Amanda Muller

Teaching psychomotor skills in the twenty-first century: Revisiting and reviewing instructional approaches through the lens of contemporary literature

Abstract A diverse range of health professionals use psychomotor skills as part of their professional practice roles. Most health disciplines use large or complex psychomotor skills. These skills are first taught by the educator then acquired, performed, and lastly learned. Psychomotor skills may be taught using a variety of widely-accepted and published teaching models. The number of teaching steps used in these models varies from two to seven. However, the utility of these models to teach skill acquisition and skill retention are disputable when teaching complex skills, in contrast to simple skills. Contemporary motor learning and cognition literature frames instructional practices which may assist the teaching and learning of complex task-based skills. This paper reports 11 steps to be considered when teaching psychomotor skills.

The differences in error rate and type between IELTS writing bands and their impact on academic workload

This paper attempts to demonstrate the differences in writing between International English Language Testing System (IELTS) bands 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0. An analysis of exemplars provided from the IELTS test makers reveals that IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writers can make a minimum of 206 errors, 96 errors and 35 errors per 1000 words. The following section explores the differences in error patterns between IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writers and a proposition is made that the IELTS 7.0 writer shows some convergence of error types found among native English writers. In regard to workload issues, the paper discusses the impact of errors as a distraction which affects reading time and gives an indication of the amount of extra workload that may be required to assess IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writing. The paper concludes with remarks about entrance requirements for tertiary study and suggests that it may be simpler to raise entry standards than attempt to remediate the writing of students with low IELTS scores.This paper attempts to demonstrate the differences in writing between International English Language Testing System (IELTS) bands 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0. An analysis of exemplars provided from the IELTS test makers reveals that IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writers can make a minimum of 206 errors, 96 errors and 35 errors per 1000 words. The following section explores the differences in error patterns between IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writers and a proposition is made that the IELTS 7.0 writer shows some convergence of error types found among native English writers. In regard to workload issues, the paper discusses the impact of errors as a distraction which affects reading time and gives an indication of the amount of extra workload that may be required to assess IELTS 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 writing. The paper concludes with remarks about entrance requirements for tertiary study and suggests that it may be simpler to raise entry standards than attempt to remediate the writing of students with low IELTS scores.

Language proficiency and nursing registration

This discussion paper focuses on English proficiency standards for nursing registration in Australia, how Australia has dealt with the issue of language proficiency, and the factors which have led to the establishment of the current language standards. Also, this paper will provide a comparison of the two language tests that are currently accepted in Australia (OET and IELTS), including the appropriateness of these tests and the minimum standards used. The paper will also examine the use of educational background as an indicator of language proficiency. Finally, communication-based complaints in the post-registration environment will be explored, and some discussion will be provided about why pre-registration measures might have failed to prevent such problematic situations from occurring.

Research-based design of a medical vocabulary videogame

Abstract This article discusses the research-based design choices and general rationale underpinning the creation of a video game called Medicina. This game is designed to broadly foster better language skills among international nursing students with English as a second language (ESL) and more specifically to teach confusable medication names while also improving reaction time to verbal orders. Research shows that the learning of vocabulary is important to language learning. Without adequate vocabulary knowledge, it is difficult for an international student to interact in professional and university settings. This situation is compounded by the expectation that students will learn key vocabulary incidentally through academic pre-readings, despite the research demonstrating this to be an inefficient and inadequate method of learning. Moreover, medication names are low-frequency vocabulary. Thus, the international student who seeks to enter the health profession encounters the task of learning a large subset of language but without the amount of exposure theorised as being necessary to it. The article will outline how the language-learning video game is designed to encourage rapid discrimination of word form and give multiple exposures to both written and spoken medication names. It concludes with a summary of the preliminary testing of the game and a brief summary of the findings.

A model to teach concomitant patient communication during psychomotor skill development

Many health professionals use psychomotor or task-based skills in clinical practice that require concomitant communication with a conscious patient. Verbally engaging with the patient requires highly developed verbal communication skills, enabling the delivery of patient-centred care. Historically, priority has been given to learning the psychomotor skills essential to clinical practice. However, there has been a shift towards also ensuring competent communication with the patient during skill performance. While there is literature outlining the steps to teach and learn verbal communication skills, little is known about the most appropriate instructional approach to teach how to verbally engage with the patient when also learning to perform a task. A literature review was performed and it identified that there was no model or proven approach which could be used to integrate the learning of both psychomotor and communication skills. This paper reviews the steps to teach a communication skill and provides a suggested model to guide the acquisition and development of the concomitant -communication skills required with a patient at the time a psychomotor skill is performed.

Malawi women's knowledge and use of labour and birthing positions: A cross-sectional descriptive survey

PROBLEM Despite research evidence supporting use of upright birthing positions, most women give birth in supine position. Little is known about womens knowledge and use of labour and birthing positions. Specifically, there is a lack of evidence on Malawi womens knowledge and use of birthing positions, and this limits the possibility of improvement in childbirth practices. AIM To assess womens knowledge and use of different positions during labour and birthing. METHODS The study used a cross-sectional descriptive survey in a Malawi maternity unit where 373 low-risk postnatal women participated in face-to-face exit interviews, using a structured questionnaire. A descriptive analysis of the categorical variables was conducted to examine frequencies and percentages. FINDINGS The majority of women knew about walking (66.4%) and lateral (60.6%) as labour positions, whereas 99.2% knew about the supine as a birthing position. Half of the women (50%) walked during labour and the majority (91.4%) gave birth whilst in supine position. Midwives were the main source of information on positions used during childbirth. DISCUSSION Education about different birthing positions is needed for women who deliver at the maternity unit so that they can make informed decisions on their own options for childbirth. However, midwives must have the competence to encourage and assist women give birth in different positions, so professional development of midwives in childbirth positions is a priority. CONCLUSION Childbirth education should include information on the various labour and birthing positions. Midwives should be equipped with appropriate skills to help women use different positions during childbirth.

Sonographer Skill Teaching Practices Survey: Development and initial validation of a survey instrument

To report on the initial content development of the sonographer skill teaching practices survey (SonoSTePs) tool to measure skill teaching perceptions.

GATTACA and genetic determinism

Gattaca (1997) is a film that depicts a world in “the not-so-distant future” where naturally conceived humans are labelled as in-valids or de-gene-erates. In-valids form the lower class of society, while genetically selected embryos are called valids and form the elite. Genetic selection of embryos can be easily achieved by visiting “your local geneticist”. The valid and in-valid labels call to mind Heideggers authentic and inauthentic self. In-valids are denied access to high-status positions, education, and other social institutions, and are assigned menial jobs and low-status work. Valids form the elite and hold higher status jobs, although their participation is determined according to their level of genetic perfection. The name of the movie comprises the initial letters of the four nucleobases of DNA: Guanine, Adenine, Thymine, and Cytosine. The movie focuses on Vincent Freeman and Jerome Eugene Morrow (name translations: a free man conquers, and a genome-eugenic tomorrow). Jerome Eugene Morrow is a genetically superior valid who has become disabled and sells his identity to his look-alike, Vincent Freeman, an in-valid seeking to become an astronaut. As a borrowed ladder, Vincent adopts Jeromes identity, including the use of his blood, skin, urine and hair (becoming a complete set of genetic materials implied by the name) to enter the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. The original Jerome begins using his middle name of Eugene (Greek for well-born). In this society, discrimination based upon genetic profile, genoism, is rampant despite there being laws against it (probably similar to Americas Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act). Vincent says the new underclass is “no longer determined by social status or the colour of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science”. Through the guise of a drug sample, a potential employer can unlock a persons genetic profile, and a person can profile a potential partner from the remains of a kiss or hair sample. Indeed, before his interview to join the space program, Vincent provided Jeromes urine for a ‘drug test’ that was genetically profiled on the spot, and he was immediately accepted without further discussion. Liberal eugenics (voluntary participation in eugenics) informs what is valued in society in Gattaca, with the choice to participate weighing heavily on the parents, and genetic perfection being the desire of many people. In the movie, a person with a rating of 9.3 indicates a genome of exceptional quality, presumably free of deficiencies, although the rating system is not made clear. Indeed, this standard is “beyond that of the common citizen”. Gattaca features predominantly genetically superior, tall, young, blue-eyed, fair-skinned males. The movie makes links to the Nazi eugenics program by naming Gattaca Mission Director Josef, after Josef Mengele who was an Auschwitz SS Medical Officer known for his cruel genetic research experiments on twins. Both America and Germany had eugenics programs in the early to mid-20th century. Gattaca may not be too much of a leap from todays society. People have long selected partners, friends, and employees based on their social characteristics, such as social class, social status, ethnicity, and culture, as well as their physical characteristics such as height, attractiveness, disabling conditions, and family medical history. Throughout history, people have also chosen to marginalise, persecute, and kill others based on these same factors. In certain countries right now, female babies and babies with disabilities are killed, albeit in a rudimentary form of genetic selection. In Gattaca, systematic genetic profiling is arguably a natural extension of casual social profiling as it exists in society today. Gattaca is important to nursing because the healthcare profession already implements much of what is normalised in Gattaca, although with less precision regarding genetic information and without the use of Gattacas siloed technological infrastructure. To explain further, it is routine to take a family history in order to assist in diagnosis and treatment. Likewise, we use other biological information – such as ethnicity, sex, age, disabling conditions, etc. – to inform treatment options offered to patients. Gattaca takes this to an extreme, but not an impossible extreme. Already, there is evidence of insurance companies genetically profiling their current and future clients, offering discounts and penalties based on probabilities generated in genetic profiles (in addition to other lifestyle factors and already evident conditions) and employers have already commenced genetic testing of employees (Clayton, 2003; Snyder, 2011). Potential parents can privately send blood samples to commercial companies for genetic analysis. It is a routine event to offer pre-natal screening, and to check for genetic predisposition to certain diseases and whether to proceed with a pregnancy, and there is also screening possible before implantation through fertility services. Current practice focuses on risk management, with the intent commonly referred to as prevention being better than cure. With this sentiment so ingrained in our education of patients, the next step may be to follow in Gattacas footsteps, choosing to cure that which may need prevention. If a person was genetically predisposed to diabetes, it may be easier to remove the risk at birth, rather than mitigate it throughout life. This could bring humanity closer to a utilitarian society, as people choose (or are encouraged to choose) desirable characteristics. There could be more humanity stripped from us as we aim for control over all the small things that make us unique (Kirby, 2004; Sandel, 2008). Some interesting ethical implications of the use of genetic information involve not only current-day practice and decision-making, but also may affect triage decisions over who is treated first, what diseases are suspected, and which possible conditions would be

Learning English Idioms With a Web-Based Educational Game

This article explores the usefulness of a web-based education game for learning English idioms and examines attitudinal factors contributing to the learning of the idioms with the game. The two studies reported in this article involved two groups of English as a foreign language students in two different contexts. The students were surveyed on their opinions of language learning and games and tested on their idiom knowledge before and after using the web-based educational game over a similar period of gameplay time. The studies found that both groups had significant gains in idiom knowledge, with some variation. It was also found that idiom knowledge improvement was largely mediated by willingness to learn English. In addition, other factors such as satisfaction and self-perception of improvement were noted. It is suggested that, in game-based language learning, attitudinal and motivational factors such as satisfaction with games and willingness to learn with games need to be carefully considered as they can generate positive learning outcomes. Further studies on the use of online educational games for language learning are recommended to be conducted in and out of the classroom in line with the evaluation of the games.

Continuing Development and Initial Validation of a Questionnaire to Measure Sonographer Skill-Teaching Perceptions in Clinical Practice

Objective Medical ultrasound examinations are performed by diverse professional cohorts sonographers are one group. Little evidence exists regarding the teaching practices used in medical ultrasonography and their effectiveness. We report the continued development and validation of an instrument to measure sonographer skill-teaching practice perceptions (SonoSTePs). Methods An online survey was administered to a convenience sample of sonographers who were employed in Queensland, Australia. This paper reports on the continued psychometric testing of the measurement tool. Findings The 25-item scale demonstrated good internal reliability. Exploratory factor analysis generated four factors with acceptable internal reliability: Factor 1 (Skill execution feedback, Cronbach’s α = 0.89), Factor 2 (Cognitive overload, Cronbach’s α = 0.68), Factor 3 (Teach new skill, Cronbach’s α = 0.70), and Factor 4 (Assist learners scanning, Cronbach’s α = 0.67). The combined instrument value was 0.83. The weighted kappa of the test–retest items identified that the majority of items achieved an interrater level of agreement of ≥0.5. Conclusion Results indicate that the SonoSTePs instrument items and factors are underpinned by theories and principles related to teaching a complex psychomotor skill. The initial data suggest that the tool is both reliable and valid.