Seeking information in a medical setting: Vietnamese doctor-patient interaction

Eliciting information about a patient’s health concerns is a fundamental task that all doctors engage in. It enables the doctor to gather relevant information about the patient’s pathological status, which is then used to inform their diagnosis, propose a treatment plan, and/or recommend appropriate interventions. At the same time, the patient’s provision of information is also partly shaped by the doctor, whose deployment and use of elicitation strategies can play a role in the quality and quantity of the information the patient discloses. This study examined how doctors elicited and sought information from their patients, how patients disclosed information to their doctors, what information doctors elicited and sought, and what information patients disclosed, during medical consultations at two public hospitals in Vietnam. The data were gathered from audio-recordings of 66 primary care visits involving 15 doctors and 66 adult patients. Demographic data were collected using standard questionnaires. The data were analysed using conversation analysis methods. The findings showed that information exchanges between doctors and patients were dispersed throughout the consultation, from the very beginning until after its termination. In the initial stages of the visit, patients talked about their major concerns. This information established the main reason for the visit, and often influenced the trajectory of the interaction that followed. Once the patient’s chief concerns became known, the doctor explored these in detail by eliciting information relating to the presenting problem or to the patient’s medical history. In the former case, the doctor updated the patient’s condition, noted their symptoms, and/or established the causes and duration of the problem. In the latter, the doctor focused on past diagnoses and treatments, lifestyle issues, and past individual medical problems. These two types of information played a key role in shaping the treatment, in which the doctor offered multiple treatment options and/or sought the patient’s agreement with the recommended treatment plan. In recommending this plan, the doctor also collected some information about the patient’s life-world (e.g., difficulties with day-to-day living). The findings also revealed that doctors used questions as their main type of information elicitor. They also used partial and/or full repeats of patients’ responses, fishing devices or examples of patients’ conditions, and/or assessments of patients’ information. Patients employed five different strategies to disclose information to doctors: using examples, producing a narrative, invoking the opinion of a third party, elaborating on their responses, and making a list. These strategies enabled patients not only to provide the information being elicited by doctors but also to demonstrate their knowledge of the main problem, disclose minor problems, establish the reasons for the visit, increase the perceived severity of the problem, and make an assessment of the problem. Such information was volunteered without being elicited in several cases. The findings of this study can be used as a resource for the training of medical students on how to interact with patients. Hence, this study contributes to enhancing the quality of medical care, especially in the cultural context of Vietnam

An asymmetry in the spoken production of number agreement in second language English : adjacency or locality?

In English, subject-verb agreement is deemed to be ‘local’ if the controller (i.e., the subject) and the target (i.e., the main verb) are adjacent, but ‘non-local’ if these items are separated by one or more terminal nodes. Previous research indicates that second language English learners whose first languages lack subject-verb agreement tend to supply inflection for this functional category less accurately in non-adjacent than adjacent contexts in spoken production. This asymmetry could be driven by either adjacency or locality, since, for subject-verb agreement at least, these two properties are aligned with each other. Phrase-internal agreement, by contrast, is local regardless of whether the controller (i.e., a determiner or quantifier) and the target (i.e., a noun) are adjacent or non-adjacent; hence, for this type of agreement, adjacency and locality are not aligned with each other. In the present study, we gave a sentence-construction task to 64 native speakers of Vietnamese, a language without inflection for number agreement. Suppliance of inflection was lower in non-adjacent than adjacent contexts phrase-internally, and therefore within the local domain itself. We concluded that what gave rise to the asymmetries in inflectional production in our study, and, by extension, also in previous research on subject-verb agreement, was not the distinction between local and non-local domains, but rather the one between adjacent and nonadjacent contexts for agreement. In so doing, we present a more parsimonious analysis of asymmetries in the spoken production of agreement inflection than the one currently available

Opening Sequences of Vietnamese Police-driver Traffic Enforcement Interactions

This paper examines the opening sequence of police-driver encounters at traffic stops when the police officers state the reasons for the stop, or request documents. Data include 30 video-recorded encounters between Vietnamese police officers and drivers, and are analysed using the methodology of Conversation Analysis. The findings have shown that police officers wield their judicial authority and institutional power right at the outset of the interactions by leading the interaction in a narrowly focused policing agenda, and taking different conversational paths. We argue that these differences in interactional orders may decrease driver co-operation and compliance with police officer directions, and be highly likely to increase recidivism. The present study may give police officers some new ideas about how to behave towards drivers during traffic stops, thus improving police-driver interactions in the Vietnamese policing context as well as in other cultural contexts in some respects

ENHANCING SCIENCE EDUCATION IN REMOTE REGIONS: THE IMPACT OF PHET SIMULATIONS ON TEACHING ELECTRICITY IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

This study explores the efficacy of PhET simulations in enhancing science education in remote regions of northern Vietnam, addressing the educational disparities exacerbated by geographical isolation. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study surveyed and interviewed science teachers across several remote schools to evaluate their experiences with PhET simulations in teaching. The subjects included both experienced and novice teachers, who provided insights into the integration of simulations into their teaching practices. Findings indicate a significant improvement in student engagement and comprehension of complex scientific concepts, with teachers reporting enhanced instructional quality and student interest. The study underscores the potential of digital tools in democratizing education, suggesting that PhET simulations represent a valuable resource for overcoming the challenges of delivering quality science education in resource-constrained settings. This research contributes to the broader discourse on educational equity, highlighting the role of technology in bridging the gap between urban and rural education systems

TREATMENT RECOMMENDATION IN VIETNAMESE MEDICAL CONSULTATIONS

This study investigated the doctor’s recommendation of treatment to their adult patients in primary-care visits in the Vietnamese context. Data was gathered from 55 audio-recorded consultations at two public hospitals, and examined from a conversation-analytic perspective. We demonstrate that the participating doctors used two main approaches to treatment recommendation with their patients: general and detailed. In the latter case, the doctor recommended a treatment regime, sought the patient’s agreement, or offered choices regarding aspects of the treatment. Our overall contention is that, in the Vietnamese public hospital system, the doctor’s organisation of talk in the course of recommending treatment tends to be shaped by the institutional and cultural context in which it occurs, regardless of which type of treatment approach is being used

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING MODELS IN TEACHER TRAINING: A CASE STUDY IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE, VIETNAM

The quality of education may be raised in large part by investing in teacher training. It contributes to the expansion and updating of professional knowledge, teaching abilities, and new and improved methods of approaching students. Teachers can also continue to grow individually via the refresher process, reflect on their teaching methods, and adjust to shifts in the educational landscape and the needs of their students. The purpose of the project is to identify an experiential learning-based teacher training paradigm that is efficient and workable. A pedagogical experiment using this model was conducted with two classes and 35 high school teachers in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam. The findings of the research, which used the document research approach together with expert opinion, demonstrate that learning via experience in teacher training has accomplished the desired objective in 5 key stages: (1) (1) Choosing a few standard lessons to organize to teach illustrations; (2) preparing to organize the illustration teaching after the standard lesson has been chosen; (3) practicing demonstration teaching; (4) organizing the discussion after attending the demonstration lesson; and (5) making personal plans to organize the lesson in accordance with the training's content.  Article visualizations

Characteristics of Simulated Workplace Neutron Standard Fields

This paper presents the development of simulated workplace neutron standard fields at the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology with the 241Am-Be source moderated by polyethylene spheres with diameters of 15 cm and 30 cm. The characterization of the standard fields (in terms of neutron fluence rates and neutron ambient dose equivalent rates) was performed using Bonner sphere spectrometer system together with MAXED and FRUIT unfolding codes. The related quantities such as neutron dose equivalent-averaged energies and fluence-to-ambient dose equivalent conversion coefficients were also determined. The discrepancies of values are satisfied the standard uncertainty criteria as recommended by the International Standard Organization 12789 series. It implies that the simulated workplace neutron standard fields can be applied in the practical works for calibration purposes

The effect of trust on consumers’ online purchase intention: An integration of TAM and TPB

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of different factors on Vietnamese consumers’ online shopping intention based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A questionnaire was designed and sent directly to the respondents through the Internet. After 5 months period of collecting the necessary data, 423 valid replies were collected and analyzed. The data were analyzed in accordance with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression techniques. The results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude, subjective norm and trust had positive effects on consumers’ online shopping intention

Investigating the diversity of resistant starch in Vietnamese rice collection

The rapid increase of obesity and type 2 diabetes has recently posed an enormous burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Resistant starch (RS) in rice can escape digestion by enzymes in the small intestine, making its calories unavailable for cells to use. As a result, RS can be used by diabetes patients to prevent diabetes and for obese individuals who do not want extra energy. In our study, 75 Vietnamese rice accessions originating from diverse ecosystems were chosen as plant materials to investigate the diversity of RS content in this collection. The Megazyme kit was used to measure the amount of RS. The release of quinonimine was measured using a spectrophotometer at 510 nm. The results showed that approximately 70% of Vietnamese rice accessions had RS content ranging from 0.015 to 0.2% while only 4% of samples had RS content ranging from 0.6 to 0.8%. The Indica subgroups had significantly higher RS content than the Japonica subgroup. Higher RS content was found in medium- and short- grain rice rather than in long grain. Finally, rice plants grown in rainfed lowlands (RL) and irrigated ecosystems had higher RS content than those grown under mangrove and upland ecosystems. Our results firstly give information about the diversity of RS in Vietnamese rice and secondly may contribute to the field of nutrition by developing a suitable rice-based diet for patients with diabetes or obesity

Si11Mn0/+ cluster is endohedral or exohedral: a proof by DFT calculation

The geometries of Si11, Si11Mn+ and Si11Mn0 clusters have been determined by the method of density functional theory using B3P86/6-311+G(d) level of theory. The pure silicon clusters Si11have cage structure associating with a low spin state.Although the geometrical structure of the most stable isomer of Si11Mn+ cationic cluster is exohedral, the endohedral isomers have their calculated IR spectra fitting well with the experimental IRMPD spectra. The Si11Mn0 neutral cluster is found to be most stable in both exohedral and endohedral forms. The most stable isomers of manganese-doped silicon clusters Si11Mn0/+ possess high spin states and local magnetic moment of the Mn atom is reduced or even completely quenched when it is encapsulated inside the Si11 cage. Keywords. Silicon cluster doped manganese, density functional theory (DFT)