Effectiveness of clinical teaching practices of preceptors in three referral hospitals at Stung Treng Region, Cambodia

Background: Students are not mere followers of teacher instructions, but fully aware and very observant of what differentiates a good clinical preceptor from a poor clinical preceptor and have expectations of how preceptors and clinical teachers should act. This study describes students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of clinical teaching practices of preceptors.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted by using the Clinical Teaching Evaluation (CTE) Questionnaire to determine the level of effective clinical teaching by preceptors in the following areas: nursing expertise, teaching competence, and interpersonal relationship skills, and to identify characteristics (gender, age, program, and year level) associated with effective clinical teaching. The sample was composed of 158 randomly chosen students, Associate Degree Nurses and Associate Degree Midwives years 2 and 3, with clinical experience under preceptors at the 3 Referral Hospitals (Stung Treng, Kratie, and Ratanakiri) in Stung Treng region of Cambodia. Evaluations were ranked on a five-point scale with one being strongly disagree up to five being strongly agree.Results: The mean scores for all items were 0.739. Mean rating scores for effective clinical teaching of preceptors was 3.63, with nursing expertise at 3.72, teaching competence at 3.51, and interpersonal relationship skills at 3.65.Conclusions: The clinical teaching quality of preceptors can be improved by training with appropriate teaching methods with emphasis on effective clinical teaching practices to assist students in clinical competency.

A Cross-sectional Study of Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Risk Factors in Cambodian Fruit Farm Workers in Eastern Region, Thailand

BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are accumulative disorders that are most frequently found in agricultural farmers. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect symptoms resulting from work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Cambodian farm workers working in fruit plantations in the eastern region of Thailand. METHODS: The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment, and Hazard Zone Jobs Checklist techniques were used to interview 861 farmers who participated in the study. RESULTS: The data showed that men who had been working for >10 years were more at risk of neck pain than those working for 10 years experienced lower back pain with aOR 8.13, 95% CI (1.04, 63.74), compared with those who had been working for <1 year. Men whose tasks required raising the arms above shoulder height had a risk factor contributing to neck pain of aOR 1.68, 95% CI (1.08, 2.61) when compared with those who did not work with this posture, and women had aOR 1.82, 95% CI (1.07, 3.12) when compared with those who did not work with this posture. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that work-related health conditions are monitored in migrant plantation workers to reduce the risks of musculoskeletal disorders.

Perceptions of nursing students on effective clinical preceptors in Phnom Penh National Hospitals, Cambodia.

Background: Nursing education has evolved substantially in the last few decades. Preceptorship is important to nursing education for several reasons. The purpose of this study is to describe the effective nursing clinical preceptors in Phnom Penh National Hospitals. Both preceptors and students have reported experiencing constrained relationships, tension and anxiety, which led to failure result or frustrating experiences in clinical teaching and learning. Methods: The stratified sampling of 166 was invited. A cross-sectional design survey was used. The Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient for all items was 0.945. Results: The findings were given as effective clinical preceptorship had a moderate (3.02, 0.85). The interpersonal relationship (3.51, 0.88), evaluation (3.39, 0.93), personal traits (2.80, 0.83), nursing competencies (3.39, 0.93), and teaching ability (2.70, 0.81). Conclusion: Interpersonal relationship, formative evaluation, giving suggestions and correcting mistakes without belittling was perceived to be important characteristic. It is necessary to integrate clinical teaching skills to clinical preceptors.

Khmer American Mothers' Knowledge about HPV and HBV Infection and Their Perceptions of Parenting: My English Speaking Daughter Knows More

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to explore and describe Khmer mothers' understanding of HBV and HPV prevention as well as their perception of parenting on health and health education of their daughters in the US. METHODS: The qualitative pilot study guided by the revised Network Episode Model and informed by ethnographic analysis and community-based purposive sampling method were used. Face-to-face audiotaped interviews with eight Khmer mothers were conducted by bilingual female middle-aged community health leaders who spoke Khmer. RESULTS: The findings revealed that Khmer mothers clearly lacked knowledge about HBV and HPV infection prevention and had difficulty understanding and educating their daughters about health behavior, especially on sex-related topics. The findings showed that histo-sociocultural factors are integrated with the individual factor, and these factors influenced the HBV and HPV knowledge and perspective of Khmer mothers' parenting. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that situation-specific conceptual and methodological approaches that take into account the uniqueness of the sociocultural context of CAs is a novel method for identifying factors that are significant in shaping the perception of Khmer mothers' health education related to HBV and HPV prevention among their daughters. The communication between mother and daughter about sex and the risk involved in contracting HBV and HPV has been limited, partly because it is seen as a "taboo subject" and partly because mothers think that schools educate their children regarding sexuality and health.