Measuring Process of Arthritis Care. A Proposed Set of Quality Measures for the Process of Care in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

The ability to assess quality of care is a necessary component of continuous quality improvement. The assessment typically is accomplished by determination of compliance with a defined set of quality measures (QMs). The objective of this effort was to establish a set of QM for the assessment of the process of care in JIA

Residents' Perceptions of Classroom Situated E-learning for Medical Education

Medical education helps ensure doctors acquire skills and knowledge needed to care for patients. However, resident duty hour restrictions have impacted time residents have for medical education, leaving resident educators searching for innovative options for effective medical education. Classroom situated e-learning, a blended learning delivery method, was created to find an effective option for medical education. Research has been conducted on the use of e-learning with residents. More limited research has been reported on the use of blended learning with residents. Research is needed regarding the use of classroom situated e-learning for resident education. Qualitative phenomenological research was used to understand residents' perceptions of the effectiveness of, and interactions in, classroom situated e-learning and traditional lectures. In-depth interviews were used for data collection. Research participants were nine residents who had participated in classroom situated e-learning and lecture based learning. Analysis of the data revealed all participants found classroom situated e-learning effective because it was problem based, provided access to an expert, was interactive, and conducted in a small group. Six of the nine participants provided an example of an effective lecture, which they found effective due to the inclusion of practical or applicable content and an engaging educator. Residents were asked to describe their interactions with the content, the educator, and other learners for classroom situated e-learning and traditional lectures. Their responses were analyzed and themes identified. The themes identified for interaction in classroom situated e-learning were, through the computer for interaction with the content; providing real world content, asking questions of the educator, and feedback for interaction with the educator; and discussion for interaction with other learners. The theme identified for traditional lectures was asking questions of the educator for interaction with the educator. The findings from this study demonstrated that participants' perceived classroom situated e-learning to be effective, and had a preference for interaction that included discussion with the educator and other learners. Recommendations for future research include a replication of this study with residents in other residency programs, and quantitative research comparing the learning outcomes of classroom situated e-learning with traditional lecture based learning