As 72% of online adults are using social media, it is vital for health professions schools and institutions to understand and adapt to the online needs of health professions students (HPS). This research was designed to examine how HPS are utilizing the Internet and online activity, specifically focusing on social media, and to determine HPS’ motivations for using social media. In 2012, 4,370 h...

There are recognised shortages in most health professions in Australia. This is evidence that previous attempts at health workforce planning have failed. This paper argues that one reason for such failure is the lack of appropriate structures for health workforce planning. It also suggests that Australia needs to move beyond planning for particular professions and that health workforce planning...

Health services professionals are confronting the challenge of maintaining and improving competence over the course of lengthy careers in diverse practice specialties. This article reviews the efforts of a selection of health care professions to ensure lifetime competence and reviews some of the challenges encountered in these efforts. Although each profession has its own issues, significant ge...

Over the past three decades, evidence has accumulated that demonstrates that the US healthcare system as currently structured is untenable given the cost of healthcare, poor outcomes associated with this cost, imminent shortages in many categories of health professionals, and underutilization of other health professionals. The system also faces other challenges, such as the lack of access to ca...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There has been much discussion concerning the relationship between an education in liberal arts and an education in a health profession. Some take a traditional view that the classics are the core of a liberal arts education, and therefore are separate from and preparatory for the professions.1 Others take a more contemporary view, such as using the arts or the humanities...

‘Standard setting’ is a process through which the items prepared for the student assessment is standardized before and/or after the student assessment process. The main objective of standard setting is to determine the cut-off score, or pass mark, of an item or a test. The tests represent Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Short Answer Questions (SAQs), Objective Structured Practical or Clinical...

Learning curves, which graphically show the relationship between learning effort and achievement, are common in published education research but are not often used in day-to-day educational activities. The purpose of this article is to describe the generation and analysis of learning curves and their applicability to health professions education. The authors argue that the time is right for a c...

Bargaining with reading habit is no need. Reading is not kind of something sold that you can take or not. It is a thing that will change your life to life better. It is the thing that will give you many things around the world and this universe, in the real world and here after. As what will be given by this continuing education in the health professions, how can you bargain with the thing that...

The interest to pursue doctoral degrees in the health professions is increasing exponentially. Some reasons for this increase include innovations in curriculum and instructional strategies, competency-based assessment, particularly at the postgraduate level, and accreditation requirements. Through various electronic search methods, interviews, review of documents and site visits, 24 structured ...