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The present study was conducted to determine the extent of observation of patients' privacy by physicians and nurses and its relationship with patient satisfaction. This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 600 patients selected by convenience sampling. Based on the patients' points of view, the level of observation of patients' privacy and its dimensions, especially the psychosocial dimension, were reported to be higher in nurses than in physicians. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a direct and significant relationship between the observation of privacy by the nurses and physicians and different dimensions of patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a theoretical model for the costs of an exam as a function of its duration. Two kind of costs are distinguished: (1) the costs of measurement errors and (2) the costs of the measurement. Both costs are expressed in time of the student. Based on a classical test theory model, enriched with assumptions on the context, the costs of the exam can be expressed as a function of various parameters, including the duration of the exam. It is shown that these costs can be minimized in time. Applied in a real example with reliability.80, the outcome is that the optimal exam time would be much shorter and would have reliability.675. The consequences of the model are investigated and discussed. One of the consequences is that optimal exam duration depends on the study load of the course, all other things being equal. It is argued that it is worthwhile to investigate empirically how much time students spend on preparing for resits. Six variants of the model are distinguished, which differ in their weights of the errors and in the way grades affect how much time students study for the resit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The promotion of a positive birth experience has been a main goal of the World Health Organization's (WHO) recent work on improving maternity care. The purpose of this study was to assess the cesarean rates, the prevalence of birth practices, perinatal outcomes, and maternal satisfaction, in women involved with the respectful maternity care (RMC) support groups in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Methods: This was a cross‐sectional study of women with low‐risk pregnancies who were assisted by professionals recommended by the RMC groups. An online questionnaire was administered. Variables to assess birth practices were classified as positive, negative, or unspecified according to the WHO guidelines. The Pearson chi‐square tests and odds ratios (ORs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed to assess differences between the groups. Results: Five‐hundred and eighty women completed the questionnaire. The cesarean rate was 14.7%, and the operative vaginal birth rate was 9.5%. The VBAC rate was 87.1%, and there was no significant difference in risk for cesarean between women with or without a prior cesarean. Of all women, 83.1% had a midwife's assistance and 75.5% hired a doula; 81.4% gave birth in a nonlithotomic position. The practices of enema, fasting and episiotomy were all under 2%. All 5‐minute Apgar scores were ≥7. Most (83.1%) women reported having a positive birth experience. Conclusions: Woman's engagement with the birth support groups and a transdisciplinary team focused on RMC are key elements to achieve positive perinatal outcomes and high women's satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pilot study was conducted using a sample of 374 Portuguese occupational therapists to evaluate burnout levels and prevalence among occupational therapists as well as to relate those levels to practitioner age, gender, client age, years of professional activity, and area of practice. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory questionnaire (Portuguese version) and a sociodemographic questionnaire was used. Results showed that ∼23%, 44%, and 45% of occupational therapists presented with client-related burnout, personal burnout (PB), and work-related burnout, respectively. Higher rates of burnout were observed across all dimensions as the age of the professionals increased, with more years of working increased the client-rated rate, and client age increased the PB rate. Outcomes suggest a need to implement intervention programs to promote personal and organizational strategies to prevent burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:The use of the borderline regression method (BRM) is a widely accepted standard setting method for OSCEs. However, it is unclear whether this method is appropriate for use with small cohorts (e.g. specialist post-graduate examinations). Aims and methods:This work uses an innovative application of resampling methods applied to four pre-existing OSCE data sets (number of stations between 17 and 21) from two institutions to investigate how the robustness of the BRM changes as the cohort size varies. Using a variety of metrics, the ‘quality’ of an OSCE is evaluated for cohorts of approximatelyn = 300 down ton = 15. Estimates of the standard error in station-level and overall pass marks,R2coefficient, and Cronbach’s alpha are all calculated as cohort size varies. Results and conclusion: For larger cohorts (n > 200), the standard error in the overall pass mark is small (less than 0.5%), and for individual stations is of the order of 1–2%. These errors grow as the sample size reduces, with cohorts of less than 50 candidates showing unacceptably large standard error. Alpha andR2also become unstable for small cohorts. The resampling methodology is shown to be robust and has the potential to be more widely applied in standard setting and medical assessment quality assurance and research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]