Valores éticos en la educación médica: consideraciones generales y comparación de dos escuelas médicas en países diferentes / Ethics values in medical education: general considerations and comparison of two different medical schools in different countries

La formación de los recursos humanos en la profesión médica, está basada en la expresión más completa de la Ética Médica, donde se incluye entre otros aspectos, la conciencia del médico, la confianza del enfermo y la observancia del método clínico, como partes importantes en la repercusión social que se presenta ante cada caso clínico ya sea agudo o crónico, y dentro de estos, las situaciones urgentes o emergentes, todas ellas con afectación de la esfera psicosocial. El objetivo principal de nuestro trabajo es el de valorar la aplicación de la enseñanza de la ética ante la actuación y atención con el paciente desde la etapa de formación del estudiante de Medicina, así como comparar las diferentes situaciones a las que se enfrentan los estudiantes y educadores médicos, modificadas e influenciadas por la cultura, la sociedad y la economía.En este trabajo, enfocamos los cuatro componentes fundamentales de la Ética Médica cubana y su proyección en la educación y formación de los recursos humanos del área de la salud. Se muestra nuestra experiencia en la enseñanza de la ética en el área clínica en dos programas de la carrera de Medicina; en Cuba y en Sudáfrica. El baluarte de nuestra Medicina cubana es educar según los principios que están acordes con los planteamientos del Juramento Hipocrático y la política de salud actual, reflejada tanto en nuestro país, como en otras universidades, a las cuales apoyamos en la formación de los futuros trabajadores de la salud. Las condiciones sociales modifican la actividad profesional y personal. Como consecuencia, la salud de los pacientes se ve igualmente afectada. El trabajo refleja, ademas, algunas consideraciones generales de profesores cubanos sobre la enseñanza de pregrado y los valores éticos en Sudáfrica(AU)

The development of human resources in medical profession relies on the most complete expression of medical ethics. It includes medical awareness, patients' confidence and the observance of clinical method. All of them are important portions of the social repercussion in every clinical case, either acute or chronic; including medical emergencies among them. Psychosocial aspects are also involved in clinical cases. The main objective of this article, is to assess the teaching of ethics, applied to the attention and action with patients during the medical studies; as well as to compare different situations faced by students and lecturers; which are modified and influenced by culture, economy and society.This paper focuses on the four main components of Cuban medical ethics and how do they project the teaching and training of future health workers. We comment on our humble experience on teaching ethical issues in medical studies, comparing two medical programs of two countries: Cuba and South Africa. The strength of our Cuban medicine is to educate following the principles according to our policy of health and Hippocrates' oath. Both are reflected in our country, as well as overseas, in other universities, where we contribute with the preparedness of future health workers. Social conditions modify personal and professional activities. As a result, patients' health may modify as well. This article also reflects general opinions of Cuban professors on undergraduate learning and ethical values in South African medical students(AU)

Correlation between Different PBL Assessment Components and the Final Mark for MB ChB III at a Rural South African University

Problem-based learning (PBL) is now an accepted component of many medical school programmes worldwide. Our university also follows the PBL `SPICES' model for MB ChB III. The assessment modalities used are the modified essay questions (MEQ); objective structured practical examination (OSPE); individualised process assessment (IPA) and tutorial continuous assessment (TUT). This study was done to compare the students' performances in individual assessment components with the final mark to determine the correlation between these parameters. Materials and methods. The study was retrospective; descriptive and analytical; based on the integrated marks of all the MB ChB III students at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in 2007. Assessment marks were stratified according to blocks and different types of assessment (MEQ; TUT; OSPE; IPA). Regression analysis was used to compute and scrutinise these vis-a-vis their correspondence with the final marks for each block.Results. Three hundred and seventy-nine block assessment marks of 96 students from 4 blocks of MB ChB III were analysed and the correlation between the assessment components and final mark were compared. Regression analysis showed good correlation when analysing the assessment modality versus the final mark for the MEQs (r=0.93; 0.93; 0.94; 0.96); followed by OSPEs (r=0.71; 0.70; 0.76; 0.77) and IPAs (r=0.62; 0.51; 0.68; 0.77). However; correlation was not significant with the TUT. Conclusion. There was good correlation between the students' performance in the majority of assessment modalities and the final mark in the different blocks of the MB ChB III examination. There may be a need to make tutorial assessment methods more objective; partly by additional tutor training

Degeneración basófila (Mucinosa) del miocardio. Presentación de un caso y revisión de la literatura / Basophilic degeneration (mucinous) of the myocardium. Presentation of a case and review of literature

Se presentan los hallazgos morfológicos en un paciente fallecido por una miocardiopatía primaria tipo de enfermedad cardíaca familiar idiopática con degeneración basófila (mucoide) del micardio asociada. Se señalan las características estructurales e histoquímicas de la sustancia basófila encontrada, lo que concuerda con lo que aparece informado sobre la misma (AU)