Nancy Dalgarno

Teaching science for the workplace? An analysis of Canadian science curriculum documents

This article reports on the analysis of 108 science curriculum documents from the 13 Canadian provinces and territories exploring the explicit links that the science curriculum makes with the world of work. The document analysis was undertaken to examine the extent to which the contemporary Canadian provincial and territorial science curriculum documents represent objectives and goals that relate to science in the workplace. Because Canadian curriculum documents are reviewed periodically, the research was timed so that it captured the moment at which a significant number of these policy documents had been revised and released: December 2004. The article begins with a review of the nature of the knowledge or New Economy. Then previous document analysis research on science curriculum policy is discussed. The present study’s findings suggest that curriculum policy makers are generally inattentive to the world of work and, in particular, to the demands of the New Economy. Implications of the research include the need to review the purposes of science education in Canada. Questions we might ask include, ‘To what extent might school science attempt to bridge the worlds of school and work?’ and ‘How might the bridge be built to this large part of life after school?’RésuméCet article est le résultat de l’analyse de 108 documents provenant des curriculums scientifiques des 13 provinces et territoires canadiens, portant sur les liens explicites entre les curriculums scientifiques et le marché du travail. Cette analyse a été réalisée afin de mieux comprendre à quel point les documents issus des curriculums scientifiques provinciaux et territoriaux canadiens reflètent les but et objectifs qui touchent les liens entre les sciences et le monde du travail. Puisque les curriculums canadiens sont révisés périodiquement, cette recherche a eu lieu à un moment choisi en fonction du fait que nombre de ces documents faisaient l’objet d’une révision détaillée, soit en décembre 2004. L’article commence par un tour d’horizon sur la nature des connaissances sur la nouvelle économie. Ensuite, il présente une analyse des recherches précédentes sur le sujet. Nos résultats suggèrent que les décideurs en matière de curriculums sont généralement peu attentifs au monde du travail, et aux besoins de la nouvelle économie en particulier. Parmi les implications qui se dégagent de cette recherche, mentionnons la nécessité de revoir les objectifs de l’enseignement des sciences au Canada. Les questions que nous sommes en droit de poser sont entre autres les suivantes: Jusqu’où les sciences à l’école peuvent-elles aller pour faire le pont entre les milieux scolaires et le monde du travail ? Comment peut-on procéder pour construire un pont vers cette longue étape de la vie qui suit la formation scolaire?

Professionalism, professionalization, expertise and compassion: a qualitative study of medical residents

BackgroundFormal and informal medical curricula convey expectations about professionalization, that is, the development of physician identity, and also about professionalism. This study examined whether, in general, junior residents experienced any dissonance between these roles and focused particularly on how they negotiated conflicts between compassion, self-care, duty and medical expertise.MethodsIn 2015, purposive sampling was used to select 21 first-year residents at a Canadian medical school. Participants listened to a 5-min audio-recording narrated in either male or female voice. Facing compassion fatigue after three obstetrical disasters over less than 2 days the resident narrator asks to go home. Participants reacted in writing to questions about this request and relevant teaching/modelling. Responses were analyzed using a qualitative, exploratory, thematic research design.ResultsFour themes were identified: i) empathy, self-doubt and fear of weakness, ii) the need for support from and communication with physicians and others, iii) education received, and iv) professionalization outranks professionalism. Participants agreed that under the circumstances the narrator’s care, compassion and request were appropriate. Never the less, many grappled with feeling that asking to be relieved of work demonstrated weakness and a shirking of responsibility. Respondents had received no formal teaching about balancing compassion for patients or self with professional duty. Preceptors’ informal teaching and modeling valorized scientific disengagement above all else. What emerged was participants’ drive to become detached clinicians who set aside emotional responses and interactions that could impede and be incompatible with professionalization. However, participants also recognized and lamented what was lost in such a transformation.ConclusionIn the transition from student to practitioner, trainees’ views and the modeling they receive shift emotion and compassion, whether for self or patients, from assets to liabilities as they aim to be invincible medical experts.

Primary care providers’ lived experiences of genetics in practice

To effectively translate genetic advances into practice, engagement of primary care providers (PCPs) is essential. Using a qualitative, phenomenological methodology, we analyzed key informant interviews and focus groups designed to explore perspectives of urban and rural PCPs. PCPs endorsed a responsibility to integrate genetics into their practices and expected advances in genetic medicine to expand. However, PCPs reported limited knowledge and difficulties accessing resources, experts, and continuing education. Rural practitioners’ additional concerns included cost, distance, and poor patient engagement. PCPs’ perspectives are crucial to develop relevant educational and systems-based interventions to further expand genetic medicine in primary care.