800 research outputs found
A seven-year review (2011-17) of the work-based assessment component of Maltaâs Specialist Training Programme in Family Medicine
Background: Work-based assessment (WBA) within Maltaâs Specialist Training Programme in Family Medicine is recorded using the âOne-to-One Appraisalâ form in the General Practitioner (GP) Trainee Educational ePortfolio. -- Objectives: The postgraduate training coordinators in family medicine review the above annually to see where the WBA is operating well and to identify where improvements are required. -- Method: The âOne-to-One Appraisalâ involves the completion of a scoring system (selecting one score from âneeds further developmentâ: 1-2-3; âcompetentâ: 4-5-6; and âexcellentâ: 7-8-9) for twelve competency areas. The educational portfolio is reviewed using objective requirements listed in the form âReview of the GP Trainee Educational Portfolioâ. -- Results: The review of educational portfolios revealed commendable practices including detailed educational plans and case-logs, a general trend of adherence to time frames, and high attendance rates for group-teaching sessions. While One-to-One Appraisal documents were filled in satisfactorily, the issue of remarkably high average scoring was encountered. Moreover disparities were seen between scores and comments in some of the âGP trainee interim review by GP trainerâ forms. Deficiencies were outlined in clinical supervision time, mainly during family medicine government placements, while incomplete adherence to placement requirements was noticed. -- Conclusion: A significant amount of quality work was carried out by the GP trainees under their trainersâ supervision. Two main areas of improvement were however outlined â the need for refining the GP trainersâ score allocation and the importance of regular review of the portfolio by both trainees and trainers, with the prompt flagging of persisting unresolved issues to the training coordinators.peer-reviewe
Work-based assessment within Maltaâs specialist training programme in family medicine
The Specialist Training Programme in Family
Medicine (STPFM) â Malta was drawn up by the Malta
College of Family Doctors in 2006, approved by Maltaâs
Specialist Accreditation Committee, and launched in
2007 by the Primary Health Care Department and the
Malta College of Family Doctors. This article regarding
the work-based assessment of specialist training in family
medicine in Malta was prepared by consulting various
local / international documents and publications that
are related to general practice / family medicine and
its teaching, appraisal and assessment. Assessment of
family doctors should consider their actual performance
of different tasks in diverse settings of daily practice;
this is carried out on-site by direct observation of the
practitioner at the work-place (work-based assessment)
using different methods.peer-reviewe
Specialist training in family medicine in Malta during 2007-2012 : a comparative evaluation of the first and fifth years of the programme
As a result of Maltaâs entry to the European
Union in 2004, Family Medicine was recognised as a
speciality and subsequently a three-year programme of
Specialist Training was launched in 2007 by the Primary
Health Care Department and the Malta College of Family
Doctors. By 2012, three cohorts of GP trainees had
completed the training programme. Evaluation is important in ensuring quality
and success in provision of teaching programmes in general,
and family-doctor training in particular. While evaluation
and improvement of the programme is performed on an
ongoing basis, a comparison of the traineesâ evaluations of
the first (2007-8) and fifth (2011-2) years of the training
programme was carried out in order to identify areas where
consolidation or further improvement was needed. Evaluation forms are completed by trainees
after each post in family or hospital practice and after
each group-teaching session. The information from these
forms is transcribed into MS Excel to enable quantitative
and qualitative analysis. The feedback given during the
period 2007 â 2008 was compared with that given during
2011 â 2012. During the first and fifth years of the training
programme, GP trainees were 80-90% satisfied with the
effectiveness of the training provided during the family
practice posts, and over 90% satisfied with the presentation,
content and relevance of the teaching provided during the
group teaching sessions. Their overall satisfaction with the
effectiveness of training in the other specialities improved
from 53-92% to 65-95%. While GP traineesâ satisfaction with their
training generally remained high or improved, specific areas
were identified in family medicine and hospital placements
where changes for improvement are merited.peer-reviewe
Empowering the continuing professional development of general practitioner trainers in Malta through educational needs assessment
Background It has been recommended that GP trainers in Malta undergo continuing professional development (CPD) in education and assessment through participation in regular meetings. Aim To encourage GP trainers to organise on-going CPD activities, and thus improve the training they provide, through an assessment of their educational needs. Method In 2015, two UK questionnaires used to evaluate specialist training provided by GP trainers were consulted in the development of online surveys for completion by current and recent GP trainees and trainers in Malta. The information collected was presented to two small groups of trainers for categorisation using an âurgent/important/ less urgent/less importantâ grid. Results In reply to the question âWhat are your current development needs?â, the top answers from trainers included developing teaching skills, keeping abreast with medical knowledge, and regular meetings with other GP trainers to discuss problems and share experiences. The traineesâ top answers to the question âWhat should the GP trainer do differently?â were ânothingâ, being up-to-date regarding guidelines, and providing âexamorientedâ feedback. The most important and urgent recommendations made during the trainersâ small group meetings included regular peer-support meetings between GP trainers to share teaching experiences and discuss problems, regular updates regarding guidelines and protocols recommended for exams, and more examoriented training to be provided to trainees. Conclusion The educational needs assessment carried out provided useful information that enabled the set-up of regular CPD meetings for GP trainers in Malta, thus meeting their educational needs and hopefully benefiting the quality of training provided to GP trainees.peer-reviewe
Temporal characterization of individual harmonics of an attosecond pulse train by THz streaking
We report on the global temporal pulse characteristics of individual
harmonics in an attosecond pulse train by means of photo-electron streaking in
a strong low-frequency transient. The scheme allows direct retrieval of pulse
durations and first order chirp of individual harmonics without the need of
temporal scanning. The measurements were performed using an intense THz field
generated by tilted phase front technique in LiNbO_3 . Pulse properties for
harmonics of order 23, 25 and 27 show that the individual pulse durations and
linear chirp are decreasing by the harmonic order
Comparing GP traineesâ evaluations of placements within Maltaâs Specialist Training Programme in Family Medicine before and after a COVID-19 pandemic related break in training
BACKGROUND: Maltaâs Specialist Training Programme in Family
Medicine lasts for three years, made up of three
six-month training posts in family medicine
interspersed with other-speciality placements
lasting eighteen months in all. As a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, all training was suspended
from 23 March to 5 July 2020.OBJECTIVE: A comparison of GP traineesâ evaluations of
their training placements during the six-month
periods before and after the training break was
carried out to identify if and how training was
affected by the pandemic and what corrective
measures or improvements were needed.METHOD: Training placements are evaluated by GP trainees
through online forms on their ePortfolio. The
information from these forms was transcribed
into Microsoft Excel to enable quantitative and
qualitative analysis. Feedback given for posts
during October 2019 to March 2020 (i.e. prior
to the COVID-19 enforced break in training) was
compared with that given during July-December
2020.RESULTS: GP trainees were satisfied overall with the
teaching provided during the family practice and
other-speciality posts. Post-break satisfaction
ratings in government health centres rose while
those for private general practice declined,
both as a consequence of the pandemic. While
a post-break drop in satisfaction ratings for
Paediatrics was attributed to the pandemic,
similar declines for Taster and Orthopaedics
posts were unrelated.CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic affected teaching in
government practice positively through reducing
patient numbers, which allowed a better training
environment. Private practice was affected
negatively by the pandemic, namely through
limited clinical scenarios for teaching. The post-break drop in ratings for Paediatrics also
was attributed to the pandemic which reduced
outpatient attendance, doctor-patient interaction
and consultation dynamics.RECOMMENDATION: Training during placements within the STPFM
can be improved and safeguarded from negative
factors such as a pandemic if administrators
endeavour to enhance the educational
environment.peer-reviewe
Ordinal patterns in epileptic brains: Analysis of intracranial EEG and simultaneous EEG-fMRI
Epileptic seizures are associated with high behavioral stereotypy of the patients. In the EEG of epilepsy patients characteristic signal patterns can be found during and between seizures. Here we use ordinal patterns to analyze EEGs of epilepsy patients and quantify the degree of signal determinism. Besides relative signal redundancy and the fraction of forbidden patterns we introduce the fraction of under-represented patterns as a new measure. Using the logistic map, parameter scans are performed to explore the sensitivity of the measures to signal determinism. Thereafter, application is made to two types of EEGs recorded in two epilepsy patients. Intracranial EEG shows pronounced determinism peaks during seizures. Finally, we demonstrate that ordinal patterns may be useful for improving analysis of non-invasive simultaneous EEG-fMR
Single-Trial Recognition of Video Gamerâs Expertise from Brain Haemodynamic and Facial Emotion Responses
With an increase in consumer demand of video gaming entertainment, the game industry
is exploring novel ways of game interaction such as providing direct interfaces between the game
and the gamersâ cognitive or affective responses. In this work, gamerâs brain activity has been
imaged using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) whilst they watch video of a video
game (League of Legends) they play. A video of the face of the participants is also recorded for
each of a total of 15 trials where a trial is defined as watching a gameplay video. From the data
collected, i.e., gamerâs fNIRS data in combination with emotional state estimation from gamerâs
facial expressions, the expertise level of the gamers has been decoded per trial in a multi-modal
framework comprising of unsupervised deep feature learning and classification by state-of-the-art
models. The best tri-class classification accuracy is obtained using a cascade of random convolutional
kernel transform (ROCKET) feature extraction method and deep classifier at 91.44%. This is the first
work that aims at decoding expertise level of gamers using non-restrictive and portable technologies
for brain imaging, and emotional state recognition derived from gamersâ facial expressions. This work
has profound implications for novel designs of future human interactions with video games and
brain-controlled games
Quality improvement through evaluation of GP trainersâ continuing professional development in Malta
BACKGROUND:
Mandatory trainer continuing professional
development (CPD) sessions were held during
2019 for each GP trainer actively involved in
the Specialist Training Programme in Family
Medicine â Malta.OBJECTIVE:
GP trainer CPD sessions were evaluated to
improve the quality of the provided CPD that
was intended to refine their assessment skills.METHOD:
Participants were sent a link to an electronic
feedback form to complete anonymously using
Google Forms. The responses were exported
into Microsoft Excel to enable analysis, both
quantitatively and qualitatively using item
content analysis.RESULTS:
Twenty-six GP trainers completed the feedback
questionnaire, giving a response rate of 46%.
Positive comments were made regarding the
relevance and group dynamics of the sessions
(marked as 3 or more out of 5) and the ensuing
discussion and interaction (81%). Moreover,
42% stated that they would not change anything
about the CPD sessions, while 23% gave different
comments about their timing. Educational needs
identified by participants ranged from technical help (42%) to providing trainee guidance
(35%) and self-development (12%). While 38%
of respondents wanted further training in
assessment and marking, 27% wished to broaden
training to include other teaching topics.CONCLUSION:
Since the 2019 trainersâ CPD sessions were
well-received, it was proposed that in 2020 the
topic of assessment should be tackled in more
depth, with fine-tuning made of the sessionsâ
facilitation and timing. Trainer CPD sessions to
be held after 2020 could incorporate further
recommended topics that are set at different
levels for participants with varying levels of
knowledge and skills.peer-reviewe
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