Biomedical physics in continuing medical education: an analysis of learning needs

Abstract

Objective. To examine the learning and practice needs of medical professionals in the field of continuing education of biomedical physics in Lithuania.Material and methods. The study was based on a questionnaire survey of 309 medical professionals throughout Lithuania, 3 focus group discussions, and 18 interviews with medical and physics experts.Results. The study showed that medical professionals lack knowledge of physics: only 15.1% of the respondents admitted that they had enough knowledge in biomedical physics to understand the functioning of the medical devices that they used, and 7.5% of respondents indicated that they had enough knowledge to understand and adopt medical devices of the new generation. Physics knowledge was valued more highly by medical professionals with scientific degrees. As regards continuing medical education, it was revealed that personal motivation (88.7%) and responsibility for patients (44.3%) were the most important motives for upgrading competencies, whereas workload (65.4%) and financial limits (45.3%) were the main obstacles. The most popular teaching methods were those based on practical work (78.9%), and the least popular was project work (27.8%).Conclusions. The study revealed that biomedical physics knowledge was needed in both specializations and practical work, and the most important factor for determining its need was professional aspirations. Medical professionals' understanding of medical devices, especially those of the new generation, is essentially functional in nature. Professional upgrading courses contain only fragmented biomedical physics content, and new courses should be developed jointly by experts in physics and medicine to meet the specialized needs of medical professionals.Correspondence to V.Išvados. Tyrimas parodė, kad biomedicinos fizikos žinios yra reikalingos įvairiose medicinos specializacijose bei praktiniame medikų darbe, o pagrindinis motyvas kelti kvalifikaciją yra profesinis tobulėjimas. Medikų biofizikos žinios, naudojant medicininę įrangą, yra daugiau instrumentinės. Profesinės kvalifikacijos kėlimo kursuose biofizikos žinios pateikiamos labai fragmentiškai, todėl, bendradarbiaujant fizikos ir medicinos ekspertams, turi būti kuriami nauji tęstinio mokymo kursai, atitinkantys specializuotus medicinos personalo poreikius.Adresas susirašinėti: V. Karenauskaitė, VU Fizikos fakultetas, Saulėtekio al. 9, 3 korp., 10222 Vilnius

Presentation and evaluation of the teaching concept “ENHANCE” for basic sciences in medical education

“…A sound understanding of basic sciences is key for the successful completion of medical education. It has been shown that a fundamental knowledge of basic sciences is a major determinant of diagnostic success [ 1 , 2 ]. Therefore, it is indispensable to improve the quality of teaching and to meet the needs of medical students in terms of usefulness, especially in basic sciences.…”

“…A sound knowledge and understanding of basic sciences are a prerequisite for a successful completion of medical education. Fundamental knowledge in basic sciences serves as a major determinant of diagnostic success, because numerous modern devices and methods used for diagnostics and treatments are based on these [1,2]. Nevertheless, there is a significant variance in students' basic science knowledge at the beginning of medical education [3].…”

The Ongoing Crisis in Medical Device Education for Healthcare Professionals

“…This is surprising as whilst in the case of pharmaceuticals often little input is required by the healthcare professional (above calculation of dosage and assessment of side effects or contra-indications), a device will only function effectively and safely if properly utilized and cared for by the professional. Yet, learning about devices within healthcare organizations is often an unsatisfactory process -the reasons ranging from trial-and-error learning to training sessions from vendor 'application specialists' which are too short or simply insufficient (Rotomskis, Karenauskaite, & Balzekiene, 2009;Vano et al, 2007). The situation is becoming more critical as devices increase in sophistication, capability and number of user options; in fact, devices are developing at such a rate that education is simply not keeping pace.…”