Netta Notzer

Can brief workshops improve clinical instruction

Context  The impact of faculty development activities aimed at improving the teaching skills of clinical instructors requires elucidation. Since 2003, all instructors at our school of medicine have been required to undertake a brief workshop in basic clinical instructional skills as a prerequisite for promotion and tenure. The impact of this has, so far, remained unknown.

The feminization of the medical profession in Israel

Two factors have caused major changes in the gender composition of the Israeli medical profession in recent years: (i) a wave of immigration from the former USSR, which increased the doctor population by approximately 70% and which included a majority of women physicians, and (ii) the entry of more Israeli women into medical school. This report presents the current gender status of the Israeli medical profession, regarding students and physicians, and the choice of medical specialty and academic seniority, and compares gender differences in Israel with those in other countries.

Effect of religiosity on sex attitudes, experience and contraception among university students

This study deals with the effect of the degree of religiosity on attitudes toward and experience with sex and contraception among university students. Students defined their religious beliefs on the poles from orthodox religion to opposed-to-religion. Data were gathered by an anonymous questionnaire on sexual activity, attitudes toward sex, unwanted pregnancy and contraception. Orthodox and observant students left questions on sex unanswered. Female students were sexually active and used contraception in inverse relationship to their degree of religiosity. There was no parallel finding for males. The more religious the student the less sex was considered contributory to the relationship and the acceptance of abortion declined, but even among religious female students 48% chose abortions as a solution to an unwanted pregnancy.

Traits of the ‘Ideal Physician’ as Perceived by Medical Students and Faculty

The present study compared two populations: medical students and faculty as to their definition of essential traits of the ‘good physician’. Each group was further divided into the two phases of medical education. The preclinical phase included preclinical students and preclinical faculty, and the clinical phase included two faculty subgroups—surgeons and internists and students in their clinical clerkships.The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase (the pilot study), faculty and students (n = 90) specified 24 traits in a random fashion. These traits were made the basis of a structured questionnaire which was administered in the second phase. In phase 2, all participants (n = 388) were requested to grade the five most important traits on a 1–4 scale.The results show a remarkable general agreement on the desirable traits among all participants. However, there is a significant difference in the ordering of the five most important traits among the subgroups. The jive most important traits perc...

Differential evaluation of students' performance in histology

Construction of multiple choice questions in histology is often hampered by the difficulty in finding alternatives to the correct answer which will be neither trivial nor ludicrous. An additional problem appears when the student performance on the morphological and the functional aspects needs to be assessed.

Faculty‐development activity to promote effective communication between instructors and students

Background:  Educators claim that conflicts and teacher–student miscommunications interfere in achieving optimal learning outcomes.

Cultural perception of harassment in two groups of medical students: American and Israeli.

The aims of this study were to determine whether harassment occurs in the authors’ school, the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, and to address the possible influence of cultural background on the perception of harassment. The unique makeup of the school was utilized, with two separate programs for American and Israeli students trained at the same sites and by the same faculty. A two-part questionnaire was developed that included students’ reports on the occurrence of harassment, at what stage of their studies, by whom and its nature as well as demographic data. In the second part, students reported on their perception of harassment. Seven common scenarios were presented, and they were asked to indicate (on a four-point scale plus a non-applicable option) to what extent each scenario constituted harassment. A total of 115 Israeli and 81 American students in their clinical years responded during 2000–2001. About 50% experienced harassment, mainly in the clinical years. Significant differences were identified between the Israeli and the American students in their: (1) reporting of the amount (Israeli 59% vs. American 38%) and nature of harassment, and (2) perception of harassment (differed in six out of the seven scenarios), that can be related to their different cultures. These findings suggest that medical school faculty should be made aware of cultural differences in students’ perception of harassment, thus enabling them to adapt their approach towards the students and take action to prevent its occurrence.

Israeli Physicians' Performance after Sleep Deprived Situations - Differences among Male and Female Hospital Residents

Abstract This paper explores gender differences among hospital residents’ performance of clinical tasks in sleepderived situations. Two different research instruments were employed to investigate the physicians’ performance: an objective measure assessing the effects of sleep loss on performance by means of a computer game, and a subjective measure, a self-evaluation questionnaire investigating physicians’ assessments of the effects of sleep loss on their professional performance. The results reveal no significant differences in objective performance between men and women as obtained by the computer game after a night shift. However, significant gender differences in selfassessment appeared in the self-reported questionnaire in the domains of technical abilities, decision-making and general functioning. Women residents reported a significant decline in some components of their performance after a night shift, while male residents report only a marginal effect on their performance. The major contribution of this study is in its actual applications in developing optimal work schedules and organizational interventions to minimize fatigue and increase safety.

Determination in rejected medical school applicants: a 10-year follow-up

Summary. In view of low admission rate to medical schools, a large number of applicants are rejected annually. This population is denied the fulfilment of its occupational goal and must decide either to reapply to medical school or to choose a different occupational path.