The administration of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using paper checklists presents problems such as illegible handwriting, missing student names and/or numbers and lost checklists. Calculating and entering results is not only time-consuming, but is subject to human errors, and feedback to students is rarely available. To rectify these problems, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and HaPerT software were acquired to replace paper checklists and provide automated results and feedback. This study sought to determine the usability of the PDA assessment system. The usability of the PDA system was evaluated according to effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction. Effectiveness was judged by comparing the results of an OSCE conducted in 2003 (paper-based method) and repeated in 2004 and 2005 (PDA method). Efficiency was determined by calculating the amount of time required to organise the logistics for 2 consecutive PDA OSCEs and deliver results and grades, compared with the time required for the paper-based OSCE. User satisfaction was established by using questionnaires to obtain feedback on the assessors' experiences during their first assessments. An independent groups t-test used to compare the means of scores achieved by students in the PDA and paper-based OSCEs, respectively, showed that the difference in effectiveness was not significant. In terms of efficiency, 77% less time was used for the PDA OSCE in 2004 and 93% less in 2005. Assessor feedback on PDA assessment was overwhelmingly positive. Assessment by PDA was found to be just as effective as and more efficient than paper-based assessment in practical examinations, and was highly rated by assessors.

BackgroundThe suitability of populations of sexually active women in Madibeng (North-West Province) and Mbekweni (Western Cape), South Africa, for a Phase III vaginal microbicide trial was evaluated.MethodsSexually active women 18–35 years not known to be HIV-positive or pregnant were tested cross-sectionally to determine HIV and pregnancy prevalence (798 in Madibeng and 800 in Mbekweni). Out of these, 299 non-pregnant, HIV-negative women were subsequently enrolled at each clinical research center in a 12-month cohort study with quarterly study visits.ResultsHIV prevalence was 24% in Madibeng and 22% in Mbekweni. HIV incidence rates based on seroconversions over 12 months were 6.0/100 person-years (PY) (95% CI 3.0, 9.0) in Madibeng and 4.5/100 PY (95% CI 1.8, 7.1) in Mbekweni and those estimated by cross-sectional BED testing were 7.1/100 PY (95% CI 2.8, 11.3) in Madibeng and 5.8/100 PY (95% CI 2.0, 9.6) in Mbekweni. The 12-month pregnancy incidence rates were 4.8/100 PY (95% CI 2.2, 7.5) in Madibeng and 7.0/100 PY (95% CI 3.7, 10.3) in Mbekweni; rates decreased over time in both districts. Genital symptoms were reported very frequently, with an incidence of 46.8/100 PY (95% CI 38.5, 55.2) in Madibeng and 21.5/100 PY (95% CI 15.8, 27.3) in Mbekweni. Almost all (>99%) participants said that they would be willing to participate in a microbicide trial.ConclusionThese populations might be suitable for Phase III microbicide trials provided that HIV incidence rates over time remain sufficiently high to support endpoint-driven trials.

ResearchThis paper discusses 10 key elements for the design and implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) in a skills centre. The elements are based on published literature as well as on the experience of an IPE initiative, simulating the management of a multiple-traumatised patient in the acute and rehabilitation phases, by students from 4 professions: medicine, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. The key elements are interrelated and include the partners involved (learners, facilitators and patient simulator), the content, learning resources, setting, faculty development, logistics, learning strategies and evaluation.

A challenge in curriculum designing and refining is to ensure that objectives for knowledge, skills and attitudes are clear, structured within the learning opportunities of modules, and aligned with assessment formats, outcomes, competencies and content taxonomies. Curriculum mapping entails a process of matching learning outcomes with elements of the curriculum [1] and provides the required visual representation of these various curriculum components, attributes and relationships. [2] The challenge of alignment can therefore be met by mapping on an electronic platform, which provides for the systematic organisation and linking of various curriculum elements into a database. [3-5] Harden [3] describes curriculum mapping as a blueprint that provides a multidimensional overview of four interrelated key areas: content (learning objectives), learning outcomes, learning opportunities (events contributing to outcomes) and the related assessment. Viewing the map through these four 'windows' reveals what has to be learnt, how it can be learnt and how it must be assessed. Curriculum mapping visually represents key elements of a programme that contributes to student learning. [1] A relational curriculum database as described above makes the curriculum transparent owing to the online accessibility and search ability. It allows users to browse through the information in different ways [6] to view aligned content by using descriptors in various hierarchies of the outcomes, competencies and content taxonomies as keywords to filter data. The power of the map clearly lies in the links between curriculum elements [7] on which these searches are based. The transparency of the curriculum map enables the visibility of students' prior exposure to particular content and planning of the level and breadth of new learning. [3] Viewing the learning spiral by filtering the progression in terms of breadth, depth, utility and proficiency, as reflected in learning objectives, [4] clarifies students' and educators' understanding of where students are going and the steps they need to take to get there. [4,8] Revision of a curriculum is facilitated through multiple searching and reporting features of a curriculum map. Educators are enabled to check for redundancies, inconsistencies, misalignments and weaknesses. [9] This includes reviewing whether the content is congruent with expected learning outcomes, [3,5,6] considering the availability of teachers and suitable patients, [5] identifying learning objectives that are not covered or overlap with other content domains and detecting inconsistencies between objectives and assessment. [10] The map provides for a review of assessment methods, [9] and by correcting inconsistencies and possible mismatches between teaching and assessment, valid examinations can be constructed. [3] Viewing the scope of these patterns and relationships, complexity and cohesion of the curriculum [11] are important for the purposes of curriculum management, analysis and reporting. [7,12,13] A web-based curriculum platform ...

The evaluation of the CD-ROM program was very favourable. The majority of students still preferred live demonstrations but found the CD-ROM useful for revision purposes. With the exception of one skill, endotracheal intubation, the new curriculum students were found to be as competent as the students following the traditional curriculum and performed mask ventilation and cardiac massage significantly better than them.