Pediatric Pulmonology Training in India: Current Status and Future Directions

Respiratory illnesses are common causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Postgraduates in Pediatrics spent significant time in learning to manage respiratory disorders. Improved survival of preterm neonates, improved diagnosis and survival of chronic respiratory problems, and advances in diagnosis and therapeutics have increased the need for specialists trained in managing these patients. Training programs in Pediatric Pulmonology are evolving over the past few decades. In India, super-specialty training in Pediatric Pulmonology has grown over the past few years. There is a need to modify the training structure used in industrialized countries due to differences in patient population, priorities, and limited available resources and expertise. Formal training courses have been started in a limited number of institutions. There is a large gap between the need for a trained workforce and the available specialists in the limited number of institutions. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics National Respiratory Chapter (IAPNRC) has initiated a fellowship program to bridge the gap. Comprehensive training involving academic and hands-on training may go a long way to improve the care of children with acute and chronic respiratory problems. For sustainable development of the super specialty, there is a need to work towards creating Pediatric Pulmonology service departments in various institutions that may be responsible for comprehensive training and research activities to answer common research questions.

Impact of aesthetic suture techniques training in improving the suture quality of non-plastic surgeons / 中华医学美学美容杂志

Objective:To investigate the effect and necessity of aesthetic suture techniques training in improving the suture quality of non-plastic surgeons.Methods:The well-planned aesthetic suture techniques training programs were run in non-plastic surgery senior residents and attending surgeons at Peking University People＇s Hospital from January 2017 to January 2019. There were 120 senior residents and attending surgeons included (aged from 25-32 years, average 28.9 years, with 66 males and 54 females). Mixed teaching methods were used such as video shows, lectures, surgery live show and scenario simulation. Baseline tests were taken before the training. Suture quality tests were taken when the trainings came to the end. Self-assessments were carried out both before and after the trainings.Results:Eight rounds of aesthetic suture techniques training were accomplished and 120 trainees were included in all. One hundred and two trainees passed the test while eight failed, while 10 trainees were absent in some courses or the final test. The passing rate was 85.0%. The scales of suture tools and material selection, incision design, subcutaneous tissue suture quality, tension relaxation, aesthetic suture appearance, and flexibility of different suture techniques were sharply improved after the training in both subjective and objective assessments.Conclusions:The aesthetic suture techniques training is effective in improving the suture quality of non-plastic surgeons, which is worthy to generalize in resident training.

Inspirations of UK's specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology for China / 中华医院管理杂志

This paper introduced the training system in obstetrics and gynecology(O&G) in the UK and the MRCOG exam organized by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Comparisons between the O&G specialists training systems of China and UK found that China should better link the resident training and specialists training for a better posteducational medical education system.China should also try to build a China-UK O&G specialist training program to keep pace with the time,for more O&G specialists of international perspectives in China.

Specialty Training System and Postgraduate Education in Japan / 医学教育

Medical education towards a specialty is a core stage of training for medical doctors. The specialty training system in Japan was initially organized by various academic societies and was recently integrated under Japan Medical Specialty Board, which was established in 2014. From April 2018, a revised specialty training system will begin and be based on new program guidelines. Its main concepts are professional autonomy, quality assurance of the medical specialty board and trustworthy medical consultation. As with undergraduate education, global standards are recently required in postgraduate education. Consistent outcome policy throughout undergraduate and postgraduate education and workplace-based assessment can hopefully be established.

Specialty Training System and Postgraduate Education in Japan / 医学教育

Medical education towards a specialty is a core stage of training for medical doctors. The specialty training system in Japan was initially organized by various academic societies and was recently integrated under Japan Medical Specialty Board, which was established in 2014. From April 2018, a revised specialty training system will begin and be based on new program guidelines. Its main concepts are professional autonomy, quality assurance of the medical specialty board and trustworthy medical consultation. As with undergraduate education, global standards are recently required in postgraduate education. Consistent outcome policy throughout undergraduate and postgraduate education and workplace-based assessment can hopefully be established.

What Affects Unmet Learning Needs of Young Physicians in Specialty Palliative Care Training?

Objectives: To explore background factors contributing to learning needs among physicians in palliative care specialty training. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey of physicians in specialty training in palliative care who were within 15 years after medical school graduation. The unmet learning needs (referred to as “needs”) were evaluated on a 5-point scale. Factor analysis was performed to identify underlying subscales of needs. Univariate analysis was performed using an average score of each subscale as a dependent variable and background factors as independent variables. Results: Of 284 physicians, 253 (89%) responded, and 229 were eligible after we had excluded resident physicians with less than 2 years of clinical experience and board-certified palliative care physicians. Factor analysis identified six subscales of the unmet learning needs: research, time, specialist, network, quality, and comprehensiveness. Background factors with significant between-group differences with the effect size of 0.4 or more included: 1) not working at a certified training facility, 2) not working or training at a big hospital, and 3) the number of palliative care physicians being 2 or less in the facility. Conclusion: Improvement of the training system is urgently needed for young physicians who are working at small or non-certified facilities for specialty training, or who have few palliative care colleagues.

Medical Specialist Training: Views from Stakeholders

In Malaysia, medical specialisation training is mainly carried out by the public universities. Methods: A survey was carried out to explore the views of medical specialists in the country on issues such as structure of medical specialty training, availability of human resource, public/private sector competition, competency and apprenticeship, and its impact on assurance and quality of medical specialty training. Results: Altogether 238 medical specialists from 30 hospitals and medical institutions in the country participated in the survey. Conclusion: Among the findings, competition for human resource between public and private sector and lack of uniformity on medical specialty training across universities in the country are among the issues found to be of concern. There is also a need to address governance issue which necessitates to clearly delineating what constitutes medical specialty and what constitutes a subspecialty so that an agreed uniformed nomenclature is exercised across all stakeholders. The respondents also strongly agreed on the need to ensure competence in medical specialist training.

Outcome-based medical specialty training: Can it bridge the gap between theory and clinical practice? / 医学教育

　The Japanese Medical Specialty Board has been established with the collaboration of medical and medical care organizations. It ensures the quality of medical specialists and achieves accountability to the people by certifying medical specialists and authorizing training programs. Outcome-based education is characterized by an emphasis on the quality assurance of trained physicians. Therefore, the new medical specialty training system could be constructed through outcome-based education. I give a brief overview of the new medical specialty training system, and it is discussed in the context of the guideline for medical specialty training system published recently.