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Abstract Background Clinical teaching is a complex learning situation influenced by the learning content, the setting and the participants' actions and interactions. Few empirical studies have been conducted in order to explore how clinical supervision is carried out in authentic situations. In this study we explore how clinical teaching is carried out in a clinical environment with medical students. Methods Following an ethnographic approach looking for meaning patterns, similarities and differences in how clinical teachers manage clinical teaching; non-participant observations and informal interviews were conducted during a four month period 2004-2005. The setting was at a teaching hospital in Sweden. The participants were clinical teachers and their 4th year medical students taking a course in surgery. The observations were guided by the aim of the study. Observational notes and notes from informal interviews were transcribed after each observation and all data material was analysed qualitatively. Results Seven pedagogical strategies were found to be applied, namely: 1) Questions and answers, 2) Lecturing, 3) Piloting, 4) Prompting, 5) Supplementing, 6) Demonstrating, and 7) Intervening. Conclusions This study contributes to previous research in describing a repertoire of pedagogical strategies used in clinical education. The findings showed that three superordinate qualitatively different ways of teaching could be identified that fit Ramsden's model. Each of these pedagogical strategies encompass different focus in teaching; either a focus on the teacher's knowledge and behaviour or the student's behaviour and understanding. We suggest that an increased awareness of the strategies in use will increase clinical teachers' teaching skills and the consequences they will have on the students' ability to learn. The pedagogical strategies need to be considered and scrutinized in further research in order to verify their impact on students' learning.

Background: Clinical teaching is a complex learning situation influenced by the learning content, the setting and the participants' actions and interactions. Few empirical studies have been conducted in order to explore how clinical supervision is carried out in authentic situations. In this study we explore how clinical teaching is carried out in a clinical environment with medical students. Methods: Following an ethnographic approach looking for meaning patterns, similarities and differences in how clinical teachers manage clinical teaching; non-participant observations and informal interviews were conducted during a four month period 2004-2005. The setting was at a teaching hospital in Sweden. The participants were clinical teachers and their 4th year medical students taking a course in surgery. The observations were guided by the aim of the study. Observational notes and notes from informal interviews were transcribed after each observation and all data material was analysed qualitatively. Results: Seven pedagogical strategies were found to be applied, namely: 1) Questions and answers, 2) Lecturing, 3) Piloting, 4) Prompting, 5) Supplementing, 6) Demonstrating, and 7) Intervening. Conclusions: This study contributes to previous research in describing a repertoire of pedagogical strategies used in clinical education. The findings showed that three superordinate qualitatively different ways of teaching could be identified that fit Ramsden's model. Each of these pedagogical strategies encompass different focus in teaching; either a focus on the teacher's knowledge and behaviour or the student's behaviour and understanding. We suggest that an increased awareness of the strategies in use will increase clinical teachers' teaching skills and the consequences they will have on the students' ability to learn. The pedagogical strategies need to be considered and scrutinized in further research in order to verify their impact on students' learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was two-fold: (a) to investigate the qualitative differences in children's death-related thinking regardless of nationality, and (b) to discover what qualitative differences exist between Swedish and U.S. children in their concepts of death. Phase I of the study included a sample of 316 Swedish and U.S. children, ages 4–19, 53 percent of which were girls. Phase II consisted of a cross-cultural comparison of 124 Swedish and 122 U.S. children matched for age and sex. The children participated in this study as intact classroom groups. They were asked to draw what they thought of when they heard the word “death”, or, in the case of the young children, the word “dead”. They were also asked to give a brief verbal commentary on what they had drawn. Each child's drawing and comments were analyzed as a unit. The drawings were assigned to one of ten qualitatively different categories identified post hoc. The categories were found to be age-related and in accord with previous studies of the development of concepts of death in children. The cross-cultural comparison indicated considerable similarities in the qualities of Swedish and U.S. children's depictions of death. Some cross-cultural differences were also observed, but these are differences in frequency or emphasis rather than in quality of depictions. More Swedish children depicted cultural and religious practices and symbols, whereas more U.S. children depicted violent causes of death. Possible explanations of these differences are suggested, and recommendations for future cross-cultural research in this area are made. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an attempt to expand our knowledge of what death means to children, 112 children, ranging in age from 4 to 18 years, drew a picture of what the word “death” means to them and attached a comment to explain their drawing. Three themes were evident in the drawings, resulting in these categories: (a) violence or aggression, (b) religious and cultural symbols, and (c) the experience of dying. The themes were significantly related to age, with the drawings of the youngest children more likely to portray violence and the drawings of the oldest children more likely to portray themes of the experience of dying. This relationship to age may be due to age-specific sociocultural contexts that provide children at each age with a certain type of information about death and dying. Several children described the dying process with images similar to those used by people who describe a “near death” experience. These descriptions seem to reflect universal, archetypical ideas about the experience of dying. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: To explore experienced long-term consequences of a hip fracture and conceptions of what influences hip fracture recovery among community-living elderly people 1 year after discharge., Method: Fifteen subjects (13 females and 2 males), aged 66-94, were interviewed. The phenomenographic method was used for analysis., Results: Experiences of insecurity and restricted life dominated the interviews. The descriptive categories within experienced consequences of a hip fracture were: (1) isolated life with more restricted activity and fewer social contacts, with the two sub-categories (a) more insecure and afraid and (b) more limited ability to move, (2) disappointed and sad that identity and life have changed and (3) satisfied with the situation or feeling even better than before the fracture. The categories within conceptions of what influences hip fracture recovery were: (4) own mind and actions influence recovery, (5) treatment and actions from others influence recovery and (6) you cannot influence recovery., Conclusion: The findings accentuate that the negative consequences of a hip fracture are substantial and long-lasting. As it strikes mostly elderly people, who may have experienced earlier losses and growing disabilities, a hip fracture could add to the risk of losing important life values. Furthermore, the findings indicate that all health care professionals who meet the patients need to consider the patients' own experiences and possible fear and not merely focus on the physical injury and disabilities.