Towards a better understanding of standard determination and standard setting in the RANZCP summative assessments.

OBJECTIVES: The authors outline the difference between content and performance standards and the rationale for standard setting at a medical college. The principles of the college's standard setting processes for the written and objective structured clinical examination summative assessments are discussed in greater detail. CONCLUSION: There is no evidence of any single standard setting method to be the best. Multiple methods exist and will have varied results when applied. The judgement of a panel of subject experts remains an important component of the standard setting process.

OCCURRENCE AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NEEDLE STICK INJURY IN NURSING STUDENTS.

BACKGROUND: Needle stick injury (NSI) became a major issue and most of the research focuses on Nurses, Doctors and other health care workers, but at the same time nursing students in clinical duties are at high risk. Studies are available which examined NSI only in Medical students and health care workers. The present study is aimed to measure the occurrence of needle stick injury along with post exposure measures and evaluation of the knowledge regarding needle stick injury among nursing student. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in North-East India in 2013. The study participants comprised of 83 nursing students studying in 4th year B.Sc. (N) and 3rd year General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM). Students were questioned regarding their occurrence to Needle Stick Injury throughout their clinical training and measures taken following the exposure. They were also asked to complete the Knowledge questionnaire on NSI. RESULTS: The study among 83 nursing students included 43 (51.81%) GNM 3rd year and 40 (48.19%) B.Sc. Nursing Students. Out of a total 83 students, 75 (90.36%) were females. The occurrence of NSI during their course was reported by 33 (39.76%) participants. The maximum NSI occurred during first year of course (57.57%). It was found that 18 (54.54%) of NSIs were not reported. Among those exposed, only 5 (15.15%) students had undergone blood investigation and very few students took post exposure measures. It was found that, only 23 (69.69%) students were immunized against Hepatitis B before NSI. CONCLUSION: The present study indicated a high incidence of needle stick injuries among nursing students with more under-reported cases and subjects were not aware of post exposure measures. It is essential to deal above problems by regular training on real-life procedure at the entry level and reporting system should be more user-friendly platform.

Persistence of fecal indicator bacteria in Santa Monica Bay beach sediments.

Monitoring the water quality of recreational beaches is only one step toward understanding microbial contamination -- the primary cause of beach closings. The surf zone sediment reservoir is typically overlooked and may also be important. This study involved monitoring the fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) levels in water and sediment at three ocean beaches (two exposed and one enclosed) during a storm event, conducting laboratory microcosm experiments with sediment from these beaches, and surveying sediment FIB levels at 13 beaches (some exposed and some enclosed). Peaks in Escherichia coli and enterococci concentrations in water and sediment coincided with storm activity at the two exposed beaches, while levels of both FIB were consistently high and irregular at the enclosed beach. Results from microcosm experiments showing similar, dramatic growth of FIB in both overlying water and sediment from all beaches, as well as results from the beach survey, support the hypothesis that the quiescent environment rather than sediment characteristics can explain the elevated sediment FIB levels observed at enclosed beaches. This work has implications for the predictive value of FIB measurements, and points to the importance of the sediment reservoir.