retention and progression as well as enhanced knowledge and reduced anxiety in relation to application of knowledge in subsequent courses within a program of study

Ready, set, go...- flexible package supporting the biophysical sciences in first year nursing

The learning and teaching of science subjects in undergraduate nursing programs can be difficult and a number of issues which contribute to this have been documented (McVicar & Clancy, 2001). The biological and physical sciences are an important component of USQ’s Bachelor of Nursing (Pre-Registration) program, the delivery of which has proven challenging. In 2007 this program under went a major revision of its curriculum. One consequence of this change, among many, involved the development of a new course NSC1500 Biophysical Sciences in Nursing which comprises four distinct disciplines, namely physics, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and immunology. In a survey given to students prior to their commencement in this course, 40% of respondents felt they were not confident in studying science while 20% felt they were not prepared for the course (n=56). Students generally felt that all science disciplines in NSC1500 were important to their nursing profession; however, high workload was the major concern in the student 'evaluation of course' questionnaire

The white light corona and photospheric magnetic fields

Some results are presented from a continuing investigation of the coronal structure vs. the photospheric magnetic field relationship. Two approaches to the problem are considered. First, the individual coronal features recorded at each limb were located on a chart of the magnetic field measured with low spatial resolution, depicting the large scale or global field configuration. Second, the characteristics of neutral line segments, defined by the presence of H alpha line filament, with no associated coronal structure were investigated. Preliminary results are discussed

Visual Analogue Scales: do they have a role in the measurement of preferences for health states?

Health state preference data are increasingly used to inform national health care resource allocation decisions. In such circumstances it is important to be confident that the data we provide to decision makers is fit for purpose. Whilst there are many unresolved issues in health state preference measurement, there are some areas of agreement on procedures that are inappropriate. The past ten years have seen the publication of a number of papers reporting substantive problems with the use of visual analogue scales to value health states. In this journal Torrance and colleagues reviewed this literature and concluded that Visual Analogue Scales have a limited but useful role in health state preference measurement. In this paper we critically review the arguments advanced by Torrance and colleagues and argue that it is increasingly clear that Visual Analogue Scales are not an appropriate method and that the time has come to accept that VAS should not be used for health state preference measurement

Orphan drugs and the NHS: Should we value rarity

Cost effectiveness plays an important part in current decisions about the funding of health technologies. Drugs for rare disease (orphan drugs) are often expensive to produce and, by definition, will benefit only small numbers of patients. Several countries have put measures in place to safeguard research and development of orphan drugs, but few get close to meeting the cost effectiveness criteria for funding by healthcare providers. We examine the justifications for special status for rare diseases and ask whether the cost effectiveness of drugs for rare or very rare diseases should be treated differently from that of other drugs and interventions

Economics of wind energy for utilities

Utility acceptance of this technology will be contingent upon the establishment of both its technical and economic feasibility. This paper presents preliminary results from a study currently underway to establish the economic value of central station wind energy to certain utility systems. The results for the various utilities are compared specifically in terms of three parameters which have a major influence on the economic value: (1) wind resource, (2) mix of conventional generation sources, and (3) specific utility financial parameters including projected fuel costs. The wind energy is derived from modeling either MOD-2 or MOD-0A wind turbines in wind resources determined by a year of data obtained from the DOE supported meteorological towers with a two-minute sampling frequency. In this paper, preliminary results for six of the utilities studied are presented and compared

Drugs for exceptionally rare diseases: a commentary on Hughes et al

Recently in this journal, Hughes and colleagues discussed special funding status to ultra-orphan drugs. They concluded that there should be a uniform policy for the provision of orphan drugs across Europe; that complete restriction was impractical, and that UK policy should aspire to the values of the EU directive on orphan drugs. We critically assess these arguments, demonstrating that they failed to justify special status for treatments for rare diseases

Using a tablet PC in bioscience instruction amongst diverse student cohorts

Tablet PC technology has been adopted in many fields of scientific instruction, including chemistry, biochemistry, physics, engineering and maths and provides a number of benefits over traditional electronic teaching. Over the last 3 years I have used Tablet PC technology in the teaching of bioscience courses to both nursing and biomedical science students. The learning and teaching of science courses to these two student groups is inherently different and can be particularly difficult in under-graduate nursing programs. There are unique problems of pedagogy associated with applied chemistry and biochemistry for nursing students as educators are faced with the fact that these students can have a wide range of different educational science backgrounds and life experiences. The teaching of many chemistry and biochemistry concepts is a dynamic process and traditional lecture methods can present many obstacles to effective teaching due to the reliance on static PowerPoint slides. This presentation will outline various strategies using Tablet PCs that I have implemented to assist learning for both nursing and biomedical science students. The first case study centres on the how I have used the technology as a means of levelling the learning experience for nursing students who have no prior science background. The second case study focuses on how I have used Tablet PC technology to increase student engagement and participation in microbiology lectures and practicals through the use of concept mapping and flow chart exercises. The impact of these teaching and learning approaches on student experience will also be discussed

Modelling the cost effectiveness of interferon beta and glatiramer acetate in the management of multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of four disease modifying treatments (interferon betas and glatiramer acetate) for relapsing remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Modelling cost effectiveness. SETTING: UK NHS. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost per quality adjusted life year gained. RESULTS: The base case cost per quality adjusted life year gained by using any of the four treatments ranged from £42 000 ($66 469; 61 630) to £98 000 based on efficacy information in the public domain. Uncertainty analysis suggests that the probability of any of these treatments having a cost effectiveness better than £20 000 at 20 years is below 20%. The key determinants of cost effectiveness were the time horizon, the progression of patients after stopping treatment, differential discount rates, and the price of the treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Cost effectiveness varied markedly between the interventions. Uncertainty around point estimates was substantial. This uncertainty could be reduced by conducting research on the true magnitude of the effect of these drugs, the progression of patients after stopping treatment, the costs of care, and the quality of life of the patients. Price was the key modifiable determinant of the cost effectiveness of these treatments

Health state values for the HUI 2 descriptive system: results from a UK survey

This paper reports the results of a study to estimate a statistical health state valuation model for a revised version of the Health Utilities Index Mark 2, using Standard Gamble health state preference data. A sample of 51 health states were valued by a sample of the 198 members of the UK general population. Models are estimated for predicting health state valuations for all 8,000 states defined by the revised HUI2. The recommended model produces logical and significant coefficients for all levels of all dimensions in the HUI2. These coefficients appear to be robust across model specifications. This model performs well in predicting the observed health state values within the valuation sample and for a separate validation sample of health states. However, there are concerns over large prediction errors for two health states in the valuation sample. These problems must be balanced against concerns over the validity of using the VAS based health state valuation data of the original HUI2 valuation model.HUI2