The Flipped Classroom in Medical Education: Engaging Students to Build Competency.

The flipped classroom represents an essential component in curricular reform. Technological advances enabling asynchronous and distributed learning are facilitating the movement to a competency-based paradigm in healthcare education. At its most basic level, flipping the classroom is the practice of assigning students didactic material, traditionally covered in lectures, to be learned before class while using face-to-face time for more engaging and active learning strategies. The development of more complex learning systems is creating new opportunities for learning across the continuum of medical education as well as interprofessional education. As medical educators engage in the process of successfully flipping a lecture, they gain new teaching perspectives, which are foundational to effectively engage in curricular reform. The purpose of this article is to build a pedagogical and technological understanding of the flipped classroom framework and to articulate strategies for implementing it in medical education to build competency.

Orientating nonpharmacist faculty members to pharmacy practice.

OBJECTIVE: To design, implement, and evaluate a faculty development program intended to orient nonpharmacist faculty members to pharmacy practice. DESIGN: A multifaceted program was implemented in 2012 that included 4 shadowing experiences in which faculty members visited acute care, ambulatory care, hospital, and community pharmacy settings under the guidance of licensed preceptors. Itineraries for each visit were based on objective lists of anticipated practice experiences that define the role of the pharmacist in each setting. ASSESSMENT: The 4 shadowing experiences culminated with reflection and completion of a survey to assess the impact of the program. All of the faculty participants agreed that the experience improved their conceptual understanding of contemporary pharmacy practice and the role of the pharmacist in the healthcare setting. The experience also improved faculty comfort with creating practice-relevant classroom activities. CONCLUSIONS: A shadowing experience is an effective way of orienting nonpharmacist faculty members to the practice of pharmacy. This program inspired the creation of an experience to introduce pharmacy practice faculty to pharmaceutical science faculty research initiatives.

Formation of palladium nanofilms using electrochemical atomic layer deposition (E-ALD) with chloride complexation.

Pd thin films were formed by electrochemical atomic layer deposition (E-ALD) using surface-limited redox replacement (SLRR) of Cu underpotential deposits (UPD) on polycrystalline Au substrates. An automated electrochemical flow deposition system was used to deposit Pd atomic layers using a sequence of steps referred to as a cycle. The initial step was Cu UPD, followed by its exchange for Pd ions at open circuit, and finishing with a blank rinse to complete the cycle. Deposits were formed with up to 75 cycles and displayed proportional deposit thicknesses. Previous reports by this group indicated excess Pd deposition at the flow cell ingress, from electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Those results suggested that the SLRR mechanism did not involve direct transfer between a Cu(UPD) atom and a Pd(2+) ion that would take its position. Instead, it was proposed that electrons are transferred through the metallic surface to reduce Pd(2+) ions near the surface where their activity is highest. It was proposed that if the cell was filled completely before a significant fraction of the Cu(UPD) atoms had been oxidized then the deposit would be homogeneous. Previous work with EDTA indicated that the hypothesis had merit, but it proved to be very sensitive to the EDTA concentration. In the present study, chloride was used to complex Pd(2+) ions, forming PdCl(4)(2-), to slow the exchange rate. Both complexing agents led to a decrease in the rate of replacement, producing more homogeneous films. Although the use of EDTA improved the homogeneity, it also decreased the deposit thickness by a factor of 3 compared to the thickness obtained via the use of chloride.

Electrodeposition of CuInSe2 (CIS) via electrochemical atomic layer deposition (E-ALD).

The growth of stoichiometric CuInSe(2) (CIS) on Au substrates using electrochemical atomic layer deposition (E-ALD) is reported here. Parameters for a ternary E-ALD cycle were investigated and included potentials, step sequence, solution compositions and timing. CIS was also grown by combining cycles for two binary compounds, InSe and Cu(2)Se, using a superlattice sequence. The formation, composition, and crystal structure of each are discussed. Stoichiometric CIS samples were formed using the superlattice sequence by performing 25 periods, each consisting of 3 cycles of InSe and 1 cycle of Cu(2)Se. The deposits were grown using 0.14, -0.7, and -0.65 V for Cu, In, and Se precursor solutions, respectively. XRD patterns displayed peaks consistent with the chalcopyrite phase of CIS, for the as-deposited samples, with the (112) reflection as the most prominent. AFM images of deposits suggested conformal deposition, when compared with corresponding image of the Au on glass substrate.

Signal amplification in a microchannel from redox cycling with varied electroactive configurations of an individually addressable microband electrode array.

Amperometric detection at microelectrodes in lab-on-a-chip (LOAC) devices lose advantages in signal-to-background ratio, reduced ohmic iR drop, and steady-state signal when volumes are so small that diffusion fields reach the walls before flux becomes fully radial. Redox cycling of electroactive species between multiple, closely spaced microelectrodes offsets that limitation and provides amplification capabilities. A device that integrates a microchannel with an individually addressable microband electrode array has been used to study effects of signal amplification due to redox cycling in a confined, static solution with different configurations and numbers of active generators and collectors. The microfabricated device consists of a 22 microm high, 600 microm wide microchannel containing an array of 50 microm wide, 600 microm long gold microbands, separated by 25 microm gaps, interspersed with an 800 microm wide counter electrode and 400 microm wide passive conductor, with a distant but on-chip 400 microm wide pseudoreference electrode. Investigations involve solutions of potassium chloride electrolyte containing potassium ferrocyanide. Amplification factors were as high as 7.60, even with these microelectrodes of fairly large dimensions (which are generally less expensive, easier, and more reproducible to fabricate), because of the significant role that passive and active (instrumentally induced) redox cycling plays in confined volumes of enclosed microchannels. The studies are useful in optimizing designs for LOAC devices.