Margaret Wallace

‘Teach us how to do it properly!’ An Australian academic integrity student survey

The results of a large online student survey (n = 15,304), on academic integrity at six Australian universities, indicate that a majority of respondents reported a good awareness of academic integrity and knowledge of academic integrity policy at their university and were satisfied with the information and support they receive. Response varied across cohorts, with international students expressing a lower awareness of academic integrity and academic integrity policy, and lower confidence in how to avoid academic integrity breaches. Postgraduate research student respondents were the least satisfied with the information they had received about how to avoid an academic integrity breach. The results from this survey provide an opportunity to explore the student perspective and inform the higher education sector in relation to communicating with and educating students about academic integrity. The students have indicated that Australian universities need to move beyond the mere provision of information to ensure a holistic approach that engages students about academic integrity.

Review: evidence on the effectiveness of honey for healing wounds is limited.

A B Jull Dr A B Jull, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; a.jull@ctru.auckland.ac.nz Does topical honey improve rate of healing of acute and chronic wounds? Included studies compared topical honey, alone or in combination with other dressing components, with dressings or other topical agents for healing acute wounds (burns, lacerations, and other traumatic wounds) and chronic wounds (venous or pressure ulcers and infected wounds healing by secondary intention), and reported data for ⩾1 primary outcome. Primary outcomes were time to complete wound healing and proportion of patients with completely healed wounds. Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register (May 2008), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials ( Cochrane Library , Issue 2, 2008), …

Review: alternative-foam mattresses and some operating-table overlays reduce pressure ulcers more than standard surfaces.

Do pressure-relieving surfaces reduce pressure ulcers more than standard support surfaces? Are some types of pressure-relieving surfaces more effective than others? Included studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared beds, mattresses, mattress overlays, and cushions in patients at risk of pressure ulcers and reported objective outcomes. Outcomes included incidence of new pressure ulcers. Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, CINAHL, Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register, CENTRAL, and Cochrane Library (all to Feb 2008), and reference lists were searched. Experts and manufacturers were contacted. 52 RCTs were included. Constant low-pressure (CLP) supports . Of 8 RCTs comparing CLP supports with standard mattresses, 5 showed a benefit for alternative-foam mattresses (pooled risk reduction [RR] 60%, 95% CI 26 to 79). Water beds (1 RCT, RR 65%, CI 21 to 85) and Beaufort bead beds (1 RCT, RR 68%, CI 24 to 86) reduced pressure ulcers, but viscoelastic foam trolley mattresses did not (1 RCT). In 5 RCTs, a benefit for 1 type …

A method of providing engaging formative feedback to large cohort first-year physiology and anatomy students.

A growing body of evidence demonstrates a critical role for effective, meaningful feedback to enhance student learning. Effective feedback can become part of the learning cycle that is not only a learning opportunity for the student but can also be used to inform the teacher and ongoing curriculum development. Feedback is considered particularly important during the first year of university and can even be viewed as a retention strategy that can help attenuate student performance anxieties and solidify perceptions of academic support. Unfortunately, the provision of individualized, timely feedback can be particularly challenging in first-year courses as they tend to be large and diverse cohort classes that pose challenges of time and logistics. Various forms of generic feedback can provide rapid and cost-effect feedback to large cohorts but may be of limited benefit to students other than signaling weaknesses in knowledge. The present study describes a method that was used to provide formative task-related feedback to a large cohort of first-year physiology and anatomy students. Based on student evaluations presented in this study, this method provided feedback in a manner that engaged students, uncovered underlying misconceptions, facilitated peer discussion, and provided opportunity for new instruction while allowing the lecturer to recognize common gaps in knowledge and inform ongoing curriculum development.

Review: evidence is lacking on the effectiveness of dietary advice in illness-related malnutrition.

C Baldwin Ms C Baldwin, King’s College London, London, UK; christine.baldwin@kcl.ac.uk Is dietary advice to improve nutritional intake effective in adults with illness-related malnutrition? Studies selected compared dietary advice (instruction in modification of food intake given by a dietician or other healthcare professional with the aim of improving nutritional intake) with no advice or prescription of an oral nutritional supplement (with or without dietary advice) in adults (>16 y of age) with chronic illness or at nutritional risk who have suboptimal nutritional status. Studies involving pregnant women, people with eating disorders, conditions of food shortage, or use of elemental supplements were excluded. Outcomes were mortality, hospital admission, and weight gain. Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group trials register (Sep 2007); …

Pregnancy within 8 months of a previous birth was associated with an increased rate of preterm birth

Assessment of risk factors Interpregnancy interval was defined as <4, 4.01–8.00, 8.01– 12.00, 12.01–24.00, 24.01–36.00, and > 36 months and calculated as the difference between the birthdate of the first child and estimated date of conception of the second child in the study pair. The interval 24.01–36.00 months was taken as the reference standard (odds ratio [OR] 1.0). Other risk factors were age of mother at second study birth, parity at first study birth, social status (low, medium, and high) at first study birth, change in social status between births (unchanged, decrease, or increase), infant death (first or second study child), and gestational age of the first study child.