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We use the space below to publish news related to our educational method and clinical research training. If you find interesting news you would like to share with our community, please send it to us at coordinator@ppr.org.

 

Article on Translating Research into Practice published in Nurse Education Today. 2014

"Translating research into practice: Evaluation of an e-learning resource for health care professionals to provide nutrition advice and support for cancer survivors "

The importance and contribution of web-based distance learning programs to clinical preactice are outlined in this article from Murphy et al. According to the authors, there are many advantages for learners to be included in an online program, and this will consequently bring benefits to patients in the clinical care setting. Take a look at the artile here.→ read more

 

Article on Quality of Clinical Trials published in Perspectives in Clinical Research. Vol. 2 No. 4 on October, 2011:

"Quality of clinical trials: a moving target "

Check out this article from Arun Bhatt where the author discusses the importance of quality in clinical research and how to improve it. → read more


Article on informed consent published in Perspectives in Clinical Research. Vol. 1 No. 4 on October, 2010:

"Informed Consent: Are we doing enough?"

In this article, Pranati discussed the ethics of clinical research focusing on the informed consent and the way it has been applied over years. "The consent process thus gets reduced to mainly a "narration-followed-by-signature" process. Over the last few years, this gap in principles and practices of ethics and consent has been acknowledged and innovative concepts and attempts are being fostered, to make the informed consent more "ethical". → read more


Article on new methods for medical training published in ONCOLOGY. Vol. 24 No. 13 on December 16, 2010:

"Research Training in Breast Cancer for Low and Middle Income Countries"
By LAILA SAIED, MD and MATTHEW ELLIS, MB, BChir, PhD, FRCP
"In this issue of ONCOLOGY, Anderson et al highlight the Breast Health Global Initiative for guideline development and discuss how developments in low and middle income countries have parallels in the delivery of health care to underserved populations in industrialized countries. Guidelines for appropriate breast cancer treatment must address early detection, accurate diagnosis, and the delivery of timely and appropriate treatment modalities. Even after the hard work of reaching a consensus about best practices, Anderson notes that there is a lack of implementation research to evaluate the best methods of assessing readiness for change and for the creation of innovative implementation approaches. We would also emphasize that in addition to creating guidelines, there is a pressing need for research training in developing countries though collaborations with established researchers and with formal training programs to deliver a new generation of research-focused physicians to further this critical agenda." → read more


Article on new methods for medical training published on Medical News Today on November 30, 2010:

"20th Century Medical Education And Training Will Not Work In The 21st Century"
"In a major new report, 20 professional and academic leaders call for major reform in the training of doctors and other healthcare professionals to equip them for the 21st century. This Lancet Commission report is written by Professor Julio Frenk, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA, and Dr Lincoln Chen, China Medical Board, Cambridge, MA, USA, and their colleagues.

Worldwide, 2420 medical schools, 467 schools or departments of public health, and an indeterminate number of postsecondary nursing educational institutions train about 1 million new doctors, nurses, midwives, and public health professionals every year. Severe institutional shortages are exacerbated by maldistribution, both between and within countries. High-income countries are struggling to adapt to increasing costs and changing demographics of their populations, while in poorer nations it is obviously much worse. A large proportion of the 7 billion people who inhabit our planet are trapped in health conditions of a century ago.

Changes are needed, say the authors, because of fragmented, outdated, and static curricula that produce ill-equipped graduates." → read more


Article on distance learning programs in Africa published on allAfrica.com on December 2, 2010:

"Nigeria: FG Urged to Focus On Distance Learning"
By Ibrahim Muhammad and Yemi Bamidele for The Daily Trust
"Ibadan and Yola — Federal Government has been urged to give special support to universities that run distance learning programmes to enable them sustain their efforts in providing access to university education to teeming Nigerians who are yearly denied admission into universities.
The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola (FUTY) Prof Bashir Usman made the call while welcoming Dr Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, the head of Open and Distance Learning Division of the National Universities Commission [NUC] who was in Yola at the weekend for a sensitization visit.

Usman said FUTY was planning to expand its distance learning programme by introducing more courses." → read more 


Article on collaborative learning published in The New York Times on January 13, 2009:

“At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard”
By Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
“…The physics department has replaced the traditional large introductory lecture with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. Last fall, after years of experimentation and debate and resistance from students, who initially petitioned against it, the department made the change permanent. Already, attendance is up and the failure rate has dropped by more than 50 percent.

M.I.T. is not alone. Other universities are changing their ways, among them Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Harvard. In these institutions, physicists have been pioneering teaching methods drawn from research showing that most students learn fundamental concepts more successfully, and are better able to apply them, through interactive, collaborative, student-centered learning…”. → read more


Article on e-learning changes published in US News & World Report on January 21, 2009:

“New Answers for E-Learning: Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience”
By Kim Clark – US News & World Report

“…[Online courses] may finally be changing for the better, however, as E-learning is getting an upgrade. Some professors and schools are redesigning their courses to take advantage of the Web's interactive and visual possibilities, adopting some bleeding-edge technologies such as gamelike simulations and digital avatars to make online courses more exciting and more effective than traditional classrooms. Many students even say that a good E-learning course inspires them to work harder. Matt Kerr signed up for an online art history course last year just to satisfy a general education requirement at Sierra College, a community college outside Sacramento, Calif. He was so inspired by teacher Michelle Pacansky-Brock's audio lectures, "VoiceThread" demonstrations, and assignments that opened his eyes to the art around him that he ended up creating an extensive art blog and did "a lot more work than if I was just sitting in a classroom, listening to her," he says. "I really liked it."…]. → read more


Special Issue of Science journal - Education and Technology:

Change in Education in Face of New Technologies
The scientific journal Science recently published an special issue of the topic education and technology (2 January 2009, Vol 323, Issue 5910, Pages 1-174). In the editorial by Hines et al., the authors stated that "Technologies that emphasize peer interactions can aid a collaborative approach to learning, as when soldiers build team function across distances using interactive training simulations" (Adding a T to the Tree R's, Science, Vol 323, page 53)...→ read more

 

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