The relationship between ambulance team's professional commitment, occupational anxiety, and resilience levels.

BACKGROUND: Individuals who have the ability to bounce back from stressful events, to recover from their troubles and adverse environmental conditions by getting stronger each time are known as resilient people. Some professions may cause more occupational anxiety than others due to their characteristics and working conditions. In this research, we aimed to develop a professional commitment scale for the ambulance team. Another aim was to analyze the relationships between professional commitment, occupational anxiety, resilience, gender, job, seniority and working unit variables. METHODS: In the study, data were collected from a total of 1142 emergency ambulance workers working in Emergency Ambulance and Emergency Call Centers in 34 different cities in Turkey. Data were collected using the "Professional Commitment of Ambulance Team Scale (PCATS), Occupational Anxiety Scale for Emergency Medical Service Professionals (OASEMSP), and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA). Scale development analyses were carried out using Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Regression analysis were used to examine the relationships between professional commitment, occupational anxiety, resilience, gender, job, seniority and working unit. RESULTS: As a result of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), it was determined that 8 items remaining in the professional commitment scale formed a single-factor structure, explaining 46% of the variance of professional commitment of the team. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability value was 0.867. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the results of exploratory factor analysis. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient obtained through CTT was 0.868, and the marginal reliability coefficient within the scope of IRT was 0.877. The test-retest reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.832, which indicates that the scale is valid and reliable. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that resilience has a positive effect for professional commitment while occupational anxiety has a negative effect for professional commitment. In addition, having a moderate seniority has a negative (reducing) effect for professional commitment. Other variables (gender, job, and working unit) was found to have no significant impact on professional commitment.

Diagnostic branched tree as an assessment and feedback tool in undergraduate pharmacology education.

BACKGROUND: Multiple-choice, true-false, completion, matching, oral presentation type questions have been used as an evaluation criterion in medical education for many years. Although not as old as other question types, performance evaluation and portfolio-like assessment types, can be called alternative evaluation, have been used for a considerable time. While summative assessment maintains its importance in medical education, the value of formative assessment is gradually increasing. In this research, the use of Diagnostic Branched Tree (DBT), which is used both as a diagnostic and feedback tool, in pharmacology education was examined. METHODS: The study was conducted on 165 students (112 DBT, 53 non-DBT) on the 3rd year of undergraduate medical education. 16 DBTs prepared by the researchers were used as data collection tool. Year 3 first committee was elected for implementation. DBTs were prepared according to the pharmacology learning objectives within the committee. Descriptive statistics, correlation and comparison analyzes were used in the analysis of the data. RESULTS: DBTs with the most wrong exits are DBTs entitled phase studies, metabolism, types of antagonism, dose-response relationship, affinity and intrinsic activity, G-protein coupled receptors, receptor types, penicillins and cephalosporins. When each question in the DBTs is examined separately, it is seen that most of the students could not answer the questions correctly regarding phase studies, drugs that cause cytochrome enzyme inhibition, elimination kinetics, chemical antagonism definition, gradual and quantal dose response curves, intrinsic activity and inverse agonist definitions, important characteristics of endogenous ligands, changes in the cell as a result of G-protein activation, ionotropic receptor examples, mechanism of action of beta-lactamase inhibitors, excretion mechanism of penicillins, differences of cephalosporins according to generations. As a result of the correlation analysis, the correlation value calculated between the DBT total score and the pharmacology total score in the committee exam. The comparisons showed that the average score of the pharmacology questions in the committee exam of the students who participated in the DBT activity was higher than the students who did not participate. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that DBTs are a candidate for an effective diagnostic and feedback tool. Although this result was supported by research at different educational levels, support could not be shown in medical education due to the lack of DBT research in medical education. Future research on DBTs in medical education may strengthen or refute our research results. In our study, receiving feedback with DBT had a positive effect on the success of the pharmacology education.

The effect of social interaction on decision making in emergency ambulance teams: a statistical discourse analysis.

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the effects of social interaction, cognitive flexibility, and seniority on the correct response among emergency ambulance teams during case intervention. METHODS: The research, structured with the sequential exploratory mixed method, was conducted with 18 emergency ambulance personnel. The approach process of the teams working on the scenario was video recorded. The records were transcribed by the researchers, including gestures and facial expressions. Discourses were coded and modeled with regression. RESULTS: The number of discourses was higher in groups with high correct intervention scores. As the level of cognitive flexibility or seniority increased, the correct intervention score tended to decrease too. Informing has been identified as the only variable that positively affects the correct response to the emergency case, especially in the first period, which is directed toward case intervention preparation. CONCLUSION: Within the findings of the research, it is recommended that activities and scenario-based training practices that will increase the intra-team communication of the emergency ambulance personnel should be included in the medical education and in-service training.

The effect of repetition- and scenario-based repetition strategies on anatomy course achievement, classroom engagement and online learning attitude.

Anatomy is known to be the oldest and most fundamental branch among medical sciences. That is the reason why it is given at the beginning of medical education to form the basis for other medical sciences. Students who newly begin medical education need to spare plenty of time outside the course hours to study Anatomy which involves different and a lot of terminology. In this study, online repetitions were done outside the class using the repetition (classical presentation) and scenario-based repetition methods and the knowledge levels, course engagement statuses and online learning attitudes of the students were compared quantitatively and qualitatively between the groups.The study was conducted with 162 medical school year 2 students. These 162 students were randomized to experimental and control groups. The data were obtained with "Anatomy Achievement Test (AAT)", "Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI)" and "Medical School Students' Attitudes Towards Online Learning Scale (MSSATOLS)". After administering the experimental procedure to the students who were randomized to the experimental and control groups, focus group interviews were held with 16 students from the experimental group, 8 who received the highest scores and 8 who received the lowest scores from the data collecting instruments. The collected research data determined that the affective engagement (AE) and the anatomy achievement test (AAT) performed pre- and post-study were higher in the group in which the scenario-based repetition strategy was applied. AAT pre-test (mean = 27.16) and post-test (mean = 27.15) scores of the repetition group were very close to each other. However, the AAT post-test (mean = 32.33) average of the scenario-based repetition group was above the mean pre-test scores (mean = 26.79) (p < .05). Similarly, the mean AE pre-test (mean = 17.79) and post-test (mean = 17.91) scores of only the repetition group were very close to one another. However, the AE post-test (mean = 19.46) mean score of the scenario-based repetition group was above the mean pre-test score (mean = 17.82) (p < .05). In summary, pre-test and post-test scores changed the anatomy achievement and affective engagement scores, and this change was in favour of experimental group and increasing the post-test scores.The responses given to the questions in the scales and the impressions obtained from qualitative interviews indicated that the students did not find adequate the lectures given in the form of presentations alone and thought that various methods and primarily scenario-based education should be used as part of anatomy education to be able to establish a good connection with clinical sciences and Anatomy education should be provided not only at the beginning of the medical education but also in the following years.

The relationship between Technostress levels and job satisfaction of Teachers within the COVID-19 period.

This research aims to determine the technostress levels experienced by teachers in distance education during the COVID-19 period and examine the relationship between this technostress level and job satisfaction. The research was structured in relational comparison type. The attendees comprised 525 teachers working at different echelons of education, determined in accordance with the purposive sampling method. Technostress Scale, job satisfaction scale, and open-ended questions form were used as data collection tools during the research. The data were collected online through Google Forms due to COVID-19 conditions. Descriptive statistics, backward hierarchical multiple regression (BHMR), MANOVA analysis, and inductive content analysis were used for the data analysis. According to the research findings, it was figured out that teachers were exposed to intensive use of technology in distance education, this negatively affected their life and performance, their workload increased, and they had to put much more effort to adapt to modern technologies in the Covid-19 pandemic period. It was found that the teachers' job satisfaction levels were high in general, and the female teachers' job satisfaction levels were higher than those of male teachers. The job satisfaction levels of private school teachers were lower than those of public-school teachers. In the research, the gender of teachers and the institution type they work under, both being among the main factors affecting teachers' technostress level, were determined to make a significant difference. However, the distance education process, conducted during the COVID-19 period, was also noted to involve educational, psychological, and administrative challenges. Based on research results, it is recommended to improve teachers' online learning and technology literacy skills, and review present undergraduate programs in terms of preparation for distance education.

Validity and reliability evidence for the scale of distance education satisfaction of medical students based on item response theory (IRT).

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to reveal on the basis of the item response theory (IRT) the validity and reliability evidence for the data obtained from the scale prepared to determine the satisfaction with distance education in students studying in medical schools. METHODS: This is a quantitative study exploring IRT and measurement invariance evidence in developing a scale. The scale whose IRT evidence was explored was the Distance Education Satisfaction Scale (DESS). The data were obtained from 1332 medical school students who were studying at various universities. The data were analysed using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), multidimensional and unidimensional IRT, and measurement invariance. RESULTS: A 20-item construct with 3 sub-factors was found for DESS. This construct was unable to pass the iteration limit in the multidimensional IRT analysis. A unidimensional IRT was used assuming that the 3 sub-factors were locally independent. CONCLUSIONS: The least informative items were item 23, 24 and 25 in Factor 1, item 3 in Factor 2, and items 13 and 18 in Factor 3. The most informative items of DESS were those that had adaptive, useful expressions that had meaningful content and were able to provide educator support, which are the properties emphasized in the literature with respect to satisfaction with distance education. A measurement invariance test made based on gender revealed that DESS satisfied measurement invariance by meeting the compliance indexes required for configural, metric, scalar and strict invariance as recommended in the literature. The results showed that it is possible to make comparisons on the basis of gender using DESS.

Development and application of the Commitment to Profession of Medicine Scale using classical test theory and item response theory.

AIM: To determine the level of professional commitment of medical students by developing and applying a new scale. METHODS: The study enrolled 999 students of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, School of Medicine. Factor analysis, reliability analysis, and item analysis were performed based on the classical test theory and item response theory. The data obtained through scale application were analyzed using factorial ANOVA. RESULTS: The Commitment to Profession of Medicine Scale was identified as a unidimensional scale consisting of nine items. The scale in its present form explained 51% of the variance in commitment t.o profession of medicine. The reliability was 0.88. The scale application revealed that female students had higher commitment than male students. The highest level of commitment was observed in third- and first-year students, students with the lowest level of family income, and students whose ideal profession was medicine. CONCLUSION: There are many factors affecting professional commitment levels of university students. Therefore, it is of great importance to examine students' commitment at an early stage. In addition, the experiences of students during university years are important since they directly affect the commitment level. Considering these factors, teachers should support their students and strive to increase their commitment levels.