AIM To determine the efficacy of immediate, standardized, corrective audio feedback training as supplied by the voice advisory manikin (VAM) compared to high quality standardized instructor feedback training for the initial acquisition of 1-rescuer lay provider pediatric BLS skills. MATERIALS AND METHODS Lay care providers of hospitalized children 8-18 years were randomized to VAM (n=23) or s...

The role of nonverbal behavior in the employment interview inference process was investigated using a modified Brunswik lens model. Thirty-four job interviews for an actual research assistant position were conducted and videotaped. Job applicants' self-appraised motivation to work and social skill were assessed, and their nonverbal behaviors during the interview were scored. Eighteen judges wit...

The capacity for skill development over multiple training episodes is fundamental to human motor function. We have studied the process by which skills evolve with training by progressively modifying a series of motor learning tasks that subjects performed over a 1-mo period. In a series of empirical and modeling studies, we show that performance undergoes repeated modification with new learning...

Therapist characteristics were explored as possible predictors of working alliance, rated early and later in therapy both by therapists (n=59) and patients (n=270) in an ongoing multisite project on process and outcome of psychotherapy. Patients and therapists had divergent perspectives on the working alliance. Therapists' experience, training, skill, and progress as therapists did not have any...

Modern practice in perinatology involves a significant portion of invasive procedures. Training in fetal diagnostic procedures is generally accomplished using in vitro model. Fetal therapeutic procedures require a more sophisticated skill. Fetoscopic intervention is most commonly performed for laser dichorionization of the placental in twin-twin transfusion syndrome. A co-ordination between ult...

BACKGROUND Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, client-centred counselling style aimed at eliciting and strengthening clients' intrinsic motivation to change. There is strong research evidence supporting the efficacy of MI, notably in its application among alcohol and drug abuse populations. MI interventions in smoking cessation may yield modest but significant increases in quitti...

We present a comprehension-based computational model of UNIX user skill acquisition and performance in a training context (UNICOM). The work extends a comprehension-based theory of planning to account for skill acquisition and learning. Individual models of 22 UNIX users were constructed and used to simulate user performance on successive command production problems in a training context. Compa...

BACKGROUND Flexible sigmoidoscopy, a core skill for the primary care physician, requires learned hand-eye skills that can be difficult to master during residency training. With recent advances in virtual reality simulation technology, simulated flexible sigmoidoscopes are available to family medicine residents for training before their initial and subsequent live patient examinations. The purpo...

BACKGROUND Despite many high-quality programs in basic surgical-skill education, the surgical skill of junior doctors varies widely. This, together with the waning interest in surgery as a career among medical students, is a serious issue confronted by hospitals and healthcare systems worldwide. We, therefore, developed and implemented an intensive one-day surgical-skill training course for two...