Effect of Clinician Feedback Versus Video Self-Assessment in 5th-Year Chiropractic Students on an End-of-Year Communication Skills Examination

Purpose:

To compare the effect of two learning opportunities, clinician feedback and video self-assessment, on 5th-year chiropractic students'' patient communication skills, specifically those required for history taking.

Methods:

A cohort of 51 final-year students was divided into two groups. The first group received immediate feedback from a clinical supervisor following a history-taking encounter with a patient. The second group performed self-assessments of their videotaped history-taking encounter. An end-of-year Viva Voce examination was used to measure the effectiveness of the students'' history-taking skills, using two subscores, one for behavior and another for content, as well as an overall total score. An unpaired t-test was performed to determine whether any significant difference occurred between the two groups of students. Each group was then subdivided into two subgroups based on gender, and a two-way analysis of variance was performed to determine whether the type of feedback or the students'' gender had any significant effect on the outcome of the Viva Voce.

Results:

There were no significant differences between the two groups of students in terms of their final scores in the Viva Voce. After dividing each group into their gender subgroups and further analysis of the results, neither the mode of feedback nor the students'' gender had any significant effect on the outcome of the Viva Voce.

Conclusion:

This study suggests that, for a mixed cohort, video self-assessment and clinician feedback are equivalent in their ability to enhance students'' communication skills relating to history taking.Key Indexing Terms: Chiropractic, Clinical Competence, Communication, Education     

EXERTION LEVEL AND THE INTENSITY OF ASSOCIATED MOVEMENTS

Associated movements in the contralateral limbs were measured quantitatively for 42 seven- to eight-year-old children who wrote with the right hand. Associated movements of the contralateral homologous muscles systematically increased as a function of the intensity of contraction of the active hand. The associated movements were more intense when the left hand was active. The order of hand use markedly affected the lateral asymmetry, indicating that the right and left hands were affected differentially by previous activity. Associated movements of the contralateral antagonist muscles were also observed, and their frequency varied as a function of active hand and exertion level.     

Detection of Atopobium vaginae in postmenopausal women by cultivation-independent methods warrants further investigation

We sequenced 16S rRNA genes from the vaginal swab contents of a postmenopausal woman with asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis (BV). Sequences from Atopobium vaginae were the most commonly detected. In a survey of 35 other postmenopausal women, this organism was detected in 44% with BV but not in any subjects deemed healthy.     

Organizational model and process for clinical best practice in rehabilitation and complex continuing care

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute developed its Clinical Best Practice Model and Process (TR-CBPMP) to facilitate a systematic and consistent approach to best practice with the goal of shortening the path between best knowledge and clinical care and linking this process to patient needs and outcomes. The TR-CBPMP guides clinicians, inter-professional teams, administrators and leaders in identifying patient needs, reviewing present practice, determining best practice priorities, analyzing gaps, preparing for and implementing best practice, evaluating patient-based outcomes and sustaining the best practice. The TR-CBPMP has been used successfully to develop program-specific, profession-specific and organization-wide best practices.